Happy Birthday to the Multi-Talented Mallika Sarabhai

Mallika Sarabhai is an activist, Indian classical dancer, and actress from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Let us wish her a very happy birthday. 

Mallika Sarabhai was born on 9 May 1953 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India to space scientist  Vikram Sarabhai and classical dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai. She completed her MBA from IIM Ahmedabad in 1974 and a Doctorate in Organisational Behaviour from Gujarat University in 1976.

She started to learn dancing when she was young and started her film career in the parallel cinema when she was 15. Mallika played the role of Draupadi in Peter Brook’s play ‘The Mahabharata’. Mallika has won many accolades during her long career, the Golden Star Award is one of them, which she won for the Best Dance Soloist, Théâtre De Champs Elysees, Paris 1977. 

She manages the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts located in Ahmedabad, a center for the arts and for the use of arts as a language for behavior change. She has also acted in a few movies. As well as a dancer, Sarabhai is a social activist. Mallika has also used film and television for social change, especially for women’s empowerment and environmental consciousness. She has scripted her shows. 

The government of Gujarat awarded her with ‘Gaurav Puraskar’ for her contribution to the field of drama and dance. She received the Padma Bhushan from the Government of India in 2010.