The Sruti Foundation celebrated its Awards Function 2010 on Saturday, 21 August 2010 on the eve of Chennai city’s 371st birthday. Sruti, a premier magazine on the performing arts was launched in 1983.
Sangeet Natak Akademi Secretary Jayant Kastaur, the chief guest on the occasion, lauded Sruti’s contribution to the classical arts and urged the foundation to hold all India seminars on music and dance, for which he promised support from the Akademi.
Sriram V highlighted the achievements of the awardees in his speech.
(From l to r): R Krishnaswamy, Vyjayantimala Vyjayantimala Bali was awarded the E Krishna Iyer medal in recognition of “her outstanding contributions to Bharatanatyam in a distinguished career spread over seven decades”.
Veena exponent and teacher Padmavathy Ananthagopalan received the Vellore Gopalachariar Memorial award and R Krishnaswamy, Secretary of Narada Gana Sabha the M Venkatakrishnan Memorial Award.
Sukanya Sankar
V Ramnarayan, editor-in-chief of Sruti, welcomed the gathering while Sukanya Sankar, trustee, Sruti Foundation, proposed a vote of thanks.
Narthaki Natraj presented a Bharatanatyam
recital in the rare Tanjavur bani.
(From l to r): S Janaki, Sujatha Vijayaraghavan, Malini Srinivasan, Vyjayantimala Bali,Leela Sekhar, Revathy Ramachandran and Kala Ramesh Rao at the function.
Vyjayantimala Bali, this year’s awardee of the Sruti Foundation’s E Krishna Iyer medal for lifetime achievement in the fi eld of Indian classical dance is a sprightly septuagenarian whose superb footwork and emoting on stage can even today put young dancers to shame. One of the most versatile artistes in the history of the south Indian performing arts, Ms Bali was the heartthrob of millions as a fi lm star of great beauty and acting ability for a couple of decades until her early retirement from movies in 1968. Vyjayantimala Bali turned 76 on Friday, 13 August, just a week before the Sruti awards function. Her passion for her art is undimmed.
Vyjayantimala’s life can be divided into three phases. In the fi rst, she was a child prodigy—shaped into a fi ne dancing talent by her grandmother Yadugiri. The second phase was her sensational fi lm career during which she was paired with some of the biggest heroes of Tamil and Hindi cinema. Marriage to Dr Chaman Lal Bali brought her a fulfi lling second innings as a bharatanatyam artist away from the world of celluloid. This was also the period when she took to golf and won amateur titles at the national level, and took up causes she believed in as a parliamentarian.
Today, she is the perfect picture of a consummate artist who has aged gracefully, a role model for young aspirants in every aspect of her art. She is an outspoken champion of tradition at a time when it is under siege from powerful forces.