Finally, thanks to Minai, we get to see clips of Kamala dancing during her legendary “Baby” prodigy days of the early ’40s. Specifically, there are two scenes up from 1943. One, her short dance in Kismet, was actually a major breakthrough for her, but I think the other, from Ram Rajya, is even better.
For a long time, I have wondered why we never got to see any Kamala dances on YouTube or Dailymotion that came from films made before 1947. (There is one scene on YouTube from the Tamil version of Meera, which came out in 1945, but it only shows Kamala briefly standing in her Kirishna pose. Nivedita aka Alaknanda posted great dances from the Hindi version of that movie, but that came out in 1947. And, of course, you can find Kamala’s dances from Naam Iruvar (1947), but the best dances aren’t even separated; they have to be found somewhere in the middle of full, ten-plus-minute installments of the film.) Historically, it was BABY Kamala who made bharatanatyam a popular and respectable ingredient in Indian cinema, and BABY Kamala whose influence via cinema led many parents to send their small girls for bharatanatyam training way back in the early ’40s, at least five years before anyone got to see films featuring the Travancore Sisters or Vyjayanthimala. So why haven’t we gotten to see those earlier dances online?
Clearly, from what Minai says, it’s not lack of availability, since the VCDs for these films are available from Induna. So, the only answer is simple neglect. But Minai has somewhat corrected that problem (not only on her blog but on YouTube also, or at least it seems this is her site, despite the mysteriously different user name).
And by the way, I was so inspired by seeing these new postings of Baby Kamala, that I finally put together a Kamala playlist. There are only 19 videos in this one (with only 17 that have Kamla’s fantastic dancing, while two just have those brief flashes of her dressed up as Krishna in the middle of beautiful songs by M.S. Subbulaxmi - but how could I not include those also?)… Still, that’s probably more than twice as many as I would have hoped to find online just a year ago. And it would be great to be able to add more to that list sometime…
What fantastic dancing, totally classical! And Ia m ashamed to say I had never heard of Baby Kamala before this.
Thanks for compiling the playlist, I shall enjoy going through it.
In the 1st one from Ram Rajy, who is the companion to Baby Kamala? Really good dancer as well.
Thanks for the link and mention Richard! I loved your explanation and completely agree that her most important dances are her earliest in terms of her contribution to classical dance. As to your question about the owner of the YouTube account, let’s just say that I have many, many accounts on different sites to try to avoid all videos disappearing in one go should I have any problems like I did a few years back. :)
Bawa, hope you enjoyed the playlist! I think I learned of Kamala Lakshman first while reading up on the history of bharatanatyam in Indian cinema. (I might have seen her in, say, Chori Chori before that, but without identifying the dancer. Unfortunately, I bet that’s the case for a lot of people.) I would guess that’s she’s known more to Tamil film fans and to big fans of bharatanatyam than to people who are more focused on Hindi cinema. She never did cross over to Bollywood stardom, though her dancing in Bollywood films is as good as anyone’s – or even better…
Minai, it is good to see that you are as crazy about the old Kamala dances these days as I am. :) And you should open up as many sites as you need to – as long as we can continue to find them!
I agree about Baby Kamala being a great dancer. Nice playlist, but are you sure it is Kamala in Meera? I thought I read somewhere that it was Radha, M S’s step-daughter?
Hello, Vidur. Glad you agree about Kamala’s dancing! Kamala played Krishna in Meera; Baby Radha played Meera in the childhood scenes and flashbacks.
Oh! Thanks for ridding me of my confusion