Guru Vijay Shanker is a multi-faceted personality. Besides being a professional Kuchipudi and Kathakali exponent, he is also a well known bilingual journalist, arts critic, dance teacher, choreographer and actor, for more than four decades.

Since childhood Vijay was quite passionate about dancing and his first teacher was his mother Savithri Nair, accomplished actress, singer and dancer. While studying in  the 9th standard in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Colaba, Vijay won the second prize in the school dance competition and first prize in Mono action competition that enhanced his passion for dancing but it was not easy for him as his father who was a military officer felt that dancing is a feminine occupation, hence not suitable for boys but that would not deter the spirits of Vijay.

With the permission of his father, Vijay got enrolled for kathakali as it a dance form exclusively performed by males but was quite fascinated by the Kuchipudi dance style. Later Vijay secured a scholarship by Soli Batliwala of Bhulabhai Memorial Institute to learn Kuchipudi. After his debut in Kuchipudi in 1986, it was news "Critic turns Dancer" as Vijay had already written for several newspapers and magazines including the Times of India and Femina magazine. In 1988 Vijay met Padmashri Raja and Radha Reddy and was privileged to seek guidance from the dynamic duo and was the only male student to be featured in the documentary film on Raja and Radha Reddy.

At the encouragement of then news editor of Free Press Journal, Mr Hariharan Poonjar, Vijay started writing for Free Press while he was in school. What started as a mere hobby, became his main occupation. Since 1980 Vijay has been consistently writing for various publications like the Times of India, Indian Express, Mid-day, The Daily, Evening News of India, Sunday Observer, Afternoon DC, Bhavans Journal. Femina magazine, Sruti magazine,Narthaki.com Hindi publications like Navbharat Times, Navaneet Hindi Digest, and international publications like Hinduism Today (North American edition).

Vijay Shanker specialises in performing and visual arts besides writing for other socially relevant topics.

In 1997 Vijay Shanker played the lead actor in Malayalam telefilm "Remanen", produced by Thiruvananthapuram Doordarshan, directed by award winning director Kaviyoor Shivaprasad, opposite popular actress Nina Kurup. Since then Vijay has also played character roles in Hindi,Marathi and English serials and movies, the popular ones being "Chamatkar"(Zee TV) with Farooque Shaikh, "Kamyabi" with Upasana Singh and Bollywood films like Rajiv Ruia's "Love in India", Ajay Mehra's "Bazaar-e-husn" and Sanjay Sharma's "Donno Na Jaane Kyun" with Kapil Sharma and Yuvraaj Parashar. Vijay has also appeared as model Kathakali dancer in musical album of Talat Aziz "Khubsurat" along with Gauri Pradhan and Salil Ankola, Teleserial "Twinkle beauty Parlour with Sulabha Arya, "Cool Maal" of V Channel and guest appearance with models Madhu Sapre, Unnati Manikeri and Milind Soman in popular talk show "Chakravyuh''(Zee TV) hosted by popular TV reporter Vinod Duo, being the only Male Kuchipudi dancer in Mumbai.

Besides Kuchipudi and Kathakali performances,Vijay Shanker is particularly credited for his lecture- demonstrations on Indian classical dancing to promote national integration and global peace for educational institutions and organisations all over India. Vijay was fortunate to be featured in the Educational supplement of Times of India, due to his significant lecture-demonstrations, explaining and demonstrating the varied facets of Indian classical dancing, inclusive of interactive session with students, which became enjoyable and interesting.

Vijay is bestowed with awards and accolades for his unique contribution in the field of dance and journalism, Maharashtra Samaj Bhushan Puraskar. Vishnu Kaineetam award from People's Arts Centre(Mumbai), Appreciation award from Kerala In Mumbai magazine.

Last month he was awarded the WOW Iconic award (7th August) from Shoba Aarya of WOW Digital Media.

By Verus Ferreira