Renowned dance choreographer Shiva Shankar passes away at 72

HYDERABAD: Renowned choreographer and television judge K Shiva Shankar, popularly known as Shiva Shankar Master, died of COVID-19 complications at a private hospital in Hyderabad on Sunday evening.

He was 73 and is survived by sons Vijay Shiva Shankar and Ajay Shiva Shankar, who are also working as choreographers in the South Indian Cinema.The National-Award winning choreographer, who had choreographed some of the memorable songs in Telugu and Tamil cinema, was recently hospitalised due to Covid-19.

Born on December 7, 1948, in Chennai, Shiva Shankar was drawn to dance at a very young age. He learnt the basics of dance from Nataraj and Sakunthala from Mylapore, Chennai. Later, he worked as an assistant to dance master Saleem in 1974. He made his film debut with the Sivaji Ganesan and Jayalalithaa-starrer Tamil film, Paattum Bharathamum (1975) as an assistant choreographer and turned full-time choreographer with Kavikkuyil (1977).

Shiva Shankar Master made his Telugu debut with Chiranjeevi-starrer Khaidi (1983) and went onto work in films like Ammoru (1995), Suryavamsam (1997), Swayamvaram (1999), Allari Pidugu (2005), Arundhati, Mahatma (2009) and Baahubali: The Beginning (2013).He also turned actor and played several prominent roles in films like Sudigadu (2012), Nene Raju Nene Mantri (2017), NTR: Kathanayakudu, Ninu Veedani Needanu Nene and Raju Gari Gadhi 3 (2019). Shiva Shankar has carved a niche for choreographing songs that depict feminine behaviour and attitude.

Besides films, Shiva Shankar Master also served as a judge for several reality dance shows on television.
Having worked in over 800 films across Telugu, Tamil and other languages, Shiva Shankar Master won the National Film Award for Best Choreography for the song ‘Dheera Dheera Dheera’ in SS Rajamouli’s fantasy drama Magadheera (2008).Actor Sonu Sood and several other personalities from the film industry have offered their condolences to the bereaved family.