Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 20, 2018)

Esha Deol Takhtani, who welcomed baby girl Radhya in October last year, recently returned to the stage with her solo Odissi performance based on Geet Govind in Delhi. “Dance is my first love as I have been performing on stage since I was six,” she said, adding that she is now gearing up to debut in a ballet as Ramayan’s Sita. It is a role passed down to her from actress-danseuse mom Hema Malini, who has been portraying it for nearly two decades.

“I am excited and nervous,” admits Esha, adding that it was her mother’s idea for her to try something new. “I am a bhakt of Hanuman ji and I feel that Sita was a powerful lady.” The new mum, who is a trained Odissi dancer and has been performing on stage for over a decade now, has been consistently rehearsing with her troupe for her upcoming gig.

Hema had launched her dance ballet troupe with Ramayan in the mid-1980s, and went on to produce other performances like Meera, Savitri, Durga, Mahalaxmi, Radha Krishna and Draupadi. “I am extremely happy to see Esha take over the ballet. She was a kid when I had started out. Now that she is a mother of a beautiful child, this is the right time to play Sita. It takes a certain kind of maturity to portray characters from Hindu mythology. I am really looking forward to see her on stage,” Hema reveals. The ballet premieres on Ram Navami on March 24 in Mumbai.