Dance Like a Man

Anoushka Shankar with Samir Soni in Dance Like a Man

Yes, we are talking about sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar's 23-year-old daughter Anoushka Shankar who made her debut in national award winning film Dance Like A Man, directed by Pamela Rooks.

Adjudged recently the best English film of 2003, it was released across India on October 1 drawing rave review.

Dance Like A Man, based on a play by Bangalore-based writer Mahesh Dattani, is the story of a danseuse couple Ratna and, Jairaj. The plot traces their daughter's initiation and rise in the classical dance form of Bharat Natyam. It also brings in her fiancé. The individual ambitions and jealousies of the characters and the resultant conflict in the family form the central story line.

There were two challenges Anoushka faced in essaying her role in Dance Like A Man: first, it was a totally new medium for her and secondly she had the role of a dancer. Not that she is new to dance. Having learnt to dance at the age of nine, she had, however, given it up since long.

'I had to take training in Bharat Natyam for six months before appearing before the camera,' said Anoushka who is among the Time magazine's 20 'Asian Heroes' under the age of 40.

Anoushka said when Dance Like A Man was shot in Bangalore one-and-a-half years ago, she was quite excited about the project. But much of it has been tempered now and she is devoting time for her fourth music album. Music, she made it clear, is always her top priority.

The biggest compliment Anoushka has received is from another maestro musician Amjad Ali Khan who says 'Anoushka is the future of Indian classical music. Her beauty, prodigious talent and impeccable pedigree have made her a concert-hall favourite in the West,' according to Khan.

Dancing in films, she said, is quite different from acting in them. Communicating your emotions through dance in films can be daunting, added the actress who won the best actress for her role in Mittr, My Friend in 2002.

Shobhana, as Rooks admitted, was not her first choice for the role of Ratna as the director had wanted Bollywood superstar Madhuri Dixit for it. But Madhuri being on the family way at the time of shooting, Rooks' inability to wait for more time and the director's appreciation of Shobhana's acting in Mittr, My Friend prompted the choice of Shobhana.

Rooks said there are no explicit dance scenes in Dance Like A Man and the film explores the human relationships in the backdrop of individual ambitions and jealousies.

Rooks' previous feature film was Train to Pakistan, based on eminent writer Khushwant Singh's novel on the theme of Partition. She said her next venture too is going to be an historical drama.

Although Dance Like A Man is in English, Rooks is optimistic that it will reach out to a wide audience because English is the lingua franca in India.