CHENNAI:A few days ago, when I watched a video of an 80-something-old woman effortlessly dancing to the song Krishna mukunda murari, with perfect abhinayas, making the rounds on social media, I was captivated. I found that the octogenarian lived in Vishranthi, an old age home located off the Palavakkam beach, ECR. In a quest to know more about the ‘secret superstar’, we drove to the quaint old age home and on arrival, a petite woman dressed in a yellow sari, standing on the porch looked at us with an endearing smile.
Brushing strands of her silver streaks away from her eyes, with a childlike smile that highlights her wrinkles, she said, “I am Lalitha”, and walked us into the home which houses close to 200 senior citizens. Tightly clasping a booklet of slokas, she led us inside the hall, seated herself on a little wooden chair and began her story.
“My family was originally from Thanjavur. But, my grandparents migrated to Rangoon (Myanmar) in search of a livelihood,” she narrates. When Burma came under attack in the mid-1930s, Lalitha and her family were forced to leave the country. “I was around five years old. I have memories of walking for days and then travelling by a ‘sampan’ to reach the Chennai harbour. My father was a cashier in a bank at Bengaluru and he had come to Chennai, to take us there,” she recalls.
Once Lalitha started school, she found her calling in dance. “My mother was a headmistress, but I was not keen on studying. One day, I came across a group which had camped for a dance show. The famous Tara Chowdary was going to perform as well. I watched them rehearse for about a month, went back home and practiced the steps every day...that’s how my dance journey began,” she reminisces.
But, it didn’t go well with her grandmother. “Back then dance as a career was frowned upon. I was thrashed for even thinking about it...but the performers who had seen me come to their practice session every day, were worried when I didn’t make it for the next few days. They came home and convinced my family to allow me to dance,” she says.
Lalitha came to Chennai and learned Bharatanatyam at Kalakshetra, from KN Dhandayuthapani. Soon opportunities knocked her door. She was roped in to dance as part of Krishnaswami Subrahmanyam’s ‘Nadana Kala Seva’. “After working as a background dancer, I began getting chances to dance in songs featuring Vyjayanthimala, Tara Chowdary, Lalitha-Padmini, Anjali Devi and Jayalalithaa,” smiles the 89-year-old who has been a backup dancer in movies like Adhitan Kanavu (1948) and Marmayogi (1951). “I’ve danced in about 60 films. I used to get paid between `75 and `150 a month,” she says.
But as we ask her about her biggest milestone, her teary eyes gleam. “I was 18 or 19 years and a part of Gemini’s magnum production, Chandralekha (1948),” she says, and breaks into an impromptu dance, recreating a brief set of steps from the iconic drum dance. “I was among the 30-odd women who danced in the song. We rehearsed for over a year and shot for three months. I was paired opposite Chinna Satyam. The shoot was extremely gruelling...we had to change positions regularly, shoot under the sun and the reflector radiated heat...but, these are memories that I will take with me to my grave,” she says.
From teaching Bharatanatyam to school children to acting in different theatre troupes, she did it all to support herself. “I fell ill for a brief time and I stayed with my husband’s brother and his family for a while. I wasn’t treated well, and I didn’t want to burden them. In 2012 I came to Vishranthi. This has been my home ever since and I am happy here,” she shares.
Today, Lalitha is the life of Vishranthi and ensures to make every resident and visitor smile, with her infectious energy. As she prepares to perform for us, she says, “I am not shy and I dance whenever someone asks me to. I won’t let my age stop me do what I love. Recognition might come to people at different stages…I am happy that my dance video has given me this chance now. People will know that I existed...they’ll know Lalitha ‘Paati’,” she adds, does the ‘guru namaskaram’ and sways to Kottu Murase.