Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Laxman was an Indian cartoonist, illustrator, and humorist. He is best known for his creation The Common Man and for his daily cartoon strip, You Said It in The Times of India, which started in 1951.
Padma Subrahmanyam, is an Indian classical Bharata Natyam dancer. She is also a research scholar, choreographer, teacher, Indologist and author. She is famous in India as well as abroad; several films and documentaries have been made in her honor by countries such as Japan, Australia and Russia. She is well known as the developer and founder of the dance form Bharata Nrithyam.
Mrinalini Vikram Sarabhai was an Indian classical dancer, choreographer and instructor. She was the founder and director of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, an institute for imparting training in dance, drama, music and puppetry, in the city of Ahmedabad. She received Padma Bhushan in 1992 and Padma Shri in 1965. She also received many other citations in recognition of her contribution to art.
Alarmel Valli is a leading Indian classical dancer and choreographer and the foremost exponent of the Pandanallur style in the Indian classical dance form, Bharatanatyam. She is widely acclaimed for her ability to turn traditional grammar into deeply internalized, personal dance poetry.
Leela Samson is a Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer, instructor, writer and actress from India. As a soloist, she is known for her technical virtuosity and has taught Bharatanatyam at Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra in Delhi for many years.
Saroja Vaidyanathan was an Indian choreographer, guru, and notable proponent of Bharatanatyam. She was conferred the Padma Shri in 2002 and the Padma Bhushan in 2013 by the Government of India.
Saraswathi Sundaresan Iyer, professionally known as Kumari Sachu is an Indian actress who has acted in more than 500 films in five different languages and a few television serials. She is a character actress/comedienne who has nonchalantly blended into the roles she has portrayed over five decades. She made her film début in 1953 in the film Rani at the age of 4, and has since then been a prominent face on the silver screen. Since 1995, she has started acting in television serials. In 2012, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha in Chennai, honored Kumari Sachu with the Nadaga Soodamani award.
Madras Kadiravelu Saroja, known as Puliyur Saroja is an Indian classical dancer, known for her expertise, as an exponent and as a teacher, in the classical dance form of Bharatanatyam. The Government of India honored her, in 2011, with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for her services to the field of art and culture.
Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai (1910–1991) was an Indian Bharatanatyam dance teacher and choreographer.
Malavika Sarukkai is an Indian classical dancer and choreographer specializing in Bharatanatyam. A 2002 winner of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, she was honoured by the Government of India in 2003 with Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.
Komala Varadan is an Indian classical dancer of Bharatnatyam, writer and the founder of Kalaikoodam, a Delhi-based institute for promoting arts, literature and culture. She is known to be proficient in various art forms such as choreography, photography and painting.
Kanaka Srinivasan is an Indian classical dancer and one of the leading exponents of the classical dance form of Bharat Natyam. She is a disciple of Vazhuvoor B. Ramaiyah Pillai and is aligned with Vazhuvur tradition of the dance form. She is a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award of 1998. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2006, for her contributions to Indian classical dance.
Vedhala Ulagam is a 1948 Indian Tamil-language fantasy film directed and produced by A. V. Meiyappan, and written by P. Neelakantan. Adapted from the play of the same name by Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar, the film stars T. R. Mahalingam, K. Sarangapani, Mangalam, K. R. Chellam and C. T. Rajakantham. It was released on 11 August 1948 and became a commercial success.
Meenakshi Chitharanjan, an Indian classical dancer, teacher and choreographer, is known as an exponent of the Pandanallur style of the classical dance form of Bharatanatyam. She is the founder of Kaladiksha, an institution promoting Bharatanatyam and striving to preserve the Pandanallur tradition. A disciple of the father-son duo of Chokkalingam Pillai and Subbaraya Pillai, she is a recipient of several honours including Kalaimamani Award of the Government of Tamil Nadu and the Natya Kala Sarathi of Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2008, for her contributions to classical dance.
Ananda Shankar Jayant is an Indian classical dancer, choreographer, scholar and bureaucrat, known for her proficiency in the classical dance forms of Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi. She is the first woman officer in the Indian Railway Traffic Service on South Central Railway and her 2009 TED talk is ranked among the top twelve Incredible TED talks on cancer. She is a recipient of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Kalaimamani Award of the Government of Tamil Nadu and Kala Ratna Award of the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2007, for her contributions to arts.
Ulagam is a 1953 Indian Tamil-language film directed by L. S. Ramachandran. The film stars V. Nagayya and M. V. Rajamma.
Sayee and Subbulakshmi, popularly known as Sayee–Subbulakshmi, were two Indian female Bharatanatyam dancers who performed on stage in South Indian and Hindi films. They were a twin dance duo and were popular during the 1950s and 60s. They were noted for their synchronised dancing. They also performed Kathak and folk style dances in some regional language films and Hindi films.
Narthaki Nataraj is an Indian transwoman Bharatanatyam dancer. In 2019, she was awarded the Padma Shri, making her the first transgender woman to be awarded India's fourth-highest civilian award.
Jalaja or Natya Mahimai is a 1938 Indian Tamil-language dance film written by Manjeri S. Isvaran, Dr. V. Raghavan and G. K. Seshagiri. The film was directed by R. R. Gautam and G. K. Seshagiri and produced by the Sagar Renaissance Theatre, a joint production by G. K. Seshagiri’s Renaissance Theatre and Sagar Movietone. It stars Bhanumathi, Lakshmi, G. K. Seshagiri and K. S. Gopalakrishan in lead roles. The film is marked as India's first dance film. It is also dedicated to Bhanumathi’s cousin, Bharatanatya Art Expert Srimathi Varalakshmi, who died early on in the film’s production. No print of the film is known to survive, making it a lost film.
R Muthukannammal is a seventh generation veteran Sadir dancer from the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. She is the only surviving person among the 32 Devadasis who served the deity at the Viralimalai Murugan temple and she is the last woman to have the ceremony pottukkattutal of dedicating oneself to God performed at the Viralimalai temple. In the year 2022, Govt of India honoured Muthukannammal by conferring the Padma Shri award for her contributions in the field of art. The dance form Sadir, variously called as Sadiraattam or Parathaiyar Aattam or Thevarattam, is a classical Indian dance from which was reinvented, modified and rechristened as Bharatanatyam through the efforts of E Krishna Iyer in 1932. However, Muthukannammal has chosen to call her art form Sadir, making her the only Sadir exponent today.
