Mallika Sarabhai

Some Lesser Known Facts About Mallika Sarabhai

• She is the daughter of the Indian space scientist- Vikram Sarabhai and the Mrinalini Sarabhai, founder of Darpana Academy of Performing Arts.

• Her mother was also a dancer and she started learning dancing when she was very young. At the age of 15, she also started her acting career.

• She played the role of ‘Draupadi’ in the Peter Brook’s play ‘The Mahabharata’.

• She has won many accolades for her dancing ability: the Golden Star Award, which she won for the Best Dance Soloist, Theatre De Champs Elysees, Paris.

• She manages the ‘Darpana Academy of Performing Arts’, which was founded by her mother.

• Her performance of ‘Sita’s daughters’ has been performed over 500 times in three languages all over the world.

•  She also wrote the script for the play ‘Unsuni’ based on Harsh Mander’s book ‘Unheard Voices’ to raise awareness amongst children.

• In 2012, she, along with Yadavan Chandran & Swiss pianist Elizabeth Sombart, co-directed ‘Women with Broken Wings,’ an ode to the millions of women who have been the victims of violence.

• She also recreated Kadak Badshaahi, a play based on the 603-year-old history of Ahmedabad city, which ran for an unprecedented 33 full nights.

• She has anchored many shows on STAR TV and Doordarshan including the first NACO series on HIV, Talk Positive, etc.

• She is also an activist, who has always worked for woman enpowerment and environmental consciousness.

•  She is also a writer, has been a columnist for Times of India, Vanitha, The Week, DivyaBhaskar, Hansand DNA.

•  On 19 March 2009, she announced her candidature against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani for the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat. But she lost to L K Advani by a huge margin and forfeited her election deposit in the process.

• In 2011, she also protested against Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi during Sadbhavna Mission and she accused Narendra Modi of scuttling the petition filed in Supreme court by her on the 2002 Gujarat riots.

• She later joined the Aam Aadmi Party on 8 January 2014.