Hema Malini Mourns For The Sudden Demise Of Eminent Dancer Sunil Kothari

Padma Shri Sunil Kothari who is an eminent dancer passed away this morning at the age of 87. He suffered from a cardiac arrest a month after testing positive for Covid-19. Vidha Lal, a family friend and herself a dancer spoke to media and said, "He had tested positive for COVID-19 almost a month back and was not in a good condition".

After testing positive for Coronavirus, this ace dancer was slowly recovering at home in Asian Games Village but all of a sudden, the cardiac arrest made him breathe his last today morning.

Bollywood celebs like Aseem Chhabra and Dream Girl Hema Malini have paid their tributes to this legendary dancer through social media…

Hema Malini

This post reads, "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".

Aseem Chhabra

She wrote, "Goodbye #SunilKothari. What a lovely man he was."

Sanjoy Roy

Sunil Kothari ji was born on 20th December, 1933 and was a qualified Charted Accountant before turning into an ace dancer. His love for dance made him learn various Indian dance forms.

Kothari ji's long-time associate Anita Ratnam reminisced him and doled out that, he first met her during a dance recital in 1970 in Chennai. She also said, "After the performance, he rushed backstage and looked at me and said 'apsara! apsara! (fairy) in his normal enthusiastic voice. He was not somebody who would just come for the dance, he would even come for the rehearsals, he would talk to everybody present, he wanted to know the whole process. He was part of a very important dance movement.

Speaking about his awards, he bagged numerous titles in his vast career…

• Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1995).

• The Gaurav Puraskar was given by the Gujarat Sangeet Natak Akademi (2000).

• The Padma Shri bestowed by the Government of India (2001).

• The Life Time Achievement Award from the Dance Critics Association, New York, USA (2011).

• He was also elected Fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi for his contribution to Indian dance as a scholar.

RIP Sunil Kothari ji…