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How Shobana Brings Bharatanatyam Into Cinema, Comedy, and Youth Culture
Shobana is both a famous actor and a Bharatanatyam dancer.
Bharatanatyam is a traditional Indian dance form.
In one recent show, she told part of the Ramayana using jokes and popular movie songs.
The audience laughed when a proud king failed to lift a magical bow.
When Rama lifted it, the music changed to a traditional wedding song.
Shobana believes traditional art can be entertaining and still remain meaningful.
Some traditionalists criticize her for changing the usual style.
She says art has always changed as new teachers and performers add their ideas.
She also believes these changes help more people discover Bharatanatyam.
Shobana performed a comic version of Sita Swayamvaram at Delhi’s South Side Story festival, using contemporary film music alongside Bharatanatyam.
She says entertainment and the ritualistic nature of Bharatanatyam can coexist, helping unfamiliar audiences connect with the form.
Across her stage work, Shobana combines acting, humour, theatre, electronic music, spoken-word poetry, and social commentary with traditional stories.
She rejects the idea that artistic change necessarily threatens Bharatanatyam’s authenticity, arguing that the form has evolved through successive generations.
A National Award-winning actor and dancer, Shobana will next appear as Kaikesi in Nitesh Tiwari’s upcoming film Ramayana.
- Who
- Actor and Bharatanatyam dancer Shobana.
- What
- She is adapting Bharatanatyam by combining traditional stories with cinema, comedy, theatre, contemporary music, and other modern elements.
- Where
- The performance took place at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in Delhi, as part of the South Side Story festival.
- When
- Her recent performance took place the previous week; she has pursued acting and dance across a career spanning four decades.
- Why
- Shobana says making the form accessible and entertaining can help new audiences connect with Bharatanatyam and support its growth.
Innovation and Accessibility
Purity and Formal Adherence
Changing Bharatanatyam
Innovation and Accessibility
Shobana argues that dance changes according to its medium and that successive gurus, performers, and students have continually reshaped the form.
Purity and Formal Adherence
Purists have criticized her approach, emphasizing clarity of form, technical precision, clean lines, and adherence to a recognized vocabulary.
Entertainment and Tradition
Innovation and Accessibility
Shobana says Bharatanatyam’s divine and ritualistic character does not prevent it from being entertaining or engaging for audiences unfamiliar with classical dance.
Purity and Formal Adherence
A more traditional view may regard the integration of popular music, comedy, and other contemporary devices as a departure from established presentation practices.
Key facts
- Performance episode
- Sita Swayamvaram from the Ramayana
- Festival
- South Side Story
- Performance venue
- Indira Gandhi Sports Complex, Delhi
- Dance approach
- Traditional Bharatanatyam combined with film music, humour, theatre, and contemporary presentation
- National Awards
- Shobana won for Manichitrathazhu and Mitr, My Friend
- Civilian honours
- Padma Shri in 2006 and Padma Bhushan in 2025
- Upcoming film
- Ramayana, directed by Nitesh Tiwari, in which she plays Kaikesi
Quotes
Shobana
Actor and Bharatanatyam dancer discussing the relationship between ritual and entertainment
“Everybody adapts dance for the medium it is presented in. Cinema adapted it for the camera. Today, people adapt it for social media. The form changes because the frame changes.”
indianexpress.com
“It is unquestionably a divine and ritualistic art form, but divinity does not somehow cancel entertainment. The two are not mutually exclusive.”
indianexpress.com
Sources
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