The Bharatnatyam recital by Kumari G Padmapriya Rao, scheduled on October 2, 1998, at 6.30 p.m. has been cancelled by her guru, V. Krishnamurthy, at the last moment because we, the parents of the dancer, could not fulfil his grossly excessive demands in cash and kind.THIS curious notice pasted on the board of Triveni Kala Sangam attracted attention. Whatever may be said against the guru-shishya parampara, no parent of an upcoming dancer has dared to come forward with such an accusation against a renowned Guru. Such charges and counter-charges are usually traded in the tinsel world of commercial cinema. Is the malaise coming to the very sacred arena of dance?Ramani Rao, mother of a young dancer called Padmapriya, who made a debut last year, says, `` During the Rangapravesham, the Guru had demanded from us a VCR, a sari for his wife, a dhoti and kurta for himself and Rs 2,000 as a guru dakshina. Although we couldn't afford a VCR, a stereo (worth Rs 4,500), a Kanjivaram silk saree (worth Rs 2,500) and a khadi silk dhoti kurta (worth Rs 1,200) were given to him. During gajapuja too the guru also made demands: clothes for himself and his wife. He also asked for gifts for each orchestra person. He even used to come home and demand that special food items be made for him''.Guru V. Krishnamurthy has a different story to tell. Denying these charges as baseless, he said that he had nothing to do with the cancellation of the show. On the contrary, he alleged that the student concerned and her mother had barged into his house and abused him and his wife. The Guru said, ``I can make thousand Padmapriyas, but they can't make one Krishnamurthy,'' he said ``The mother should have apologised to me, when she didn't bother to do that why should I run after her''?The Guru also filed a complaint against the mother at the Kalkaji police station. Krishnamurthy also said that he had many disciples and never had a complaint of this kind before. Why don't you meet the other students?''asked the Guru. Avantika Nayar, a former student of Guru Krishnamurthy: said ``As such I never had any problem with him. He just used to take a fixed charge from me for each performance.'' Arti Karta, another student of his, said: ``I think he is one of the most knowledgeable of gurus''.However, such guru-dakshina on demand is not really unheard of in the dance circles. Someone as well known as Yamani Krishnamurthy, who incidentally brought V. Krishnamurthy to Delhi, says: ``Such sort of demands have always been common in this profession and every generation of new learners has to face them. I also had to face them in my career''.Interestingly, the battle is being fought by the mother and the dancer in question maintains a discreet silence because she thinks this controversy could ruin her career in dance.
