Kolkata, July 24: Renowned Indian Danseuse Amala Shankar passed away on Friday, July 24 in West Bengal's Kolkata. She died at the age of 101. She was the widow of choreographer Uday Shankar and mother of actress Mamata Shankar and musician Ananda Shankar and sister-in-law of musician and composer Ravi Shankar.

Amala Shankar had also acted in the film "Kalpana", written by her husband. Born on June 27, 1919, Amala's father wanted his children to be interested in nature and villages. At the age of 11, Amala went to the International Colonial Exhibition in Paris, where she met Uday Shankar and his family. She later joined Uday Shankar's dance troupe and performed across the world.

In 1939, when she was with a dance group in Chennai, Uday came to Amala at night and gave her marriage proposal. The duo got married in 1942. They have two children Ananda Shankar and Mamata Shankar. Uday and Amala were popular dance couple for a long time.

But later, Uday was romantically involved with a young girl of his dance group and he produced Chandalika without Amala. Uday Shankar died in 1977. Last few years, the couple lived separately.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 24, 2020 10:01 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).