Dancers From India

"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."

"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."

"'Indian', [mom said], you will write Indian. And if they have a problem with that let them come and talk to me. They have no business asking you your religion. How is that the basis for an educational qualification?"

"The world isn’t just what you see outside your window. It’s so much larger, so much grander. We are just microscopic specks in the whole big scheme of things in this universe! How bogged down we get by rules, by what society wants and what people say, when in fact it’s all just timepass. Enjoy the moment, even the grief. Celebrate the joy of being alive. It’s so very very easy to be happy."

"This is my life. No one has the right to tell me how to live it or to question what I do. When you grow up, you will make your own choices. It will be your life and you it your way. I will never interfere. It must be awful for these people to have such boring lives that all they can do make them interesting is to talk about somebody else’s life. I am glad I provided with them with timepass conversation."

"Everybody wants to know about it. Even now. But look at what else I have accomplished since then which must have taken courage. Far more than what it took to streak. But because it's more immediate you think you could even do this. But you can't build a dance institute out of barren land."

"Every woman I knew secretly longed to have many lovers but she stopped herself for so many reasons. I had the capacity to love many at a time and for this had been called shallow and wayward and a good-time girl..."

"To my analytical mind this relationship of marriage was a very forced one between two people. I understood that for the security and upbringing of the child the parents need to be monogamous. Because then the child will have a secure home. But both people should understand and accept the fact that there would always be temptation. That's not bad in itself because what is temptation?"

"Human nature being what it is, or at least conditioning being what it is I was so insecure. I always had to watch out for other women. She leans forward and laughs "Because he was so damned good looking, you know. When you are not the wife it's great but when you are...""

"When I saw Odissi it could have been Kuchipudi or Thai for all I cared. No one knew Odissi then. I S Johar once introduced my performance saying 'Now for Protima Bedi's Udipi performance.' But when I saw it I knew that is what I wanted to do -- whatever it was. There was something so sensuously spiritual about it. I think I must have wanted that so much in my life."

"My guru said you are too old. I thought I was young -- I was 26. And he said you can't and I said I can. I'll show you. He said it will take many sacrifices. And I said I'll give up anything you want. I didn't realise I would have to give up my family for that. I realise now if I had not gone for three months to Orissa my husband would not have run off with Parveen Babi. So it was really a giving up. My children had to go to boarding school after that -- there was no family. I had to give up my lifestyle, my friends, my smoking, my drinking."

"Firstly I had never touched anyone's feet. So I refused to do that for months. I had never been inside a temple. I refused to go for puja every evening. I said I have only come to learn dance. I don't have to do all that. But the dance brought the devotion and the spiritual understanding. I saw my guru's devotion because everything he did was by example. If I have built Nrityagram today it is because of what I took from him."

"This great man, Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra, a Padmashri and Padma Bhushan, would clean the gutter outside his house. He used to beat me. One slap from my dad and I had left the house. And my guru slapped me a couple of times because I was arrogant. I would be so angry I would pack my bags. But I knew I was there because I wanted to be there not because he wanted me to be there. And when I touched his feet it was not by rote. When I touched his feet he and I both cried because he had waited long enough for me to come to that."

"I felt I had nothing more to learn. It was the same thing wrapped up in different packaging again and again. I am not a brilliant dancer at all. But my packaging is great. You know, I have been a hippie all my life. And the dreams of the sixties that I had of living in a commune, of sharing, of never having more than I can use, of living life joyfully in nature -- that was the spirit that was inside me. And in the isolation of being a dancer I thought where is the giving, where is the sharing, with me sitting so far in a cold place? I knew I had to get back and I had to share what life had given me through dance. I was willing to give up my dance and work and beg to realise this dream. Because it would still be my dream, it would still be dance but how much joy it would give so many bodies."

"I dream of building a community of dancers in a forsaken place amidst nature. A place where nothing exists, except dance. A place where you breathe, eat, sleep, dream, talk, imagine - dance. A place where all the five senses can be refined to perfection. A place where dancers drop negative qualities such as jealousy, small-mindedness, greed and malice to embrace their colleagues as sisters and support each other in their journey towards becoming dancers of merit. A place called Nrityagram."

"But as soon as I opened a dance school they went who does she think she is? She has become a guru! In their mind they could not accept that anyone could build a place not because they want to be a guru but because they want to give the best to a young bunch of girls. Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra was in charge of Odissi. Kalanidhi Narayan for Abhinaya. Kumudini Lakhia for Kathak. Kalyani Kuttiyamma for Mohiniattam. The Paul Taylor Dance Company did a workshop there. I was not the guru. I was the slave. I was working with my hands -- planting trees, digging the earth, typing, collecting the money. I gave up my dance."

"It all came back to my guruji saying bahut kali-ka rup dekhaya tumne. (You have shown a lot of Kali in you). Calm down a little bit. Parvati-ka roop lo. (Take on the image of [[w:Parvati|Parvati)."

"My creativity is over. Now it is only the question of maintenance. I have empowered the girls to look after themselves. To earn their own money, to be somebody. I need to resuscitate."

"Just be the best and the highest expression of who you want to become. Be that. Because if you are that there is no more unhappiness. All frustration and anger comes from being less. People say not everybody can be. But everyone can be. I trust life. The only person who stands in your way is yourself."

"The time has come for me to forget my past and live a future that even I am unaware of."

"I couldn’t describe Protima Bedi better. As a mother she was phenomenal. She brought joy into our lives with her constant need to be different and creative. She was determined never to lead an ordinary life."

"Two words that were missing in her life’s lexicon were "no" and "regret"; she could not say no to any man who desired her — and grew into a very desirable and highly animated young woman who most men found irresistible. And she did not regret any emotional or physical experience she had."

"She abandoned her dance school and other business to become a sanyasin, but death took her unawares: she was killed in a landslide while on a pilgrimage to Kailash-Mansarovar. Oddly enough even as a sanyasin she was accompanied by one of her lovers."

"Protima Gauri (as she renamed herself) had zest for living. She loved her men, her liquor and drugs. She had a large range of her lovers, most of whom she names."

"Now, the 48-year-old Odissi dancer -- clean-shaven, with tattooed eyebrows and clothed in the robes of a Buddhist monk (except the colour of the robe is blue and purple) -- wants to retreat to the Himalayas."

"Dance has been like a man in her life. It has given her name, fame and credibility. She can't do without it. She is a star in her own right. I'm sure she can revive herself and get back into the limelight."

"I was born in Lucknow 1938, 4 February. It was Friday. A hot day as it usually happens in spring...in that home where I was born there were only girls. I was the only boy. So our neighbours came saw that that there were all girls and just one boy... like Krishna and gopis they used to say. So my name became Brijmohan Misra. Brij is the name of the city where Krishna was born and ‘Mohan ‘means attraction. Brijmohan is a way of saying Krishna, the god of love and dance."

"Brijmohan Maharaj’s Kamdeva matched grace with grace. To the loving he added fear, and a secret knowledge of his fate. Together they devised a poignancy that was memorable and must surely be rare in dance."

"Earlier one person would do a sam and the audience ten feet away knew that a new tukda was about to begin but now fifty of us did the same movement with the same precision; the audience even two hundred feet away knew and understood. Yes, we connected to many because we were many presenting one. We simply enlarged ourselves by being many more of us and we engulfed the stage."

"Solo dance was complete by one. Now because everybody is bored, feeling bored by one dancer only they are taking 10,20 people."

"Madhuri was crowned the queen of Bollywood and her star status reached a level where she was called the ‘female Amitabh Bachhan’. Her stage shows sold out and fans flocked to her shootings to catch a glimpse of the ultimate star. She has ever been called the peace maker between India and Pakistan as a Pakistani official joked to a national newspaper on his visit to India "You can keep Kashmir, give us Madhuri"."

"Politics is a jungle where destinies change every evening."

"I have been chanting Soundarya Lahari, written by Adi Shankara for about 16 years now. It is very popular here in the South but not many know of it in North India and this is my offering for the pooja season. I meditate to these shlokas and am very happy that Suresh Wadkar and Shankar Mahadevan have contributed to it, with Amitabh Bachchan giving the introduction."

"I am glad I got to be part of such a historic film,” she says and pauses to think. And then adds, “The movie is still popular and that’s great. It also means that for as long as people remember the film, I will also be there in their memories. That’s special. And of course, it is not just Sholay but people also remember me for Seeta Aur Geeta. When I am in the U.S., I love travelling in cabs. And there have been times when Russian cab drivers recognised me and hummed a few tunes from the movie!"

"There is no other choice. Modiji has to come back. It will be dangerous for the country if someone else wins. That’s why we all (BJP members) are working hard to bring him back."

"We went to Kumbh, we had a very nice bath. It is right that an incident took place, but it was not a very big incident. I don't know how big it was. It is being exaggerated. It was very well-managed, and everything was done very well...So many people are coming, it is very difficult to manage but we are doing our best."

"Though I was too young to understand the complexities of marriage, I understand that the premise of their disagreement was unfair. Why must a woman have to give up her passion after marriage when the same is never asked of a man."

"It has been my most appreciated performance to date and though I have played myriad characters over the years, some how none was as complex or as passionate as Suadamini. The director later told me that the only reason he cast me was because I was a dancer and capable of delivering navarasas [nine forms]."

"I was cast opposite multiple heroes and as luck would have it, the chemistry worked with most."

"Learning the long lines and delivering them in one take was a nightmare, but Rameshji helped me as also the fact that I have a good memory. It is only when you become successful that you realize how everything contributes to your success."

"So many roles, so many trends, so many kinds of cinema and so many stories…I have projected different images during different decades, voiced different concerns –sometimes as a daughter, sometimes as a wife and mother- but often I ask myself if things have really changed. I am not sure."

"I made a serial called Nupur in which I danced for one particular shloka of Soundarya Lahari . The show was mostly about dance. It is then that I started learning to chant Soundarya Lahari . …People only know me as an actor and a dancer but recently I thought about doing this album."

"One day she will be the biggest star of the Indian screen."

"It has been more than three decades but Hema Malini’s passion for dance has not diminished. Starting in the early 70s with solo Bhratanatyam performances, the diva has reinvented herself at every stage of her career. When she felt that the pure classical dance form would not be appreciated by a less aware audience, she expanded her art form to include ballets."

"I was quite the media darling."