Sayee

Sayee was a Bharatnatyam dancer. She and Subbulakshmi were a twin dance duo. They always performed together in South Indian and Hindi films. They were legendary dancers and got most popularized in the 1950s and 60s. They got highly respected for their dancing skills and beautiful expressions. They were known for their synchronized dancing. The duo appeared in many films, they performed with the same enthusiasm in regional language films also. The twin duo comes from a big joint family. Their family members are well connected and known in the film industry. They are the descendants of Panrutti Adilakshmi, mother of Carnatic singers P.A. Rajamani and P.A. Periyanayaki.

They were popularly known as the Madras sisters. R. the Padma, who used to be the actress for Lux Beauty, was Sayee’s mother-in-law. R. the Padma also featured in the comedy film that got released in 1941 named Sabapathy. Sayee was the daughter of P.A. Rajamani, and Subbulakshmi was her cousin. She was three years older than her. Muthuswamy Pillai was the Nritya Guru who choreographed various dances for films since 1938. P.A. Periyanayaki went to Muthuswami Pillai when he was choreographing a dance for B.S. Saroja in the film Inbavalli at Salem Ratna Studios. She requested him to train the girls, and accepting her request Guru Ji stayed with the family. So that, he can exclusively teach the sister duo. Sayee was about three years old, and Subbulakshmi was five years old.

The girls used to have a strict training routine of 3 hours in the morning and 3-4 hours in the evening. He trained them for seven years. The sister duo received their formal training in Kathak from Gopal Krishna. Apart from dancing, they also appeared in minor roles in films. People loved them both. Sayee and Subbulakshmi also held stage shows. After the 1960s, the trend in Bollywood changed. And hence, the dancy style performed by the duo became unnoticed. Subbulakshmi started teaching Bharatnatyam to students. She was also felicitated with the Kalaimamani award in 2000 for her services. Sayee got married to V.S. Shantaram who was the eldest son of R.Padma. They had a son together. Sayee was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2010, and later she died the same year. They appeared in the film for the first time in 1954. It was a Tamil film, Malaikkallan, and performed the song Neeli Magan Nee Alleva O Amma O Ayya.