Legendary choreographer and contemporary dance pioneer Astad Deboo passed away on 10th December in Bombay. He was 73. He had been diagnosed with cancer just last month. Astad choreographed for films made by Mani Rathnam, Vishal Bhardwaj and also for M.F. Hussain’s Meenaxi: A Tale Of Three Cities.
Astad, who was trained in Kathak and Kathakali dance forms, had a body that was grace personified. He went on to blend other dance forms with the ones in which he was trained, so beautifully that Indians labelled his style Western but people abroad described his work as eclectic and oriental. He had been honoured with the Padma Shri. He was honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 1995. His shows on the national and international arena were looked forward to as he invariably offered something new in every show of his. Erstwhile APJ Abdul Kalam was moved to tears when Deboo performed with his troupe of deaf dancers in Rashtrapati Bhavan in the mid-2000s.
Despite his name and standing as a dancer and choreographer of repute, Astad Deboo found it difficult to get sponsors for his shows, something that he rued all his life.