COLUMN: Hema Malini on Dancing

ADancing is a part of my life. If I were not dancing, god knows what I would be doing. There would have been a huge abyss in my life!

My earliest association with dance began when I was six years old in Delhi. My mother wanted me to learn dancing and enrolled me in dancing class. I started performing on stage and started taking it seriously as I got more attracted towards it. Though I took up dancing, my mother was not very satisfied with the teaching, so it was a blessing when my father shifted to Chennai. At that time I was twelve years old.

Initially, the dancing was quite difficult. I was very thin and therefore began a diet of milk and eggs. I didn’t like eggs after a certain point of time! I also had initial bouts of irritation because my friends were out playing and I was practicing my dancing.

In Chennai, Guru Tritappa Pillay, also the guru of Vyjayanthimala, taught me the perfect art of dancing. He has been my guru at least till a decade ago.

Bharatnatyam is my strong point, but I have also learnt Kuchhipudi, Mohiniattam and Odissi. Even after I started acting, dancing continued, as it was essential. Outdoor shootings were unexciting. Hence my guruji would come and teach me new steps there. I continued to do regular shows to keep in touch with the stage. Even in the middle of the shooting of Dharmatma, I flew down from Afghanistan to New Delhi for a dance programme and flew back. Dancing is that important for me.

Plus being a film star helped as the audiences at my dance programmes increased manifold. People wanted to see Hema Malini dance. There was a section that wanted to see filmi dances, but they had to go to the cinemas for that. I have never done film dances on stage. Earlier there was a problem, but by now people may have forgotten that I am a film star.

My film assignments are very few today primarily because of my doing many shows, all over the world. I started doing dance ballet some time ago. Every show is a new experience for me, a new challenge. Today many youngsters are taking up some form of Indian classical dance. It’s seems to be more of a status symbol today, to learn a classical dance. Its very encouraging and I hope it continues well into the future too.

WRITTEN BY HEMA MALINI