Hema Malini mourns death of dance historian Sunil Kothari in an emotional post

Actor and politician Hema Malini took to social media to mourn the death of veteran dance historian Sunil Kothari. He passed away on Sunday after suffering a cardiac arrest. He had tested positive for Covid-19 a month ago.

In her post, Hema mentioned how Kothari encouraged her during her initial days of her career and also spoke about his passion for dance.

“Sunil Kothari, eminent dance critic has passed away.He was one of those who encouraged me in the initial stage of my career. He was a passionate lover of art, a spl person who took grt interest in classical dance and encouraged young dancers. Will truly miss u Sunilji” she wrote on Twitter.

Sunil Kothari authored more than 20 books on the subject of Indian dance forms including “Sattriya Dances of Assam”, “New Directions in Indian Dance”, and also on Bharatanatayam, Odissi, Chhau, Kathak, Kuchipudi, and Photo Biographies of Uday Shankar and Rukmini Devi Arundale.

He was also the recipient of numerous titles and awards for his contribution to Indian dance forms including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1995); the Gaurav Puraskar conferred by the Gujarat Sangeet Natak Akademi (2000); the Padma Shri bestowed by the Government of India (2001); and the Life Time Achievement Award of the Dance Critics Association, New York, USA (2011).