Rukmini Vijayakumar is an

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n choreographer,

Bharatanatyam ''Bharatanatyam'' is a Indian classical dance form that came from Tamil Nadu, India. It is a classical dance form recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas of Hinduism and Jainism.< ...

dancer, and actress. Along with her performances on stage, she has appeared in films such as '' Ananda Thandavam'' (2009), '' Bhajarangi'' (2013), '' Kochadaiyaan'' (2014), ''

Final Cut of Director ''Final Cut of Director'' is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language thriller film written and directed by Bharathiraja. The film stars Nana Patekar and Arjun Sarja, with Rukmini Vijayakumar, Kajal Aggarwal, Niyamat Khan, Vatsal Sheth, Ranjitha and ...

'' (2016), '' Kaatru Veliyidai'' (2017), and '' Sita Ramam'' (2022). Rukmini is the artistic director of Raadha Kalpa dance company, and the director of LshVa, an art space. She is the founder of The Raadha Kalpa Method, a pedagogical system of training classical Indian, and particularly Bharatanatyam, dancers. Rukmini's approach to Bharatanatyam is dedicated, rigorous and layered. She has presented her work as a soloist all over the world, including venues such as the Jacobs Pillow festival, Drive East NYC, and the Korzo Theater. Recently she played ‘the goddess of love’ in ‘Sukanya’, produced by The Royal Opera house in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Career

She studied

under Guru Narmada, Guru Padmini Rao and Guru Sundari Santhanam. She practiced the Karanas for several years under Guru Sundari Santhanam, a senior disciple of Guru Padma Subramanyam. Rukmini holds a BFA degree from the Boston Conservatory in

Ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

and

Modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert dance, concert or theatrical dance which includes dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th ...

. She has studied acting at the

New York Film Academy New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a Private college, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit film school and Drama school, acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles metropolitan ar ...

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while also learning under director Prakash Belawadi during her stay in India. She has studied subjects on Fitness Training at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and Anatomy and Physiology at The Boston University. Rukmini's process of creation is both traditional and contemporary. She was a recipient of the Jiri Kylian grant for choreography and a resident choreographer at Korzo theater, Netherlands in 2018. Her productions, aniruth, Prabhavati, Abhimata, Talattu and The Dark Lord have toured b India and the world extensively. Her more recent work, Turiya, MALA, The Muse and Unrequited were created within the contemporary idiom and have been appreciated for their creative approach to the bharatanatyam vocabulary. She made her debut in Gandhi Krishna's 2009 romantic film '' Ananda Tandavam'' as Ratna alongside Siddharth Venugopal and Tamannaah, but the film was a commercial and critical failure. Rukmini then signed up to appear in ''

Naan Naan () is a leavened, oven-baked or tawa-fried flatbread, that can also be baked in a tandoor. It is characterized by a light and fluffy texture and golden-brown spots from the baking process. Naan is found in the cuisines of Central Asia ...

'', once again alongside Siddharth Venugopal, but the film ran into production trouble and she opted against appearing in the film when it began again in 2010. Moreover, another project, ''Oru Naal Podhuma'' directed by Pratap Pothan and featuring Madhavan in the lead role, was also cancelled soon after announcement. In 2012, Rukmini was approached for

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 170 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, ...

s sister's role in '' Kochadaiyaan''. The role was earlier to be enacted by Sneha, who opted out citing date issues. In 2016, her delayed Hindi suspense thriller film ''

'' (also partially made in Tamil as ''Bommalattam'') by

Bharathiraja Bharathiraja ( born 17 July 1941) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor who works mainly in the Tamil film industry. Making his debut in 1977 with ''16 Vayathinile'', he is known for realistic and sensitive portrayals of ...

released. In the film, she plays Trishna alongside an ensemble cast of Arjun,

Nana Patekar Vishwanath Patekar (born 1 January 1951), better known as Nana Patekar, is an Indian actor, film maker, mainly working in Hindi language, Hindi and Marathi language, Marathi cinema. Widely regarded as one of the finest and most influential actors ...

and Kajal Aggarwal. The film features her as a mysterious debutant actress who is hidden from the media, with the film eventually revealing that her character was actually a male, made to dress up by the director. The film opened to positive reviews, with critics terming her performance as "definitely a surprise package".

Personal life

Rukmini is married to Rohan Menon.

Dance productions

Filmography

References

External links

Official website

Raadha Kalpa
in the LshVa Art Space * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vijayakumar, Rukmini Actresses in Tamil cinema Living people Artists from Hyderabad, India Dancers from Telangana Indian female classical dancers Bharatanatyam exponents Dancers from Andhra Pradesh Actresses from Hyderabad, India Indian women choreographers Indian choreographers 21st-century Indian actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema Indian film actresses Year of birth missing (living people)