Career
Shobana made her début in the Malayalam cinema April 18 at the age of fourteen. The movie was directed by Balachandra Menon. She acted alongside Mammootty in Kanamarayathu (1984). The same year she entered the Tamil film industry and acted in Enakkul Oruvan directed by S. P. Muthuraman alongside Kamal Haasan. In the subsequent years, she acted in many Tamil films. She acted with Rajinikanth in films like Siva and Thalapathi, the latter being directed by Mani Ratnam became a landmark film in her career. Shobhana was a leading heroine in Telugu film industry as well. Shobana won her first National Film Award for Best Actress from the government of India in 1994 for her brilliant performance in Fazil's Manichitrathazhu. She received her second National award for best actress in 2001 for her role in the English language film Mitr, My Friend, directed by Revathi. Shobhana is an accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer. She did her dance training at the Chidambaram academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her guru is the legendary Bharatanatyam dancer Chitra Visweswaran. Shobhana is famed for her Abhinaya, a pivotal element in Bharatanatyam. She performed in Kuala Lumpur before the King and Queen of Malaysia. Shobhana started performing in prestigious Soorya Music & Dance festival organized by Soorya Krishnamoorthy from the year 1994. Shobhana's skilled execution of dance movements and her extraordinary beauty has led many to consider her as the most beautiful South Indian actress from the 1980s through the 1990s. She is often equalled to the curvaceous beauty of Indian sculptures. Shobana is well recognized for her performance in the movie Rudra Veena with Chiranjeevi. She was also a part of Mani Ratnam's stage show, Netru, Indru, Naalai.
In 1994, Shobana founded a school for classical Bharatanatyam in Chennai – Kalarpana. The aim of Kalarpana is to organize annual festivals throughout India. This includes performances of nationally and globally known artistes to help raise funds that will be ploughed back into training talented artistes who are financially insecure. Under its umbrella, Kalarpana extends its support to the handicapped and the environmental movement.
Read more about this topic: Shobana
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“What exacerbates the strain in the working class is the absence of money to pay for services they need, economic insecurity, poor daycare, and lack of dignity and boredom in each partner’s job. What exacerbates it in upper-middle class is the instability of paid help and the enormous demands of the career system in which both partners become willing believers. But the tug between traditional and egalitarian models of marriage runs from top to bottom of the class ladder.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)
“Clearly, society has a tremendous stake in insisting on a woman’s natural fitness for the career of mother: the alternatives are all too expensive.”
—Ann Oakley (b. 1944)
“I seemed intent on making it as difficult for myself as possible to pursue my “male” career goal. I not only procrastinated endlessly, submitting my medical school application at the very last minute, but continued to crave a conventional female role even as I moved ahead with my “male” pursuits.”
—Margaret S. Mahler (1897–1985)