Cinemaazi remembers Amala Shankar on her death anniversary

Cinemaazi remembers famed danseuse and actress Amala Shankar on her death anniversary. Wife of world-renowned dancer and choreographer Uday Shankar, and sister-in-law of sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, Amala Shankar also acted in the film Kalpana directed by her husband. Born Amala Nandy in 1919, she and her jeweller father first met Uday Shankar and his family in Paris in 1930. She was just 11. Later she went on to train at the Uday Shankar Centre for Dance in Almora. She and Uday married in 1942. She went on to feature in Uday Shankar’s Kalpana (1948), a fantasy film and dance drama which he also produced. The film explored the flaws existing in society and suggested how a creative education system and the arts in a good environment could prove beneficial. Incidentally, the film was lost for many years till it was restored by Martin Scorsese and screened at Cannes in 2012. A then 93-year-old Amala had walked the red carpet to watch the film. Separating from Uday a few years before his death in 1977, Amala continued to keep his style of dance alive. She passed away on 24 July, 2020.