Three to Tango!

While the festive background of Ganesh Pujan,saw prayers being offered to the deity.

Written by AmritaJain

September 19, 2010 04:52 AM IST

4 min read

While the festive background of Ganesh Pujan,saw prayers being offered to the deity,in a beautiful symbiosis of colour and vigour,the dance performance of Hema Malini and her daughters Esha and Ahana Deol at the Pune Festival too had a strong essence of the same. Donning the dancer’s costume along with her characteristic elegance and poise,Malini displayed not only her charismatic demeanor but also her dedication to the art form. Performing a tribute to Lord Ganpati at the inaugural function they filled the atmosphere with a lot of spark and grace. Speaking about her journey with the Pune Festival,the danseuse after a long pause says,”It’s been almost 16 years that I have been a part of this celebration. And what I love about this festival is the fact that though it has been growing year by year. The festival has always been a great stage for budding artistes to showcase various classical forms of dance.”

Malini was been accompanied by her daughters- Esha and Ahana Deol who also performed with her. Talking about the city,actress Esha Deol says,” I have been performing in the Pune festival for quite some time with Ma,and it is always a good experience coming to Pune. We got a tremendous response from the crowd.” In fact in the last 16 years that Hema Malini has been performing her daughters have been equally involved too. Says Aahana Deol,who is a fashion designer,” Last year,when Ma and my sis couldn’t make it,I had come down because this festival is important to my mother. I myself have grown up to like it and have enjoyed my performances here.”

Malini’s performance this year,was a ballet titled Nritya Surabhi,which has a social message attached to it. Composed of a subset called Naari,the ballet talks about women empowerment and promotes the girl child. Talking about how dance can be used to spread social awareness,Hema Malini says,” I think dance and for that matter any art form can be used to give out socially relevant messages to the audiences. So that is why Naari tries to send a message about the importance of women. I am also working on a new ballet titled ‘Ganga’ that it a two hour long ballet. It talks about the transition of the river and comes down to the fact that how we are destroying the holy river. I feel dance needs to tell stories,that way it attracts a wider audience and even successfully retains its classical flavour.” Adding more to it,Esha says,”I believe that dance is a great way to give out a message but I feel that we are easily drawn to western dance forms. I learn them myself but a balance needs to be maintained. More youngsters should opt for it.”

Malini who has been a director and also a producer,besides acting and dancing is currently working on her film,Tell me O Khuda starring daughter Esha Deol. “This film is about a girl’s journey in life,its a very heart warming story,” says the danseuse. And while Esha has followed her mother’s footsteps as an film actor,her sister Ahana plans to get into directing. She says,”I am not disinterested in acting,but I haven’t got anything yet that interests me. But yes apart from fashion designing I am currently working on some scripts and looking at direction as a career.”

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Ahana Deol