For Asha Sharath, the Fine Arts Hall in Kochi is a dream stage. She had seen many talented artistes performing on that stage and she herself had performed there as a kid. However, when she came there for a performance on Sunday, she was a bit emotional. “I have an emotional attachment to this stage,” Asha begins the conversation.
“My mother (Kalamandalam Sumathy) had a student called Sindhu Sukumaran. She was very dear to my mother. I still remember sitting on my mother’s lap and watch Sindhu chechi dance to my mother’s new compositions. Most of the programmes I had watched in Fine Arts Hall were Sindhu chechi’s. She is one of the best dancers I have seen and someone who inspired me to take up dance. But, she left us at a very young age. I am performing a few of her dances which had caught my fancy,” she says ahead of her performance on Sunday. “It is like a tribute to her,” says Asha who went on to do a Bharatanatyam interpretation of Ramayana from Lord Rama’s birth till Pattabhishekham.
Asha could still remember her mother teaching Sindhu this dance. “She hailed from a well-to-do family. And, she came down to stay at our home to learn dance from my mother, out of her passion for dance. So, we were very close. Her demise shocked us. She was pretty popular during that time and had danced alongside the well-known dancer Sudharani Raghupathy. I learnt this dance by watching Sindhu chechi doing it in front of Amma. I frequently enact Ramayana and whenever I do this composition, her memories fill my mind. Her parents would be here for the performance,” she adds. Asha’s daughter Uthara Sharath also performed on Sunday.
Asha started learning dance under her mother. “Still she is my teacher,” Asha smiles. “Even now, prior to every performance, I perform in front of her first.”
Asha was not very fond of dance as a kid. “That was because Amma would go to the dance Kalari to teach and I missed her presence,” she smiles. “I started taking dance seriously when I was in Class V. But I am nothing compared to my mother. She has turned 70 now. Yet, she is learning dance and teaching students.”
Quiz her about her memorable performances, she replies, “Each stage is memorable. But one that comes to my mind is the performance we (Asha, her mother and two daughters) did as part of the programme Trikalam, at the Ayyappa temple in our neighbourhood. It was nice that three generations came together on one stage. I really enjoyed the candid moments between my daughters and their grandmother,” she laughs. And adds, “I still have butterflies in the stomach before each venture, be it dance or cinema.”
Asha runs an art academy in Dubai where certified courses in music, dance, instruments, and painting are offered. More than 3,500 students learn in the four schools that come under the academy — Kairali Kalakendra. And Asha is all set to launch her new venture — Asha Sharath Cultural Centre. “Proficient teachers from Kerala would be taking classes in acting and modelling there. The project will kick off in February.”
Coming to movies, she has three Malayalam projects and one Telugu project in hand. “I will be acting with Lalettan again in 1971 Beyond Borders. Our part will be shot in Ottapalam. After that, I have Samudrakani’s Appa remake with Jayaram ettan. I have also signed P.T. Kunju Muhammed sir’s project in which I am doing a prominent character. Then, I am doing a police officer role in Bhagmati, my first Telugu movie in which I act along with Anushka Shetty. We play the two female leads in Bhagmati.”
Although Asha has enlivened many characters on screen, one cannot forget her portrayal of Sicily in the movie Paavada. “That character really touched me. Every woman confronts such issues. I didn’t need glycerin to do the emotional sequences in that film,” says Asha. The character Sicily comes in the second half of the movie. “I don’t look at the length of the character or age while choosing movies. I only think about my character’s significance in that movie and how it would impact the audience. I want to be a part of good movies.”
Have movies eaten into her dance career? “It didn’t. In fact, the entry strengthened my journey. I got more opportunities. Before that, I was known only among dance circles. Also, dance helps me in doing diverse roles with ease,” concludes Asha.
