One day in 1937, two young long-haired women in saris stepped into a small photo studio in Madras. They changed into striped pyjama suits and struck a pose ? in front of the studio camera. One of them leaned languidly against a chair, while the other’s eyes focused on something outside the frame. Both of them held cigarettes.
The world-renowned Carnatic vocalist MS Subbulakshmi and the legendary Bharatanatyam dancer Balasaraswati were just having a bit of fun.
“The two teenaged friends both became world-famous artists,” wrote Douglas Knight J in the biography Balasaraswati: Her Art & Life. “From strictly disciplined households, the two asserted their independence by secretly arranging this photograph of themselves dressed outrageously in Western-style sleepwear and pretending to smoke cigarettes.”
This iconic photograph was first made public only 73 years later, in the 2010 biography of Balasaraswati penned by her son-in-law Douglas Knight J. By this time, the successful careers of these artists were so highly revered over decades, almost deified, that this picture quite suddenly threw light on a whole new aspect of their lives – just two young friends attempting to do something unconventional.
The stir caused by the release of the photograph among fans of both luminaries is perhaps understandable, particularly in the case of Subbulakshmi.
According to TJS George’s biography M.S. Subbulakshmi: The Definitive Biography, Subbalakshmi’s career and public image was steered and moulded by Sadashivam, her husband and mentor, from that of a talented young devadasi – a community that has traditionally taken to performing arts – to an the ideal, devout Brahmin wife.
While Balasaraswati followed the matrilineal traditions of the devadasis by staying with her extended family in her original home, and taking a partner who also supported her art, this was not the case with Subbulakshmi. Nevertheless, both of them went on to be lifelong friends.
“It is a very important picture that goes to show that not everyone was born with a nine-yard saree or does everything with tradition,” Knight notes in his book. “That is our own perspective, and we don’t like things that fall out of it. We all need a jolt sometimes.”
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https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/fyi/story/m-s-subbulakshmi-t-balasaraswathi-1937-pyjamas-cigarettes-portrait-13954-2016-06-13
Breaking Stereotypes Back In 1937
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