Holding the Mirror Up

Mallika Sarabhai celebrates Darpana's 75th year with Meanwhile Elsewhere, a new production inspired by an Italo Calvino novel

- Suhani Singh

Mallika Sarabhai knows resilience is an art form in itself. The actor, Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer has made a living out of challenging the status quo and touching on socially relevant issues through her work for the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, the institute founded by her parents, Vikram and Mrinalini Sarabhai. The Ahmedabad-based institute is celebrating its 75th year, and Sarabhai finds herself more driven than ever before. "I think all of us feel that the performing arts are perhaps the most persuasive language of getting through the walls of prejudice around us," Sarabhai said in New Delhi where she was presenting Macbeth at the Bharat Rang Mahotsav. "In the kind of fractured world we live in, it is important to somehow reach people's hearts and [find the goodness in them."