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She dazzles. Mallika Sarabhai is many people at the same time and they all vie for brilliance. She can paint a Ganesha with her dancing feet. And that's how she enthralled US ex-President Clinton. He begged for the portrait when he left. Yet the compliment she most values is when a mother came backstage with her daughter introduced Mallika to her as "the woman who is not scared to look ugly."
She stared at thousands of Indians from the small screen, daring them with "maley soor jo tara maro..." and she has wowed audiences from all six continents with her performance as Draupadi. She, with her mother, Mrinalini Sarabhai co-directs the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, Ahmedabad.
Stage is not the only place where she displays her multifacetedness. She is a noted film-maker, a familiar TV anchor, an editor, a publisher, a doctorate from the Indian Institute of Management (Ahemedabad), an activist espousing all kinds of causes. She is also a CEO of a TV channel. She is one of our leading exponents of Bharata Natyam and Kuchipudi. She is a representative of India for CIOFF (an internationally acclaimed organisation for folk dances)
She is the daughter of reputed dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai and renowned scientist Vikram Sarabhai - an excellent confluence of artistic zeal and scientific pursuit. It Came Naturall, she started dancing, as they say, before she learnt to walk. But when she started thinking and seeing her mother practice for hours daily, dancing was not what she would choose as a vocation. She could not but learn to dance - the dance academy with stalwarts like C. R. Acharyelu, the greatest living guru of Kuchipudi and gurus of the academy who taught Bharata Natyam.
But she concentrated on reading, formal education, academic pursuits and research. Practically then, those who have seen her work both in theory and practice, say "she knows Bharata and Bharata Natyam equally well". Having studied Natya Shastra she qualifies for the last sentence, "These are, however, guidelines - you must interpret them as you think best." And the world loves the interpretations.
The first award she received was in 1977. However, the award closest to her heart is the one she received in Paris, a few years ago, for Best Soloist Artist, after being chosen from among 400 dancers from 25 countries. Mallika was the proud recipient of the French Palme D'Or, the Highest Civilian Award conferred by the French government, among many other awards. Just as she can paint with her feet, she feels dance is a language and that too a living one. It ought to communicate her thoughts.
Throughout her different careers dancing remained her first love, "Bharata Natyam is like a Banyan tree with great roots. You can bend it, turn it, do whatever you want, but its roots remain strong. And how many more love varnams can I do? I want to take dance further, to use it as a language, as an agent of change," she argues in an interview. So from Mahabharata to Sita's Daughters her dances are her way of being a part of a process of change.
It was during her foray with Peter Brooks that she transformed from "being a dancer to being a communicator." And how! "Living with Draupadi was a wonderful experience - being forced to find the essential and the fearless in me." And since then she has portrayed Indian woman in her various avatars. From the four sisters from Kerala who committed suicide in Shakti - The Power Of Woman to Sita's Daughters which was a reappraisal of sorts of mythological, historical and contemporary female figures who refused to accept an oppressive system. Her Sita was certainly different.
There are other humanist ides too. Itan Kahani -- the Story of Stories, which was the result of a collaboration with a Nigerian dancer, it explores the hidden agenda of folk tales and popular proverbs. Another one of her masterpieces is certainly, V for... which is about violence. You saw her on TV as an anchor for programmes like Turning Point, Eye-witness, Show Reel, Speakeasy with Mallika, On Air With Mallika and of course Kaleidoscope.
With the kind of charisma she practically oozes with and drop-dead good looks it was no wonder when she acted in a few films. She works hard at Darpana. She has attempted bring corporate discipline into the academy. Today the academy has many faces. There is Darpana for Development, which makes performing arts modules for development issues; Janavak, an authentic Indian folk dance group that aims at folk revival; Chitrakathi, a film unit that prepares educational films and TV material; Mapin Publications that publishes books on Indian heritage; Kritikranti, a trust for interdisciplinary work in the arts and crafts; Jagruti, a project for environment empowerment; the Value Project that familiarises children with moral dilemmas; Parivartan which seeks to bring about changes in the life of Bhil women; and Centre for Non-violence through the Arts. And maybe there's a Mallika being mirrored, somewhere at Darpana! ------------By Shalini Seth
Playing roles as diverse as mother and choreographer, and pursuing her eclectic interests like writing and social service, Mallika is known to always put her best foot forward. That is the legacy she bequeaths to posterity.
