Kala (choreographer)
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Kala, known professionally as Kala Master, is an Indian choreographer. She is the director of the Indian reality dance talent show, ''
Maanada Mayilada ''Maanada Mayilada'' is an Indian dance competition show airing from 2007 till 2015 on Kalaignar TV. The show was conceived, produced and directed by noted choreographer Kala Master. She is also one of the judges and the only constant judge t ...
'' – where she is one of the three judges. She was awarded the
National Film Award for Best Choreography The National Film Award for Best Choreography is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Kamal (Sil ...
in 2000 for her folk dance sequences in the
Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...
film, ''
Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal ''Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal'' () is a 2000 Indian Malayalam-language family drama film written and directed by Sathyan Anthikkad from a story by C. V. Balakrishnan. It stars Jayaram, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Kalidas Jayaram, Innocent, and Kavya ...
''. She is also classically trained in
Bharatanatyam ''Bharatanatyam'' is a Indian classical dance form that came from Tamil Nadu, India. It is a classical dance form recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas of Hinduism and Jainism.< ...
,
Kuchipudi ''Kuchipudi'' ( ) is one of the eight major Indian classical dances. It originates from a village named Kuchipudi in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Kuchipudi is a dance-drama performance, with its roots in the ancient Hindu Sanskrit ...
and
Kathak ''Kathak'' is one of the eight major forms of Classical Indian dance, Indian classical dance. Its origin is attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern India known as ''Kathakar'' ("storyteller"), who communicated stories from the ...
dance forms.


Career

A trained classical dancer with the Nritya Kalanithi award for Bharatanatyam in 1990, Kala, a school drop out, entered the film industry through the influence of her brother-in-law, the choreographer Raghuram. Making her debut as an assistant choreographer at the age of 12 in 1982, she got a break during the making of ''
Punnagai Mannan ''Punnagai Mannan'' () is a 1986 Indian Tamil-language musical romantic drama film written and directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Kamal Haasan and Revathi in the lead roles, with Srividya, Rekha, Delhi Ganesh, Sudarshan and Sundar Kri ...
'' in 1986 starring
Kamal Haasan Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...
and
Revathi Asha Kelunni Nair (born 8 July 1966), better known by her stage name Revathi, is an Indian actress and director, known for her works predominantly in Tamil cinema, Tamil and Malayalam cinema - in addition to Telugu language, Telugu, Hindi and ...
, as director K. Balachander suggested Kala fill in for the busy Raghuram. She was then chosen again by Balachandar as the lead choreographer for '' Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal'' (1989). She has since worked in over 4000 songs in various languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada, Oriya, Bengali, English, Italian and Japanese. She has referred to the "Kozhi Koovum Neram achu" song in ''
Azhagan ''Azhagan'' () () is a 1991 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by K. Balachander and produced by Kovai Chezhiyan. It stars Mammootty in the lead role with an ensemble supporting cast, including Bhanupriya, Geetha, Madhoo (in her Tam ...
'' as one of her leading pieces of work and also referred actress Bhanupriya as her favorite dancer. She was handed the opportunity to choreograph the Miss World 1996 Beauty Pageant held at Bangalore for which she received a special award of excellence. Moreover, she notes that a stage event in Malaysia featuring
Prashanth Prashanth Thiagarajan (born 6 April 1973), known professionally as Prashanth, is an Indian actor, businessman, playback singer and film producer known for his works predominantly in Tamil cinema. Besides Tamil films, he has also appeared in f ...
and seven heroines, propelled her into fame. She was awarded the
National Film Award for Best Choreography The National Film Award for Best Choreography is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Kamal (Sil ...
in 2000 for her folk dance sequences in the Malayalam film, ''
Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal ''Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal'' () is a 2000 Indian Malayalam-language family drama film written and directed by Sathyan Anthikkad from a story by C. V. Balakrishnan. It stars Jayaram, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Kalidas Jayaram, Innocent, and Kavya ...
''. She became the first to start a cinematic dance school named Kala's Kalalaya which has five branches in Chennai. She manages it along with her sisters. Kala's merit is in popularising a peculiar dance form, cobbled together with borrowings from classical, Indian folk, bhangra and western steps. She also won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Choreographer for her work in ''
Chandramukhi ''Chandramukhi'' () is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language psychological comedy horror film written and directed by P. Vasu. It is a remake of Vasu's Kannada film '' Apthamitra'' (2004) which itself was based on the Malayalam film '' Manichitrathaz ...
''. She has since gone to specialise in directing dance reality shows, notably ''
Maanada Mayilada ''Maanada Mayilada'' is an Indian dance competition show airing from 2007 till 2015 on Kalaignar TV. The show was conceived, produced and directed by noted choreographer Kala Master. She is also one of the judges and the only constant judge t ...
'', which has finished nine seasons. She is currently judging dance reality show Odi Vilayadu Papa in
Kalaignar TV Kalaignar TV is a Tamil-language general entertainment pay television channel based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The channel was launched on 15 September 2007 as Kalaignar, and is named after former Chief minister of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidh ...
.


Selected filmography


Choreographer


Singer


Personal life

Kala was born into a family of seven girls and revealed that she was brought up in a one-room house during her childhood. An elder sister, Jayanthi, first started dancing and acted as heroine in two films – ''
Uthiripookkal ''Uthiripookkal'' () is a 1979 Indian Tamil-language drama film, written and directed by Mahendran. Based on the short story "Chitrannai" () by Pudhumaipithan, it stars Vijayan, Ashwini and Madhu Malini. The film focuses on a sadistic man w ...
'' and ''Poottatha Pookkal''. Kala’s second sister Girija learned Bharatanatyam at Kalakshetra; and went on to work with choreographers Thangam and later Raghuram Master, whom she married afterwards, and also become an independent choreographer. Kala was the sixth daughter, while Brinda, a leading choreographer, is her youngest sister. One of her nephews, Prasanna Sujit, is also a film choreographer. Her niece Master Gayathri Raghuram, daughter of late Raghuram Master and her sister Girija is also a choreographer and an actor. She has also introduced another niece Keerthi, daughter of Jayanthi Master and wife of actor
Shanthanu Bhagyaraj Shanthanu Bhagyaraj (born 24 August 1986) is an Indian actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. The son of actors K. Bhagyaraj and Poornima Bhagyaraj, Shanthanu appeared as a child artist in his father's '' Vettiya Madichu Kattu'' ( ...
, as an anchor in her dance reality show ''Manada Mayilada''. Kala was previously married to
UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...
-based businessman, Govindarajan in 1997, who is the brother of actress Sneha. Kala had initially shifted to
Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
after her marriage but problems prompted her to return to Chennai and take up choreographing again. The pair got divorced in 1999, and soon after Kala and Brindha controversially made derogatory comments about Sneha's dancing ability to a magazine.Tamil movies : Dancing sisters’ war dance against Sneha
. Behindwoods.com (7 July 2006). Retrieved 2013-11-30. She married Mahesh in 2004. It was a love marriage. The couple has a son Vidyuth, born in 2007.


Television


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Master, Kala Indian film choreographers Living people Artists from Chennai Indian women choreographers Indian choreographers Indian female dancers 1971 births Dancers from Tamil Nadu Women artists from Tamil Nadu 21st-century Indian women artists 21st-century Indian dancers Best Choreography National Film Award winners