The Artist
A forty-year path
Economics, then broadcast news, then Odissi — and, in the middle of it, an illness faced twice that became the subject of her most personal work.
Professor of Economics
A postgraduate in Economics, she taught as a lecturer and Professor of Economics at R. R. Ruia College, Mumbai.
Newsreader, Mumbai Doordarshan
For seven years she read the news for Mumbai Doordarshan, before dedicating herself entirely to dance.
The turn toward Odissi
Trained first in Bharatanatyam under Guru Shri Mani, she then embraced Odissi under Padma Vibhushan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, whose rigorous training and artistic vision shaped her into one of the form’s foremost exponents.
Diagnosis, and the years of treatment
In November 2006, aged 40, she was diagnosed during a performance in London. Surgery in Mumbai was followed by months of chemotherapy and radiation. She returned to the stage — and later made the experience itself the subject of a production and two books. She faced the illness a second time in 2025.
The Sanskrita Foundation
She founded the Sanskrita Foundation, a charitable trust giving free classical-dance training to underprivileged children and supporting cancer patients, including regular contributions to the Poor Patients’ Fund at Tata Memorial Hospital — the institution whose first Dean, Dr. V. R. Khanolkar, was her grandfather.
Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar
The Sangeet Natak Akademi honoured her with its Akademi Puraskar for Scholarship in Performing Arts (Dance), conferred by the President of India. See all awards →
Lineage
Her artistic lineage traces directly to Padma Vibhushan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, one of the figures who brought Odissi back from near-extinction in the mid-twentieth century. Her signature Pallavi, in Raag Janasammohini, was composed by Shri Vijay Tambe.