Roshan Kumari

Roshan Kumari Biography

Roshan Kumari is a renowned classical dancer, actor and choreographer, best known as a Kathak dancer. She has also appeared as a dancer on Bollywood screen. One of the foremost dancers of Kathak, she follows the Jaipur Gharana. She founded Nritya Kala Kendra in Mumbai where she teaches Kathak. She is the daughter of renowned singer, Zohrabai Ambalewali. For her overall contributions towards the field of arts, especially dance forms, Government of India honoured her with the fourth highest civilian honour - Padma Shri in 1984. Sangeet Natak Akademi honoured her with Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1975. She is also a recipient of many more honours and prestigious titles like Nritya Shiromani, Nritya Vilas etc.

Roshan Kumari was born on a Christmas Eve in Ambala, Haryana. Her full name is Roshan Kumari Fakir Mohammad. She was born into a family of arts and music. Her mother Zohrabai Ambalewali was an Indian classical singer and playback singer in Hindi cinema in the 1930s and 1940s (first generation of playback singers). Her father Choudhury Fakir Mohammed was a noted Tabla player. Though both her parents associated with music and established their names in the field, Roshan Kumari chose dance as her career path. She received initial training in Kathak from K. S. Moray.

She continued training under Sunder Prasad at Maharaj Bindaddin School of Kathak, Mumbai, followed by Ghulam Hussain Khan and Hanuman Prasad. She also learnt Bharat Natyam from Govindraj Pillai and Mahalingam Pilai. Over the years she has performed across India at cultural events and dance festivals and has performed before Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Nikita Khrushchev etc. She was first seen on big screen in 1953 film Parineeta directed by Bimol Roy. She was later seen in Basant Bahar, Jalsaghar etc. With mid-1970s she turned a choreographer of Hindi films. She is unmarried and currently lives in Mumbai.

Published: February 15, 2019

Updated: February 15, 2019