Dreams on her shoulders

Her story shows that if one puts their mind and willpower to it, anything is possible. For Abhirami Iyer, model and TV anchor based out of Chennai, her story started with a simple, yet strong desire to learn dancing. How hard is it to pursue Bharatanatyam, our culture being one in which girls are sent to classes from an early age? “It’s quite the contrary actually. I come from an extremely conservative and protective family, and when I expressed my wish to become a dancer, my parents were against it! Their main concerns were — ‘How will you support yourself?’ and ‘What are the opportunities once you become a dancing professional?’,” explains Abhirami.

Eventually, she convinced her mother that dancing is what she wanted to do with her life, and soon enough she was enrolled at Kalakshetra. “Naatya will always be my first love! It’s not just about being on stage for a performance… it’s more than that. To know dancing, you should understand the deeper nuances of culture and history — there’s so much to learn!” she says, her voice rising in excitement.

Since Kalakshetra demands that disciples be focused on curriculum, than other projects, Abhirami’s modeling career didn’t start until she completed her stint at the fine arts academy. “Somebody suggested that I try my hand at ad films and it’s only after I left the dance school that I got my first commercial — it was a national one at that!” From there, she went on to shoot several more ads, also starting her modeling career side-by-side. “I haven’t done a lot of fashion shows, but those that I have, I was really lucky to work alongside names like Karun Raman and others,” she adds, beaming.

While she is still learning Bharatanatyam, Abhirami is also nursing dreams to enter the film industry. While she is yet to act on the silver screen, she will soon be a part of theatre in Chennai, and has a few short films to her name as well. She even hosts a TV show for a regional channel, part-time. “I have always been emotive and expressive — thus making acting my long-term objective. While I haven’t received any definite offers, my fingers are crossed, and I hope I get that one big break everybody wishes for!” she concludes on a positive note.