Vyjayanthimala

"I always cribbed about having such a long name and my grandmother would say that nobody else will be called ‘Vyjayanthimala'."

"I think I was born to dance. That’s what my grandmother told me. So it was always in my system."

"But first I was made to learn music, because music and dance go together. You can sing, but you can’t dance without music..."

"I was surrounded by dance, music and religious chants, so it was that kind of a mood. Our family was very culturally-minded, especially my grandmother. She was also quite the disciplinarian. She made sure I practiced daily for hours."

"We came from a conservative family, many of whom had never even gone to school. But I was sent to a convent and everyone was very proud that I was educated. So once while I was performing in Madras, a director from AVM studios spotted me. They were looking for a fresh face and they immediately wanted to cast me, and my grandmother grudgingly accepted."

"I was cast as a college girl and that wasn’t really hard to play as I was very young then. I was treated as a child on the sets. When the movies finally hit the theatres, all the newspapers carried reviews that said, ‘What natural acting.'"

"She says she was the only south Indian actress who could speak Hindi without a South Indian accent, at the time."

"There were no acting schools or workshops then. What came naturally to you, is all you had. But Bharata Natyam taught me everything."

"If Bharatanatyam helped my movies, I cannot say the same about films helping my Bharatanatyam."

"There were so many different characters that I have played. Radha in Sangam was a very sophisticated woman and the setting was very refined, while in Dhanno in Gunga Jumna was rustic, a village belle. Even the language was different."

"As it is, being a South Indian I used to say my own lines and everybody marveled at it, and then to learn Bhojpuri... Dilipsaab was very helpful."

"Sangam had many firsts. The first technicolour film, the first film to have two intervals — in a way I was a part of history."

"Raj Kapoor was a true showman. He knew exactly what he wanted from me and [[w:Rajendra Kumar|Rajendra Kumar in Sangam, whereas Devsaab (Anand) had his own style his own mannerisms. I learnt so much from Dilipsaab especially mannerisms, like the way of delivering my Bhojpuri lines."

"My first colour sequence was in what was then called ‘Geva Colour’ for the dream sequence in Nagin."

"My dances were not like today’s, which have progressed with an Indian and Western combination or fusion which has become repetitive. You cannot tell one dance from the other. Everyone wants to be Michael Jackson. But I like some of them like that ‘Radha kaise na jale’ from Lagaan. I like classical stuff."

"Today’s dancers are not dignified. There’s a lot of talent but they are getting ample help. In our time you had to get the steps right, the words right and the movement right. Otherwise you had to start all over again. Today even if they miss a step it can be adjusted at the editing."

"I don’t know if I am wrong, but singing slightly out of sur is also in vogue these days. And these pelvic movements and gestures are too much for me."

"And when I joined politics people told me it wasn’t the same as the Independence era, so you can imagine how it has become now. It’s such a sad thing. Instead of taking to the country to a higher level we are going downwards."

"In those days, dances were dances and songs were songs. Film dances always had a semi-classical or folk element to them and songs were all about soul-stirring lyrics and haunting music. These days, they are more about technique and technology, often it's the camera that's dancing, the synthesiser that's singing. Not my cup of tea."

"I poured my heart and soul into the role of Chandramukhi. In my view, hers was the greater character (compared with Paro's). One scene that will forever be etched in my memory is the one in which Devdas takes leave of Chandramukhi, saying that he hopes he will meet her again, 'if not in this lifetime, then in the next'."

"That's because I simply carried on dancing, [she said]. It was my first love, and thanks to my taskmaster of a grandmother (Yadugiri Devi), I had never stopped my Bharata Natyam."

"aAs a creative artiste dedicated to a spiritual art form I was deeply pained by the communal violence in Gujarat."

"The need of the hour is to get people to talk to each other and to clear the air. I don't approve of fusion in art, but I definitely approve of it in the field of politics."

"Of course, there's also politics — "though far less so than before," admitted the three-time MP, who now is a member of the BJP."

"Vyjayanthimala Bali has been in the forefront of those responsible for the renaissance of Bharatanatyam for three or four decades."

"If any screen actress of recent times had ruled the film scene with the sway and swagger of a fabled queen it was surely Vyjayanthimala, the volatile, vibrant and the most gorgeous star of Hindi screen."

"Danseuse extraordinaire, Vyjayanthimala's greatest legacy to cinema is that today it is de rigeur for every girl who enters the Hindi film industry to be an accomplished dancer. Yet there was more to light-footed Vyjayanthi than magical moves."