Born and brought up in Belgaum, Karnataka, Parshwanath Upadhye is a versatile young Bharatanatyam artist who has carved out a niche for himself as a promising male dancer.
He has not looked back after his arangetram in 1996 and is an ‘A’ grade artist of the Bangalore Doordarshan Kendra. He has won the ‘Best Dancer’ award in ‘Natyanjali’, a television dance competition. He has also acted in the teleserial ‘Himavat Gopal’ based on dance in which he played Lord Krishna’s role.
His dancing has been applauded at various festivals such as the Dassera Festival held in Mysore, Anand Nartan in New Delhi, Ankur Nrityotsava in Bangalore. Laksha Deepotsava in Dharmasthala, Nrityotsava in Mangalore and All India Bharat Natyotsava in Hyderabad.
He has performed ‘Dharmika Nritya’ and ‘Yaksha Nritya’ in over a 100 pancha kalyanas held across Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Besides Bharatanatyam, he is interested in Carnatic music (his gurus being Shanta Acharya, M. G. Rao and Rekha Hegde), painting, swimming, and karate (he is a brown-belt holder) and has won many laurels at the state and national levels. He also sings bhajans and desh bhakti songs. A good speaker and essay writer, he is also a good stage actor and an artist who has won awards for his drawings.
Drishti wishes Parshwanath success, both in the pursuit of his passion as well as his dream.
My mother taught me how to dance. No, she is not a dancer, she made me move to music.
I did my arangetram and vidwath under Ravindra Sharma in Belgaum, starting my dance training when I was 8 years old. Then I learnt from Rekha Hegde and currently am a student of the Kirans in Bangalore.
When I won most of the numerous dance competitions that I participated in, I thought to myself that I could become a good dancer. I feel I am good in nritta and need improvement in abhinaya.
Yes, there is a lot of scope for male dancers, and a lot of appreciation for good dancing. Sometimes opportunities come our way and sometimes we have to create opportunities for ourselves. I would like to become an IAS/KAS officer and serve the country.