Shobhana Chandrakumar
Shobhana Chandrakumarn Pillai is an exponent of the
Bharatanatyam dance and a leading
actress of
South Indian motion pictures. She was born into a
Malayalam speaking family from
Kerala, India. Shobhana is the niece of the Travancore sisters Lalitha, Padmini and Ragini, all of whom, who were renowned for their skill in classical Indian dance. She has acted in over 150 movies in 5 languages.
Shobhana acted for the first time in a leading role in the Malayalam motion picture
"April 18" in 1984, directed by Balachandra Menon.
Encyclopedia
Shobhana Chandrakumarn Pillai is an exponent of the
Bharatanatyam dance and a leading
actress of
South Indian motion pictures. She was born into a
Malayalam speaking family from
Kerala, India. Shobhana is the niece of the Travancore sisters Lalitha, Padmini and Ragini, all of whom, who were renowned for their skill in classical Indian dance. She has acted in over 150 movies in 5 languages.
Shobhana acted for the first time in a leading role in the Malayalam motion picture
"April 18" in 1984, directed by Balachandra Menon. She also acted alongside the Malayalam actor
Mammootty in the film
Kanamarayathu . Shobhana won her first National Award from the government of India, for best performance as an actress in 1994. She was awarded for her stunning performance in Fazil's movie
Manichitrathazhu. She bagged a second National award for best actress in the year 2002 for her role in an English language film
Mitr: My Friend, directed by
Revathi.
Shobhana is an equally accomplished dancer of Bharatanatyam, an elaborate dance from
South India. She did her dance training at the Chidambaram academy in
Chennai,
Tamil Nadu. Her
gurus included legendary Bharatanatyam dancers Chitra Visweswaran and Padma Subramaniam. Shobhana is famed for her
Abhinaya, a pivotal element in the South Indian dance of Bharatanatyam. She performed in
Kuala Lumpur before the King and Queen of
Malaysia. Shobhana's skilled execution of dance movements and her extraordinary beauty has led many people to consider her as the most beautiful South Indian actress from the 1980s through the 1990s. She is often equaled to the curvaceous beauty of South Indian
sculptures. Shobhana has founded a school for classical Bharatanatyam dance in Chennai. She was also a part of
Mani Ratnam's stage show, Netru, Indru, Naalai.
In 2006 January, the Indian government honored Shobana with Padma Shri title for her significant contributions to cinema and Bharatanatyam.
See also
External link
- Directory of Shobhana related Sites
