On Sunday (27 December) morning, Padma Shri dance historian and critic Sunil Kothari aged 87 passed away at a Delhi hospital after he suffered a cardiac arrest a month after testing positive for coronavirus.
“He had tested positive for COVID-19 almost a month back and was not in a good condition,” Vidha Lal, a family friend and herself a dancer, told PTI.
Kothari was recovering at home in Asian Games Village but was rushed to a hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest this morning, she added.
Born on December 20, 1933, in Mumbai, Kothari qualified as a Chartered Accountant before turning to the study of Indian dance forms.
“After the performance, he rushed backstage and looked at me and said ‘apsara! apsara! (fairy) in his normal enthusiastic voice. He was not somebody who would just come for the dance, he would even come for the rehearsals, he would talk to everybody present, he wanted to know the whole process. He was part of a very important dance movement,” Ratnam said.
The dance scholar held the Uday Shankar Chair in Rabindra Bharati University and taught in the Dance Department of New York University as a Fulbright Professor.
Kothari received numerous titles and awards for his contribution to Indian dance forms including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1995); the Gaurav Puraskar conferred by the Gujarat Sangeet Natak Akademi (2000); the Padma Shri bestowed by the Government of India (2001); and the Life Time Achievement Award of the Dance Critics Association, New York, USA (2011). He was also an elected Fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi for his contribution to Indian dance as a scholar.
Kothari was among the 27 artistes who were served notice in November to evict their government-allotted homes by December 31.
The dance historian had said he felt “humiliated” on being served the “get out” notice.
“I am a Padma Shri and Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee. I have written several books on Indian classical dance forms and allied art forms and have been part of many committees, and this is what my government gives me to return.
“I feel humiliated that at this age I have been sent, what I call a ‘get out’ notice, and asked to leave the place which has been home to me for the past 20 years,” he had told PTI.
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