Anupama Mohan

Anupama Mohan is a respected and celebrated Kuchipudi dancer. Born into a noble household, her family was Zamindars descendant in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh. So usually, women from this kind of family background were not allowed to even step out of the house. But as she was born to be a dancer, Anupama’s father, Venkaiha Naidu, identified her talent and took her to Kotah Subramania Shastri to train her in the art of dance. Then when she came to Chennai to visit her relatives at the age of eight, she was taken to her guru, the legendary dancer Vempatti Chinna Satyam. She was asked to perform, and Mr. Satyam was not only astonished by her but also offered to train her in his academy. Her most unforgettable dance performance was for former Indian President, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. After that, she got many opportunities to perform in places like Italy, Egypt, Paris, etc. She was noticed by her now-husband director Mohan, and he wanted to cast her in his movie, and Randu Penkuttikal became her debut film and also the initial point of her real-life story. By the time their next motion picture together got over, they got married. Both of them got strong opposition from their families, but they withstood it all and started their life together. Then she left the cinema world and got more focused on starting her dance academy. Satyanjali Academy of Kuchipudi was Anupama’s dream academy and it gained so much popularity in just a few years. Anupama Mohan has been successfully training many dancers and artistes from her academy, and alongside, she has also performed in over thousand shows and dance festivals in India and around the globe. Given her humbleness, even though she has been sought-after after many years, she still considers herself as a student who first came to learn Kuchipudi from her mentor. One of the remarkable moments in Anupama’s life was when she received the Yuva Narthaki Award in the year 1974 for her incredible dedication towards classical dance. It was the time when the academy of her guru received the Natya Visharada title that Anupama Mohan was in the seventh heaven.