The black-hued Kali swirls her blood-red tongue, breathing fire. Lost in her feral dance, she is the epitome of unrestrained, deadly energy.
Amid her typhonic spins, she stumbles upon a figure resembling Shiva and places her foot on it. The touch arrests her tempest into a trance, as the virulent kinetic force within her meets its pacific potential counterpart.
The concept of Kali has long been a muse for artists, sculptors and musicians, not only in Indian traditions but also in Western metal and techno music.
Yet in classical dance, Kali’s presence remained largely classified and subtle. The prominence was usually reserved for the gentle woman — lovelorn, graceful or all-accepting.
Even when Kali’s fierce energy appeared on stage, the rawness that scriptures describe as her hallmark remained camouflaged within the finesse of classical dance grammar.
Of late, however, Kali in all her wild imagery is being translated more fully into dance portrayals, to the extent that it has become part of a growing pop-culture trend.
Trending social media reels show AI-edited segments from Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and even Odissi performances set to galvanising background scores. The current fave is the pulsating ‘Sanatani Phonk’ by Pextyle. Most of these clips often end with superimposed poses of Kali, her figure flaming with passionate fury.
The original versions of these dance videos are themselves agile portrayals of the Goddess, set to foot-tapping chants and high-energy shlokas.
One such clip that went viral featured a performance by Shreya Nambiar, who had originally danced to chants from the Devi Mahatmyam, a text that glorifies the elemental power of the divine feminine.
The ‘Kali-fied’ AI version of this clip garnered nearly four crore views. Soon, a barrage of similar videos followed. This includes nine-year-old Yashika R transforming into fierce Kali in the final frame.
“I find it an amazing trend. It creates a unique interest in Kali, whose worship has been the core of many Indian traditions. In Kerala, too, she has been part of the kuladevata concept, with umpteen shrines dedicated to her, such as Manappullikkavu, Kodungallur and Adimakkavu,” says Mithun S, founder of the Vaishnavi Natyashala, whose student Anvitha is among those whose Kali dance clips have gone viral.
“Using classical dance clips to depict Kali is a way to reach the younger generation. She is actually the core force that connects us to our roots and raw nature.”
Dance exponent Methil Devika, however, believes the fascination with the trend is largely a fad driven by upbeat music. “We have had such things before — like dance versions set to Kantara beats. The sound does render a certain power; it resonates with the dance movements and the audience, which is why it is being lapped up,” says the dancer, whose productions include one on the Mother Goddess (Bhagavathi) cult worship in Kerala.
“But whether the interest evokes anything more than a sense of enigmatic power is yet to be seen. Kali is a deep concept. One has to travel far into its essence to feel her.”
Kali, however, is not confined to social media reels. On stage too, her presence is becoming more pronounced. Classical dance repertoires increasingly include agile numbers centred on Shiva and Kali.
Groups such as the Rainbow Dance Troupe and Maneesh Shaw’s team are known for their striking Bharatanatyam- and Kathakali-based dance dramas on Kali, which draw large crowds and frequently go viral online.
Meanwhile, the trend has also drawn criticism, with concerns raised about the use of AI to tamper with original performances and about reducing Kali to merely a gory, aggressive figure.
“The popular idea of Kali today is often a Western interpretation. Even while she is fierce, her depiction carries many symbolic overtones,” says Bharatanatyam dancer Meera Sreenarayanan.
“Kali is abstruse; she is the creative and protective force of the elements. There is motherhood at its zenith in her. There is compassion even as she goes around slicing heads that she garlands herself with. Turning her into pop culture may dilute a deeper understanding of her concept.”
Another dancer and guru of repute, Narthaki Natraj, also feels that focusing solely on agile characters to attract attention may undermine the subtle nuances that a fine art stands for. “Performances have to be more about the understanding of art than sheer finesse of movements,” she says.
Mithun, however, offers a different perspective. “There is Arbhavritti, the agile type of roles, usually considered male. The Kaishikivritti, or the graceful roles, are considered feminine. The question is: why should Arbhavritti belong only to male roles?” he wonders.
“We had a culture of worshipping women in their most ferocious form. When that comes out in art as Kali’s fury (roudra bhavam), it can have a strong psychological influence on women. Rather than portraying women as yearning or endlessly enduring, showing them as powerhouses is simply amazing.”
Bharatanatyam exponent Rajashree Warrier feels the trend is loud, but says “perhaps that loudness is necessary” in current times.
“Kali, to me, is an outburst of unbridled energy that has remained repressed for long. When that energy finds such a loud expression, it is extreme emotions at play,” she explains.
“Those emotions need not be just rage; they can also be passion and love. That such energy can belong to a woman is the inherent rebellion in our tradition.”
The facial expressions in AI-generated images mimic Kali almost to the letter — the tongue protruding to relish a gush of blood spraying from the imagined demon-head that the dancer holds in her hand.
On-stage versions are sometimes even fiercer. A recent viral performance by the Rainbow Dance Troupe shows Kali menacingly black, clad only in a skirt of severed hands and a garland of skulls.
Until recently, classical dance portrayals were rarely so explicit. Dancers did not dress as Kali but merely enacted her untamed spirit.
“There is some sensationalism in these new-gen portrayals. The real challenge is to present her as a source of energy and as the guardian she traditionally is in several Indian cultures. The trend can bring out that other side of Kali — the power she represents,” says Maneesh Shaw, principal and convenor of the Maneesha Shaw Dance Academy, to whom Kali is a “very revolutionary” concept.
“She is cosmic energy, without which there is no creation or sustenance. To depict a woman as the ultimate energy is an assertion of the feminine in the scheme of existence. And now, with Kali trending, it may well signal that this indomitable feminine energy is awakening yet again.”