Dance is a strong way to express oneself, and Amala Akkineni had experienced this during her days of rigorous training at Kalakshetra in Chennai. But, ultimately, it was acting that was her true calling. Launching a documentary, Stories of Telangana - Perini Nattyam, at Annapurna Studios recently, the dancer-turned-actor opened up to CE about her love for dance, how it helps kill the demons within us and her transition into films.
“Having been a dancer myself, I understand that the training in any dance form is extremely rigorous. You are confronted with all the possible limitations. It’s only if you cross over all of them can you truly become a dancer. When you are recognised as an artiste, you represent the art form,” she said at the event on Monday, which coincided with the 100th birth anniversary of dance guru Padma Shri Dr Nataraja Ramakrishna.
The documentary by D Sameer Kumar, an alumnus of Annapurna College of Film and Media, aims to revive Perini Thandavam, an ancient dance form from Telangana. “Perni was used to enthuse warriors when they went for battle. While this may not be the purpose anymore, I can say that it helps you fight the enemies within. It gives you the courage, valour and vigour to fight these demons — diabetes, sedentary lifestyle or hesitation to take a decision in life. It is a great form of yoga too,” Amala said, terming it the showcase of Telangana’s art and culture.
Amala also shared some interesting thoughts about classical dancers today. “There are often these efforts to regenerate enthusiasm about an art form, and it ends up becoming like mass production. I would give this less value as it may not do justice when it comes to an individual gaining out of the art form. If you do a six-month crash course, your Aranyam and say that you have learnt the art form, then your in some kind of a delusion. You have not really experienced what an art form is,” she said.
For Amala, who juggles many roles with ease (acting, social activities and running a college), moving from dance to movies was a long journey and a life-changing one. “I started dancing when I was very young; it had established a deep sense of discipline, excitement and adventure. I used to travel so much with the troop, got to know about different cultures and interacted with the country’s best dancers. It was an enriching part of my life. This paved the way to my film career,” she said.
Dance complimented her acting career, and the transition was but natural for her. “A dancer needs a fit and strong body; I would not be able to keep that vigour my whole life. It made a nice transaction so that I could go into more diverse roles. Somewhere, classical dance limited me to a traditional woman. But, I was a contemporary girl at heart. So, transacting into more modern stories across India, I was able to connect with different cultures, languages and industries. It was perfect. Acting was my true calling,” she said.
Amala strongly feels that documentaries are a great platform to showcase long-lost culture. “As filmmakers we can only hope that he (Sameer) has done his best and that with every episode he improves and understands more. In dance, we gain the attention of the audience; the same is done by filmmakers as well,” she said.
Meanwhile, she was all praise for Sameer and his work. “He has worked on several projects, but this one is close to his heart as it is about history and culture. When we came up with this idea, I was delighted,” she said.
Sameer, on the other hand, will soon be experimenting with different areas of Telangana’s history. “Perini Nattayam took almost a year to get into shape. We will soon extend this project with other topics,” he said.