CSK CEO Daughter Ashwini Viswanathan Dancer

In the 1990s, India Cements was making a comeback into league cricket in Madras and Kallidaikuruchi S Viswanathan (Kasi Sir in cricketing circles) was assigned by the company chief N Srinivasan to anchor the cricket transformation as the Cricket Manager. He had been in the accounts division until then but he was handpicked to play the lead role in making India Cements a top notch team once again. It was also the time his younger daughter Ashwini was growing up as a teenager. India Cement’s first wins on their return coincided with Ashwini’s coming of age in dance with her arangetram presentation at the age of 14. Through the 1990s, KSV’s house in Mylapore was abuzz with India Cements' cricketers and almost all the talks centered on cricket and getting IC to win trophies. While Ashwini made a lot of cricketer friends in that phase and watched a number of matches at Chepauk with them, her passion right from childhood was dance. She was still in her teens when she watched Tendulkar score that century at Chepauk in India’s narrow loss to Pakistan. 

By the turn of the century India Cements had made a big impact on the club scene in the city and also started to win national tournaments. They began to make big investments in cricket and this threw up opportunities for cricketers and working professionals. When IPL was launched they picked up a team and have been one of the two most successful ones with KSV as the CEO picking players at the auction. All the cricketing glamour at home was not enough to lure Ashwini away from her childhood passion that has remained with her for close to four decades.  She has had absolutely no association with cricket except as a spectator. “Appa did not force me into cricket and allowed me to pursue my childhood dream that of expressing myself through this art form. Despite his busy schedule, he always made time to attend all my dance programmes and that served as a great encouragement for me. That gave me the confidence that I had his backing.”

She was just past 20 when her Guru Jayanthi Subramaniam deemed it fit for her to make a trip to the US to present dance performances across multiple cities there. She counts that early exposure in front of large audiences in the US as a great experience that has held her in good stead. That open the doors for her in her dancing career. It was her performance at the Thyagaraja Utsavam in Cleveland that grabbed the attention of Leela Samson, who invited her to join her troupe. It was a big break for Ashwini and it has been a roller coaster ride ever since. In the decade gone by, she has performed in Malaysia, China, South Africa and Australia, among other countries in addition to presenting programmes across India. 

She is puzzled at the overwhelming interest among the overseas audience and the rather tepid response in India to dance programmes. As seen in the stories on Nirupama Vaidyanathan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/05/nirupama-vaidyanathan.html) and TT Abhishek (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/10/abhishek-r-india-table-tennis-star.html), non-cricketing success do not get the attention they deserve in this country. And Ashwini has found that in her dancing career “This is an ancient Indian art practiced for over 1000s of years. While the auditorium is packed in overseas countries, the response here is rather disappointing. It has left me puzzled as to why even traditional dance presentations don’t attract a big audience here in this country.”

Her dance performances have won her many prestigious awards from the leading Sabhas in the city including Natya Chudar, Yuva Kala Barathi and Nadanamamani. She has also graduated to Grade A artiste at Doordarshan, reserved for senior professionals. These days Ashwini practices in the mornings and takes classes for her students in the evenings at her dance school in Mylapore.

Her closest association with cricket came when she joined hands with Sunithi, her classmate at school and wife of former India cricket S Badrinath to launch a designer Botique that the two have been running for a few years now. In recent years, she has also been the costume designer for actress Kasthuri in Big Boss. 

She has performed in all the leading temples in TN including Chidambaram, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam. Another favourite dance location of hers is the Jagannath temple in Puri, where she has performed a number of times.  She was ‘Shakuni’ in Mahabaratha and ‘Lakshmana’ in Ramayana.

Last week, she donned the role of Karpagambal for the first time in her life as she and her team members under Guru Jayanthi Subramaniam presented the Panguni Utsavam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/03/kapali-devotee-aparna-panguni-utsavam.html) “Playing the role of the Goddess of Mylapore was special. Every day of the Panguni Utsavam is different and to present that through a dance feature was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.”

Ashwini credits her amma for her success in her dance career “She did not get the opportunity in her time though she was interested in arts. For almost four decades, she has stood by me and given me all the encouragement and been a pillar of strength in my dancing endeavours.”

Many in the next gen have followed in the footsteps of the parents. It is an easier path to take and many parents have talked their children into it. With Masters degrees in Economics, Accounting and International Finance from Australia, she could taken to a finance role that her cricket renowned father (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/02/ks-viswanathan-tnca-bcci-ipl.html) had once been into or with his cricket association and the opportunities opening up on the cricketing front at the beginning of this century, she could have made a career in cricket administration /marketing. Instead she stuck steadfast in her passion not wavering for a moment in the last three decades and has found great satisfaction in the several hundreds of dance presentations inside temples and at auditoriums. Now she is all set to use her dance presentations to create a positive impact on the society and is looking forward to presenting socially relevant programmes showcasing women’s rights, perils of caste system and importance of nature conservation, among other public interest causes.