50 years of Bharatanatyam: Srinidhi Chidambaram on dance and why she declined film offers

Srinidhi Chidambaram excitedly shows me a video on her phone.

It shows her as a sprightly young child dancing in a Madras sabha in the 1970s. Cut to 2026, and she is still at it. Ushering her 50th year in Bharatanatyam, Srinidhi’s busy Margazhi calendar included two thematic margam presentations; one called Sagara Shayana and the other titled Daasarathy, both of which she says she enjoyed doing.

“I can’t believe that dance has been part of my life for 50 years,” she smiles, “People often asked if I’m sure of this landmark, but that is because I started so early; I started training under Smt. Kamala Lakshman when I was barely four. Being a child artiste herself, she was a believer in early initiation into the arts. By the time I started studying Medicine, I had already performed at the Music Academy. I see this year as one of gratitude, because I am deeply grateful for everyone – my family and gurus – and I want to give back to the arts community in some capacity.”

While she is also a medical professional – Srinidhi has been with Apollo Hospitals for over two decades – it is the arts that holds a special place in her heart; in fact, her current Instagram profile reads: Bharatanatyam artiste, doctor, dog mom and bibliophile… in that order. “My strength is multi-tasking. I like to balance my different roles – both in dance and medicine. I feel dancers are undervalued as management professionals because here, every performance requires planning, strategising, coordination with various people and handling crisis situations,” she says.

Dancer Srinidhi Chidambaram
| Photo Credit:
Thamodharan B

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In the Eighties, classical dancers were much sought-after to play the leading lady in Tamil cinema, an industry that was undergoing several changes in terms of craft and look. This propelled many classical dancers, including the likes of Amala, Revathy and Shobana, to take to the big screen. Srinidhi, too, has received a fair share of such offers, but chose to decline them. Why’s that? “I was always keen to pursue academics and medicine,” she stresses, “I was always inclined towards the sciences. Also, I’m an impatient person; the film industry process of repeatedly emoting for multiple takes for the camera seems like a long-drawn process.”

Srinidhi was reportedly considered to play Rajinikanth’s leading lady in director Mani Ratnam’s classic, Thalapathi (1991), a role that was finally played by another dancer (Shobana). “That is what Suhasini Mani Ratnam mentioned during an awards function,” recalls Srinidhi, “I thought it was a huge compliment…I mean, imagine! But I was not interested, because I feel that each of these arts require different spontaneity and craft.”