"My dances were not like today’s, which have progressed with an Indian and Western combination or fusion which has become repetitive. You cannot tell one dance from the other. Everyone wants to be Michael Jackson. But I like some of them like that ‘Radha kaise na jale’ from Lagaan. I like classical stuff."

“She says she was the only south Indian actress who could speak Hindi without a South Indian accent, at the time.”

“But first I was made to learn music, because music and dance go together. You can sing, but you can’t dance without music...”

“There were so many different characters that I have played. Radha in Sangam was a very sophisticated woman and the setting was very refined, while in Dhanno in Gunga Jumna was rustic, a village belle. Even the language was different.”

“If Bharatanatyam helped my movies, I cannot say the same about films helping my Bharatanatyam.”

“And when I joined politics people told me it wasn’t the same as the Independence era, so you can imagine how it has become now. It’s such a sad thing. Instead of taking to the country to a higher level we are going downwards.”

“Danseuse extraordinaire, Vyjayanthimala's greatest legacy to cinema is that today it is de rigeur for every girl who enters the Hindi film industry to be an accomplished dancer. Yet there was more to light-footed Vyjayanthi than magical moves.”