Mallika Sarabhai: Hyderabad & upbringing

The Bharatanatyam performance, as part of the annual Krishnakriti Festival, features a troupe of eight musicians who will present bhajans as sung in the 1800s. “Five years ago, I attended a concert of bhajans, during which the performer only used his voice and the cymbal.

I was transported by the performance. Growing up, I remember concerts with just a strong voice accompanied by the cymbals. So after the concert, I did a bit of asking around, and I found that there has been a huge movement towards revival of bhajans with cymbals and dholaks in Kerala. As a dancer, I wanted to pay homage to this,” she says.

At the show, the musicians will be placed at a higher platform on the stage while a troupe of nine dancers will perform.

As an activist, Sarabhai works towards the causes of non-violence and environment among other issues. And she believes that art is an important vehicle towards transformation of self and society.

“In India, the arts have always been about educating the people. Only recently, we started seeing art as entertainment. But art is about telling stories, of morality, of spirituality and more. Art is not the icing on the cake, it is the yeast,” she says.

Interestingly, her skill of storytelling developed, in its earliest stages, right here in Hyderabad. “Oh, I have a very special bond with Hyderabad,” she begins. “When my mother had to travel, my brother and I were left under the care of Guru.

And he played a very big role in my upbringing as well. He was an amazing storyteller. He had these pictures and these albums that he would pull out and narrate stories about everything.”