More than just a dancer

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Growing up in Britain, Uttara Sukanya Joshi, a young multi-talented artist, credits Amar Chitra Katha for inspiring her with love for Indian history and mythology and in turn, a wide range of arts.

It is very difficult to pin a label on London-born Uttara, who is a dancer, singer, voice over artist, self-trained painter and artist.
Trained as a Kathak dancer under Vishnupriya Pawar, Uttara is also pursuing classical singing and recently sung a ghazal by Indian poet and film lyricist Nida Fazli at a function in the House of Lords. Singing and poetry recitation, says Uttara, who is pursuing her master’s degree in English literature, have been part of her life since childhood. However, she has only recently started singing in public.
“My parents tell me I used to sing even before I learnt how to talk. I grew up with old Hindi songs and love those songs,” says Uttara, who is game for singing playback for Hindi films too.
“I learnt classical vocal music on and off while growing up, but studies always took precedence. It’s only recently that I have started learning from a teacher,” reveals Uttara.
Having pursued acting and theatre in school, Uttara also is a keen voiceover artist. “I have done voiceovers before and it is something I want to pursue definitely along with my other interests,” she says. The colourful Amar Chitra Katha comics have always induced a love for sketching in Uttara. “I would love to draw Japanese-manga style comics on inspirational Indian women.” She agrees that being a single child helped her develop a range of artistic interests. “The benefit of being alone and spending time on your own is that you can reflect on things and dwell on your inner creativity. There is a beauty in being on your own.” The young talented artist has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and is even considering pursuing cross-cultural psychology along with her wide interests in Indian art and culture. “It would be interesting to look at bi-culturalism, given my upbringing in two cultures.”
Describing Rajput queen Rani Durgavati as one of her role models, Uttara is keen to work on a stage play about this historical figure or even a film script. “I feel she is not well-known in India and her life is inspirational.”