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Home , Chinni Prakash, Dabangg, Dabangg 2, Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Kalbelia, Kumudini Lakhia

PAPER 6 DANCE IN TODAY, DANCE-DRAMAS, CREATIVITY WITHIN THE CLASSICAL FORMS, IN DIASPORA (USA, UK, EUROPE, AUSTRALIA, ETC.) MODULE 15 AS VOCATION

For long has dance been a vocation in India. Both men and women have been ritual dance specialists associated with temples and monasteries. The story of the Devadasis, Maibis and Maharis / भहायी is well known. There are monk dancers in Assam called bhakats who are examples of males who dedicate their lives to the performance of dance as an offering and a ritual in a temple. There were also public platforms, where for entertainment purposes men and women danced. Chhau / छाऊ, Raibenshe / यैफᴂश,े / मऺगान, / कु चिऩुड़ी, etc are examples of how and when traditionally males’ danced. Some of the women belonging to specific communities were associated with dancing for entertainment. For instance the Kalbelia / कारफेलरमा, Rai / याइ and Bedia / फेडडमा women were for centuries known to dance for entertainment. It is believed that the Bedia women danced for the laborers from different parts of the word who had collected at Taj Ganj at the time of the building of the Taj Mahal. Later they were among the communities and tribes that entertained the British troupes. Today many Bedia girls are among the Bar dancers of . Apart from these girls there was also a group of traditional performers called by various names- Tawaif / तवामप, baijis / फाईजी,

1 etc. They were a whole range of professional dancing girls, some so talented that they had access to the highest centres of power, like the palace and the courtly setting, and were well integrated with the royals and the aristocracy. The case of Udham Bai who bore Muhammad Shah his successor is well known. Also well known is the association of the dancing girl Lal Kunwar with the later Mughals. Many other tawaifs had a similar story of enjoying access and privilege that came out of the artistic talents that they demonstrated. Apart from these communities which were closely associated with dance and music practice in the public sphere, there were women belonging to the security and comfort of domestic households who also danced and sang in many situations in a domestic setting. But this dancing and singing was more in the nature of celebratory dances to mark rites of passage events. The difference between those who danced on these occasions and the ritual and art specialists mentioned earlier, is that the latter lived their entire lives around the practice, training and social relations formed due to their artistic skills. Many of them did not even enter the domestic sphere preferring to dedicate themselves to their arts. Almost all of them lived in matrilineal families, where the birth of a girl child was celebrated. It is important to recognize that while they did not formally get married, they were encouraged to have liaisons and children were born from such liaisons. The girls normally adopted dance as their vocation if they had necessary skills, but the men practiced several supporting professions like singers, musicians and percussionists. In some cases they formed liaisons with rich patrons, God Kings (the King of Puri was known as the God King), and other members of the aristocracy. In that case the sons born out of these liaisons often enjoyed a courtier’s position. The men they had liaisons with took

2 care of their daily living, leaving them free to pursue their artistic practice. This is how these professional dancing and singing women became one with their arts. Even before India became independent, there was a simultaneous process of reform and revival of the arts. The professional performance communities whether the tawaifs and baijis or even the communities and tribes that were known for the dances of entertainment, were painted with the brush of stigma. They were however replaced with the standard bearers of the reformed versions of the arts. The new standard bearers were both men and women, but while in the case of Kathak, the traditional women were marginalized, as Pallabi Chakraborty establishes in her book “Bells of Change”, while the men from the traditional families were valorized. Thus, the Maharaj family was celebrated as the first family of Kathak but all the tawaifs that they had taught in and Mumbai, were all ignored. says about his ancestral home that had been given to the family by the nawab that, “Stalwarts, leading musicians and famous tawaifs alike considered the Taleem Khana / तारीभखाना of this house to be a temple of Kathak.” In fact, many compositions were created for Kathak dance in 19th century Oudh by tawaifs, who employed both expression and movement while singing. In her book “Heart to Heart”, thumri singer Vidya Rao admits that one of the first dadras / दादया (Sudh aai re balam pardesiya ki…) that Rao learnt from Naina Devi was taught to the latter by , who learnt it from Lachhu Maharaj, who had in turn learnt it from Kathak maestro Kalka Prasad. The fact was that the fifties was a time of a cultural shift in the arts. The era of courtesans had ended. Old avenues of patronage had disappeared with the nawabs and rajas. All India Radio (AIR) was the new sponsor for music and cultural events that the new nation

3 sponsored were the new forums for the arts. Dance and Music schools were opening up and artistes were starting to perform in concerts. Classical music and dance were reaching the middle class. The courtesan tradition jarred with the new notions of the Indian nation and womanhood. In that scenario the argument developed that dance and music had to be rescued from the / नाि girls. Only legally married women could sing for AIR. B.V. Keskar, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, said, “No one whose private life was a public scandal would be patronized.” Thus none of these tawaifs found a post in the new centres of Kathak that the government created, including the various dance schools that it supported, like the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra or the Sangeet Bharati, or even set up, as in the case of the Kathak Kendra, the national institute for Kathak dance. This for instance had been a long issue that felt scorned by. With Indian becoming independent, the stigma around the revived forms of dance went away to a large extent. The young government of India saw in the arts a chance to make a big impact in establishing the identity of a young nation with an old culture. Many modern educated young girls from good families, educated in modern schools and Universities, began to practice dance. was brought to from Lucknow, by ’s Secretary, Nirmala Joshi to teach the first batch of national scholarship holders in Kathak. The first student to benefit from this scheme of the government was Maya Rao. In her touchingly written memoir “From Maya to Matter” she recalls the challenges of learning from pt. Shambhu Maharaj, whose language was colourful to say the least, and who himself had to struggle to take on the questions and concerns of this new, educated, modern type of student. After Maya Rao, came a whole

4 host of girls like Kumudini Lakhia, Bela Arnab, Maya’s younger sister, Chitra and many others. This situation was a peculiar mix of the Guru Shishya teaching in a modern institutional setting. Traditionally, without any overt discipline, knowledge was passed on seena-ba- seena, or Heart to Heart, in a tradition of one to the other through a disciple in which the student absorbs not just the art’s technicalities, but it’s whole inner world, from her guru, and in turn passes on that wisdom to her disciples. In the institutional setting with the discipline of classrooms, time-tables and schedules, such heart to heart transfer was not possible, but the truly driven teachers, whether from traditional families, or the new generation women dance teachers, would attempt to approximate the old style of teaching, as for them their art was not a career but a vocation. It is appalling that there is no clarity about the many livelihood opportunities that exist around the arts. Many such talented and driven teachers set up institutions of their own, and conduct classes of great intensities often from their home. Some didn’t bother about setting up institutions, but once they found a good student, they taught that student personally, thoroughly, with an eye for detail and lavished a lot of attention. Some joined important dance schools as teachers, happy to be assured a monthly fee as honorarium. Several joined regular schools and animated their dance departments- pt narendra Sharma for instance was associated with Modern School Barakhamba Road for almost four decades. Many others who were more academically oriented, joined University departments. Thus if dance is accepted as a vocation, not a casual hobby oriented dabble, many opening exist in the teaching of the arts. The recent decision by the NCERT following the Yashpal committee’s suggestions, the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2005, aims at including arts education as a compulsory

5 subject till Class X. it is hoped that the experience gained by the students and the interest generated among the learners will encourage them in the future to pursue the various forms of the arts. This has opened the doors for teachers associated with the arts, especially arts like Kathak that need skills in music and dance. Performances continue to be a big draw. Kathak is possibly the most popular dance form. Popular on such a large scale that no other dance has caught the nation’s imagination. To a large extent the role of has been responsible for this large scale visibility that this dance form has enjoyed. The many films on golden hearted tawaifs used the dance style of Kathak as this was the language associated with it. K. Asif’s “Mughl-e- Azam / भोगर-इ-आज़भ”, ’s “Shataranj ke khiladi / शतयॊज के खखराडी ” and “Jalsaghar / जरसागय”, ’s “Umrao Jaan / उभयाव जान”, ’s / देवदास and even the recent “ / फाजीयाव भतानी” are all examples of the authentic use of kathak come to mind immediately. Most films even in creative sequences tended to use Kathak as the dance language. In fact enactment in Bollywood is akin to Kathak abhinaya, which is very realistic. This close association with such a popular medium has ensured that most audiences are at least somewhat familiar with this dance form even if they are watching it for the first time. Such is the attraction that Kathak is used in most performances-not just in the North of India but all over, including overseas. One of the reasons is also that the language, poetry, music and aesthetics is familiar, easy to understand and wide spectrumed. Therefore, performances as solos, groups or by ensemble companies, work well. While solo Kathak is a display of virtuosity, group and ensemble works have a high ‘wow’

6 value and are quite entertaining. Thus many dancers pursue a performance career. Those who are deeply entrenched in the form prefer the virtuoso performance of a solo dancer, but even lighter dancers can find a place in group work. While many dancers perform for artistic satisfaction and have a trajectory of recognition and fame, many more, driven by activism and social concerns are able to marry their social concerns with their artistic interests. Among them, are dancers who chose to join the government sector’s Song and Drama Division or the Publicity department. Nowadays the national rural health Mission also has scope for artistes- both dancers and musicians to join in the creation of ICE- Information, Communication and educational material for the NHRM or the National Rural Health Mission’s concern areas. The Doordarshan series Kalyani, employing traditional arts, used to cover the states with the poorest health indicators. Most of these states were those that came in the belt where, Kathak would be the preferred dance style. So opportunities come dressed in many forms, and much depends on the openness we show. Then there is the entire, large and wide open field of Choreography- for films, for TV shows including reality shows, International Events, Spectacles, Weddings and Multimedia performances. In the past some of the best film chorographers have been Kathak dancers. Lachhu Maharaj, , Krishna Kumar and Master Sohanlal are some names that come to mind immediately. Sohanlal’s claim to fame was the introduction of Kathak in Hindi films. His brother Hiralal also took up the profession of choreography and was an established dance director himself. Sohanlal’s hit films included Jewel Thief, Chaudvin Ka Chand / िौदवी का िाॉद, Saheb Bibi Ghulam / साहेफ फीफी घुराभ and Satyam Shivam Sundaram / स配मभ लशवभ ् सुन्दयभ. B.Hiralal, was one of the four Lal brothers namely

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B.Sohanlal, B.Hiralal, B.Chinni Lal and B.Radheshyam. He was a renowned film choreographer and was one of the founding fathers of classic Bollywood cinema songs. He brought the strong, vehement Jaipur style of dance to Indian cinema and rightfully commanded respect for several decades in the Indian film industry. Acknowledging B. Hiralal’s influence on him, star of yesteryears, Jeetendra admitted that "A student is only as good as his guru. My dance master, B Hiralal, was a very hard taskmaster but fabulous at his work. I owe him all the credit," says Jeetendra. Lachhu Maharaj was already an iconic dancer of the Lucknow of Kathak and seriously involved with the teaching of Kathak in Mumbai and later Lucknow. All of this led to him winning the Sangeet Natak Akademi award and President’s medal. Among his well known films were "Mahal / भहर", "Pakeezah / ऩाकीज़ा" and "Moghul-e-Azam". Gopi Krishna had the distinction of being the youngest choreographer when he started at the age of seventeen. Among the well known films of this recipient of the Padmashri, were Saqi / सगी, Jhanak jhanak Payal Baje / झनक झनक ऩामर फा जे Grahasti / गहृ थी (1963), Dastaan / दातान, Mehbooba / भहफूफा, Umrao Jaan / उभयाव जान and Naache Mayuri / नािे भमूयी (1986) and the international production, The Perfect Murder ). Till his last days he was as well known as a master of the Kathak form. The light of the lamp of the benares gharana, Maharaj Krishna Kumar balanced his performance and teaching career wth his choreographic work for films. His well known films are "Awaara / आवाया", "Madosh / भदोश" and "Andaaz / अॊदाज़" apart from a host of others. Among the best film choreographers today with a Kathak background are the five time National Film Award recipient and four times the award recipient, , who was trained by

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Master Sohanlal who she went on to assist later. is the granddaughter of choreographer B. Hiralal, Vaibhavi began her career by assisting her uncle . Chinni Prakash has himself got the National Film Award for Best Choreography for the song, "Azeem-O-Shaan Shahenshah / अज़ीभ- ओ-शान शहᴂशाह" in the film “Jodha Akbar / जोधा-अकफय” and earlier the Filmfare best choreographer award thrice, for the songs 'Jumma Chumma De De / जुभा िु륍भा दे द'े in the film Hum ( 1972), the song ‘Tu cheez badi hai mast mast / त ू िीज़ फड़ी हे भत भत’ for the film “Mohra / भोहया” in 1995 and the song ‘Shehar ki Ladki / शहय की रड़की’ for the film “Rakshak / यऺक” (1997). In recent years he has choreographed for “ / दफॊग” and “ / दफॊग-2”, as well as “Besharam / फेशभम”, “, “ / िेन्नई ए啍सप्रेस” and “Dum Laga Ke Haisha / दभ रगा के हैसा” Vaibhavi’s first solo work was the choreography for the song "Dhol Baaje / ढोर फाजे" for the film “Ham Dil de Chuke Sanam / हभ ददर डदे िुके सनभ ” and she won a national Award for it. her other memorable songs are "'O Ri Chhori / ओ यी छोयी'" in the 2001 film “ / रगान” and “Kajrare… / कजयाये” from the film “ / फॊटी औय फफरी ”, both of which fetched her several awards. She continued to choreograph selected numbers in films such as “Devdas”, “Baghban / फाघफान”, “Fida / फ़िदा”, “Dhoom / धूभ”, “Veer Zara / वीय-जाया” “ Aaja Nachle / अज निरे”, and “Rab ne Banayi Jodi / यफ ने फनादी जोड़ी ”, Swadesh / वदेश”, “ / यॊग दे फसॊती ” and “ / धूभ-3”. She has also

9 choreographed an Australian musical called the “Merchants of Bollywood” written by Toby Gough about her family. Her younger sister Shruti merchant has also joined the band wagon and what is now a family tradition, choreographing for Bollywood. She began her career assisting her sister Vaibhavi Merchant, in films like / जफ तक हे जान , Dhoom 3, Aiyaa / ऐमा, Kurbaan / कु फामन, Dil Bole Hadippa / ददर फोरे हड़प्ऩा, Dilli 6 / दद쥍ही 6, / रक फाम िाॊस, , Dostana / दोताना, Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic / थोडा प्माय थोडा भेजजक , Bhootnath / बूतनाथ, Tashan / टशन, Aaja Nach Le, / झूभ फयाफय झूभ, Tara Rum Pum / ताया यभ ऩभ, Dhoom 2, UmraoJaan, / फ़िस, Bunty Aur Babli, Dil Maange More / ददर भाॊगे भोय , , Veer – Zara, Dhoom, Fida, Lakshya / रक्ष्म, Muskaan / भुकान, Baghban, Kuch Na Kaho / कु छ न कहो, Kal Ho Na Ho / कर हो न हो, Devdas, etc. Shruti has choreographed the steps for the climax track ‘Koi Pathar Se Na Mare’ in the film Aaja Nach Le which won many accolades. She made her debut as a Choreographer and won the Big Entertainment Award for best Choreographer for “Thug Le / ठग रे” from “Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl”, and made her TV debut as a Judge on ZEE TV’s Dance Reality Show “Dance India Dance – Season 4” in 2013. She is now touring the world with the theatrical musical “The Merchants of Bollywood” as the assistant choreographer. The story of the show is based on the life of her sister Ms. Vaibhavi Merchant and her grandfather Late Shri B.Hiralal. Many of the Kathak dancers find themselves on TV as judges as well. They are not just choreographing but playing a judges roll as well.

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Both Saroj Khan and Vaibhavi Mercahnt have been judges in various dance reality shows on TV. Vaibhavi has been a judge on the television dance show 3 / नि फलरमे-3, Jhalak Dikhla jaa / झरक ददखराजा, (season 3), Zara Nach Ke Dikha 2 / ज़या निके ददखा 2, Just Dance / जट डाॊस, Boogie woogie / फूगी वूगी, . Saroj Khan appeared in a reality dance show as a member of the jury in 2005 of Nach Baliye, and also appeared in the second season of the same show. She has recently been a judge for the show “Ustadon ke Ustad / उतादⴂ के उताद ” which is aired on Sony. In 2008 she appeared on a signature show titled “Nachle Ve with Saroj Khan on NDTV. She choreographed for this show as well. The story of Sandeep Mahaveer is very inspiring. Sandeep Mahavir belongs to a traditional family of musicians of the Jaipur Gharana. He is the talented son of the traditional Kathak, the late K Mahavir, who made his name in the Mumbai film industry as a composer and singer. At the age of five he began learning vocal music from his father. After his death, Sandeep learnt Kathak under Madhurita Sarang at Darshan in Mumbai, who had been trained in Jaipur gharana Kathak by his father. Sandeep does not blend different styles of Kathak and believes in retaining the purity of form. He still performs pure Kathak but with sleek presentation, stagecraft and showmanship. However here is a dancer from a traditional background who has dared to do different presentations. On stage he dances in the same evening’s concert, both pure Kathak and also Kathak to Jazz percussions, drummed out by Sitara Devis’ world musician son- Ranjit Barot, with equal felicity and with effortless grace. Sandeepwas the Indian choreographer on the Doordarshan dance Reality show with a difference- “Rum Jhum”. In this he matched his vast knowledge, understanding and skill of the folk dances of India to compete with Sandip Soparrkar’s knowledge

11 and skill with dance forms of the world. Recently, he created a dance show for the Kingdom of Dreams- their third, titled “ Abhimanyu- The Fastest Feet”. Starting from a colourful village, it takes traditional Kathak dancer to the USA after a chance meeting with an American Broadway dancer, who is quick to realise his potential. His international success helps his village suffering from a drought, to get a perennial supply of water. Set to an original score created by Deepak Pandit and Sandeep mahaveer himself, testifying to the multi skilled artistry of this traditional young artiste coming into his own in a modern world, “Abhimanyu” has original songs sung by , Daler Mehndi, , and Dinesh Mahavir. The subject being very close to the heart and life of Sandeep Mahavir, has a sense of the true ringing throughout. What is evident is that learning Kathak is just the first step on the spring board of creativity. What matters is how you use this training so that it gives you joy and financial stability for your life.

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