Biographical Analysis

Presented by :
Bhavneesha Heeramun
2nd Sem MSc Psychology
16PS10110
What happens when the thing you
want most, is the one thing you
cannot have?
Sudha Chandran
 Early Life
 Sudha was born into a Tamil family on 21st September 1964 in Kannur,
Kerala
 She started dancing at the age of 3 as it was then that her family
decided to provide her formal education in dance (Bharatanatyam)
 Sudha did her studies at St. Josephs Convent School and her first
Bharatanatyam dance performance was at the age of 8
 She stood 1st in her 10th standard exams (80%), but instead of
taking science, she chose arts to pursue her career in dance
 By the age of 17, she had performed around 75 stage programmes
 Tragedy Strikes!
 May 2nd 1981 was the day that changed Sudha Chandran forever
 At the age of 17, while coming back from Madras to
Tiruchirapalli with her parents, the bus met with an accident
 At that time, she was badly injured in her right foot
 Unfortunately for her, the doctors made a mistake. They did not
attend the cut on her foot but instead went ahead and just wrapped
it up. This resulted in her leg getting gangrene.
 To stop the spread of the infection, her right leg had to be
amputated 7.5 inches below the knee
 Tragedy Strikes! (Ctd.)
 Sudha remained in a state of shock and for a long time, battled
depression
 One day, she read about Dr. Sethi of Jaipur who manufactured
artificial legs. Reading this gave Sudha hope and she and her
father went to visit him
 The doctor manufactured a special artificial for her called the
“Jaipur Foot”
 It took her 3 years of physiotherapy to recover and feel normal
again
 Determination
 However, what really motivated her and made her more
determined to recover was the only thing that she had always
loved- Dance!
 She kept bleeding while practicing with her artificial leg and the
pain became severe as she danced
 Still, she was determined to overcome all this and slowly
mastered again all the Bharatanatyam dance movements
 Finally, one day she announced to her shocked dad that she was
ready to perform on stage again
 Determination (Ctd.)
 Her comeback public dance performance was set in Mumbai on
28 January 1984 in St Xavier’s College
 She was nervous on the day of her performance but her
Grandmother told her: “Don’t worry, God is with you…let the
miracle happen”
 Indeed, that day she forgot about her leg and produced such a
stellar performance that the entire nation would soon know her
name
 Success follows…
 After this, she started getting invitations for shows from all over the
world
 However, what turned her into an overnight star in the entire nation was
when she got a Telegu film offer based on her true story called
“Mayuri”
 The release of the “Mayuri” movie in 1985 became an instant hit and
propelled Sudha to the top
 With this, she started her acting career as she got many role offers in
movies and television
 To this day, Sudha is still performing dance and acting, one of her latest
serial being “Naagin”
Picture from the movie “Mayuri”
 Social Learning Theory of Albert
Bandura
 Bandura's Social Learning Theory puts forward that people learn
from one another, through observation, imitation, and modeling.
The theory has often been called a bridge between behaviourist
and cognitive learning theories because it encompasses attention,
memory, and motivation.
 I found 2 aspects relevant from Bandura’s Social Learning Theory
to describe Sudha Chandran’s personality
 The 1st one is: Intrinsic Reinforcement, which is described by
Bandura as a form of internal reward, such as pride, satisfaction,
and a sense of accomplishment
 Social Learning Theory of Albert
Bandura (Ctd.)
 As we have seen above, Sudha’s personality moves towards a
sense of accomplishment when she decides to dance again after
her accident, thus bringing her an internal reward
 After her first comeback on stage was successful, an intrinsic
reinforcement to keep dancing can be said to be occur
 The 2nd one is : self efficacy, which according to Bandura is a
person’s belief in his or her ability to succeed in a particular
situation
 Social Learning Theory of Albert
Bandura (Ctd.)
 People with a strong sense of self-efficacy:
1) View challenging problems as tasks to be mastered by developing
deeper interest in the activities in which they participate
2) Form a stronger sense of commitment to their interests and activities
3) Recover from setbacks and disappointments
 As we have seen, in Sudha’s case she has mastered dance moves despite
a challenging situation by recovering from her disappointment over her
leg
 She has also developed a deeper interest in Bharatanatyam by forming a
stronger sense of commitment in dance
 Qualities to be incorporated from
Sudha Chandran in my own life
 Developing a greater sense of determination
 Developing more self-confidence through an inner locus of
control
 Courage and Perseverance to recover from setbacks or
disappointment
 Be more positive to overcome obstacles in life
 Having more patience
 Most of all, having the inner faith that nothing is impossible i.e.,
“Where there is a will there is a way”
References
 Hall C.S., Linzey G., Campbell J.B. (1998). Theories of
Personality. (4th Ed.). Wiley and Sons Inc.
 TOI Team Social. (2016). Retrieval from:
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/everything-social/sudha-
chandrans-story-about-her-accident-will-leave-you-inspired/
 Sudha Chandran - Success amidst Tragedy. Retrieval from:
http://inspirationalstories.motivationalposters1.com/Sudha_Chand
ran-15.html
THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND
ATTENTION