Padmini: The Eternal Dancer (Galatta Cinema Article)

Monday, May 3, 2010
After my post about the "Child Artistes and Tamil Cinema" article from Galatta Cinema Magazine, I noticed that each issue tends to feature a "Nostalgia" section about yesteryear stars and films. Thus, my next showcase is this fantastic set of scans from the nostalgia article "The Eternal Dancer" in the November 2007 issue. The pictures of Padmini are simply stunning, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading some brief information about her films and getting some more recommendations of what to watch from her filmography. I had no idea that she also acted in some Malayalam films or that she essayed mother roles. Just look at that last, de-glammed picture of her! I was also stunned to read that later in her life she ran a classical dance institute in the US that is apparently still in operation now even after her passing (the Padmini Institute of Fine Arts, apparently). Her out of this world dance in Vanjikottai Valiban is duly mentioned in the article as well, for certainly it would be a crime not to! Enjoy! Click on the thumbnails below for larger versions (ETA: Fixed scan quality).  Courtesy Galatta Cinema magazine.





4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the beautiful Padmini pics! :) (Unfortunately, I am unable to click for the larger image or open the November 2007 issue in the archives. Is it just me?)

    That competition in Vanjikottai Valiban is the only one I know of that Vyjayanthimala couldn't win. :)

    It is true that Padmini did some mother roles - she did a good one in Vaasna (1968). And she played a grandmother in Nokkathaa Dhoorathu Kannum Nattu:

    http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Nokketha+Doorathu+Kannum+Nattu

    (...Which might be the subject of my next post. :)

    I didn't know that the Padmini Institute of Fine Arts was still going somewhere. I recently saw the temple in Flushing, Queens, NY, where she had opened it in the '70s, but she moved it to her own house in New Jersey for a long time after that. If it's still around, I wonder where we could find it now...

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  2. Hi Richard - I added some clickable thumbs at the bottom. That should work for you (and then you can click the magnifying glass to enlarge even further). The article didn't mention the current status of the institute, so I did a quick google search and noted that "apparently" it appears to still be going as some exponents still list it as their schooling place. Would love to know for sure though. I think a lot of articles must be stretching the truth when they say the institute "was the biggest of its kind," for I know there are others that are much bigger. :)

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  3. Hmmm... quality of scans doesn't look that great now that I'm looking at it again. Will fix this evening. :)

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  4. Absolutely stunning pictures. Indeed an eternal dancer and beauty

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