At 77, Hema Malini Dances as Goddess Durga in Navratri Ballet

Hema Malini gave Navratri its first big classical-music moment this year, returning to the stage as Goddess Durga in her most popular dance production at 77. The actor-politician performed on October 11 at the Classic Convention Centre in Telangana as part of the Agarwal Samaj’s Agra Dandiya Navratri celebrations, an evening that also marked Maharaja Agrasen Jayanti.

A first-night blessing

For Malini, opening the festival with the Durga ballet is more than a performance. She shared images from the stage and told followers it felt like a blessing, writing that presenting her most loved ballet on the first day of Navratri was ‘a lovely, special feeling’ and that she felt ‘truly blessed’.

The response online was immediate. Admirers described the performance as graceful and beautiful, with one fan recalling how kind Malini had been to her young daughter when they met in Vrindavan.

Why this still resonates

Malini’s Durga ballet sits at the junction of two identities: a star whose screen career spans decades and a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. Her stage work began with Meera, choreographed by Bhushan Lakhandri, which became the debut production of Natyavihar Kala Kendra, and continued with Ramayana, adapted from the Ramcharitmanas.

Her dance dramas draw on Hindu mythology and let her move through different forms of the goddess while combining classical movement, storytelling and devotion. She also performs Parampara with her daughters Esha and Ahana Deol, describing the family production as a way of carrying their artistic heritage forward.

• Meera: her first dance-drama, choreographed by Bhushan Lakhandri, launched Natyavihar Kala Kendra.
• Ramayana: adapted from the Ramcharitmanas.
• Durga: a Navratri favourite, now performed again at 77.
• Parampara: a mother-daughters production with Esha and Ahana Deol.

A festival tradition, not a farewell

This is not the first time Malini has made the Durga narrative part of Navratri. Two years ago she performed a two-hour dance drama in Mathura on the fourth day of the festival; Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla attended and, she later told ANI, praised the work. The Telangana show continues that rhythm.

For Hindi film fans, the images matter because they show a star still delivering on a form she has practised for decades. Malini has said the fulfilment she feels after dance cannot be compared with making a film. If you are discovering this side of her work, Parampara with Esha and Ahana is the next production to seek out.

Source: India Today