Mamata Shankar
A dancer, choreographer and actor, daughter of Uday and Amala Shankar, who carries on the Uday Shankar style, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2025.
Mamata Shankar grew up surrounded by dance, as the daughter of the legendary Uday Shankar and Amala Shankar. She has carried their style forward while building her own career in dance and film. In 2025 she was named for the Padma Shri in the field of art, from West Bengal [1].
Dance in the family
Mamata Shankar was born on 7 January 1955 in Calcutta [2]. She trained in dance and choreography at the Uday Shankar India Culture Centre under her mother, and learned other classical forms there from leading gurus [2].
In 1978 she and her husband, Chandrodoy Ghosh, formed a ballet troupe, now the Mamata Shankar Dance Company, which has toured many countries [2]. In 1986 she opened Udayan Kalakendra in Kolkata, which teaches the Uday Shankar style and other classical forms, with free classes for children from low-income families [2].
On screen
She made her film debut in Mrinal Sen’s Mrigayaa in 1976 and has worked with Satyajit Ray, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Goutam Ghose and Rituparno Ghosh, in Bengali, Hindi, Telugu and English films [2].
Her honours include a National Film Award (1992), several Filmfare awards and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2019) [2].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards 2025: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 11 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2025: citation for Mamata Shankar — Padma Awards, Government of India. Accessed 11 October 2026.
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