If Kuchipudi is recognised as a classical dance form today, it is because of the efforts of Dr Vempati Chinna Satyam. As his best student, Shobha Naidu, Kuchipudi dancer and principal of the Srinivasa Kuchipudi Art Academy, explains, “Kuchipudi was never considered a classical dance form because it is a dance drama. But Dr Vempati never agreed. He contended that it is also a classical dance and he proved it. And due to his efforts, the Cen-tral government recognised it as a classical dance.”

Dr Vempati Chinna Satyam was born on October 25, 1929 in the village of Kuchipudi into a family of dancers. Naturally, he was also inclined towards dance and was introduced to it by Vedantam Lakshmi Narayana Sastry, a master of the dance form. He was later trained by another master, Tadepally Perayya Sastry. By the time he was 18, he wanted to leave his village for Chennai to introduce the then nascent dance form to a wider audience.

“He believed that Chennai, being the cultural capital of South India, was the place where Kuchipudi should be exhibited. He used to say that we should get recognition from Chennai first,” Naidu says.

In Chennai, he trained with his cousin Vempati Pedda Satyam, sharpening his skills. Naidu says Pedda Satyam advised his cousin to do choreography for films first and then concentrate on the propagation of Kuchipudi. Vempati Pedda Satyam was already a known choreographer in the film industry then.

Dr Vempati assisted his cousin and did the choreography for many films including Lavakusa. Later on he began teaching the dance and propagating it. “He was not overly into films. He only occasionally choreographed,” says Naidu. Famous actors like Hema Malini, Vyjayanthi-mala and Chandrakala often requested him to choreograph their dances. And though they were originally groomed in Bharatan-atyam, they were trained in Kuchipudi by him.

Dr Vempati Chinna Satyam’s association with Shobha Naidu goes back to 1968 when she first started training under him. He had been running his Kuchipudi Art Academy in Chennai for five years. Naidu remembers him as a ruthless perfectionist, one who never compromised. “He would get very angry while teaching us. He used to scold and curse us very badly during training. He would ask us to go back to our native villages and resort to just cooking food in our homes. But he would calm down in a few minutes,” she recalls.

At the other end of the spectrum, his benevolence reflected in the fact that he supported and trained dancers from his village Kuchipudi at his dance academy. “He invited dancers from Kuchipudi and trained them. He paid for their costumes and jewellery. He housed them in small huts surrounding the academy,” Naidu says. Dr Satyam also paid them from the remuneration he earned. He always said that he suffered a lot due to poverty but the same should not happen to them.” Shobha Naidu says Dr Vempati Chinna Satyam was a perfectionist and narrates how she learnt this the hard way during a rehearsal for the play Chandalika in which she played an untouchable.

“My character is pelted by stones and I was supposed to cry. I was trying but I just wasn’t able to cry. He got so angry that he immediately called the show’s organiser and cancelled the show! I was shocked. It was raining and I went out in the rain and stood there getting drenched. His wife reported this to him and asked me why I was standing in the rain. I replied it was my punishment. Then I rehearsed again and got it right,” she recalls.

Dr Satyam was devoted to propagating Kuchipudi in every possible part of the world. He brought it out of its little village of origin and propelled it outside the country. He toured several parts of the world with his students and held plenty of ballets in different countries. “In a country like Saudi Arabia, which is very alien to Indian traditional dance, the people developed a liking for Kuchipudi. It was his ability to enchant audiences,” Naidu remarked. Dr Satyam was always worried about Kuchipudi and its journey and what its eventual fate would be, Naidu recalls.