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2 2 A Dancer with

A Dancer with

Determination
Determination

Warm-Up
Warm-Up
Sudha Chandran a leading Bharatanatyam dancer, overcame terrible odds to become an icon
of determination, courage, and a never-say-die spirit. She met with an accident when she
was 18 years old as a result of which, her right leg had to be amputated. She subsequently
overcame her disability with the help of a prosthetic or ‘Jaipur foot’, becoming one of the
most highly acclaimed dancers of India. The Hindi movie Naache Mayuri was inspired by
Sudha Chandran’s life story.

That night at Mumbai she danced for two-and-a-

half hours; and when she finished, the applause
just wouldn’t die out. That one single performance,
the first after her traumatic accident, turned her into
one of the most sensational stars the country had ever
seen and since then she has been invited to perform
all over the world. She is Sudha Chandran, a national
icon and a beacon of light for the disabled.

“I was too shocked to react. Actually, the reaction
came much later,” says Sudha, recalling the
traumatic accident, which occurred when she
was only eighteen years old. “Before I could
know much of life… at a time when I should

have been running around, this happened.
It was a big blow dealt by fate.”
The accident had occurred at midnight, while
Sudha and her mother were on their way to
Chennai from the pilgrimage centre of Vayalur. Their

bus collided head-on with another bus that crashed into
the driver’s seat killing him. Sudha was sitting two rows behind
the driver with her legs outstretched on the opposite seat. As a
result, her feet got jammed. She was extricated from the debris
with great difficulty as her right leg had been fully trapped.

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