2802
Shailaja Khanna
The first dancing duo in Indian classical dance, the first really popular solely Kuchipudi performers, the first joint Padma Bhushan awardees. Raja and Radha Reddy have many firsts to their name. In the 1960s, Kuchipudi dance was virtually unknown to the north of Vindhyas. Greats like Yamini Krishnamurthy and Indrani Rahman would occasionally include a Kuchipudi item like the famous thali dance (tarangam). The Reddys not only brought recognition to the dance form, but also a great deal of glamour. At the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London in 1974, after a performance with items depicting Lord Shiva, the press acclaimed the tall and handsome Raja as ‘The Black Shiva’. At a landmark performance at Avignon, France, the audience called them out nine times for standing ovations, and it was only after the duo did a shashtang namaskaram did the clamour die down. Sixty years after their debut, the tradition is being ably carried forward by the younger Reddys Yamini