She is fondly addressed as ‘Swarna Master’ by the film fraternity. Shehas worked in countless films as a choreographer in various languages. Though she was born in Nellore, she moved to Chennai with her family when she was very young and has since then enjoyed a successful career in movies. A warm and an affable person, Swarna who is married to her colleague Babu shuttles between Chennai and Hyderabad. She recollects her salad days, “I was 17 years old when I came to the film industry. I started learning classical dance at the age of five and since then had performed on stage. It was around that time Jai Shankar master appreciated my work and asked if I would be interested in taking up choreography in films. One fine day, I joined his team as an assistant. I set myself a goal to become a ‘master’. Two years later I got an offer to choreograph for a Bharatiraja’s film. Soon after I worked for 50 films then and me and my husband Babu, who is also a choreographer resolved to move to the Telugu industry. Chilaka Paccha Kapuram was the first Telugu film.
Raghu master, Raju Sundaram, Prabhu Deva and Swarna had all cut their teeth with classical dance and moved onto making a place for themselves in the film industry. They never missed dancing for an audience or practising in private; once a dancer, always a dancer, she says.
Forty six-year old Swarna says Rekha master, Brinda, Suchitra and Tara are the only women who have taken up choreography as a career. There are not many women choreographers in the South. Is it difficult to choose it as a career? “Not really, these days one has to work for five years as an assistant to be an independent choreographer or a master. Earlier there was no such rule; I became a master within two years. I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time on the sets. Every four years there has been a batch of choreographers who come here to make a living but drop out as there is no market or offers for them. Most choreographers move into acting.”
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Being a choreographer involves leaning constantly. Swarna watches a lot of Youtube videos to keep herself updated. “I watch a lot of English dance albums. People usually approach me for classy films done by the likes of Shekar Kammula, Krish, Vamsi and Kranti Madhav. Earlier there was drama in the body language, now there are more expressions. However, I love composing montages, specially for songs that have pathos. The location too plays an important role for the song and dance. Sometimes I tell the director that the location is not suitable when I go outdoors, but it doesn’t always happen that way.” The dance master remarks that Bhanupriya, Radha and Vijayashanti were good dancers and she never had a problem with them.
Dancing for the current generation comes easily, she feels, as they party a lot and display flexible body movements. With one or two films, they turn out to be good dancers.