Written by: Allen Horton
Bollywood icon to give live performance at local restaurant.
At 4pm, Wednesday, Udaya Movies, a Kannada-language Indian cable channel, ran a delightful little film from the early 90’s. The film, Anukoolakkoba Ganda, or “Husband for Need”, centers on a young couple living in southern India. Radha is a girl born into a rich family. Raja is a lowly mechanic. Throughout the film, we watch as their love is tested by Radha’s disapproving father, who has other plans for his daughter. A young Raghavendra Rajkumar is the mechanic, while the lovely and talented Sunitha Shivaramakrishnan gives a spectacular performance as Radha.
Of course, the truth is most of us did not tune in. Very few of us have ever heard of Sunitha Shivaramakrishnan, let alone are able to pronounce her name. Quite possibly that is how she wants it.
For the past 15 years, Sunitha has led a quiet existence here in the Upstate, where she lives with her husband, Raj, and her son, Sashank. She runs the Nrithyanjali School of Dance, which specializes in teaching the classical Bharathnatyam style and other forms of Indian dance.
Sunitha was born in the city of Bombay (modern day Mumbai), in the western state of Maharashtra. Her parents were Venugopal Shivaramakrishnan and his wife, Bhuvana. At the age of 3 she began learning classical dance, and at 11 she made her stage debut. Under the tutelage of Guru Sri Padmashree Vazhuvoor Ramaiyya Pillai and his son, Sri Kalaimamani Vazhuvoor R. Samaraj, she trained in the classical style of Vazhuvoor.
During her film career, Sunitha worked under the stage names Vidhya Shree and Kodai Mazhai Vidya. Her first leading role came in 1986, when she portrayed Vidhya in the Tamil drama, Kodai Mazhai. The following decade would see her paired with leading men like the great Mamooty, the versatile Mohanlal, box office icon Jayaram, and many others. Sunitha’s last film credit was in 2000’s Mimics, a Malayalam film directed by Kudamaloor Rajaji.
On March 5th, Mrs. Sunitha will give a live performance at the “Spice of India” restaurant in Greenville in order to promote a kick off hosted by International Classical Arts Connections. ICAC is an organization whose goal is to foster community spirit through the presentation and merging of art forms. Mrs. Sunitha’s performance and the kick off will begin at 7pm. Seating is limited, so, for those planning to attend, be sure to RSVP by emailing committee@icac-us.org.
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