A Padma Bhushan, Mallika Sarabhai is an activist, classical dancer and actor from Ahmedabad, where she runs the celebrated Darpana Academy. An accomplished Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam dancer, she has long held that the arts exist to move society, not merely to please it. In 2005 the French government named her a knight of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques for her contribution to dance and drama.