Mahalakshmi S. handles multiple roles with élan, that of a dancer, an actress and a television anchor. However, dance is where her heart is, she says.
As she is gearing up for a Bharatanatyam performance in the city today, Mahalakshmi remembers how it all started at the age of three. “My uncle, Anilkumar, is a dance master and when I saw him teaching dance I too took an interest. My parents sent me to Pattom G. Sanalkumar to learn Bharatanatyam. He has been my guru since then. His wife, Jisha, is also teaching me now,” says Mahalakshmi. She has learnt Kuchipudi and Mohiniyattam also from the couple.
She proved her mettle as a dancer at the school youth festivals when she was a student of Carmel Girls’ Higher Secondary School and had come first in Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam at the state level. “But then there were a lot of irregularities in the competitions and since I didn’t want to get involved in the same, I focussed on items such as monoact as well,” she says.
The Kalathilakam at this year’s Kerala University Youth Festival, Mahalakshmi made her foray into television and cinema as well. Her debut was as a child artiste, in Jayaraj’s Thilakkam . Later she did a small role in Pattanathil Sundaran . She has acted in movies Ardhanari , Ezham Suryan, Female Unnikrishnan, Nadabrahmam and Memories and a Tamil film, Kathai Thiraikathai Vasanam Iyakkam . She was also seen in serials such as Ulladakkam, Kunjali Marakkar, Marthanda Varma and Sivakami . She is currently anchoring shows on Asianet Plus and Doordarshan Malayalam.
“I haven’t got any breakthrough roles in cinema, but I don’t regret that because in the film field luck is an important factor. If I am destined to do good in movies, I will. But I won’t go around asking for roles. Dance matters most for me and once I finish my post graduation in literature, I want to do a masters in dance,” she says.
At today’s performance, Mahalakshmi presents Pushpanjali, a Swarajathi, a padam and thillana.
The programme is at Vyloppilly Samskriti Bhavan at 6.30 p.m.
