Film Classical Dances of Sridhar

Surely I’m not the only one who watched the male dancer matching steps with Shobana in “Oru Murai Vanthu” from Manichitrathazhu and wondered who he was and if he’d done any other film dances.  The rare male classical dancer in film- always a treat!  It wasn’t until I ran across a comment at Varnachitram that identified the dancer as the Kannada actor Sridhar that I finally had a name to search with!  I was off to the races. 

Turns out Shridhar was quite a popular actor back in the 80s and early 90s and apparently acted in over 60 films in five languages (majority Kannada).  From what I’ve seen and read about, most of his films were either of the silly variety or mythologicals with a few award-winning films in the mix such as Santha Shishunala Shareefa in which he won the best actor award in Karnataka.  He was apparently particularly beloved in his recurring roles as Lord Shiva and became a "household name" in Andhra Pradesh for his role in the Telugu serial Shivaleelalu.   He had formal training in Bharatanatyam as a teen and went into films after college.

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11 comments Bharatanatyam, Male Dance, Revathy, Sridhar

Classical Dance Practice Scenes/Songs in Indian Films

There is something charming and beautiful about classical dance practice numbers in Indian films. Perhaps it's the unassuming and flattering cotton sari wrapped around the dancer's body; I've always liked plain saris a bit more than the full, complicated costume. Or maybe it's the everyday, unadorned, simple nature of the dance that adds to its beauty. Or it could be that the dances often gets closer to their classical roots in this format. Whatever it is, I'm simply a huge fan of them in films.

Below is a list of all 34 practice numbers I can think of in Indian films where the purpose of the song or scene is not "performance" but rather informal "practice" overall. It's interesting how many of them are from the 80s and 90s, the seeming "golden era" of this type of classical performance in film. The videos below are listed in rough order of awesomeness, favorites first. If you can make it all the way to the end, consider yourself a classical dance nerd like me! (Or maybe it's just list-making nerd?) Enjoy!

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27 comments Aditi Rao Hydari, Bhanupriya, EV Saroja, Girish Karnad, Jayapradha, Kamal Hassan, Kathak, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Manju Bhargavi, Mohanlal, Mohiniattam, Practice Dance, Rekha, Revathy, Shobana, Sudha Chandran, Vineeth

My Favorite (Color) Classical Indian Film Dances

As a follow-up to my post yesterday regarding my favorite black and white Classical Indian Film Dances of all time, today's post lists my favorite color classical dances in Indian films!

Like my post yesterday, I focused on songs that are based on classical dances and included only those that are my absolutely top favorites that I enjoy watching repeatedly.  There are some "classics" that I haven't included in my list simply because they are enjoyable but not my favorites (songs from films like Thillana Mohanambal, Pakeezah, Shankarabharanam, Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje, etc.) and there are some dances that aren't classical enough to be included (like those from Amrapali).  I have a whole slew of posts coming up that will cover even more dances in all sorts of different categories!

As I noted in the black and white post, these dances are of course "not 'pure' classical dances but rather the filmy variety.  What I love about film dances is the energy the camera generates through angles and editing as well as the beauty visualized through costume and set design.  There’s just something magical about dances seen on screen." 

Let's roll the list of my favorites in order of affection!

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14 comments Bhanupriya, Helen, Hema Malini, Kamal Hassan, Kathak, Kathakali, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Revathy, Saswati Sen, Shobana, Sridhar, Vyjayanthimala