Hema Malini

🪔 About

Hema Malini, born on October 16, 1948, in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India, is a renowned Indian classical dancer, actress, director, and politician. She began her Bharatanatyam training at the age of six in New Delhi and continued her studies in Madras (now Chennai). Her Bharatanatyam teachers included Kitatpa Pillai and later S.P. Srinivasan, who taught her for about four to five years in the 1990s. Beyond Bharatanatyam, she also trained in Kuchipudi under Guru Vempati Chinna Satyam and Mohiniyattam under Kalamandalam Guru Gopalakrishnan. Malini founded the Natya Vihar Kalakendra dance school in Mumbai. She has performed classical dance extensively in parallel with her prolific film career, appearing in numerous ballets based on Hindu mythology and touring both within India and internationally. She attributes her dedication and discipline, crucial for her six-decade-long career, to her rigorous Bharatanatyam training. Malini has actively worked towards establishing a full-fledged cultural complex and dance academy in Mumbai, having been allotted a plot of land for this purpose in 2015 after a two-decade-long pursuit. Awards & Honours: Padma Shri (2000), Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award (2000), Bharat Muni Samman (2012), Honorary Doctor of Philosophy (2012), NTR National Award (2013), SaMaPa Vitasta Award (2006), Filmfare Special Award for 50 Years of Outstanding Contribution to Cinema (2019).