Arangetram Debut Prformance: Radhika Merchant

Radhika Merchant, the soon-to-be wife of Anant Ambani mesmerized everyone with her Arangetram performance and with her graceful skills of Bharatanatyam. She is the daughter of Viren Merchant and Shaila Merchant. Viren is the CEO of Encore Healthcare. Her debut performance was jointly hosted by Merchants and Ambanis. The event was held at the Jio World Centre in Mumbai on June 5 and was attended by family and friends of both and other B-town celebrities. 

Arangetram is the moment that every young classical dancer looks forward to. It is the first time they perform on stage to showcase their hard work and talent after intense training for eight years. It is done to be recognised as a professional dancer and get a stamp of approval from eminent gurus. Radhika Merchant was trained under Ms Bhavana Thakar, her guru who spent eight years training and made her ready for the first solo stage performance. Her stunning performance began with Pushpanjali, followed by Ganesh Vandana and Allaripu, set on different bhajans and ragas. 

Radhika’s graceful attire

The talent of dancers is judged according to their style and presentation. She wore a beautiful Bharatanatyam costume. The costume was very bright and attractive, designed in a green and pink sari. The pleats of the sari opened beautifully and the look of the postures enriched the costume. The pleats of the sari were stitched with zari work of alluring motifs. She paired it with heavy gold temple jewellery with an attractive Matha Patti and Kamar Bandh. She decored her bun with lovely mogra flowers. The ankle bells are an essential item in the Bharatanatyam dance to maintain the Tala sounds and the right rhythmic footwork. She wore three-row ankle bells. Her make-up was unique, heavy lines of kajal drawn around her eyes extended outwards the eyebrows. The total Bharatanatyam performance is mostly based on the movements of the eyes and eyebrows. She applied red dye on her toes, fingertips and soles of the feet, also in her palm in a solid circle to emphasize the movements of her hands and legs. Overall she was looking just astonishing and graceful as ever! Her performance was prepossessing and just invaluable.   

Many Bollywood stars and politicians like Salman Khan, Amir Khan, Ranveer Singh, and Sagarika Ghatge with her husband Zaheer Khan were present. Aditya Thackeray with her mother Rashmi Thackeray and brother Tejas Thackeray also visited the event. The show was full of stars and VVIPs from the city.