Serving art forms

Dancer, writer, art lover and President of Jindal Steel & Power Limited, Shallu Jindal, speaks of her passion for Kuchipudi and the tribal art form, Dhokra

Shallu Jindal is a multi-talented, charismatic and accomplished personality of substance and sophisticated style. She is the wife of Naveen Jindal, and the president of Jindal Steel & Power Limited. She believes and excels in meaningful and wide-ranging, ‘direct to the deserving’ social, charitable and welfare activity and is a philanthropist in her own right. This doe-eyed and slender beauty appreciates art, promotes culture and has worked relentlessly towards becoming arguably, one of the leading exponents of the great Indian classical dance Kuchipudi.

Shallu Jindal believes in destiny and says, “I have taken whatever comes my way. Be it Kuchipudi or to be the president of Jindal Steel & Power Limited.” About her gurus, she says, “When I was on a pilgrimage to Tirupati, I saw famous Kuchipudi exponents Raja, Radha and Kaushalya Reddy, also in the queue. I went up to them and introduced myself and said that I loved watching them whenever they performed in Delhi. We exchanged numbers and I trained under them 14 years ago. I want to promote Kuchipudi,” says Shallu, who practices her art even today.

Recently she performed in London and she says it was because of the contribution of her gurus, “ The position that Kuchipudi occupies in Indian classical dance tradition today is a tribute to the insight and effort of this duo whose performance over the years has held audiences spell-bound not only in India but all over the world. They bring to this age-old dance form perfection of technique, grace, style and individual mastery.”

She is also setting up schools for training in performing arts. “I want to create a school where students from all parts of the country can come and learn. In the coming five years, I plan to start two art centers - in Delhi and Odisha, and I may name them Jindal Center for Arts.”

She spends a large chunk of her time playing a pivotal role in humane and significant social issues such as woman empowerment, education, health, and art. “I want to promote art forms. I shifted to Raipur after my marriage and we used to go to a tribal area where I found an interesting art form called Dhokra, which many of us don’t know about.

It was then that I thought of providing artistes from the tribal hinterland of the country a national platform to promote, preserve and propagate their art forms,” she explains. She also wants to organise a series of workshops, ‘Swayam Shilp’ (My Art), throughout the country on different forms of tribal arts and crafts from across India.

In her multi-faceted roles as dancer, avid lover of art, and mother of two; she juggles her time artfully and says she also enjoys writing. “I love the roles I play, and I am happy,” she concludes. She is the author of the books, ‘India: An Alphabet Ride’ and ‘Freedom’.