Cinemaazi remembers Sachin Shankar on his birth anniversary.

Cinemaazi remembers noted dancer and choreographer Sachin Shankar on his birth anniversary. Born on 24 September 1924 in Benares, Uttar Pradesh, he was taught by his cousin and legendary dancer Uday Shankar, at Cultural Centre in Almora, where he also learnt Kathakali from Shri Shankaran Namboodiri and Manipuri from Guru Amubi Singh. He received lessons in music from Shri Vishnudass Shirali. After working briefly with Shri Haren Ghosh in Calcutta, Shri Sachin Shanker joined the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA), Bombay, in 1944 as a dancer and teacher. During his three years with IPTA, he met Kumudini, whom he married in 1952. He founded his own group, Ballet Unit, in Bombay in 1953. Shankar also worked as a choreographer in many films like Madhumati(1958), Nagin (1954), Anarkali(1953), Dil Deke Dekho (1959) and Ganga Ki Leharen (1964). In a career of about five decades as a dancer and choreographer, he endowed Indian dance with modern sensitivity and contemporary relevance. He received the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi award for ‘Creative Dance’ in 1992. Sachin Shankar passed away on 10 May 2005, at Mumbai, due to a heart-attack.