Born on 14 July 1921 in Karaikal in French India (nowadays the Indian union territory of Pondicherry), to A. K. Natesa Pillai, a known musician, he started training initially in music under his father, but later turned to Bharatanatyam and learned under his grandfather, who was a teacher of the dance form.
[1] Subsequently, he joined Kalakshetra of Rukmini Devi Arundale as a teacher where he taught for a number of years.
He was known to have authored several compositions for Bharatanatyam[2][3] and trained many students; Jaya Gowri (Malaysia), Sri Vidya, J. Jayalalithaa, Hema Rajagopalan, Suganthi Sadayane, Nayana Shenoy,[4] Adyar K. Lakshman,[5] Uma Muralikrishna,[6] Vijayalakshmi Shetty-Ahuja,[7] Jayalakshmi Alva[8] and Geeta Chandran[9] are some of the notable ones among them.
He was the dance choreographer of a number of films in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi such as Raja Guruvu,[10] Man-Mauji, Chhaya, Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke, Sri Kalahastiswara Mahatyam and Bhai-Bhai.
[12] The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 1971, for his contributions to Dance.