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HomeThePrint ProfileBirju Maharaj—Kathak maestro started teaching at 13 years. He died with a...

Birju Maharaj—Kathak maestro started teaching at 13 years. He died with a song on his lips

Birju Maharaj’s contribution to Indian cinema can be traced from Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj ke Khilari to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bajiro Mastani.

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Anyone even remotely familiar with Kathak — one of India’s eight major forms of Indian classical dance — has heard of Pandit Birju Maharaj. The exemplary dancer was also an accomplished classical singer who wowed audiences with his performances.

The world-renowned Kathak artist also had a flair for poetry and wrote under the pen name ‘Brijshyam.’ He was a vocalist who mastered thumri and other styles, and played instruments as well.

“An artiste expresses his deepest emotions through his art, be it dance, music or visual art forms. I express in the best way I feel inspired to and am blessed to have been able to wear these different hats of a dancer, singer, poet and painter. It just comes to me naturally and is effortless. I am just the channel through which all this flows,” he had said in an earlier interview published in Indian Express.

Born Brijmohan Nath Mishra, he was always attracted to the joys of dancing and making music at the age of three, he would happily waddle to the place where young students were taught dancing, and playing harmonium and tabla.

Birju Maharaj, also called Pandit ji or Maharaj ji, grew up learning dance more than anything else. He belonged to the prestigious Lucknow Gharana of Kathak. Both his uncles, Shambhu Maharaj and Lachhu Maharaj, were known performers and teachers of the art form. Birju Maharaj and his father Jagannath Maharaj, popularly known as Acchan Maharaj in Lucknow, would often share the stage when he was young.

What made Birju Maharaj stand out was how he did not follow a linear form of learning and was well-known for mixing styles. Birju Maharaj created his own style that incorporated aspects from both of his uncles as well as his father. He claimed to have acquired his father’s accuracy of footwork and the play of the face and neck, as well as his uncles’ artistic fluidity.


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An early start 

Pandit ji’s lessons began at a young age. At seven, he started training under his father and his uncles. He would also travel across Uttar Pradesh with them to Kanpur, Allahabad and Gorakhpur to watch them dance. Eventually, he eased into traveling even more far off, to distant locations such as Kolkata and Mumbai where he shared the stage with his teachers.

After his father passed away, Birju Maharaj took the reins. He relocated to Delhi and started teaching Kathak when he was only 13 years old.

Whatever he learnt, he became adept at it. He knew how to take his learnings forward. Calling his learnings a triad of influence, he would say, “Ganga, Jamuna, Saraswati coming together in me,” referring to his teachers.

After teaching at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Kathak Kendra, he retired in 1998. He opened his own school and named it Kalashram. A big supporter of the ‘Guru-Shishya parampara,’ the dancer wanted to imbibe spirituality in his students as well. At Kalashram, he did not want to teach a mere skill. In an earlier interview, he said, “Through my training, I want students to be aware that classical dance is connected to spiritualism and culture. At Kalashram, I use traditional parameters to choreograph new presentations. I want people to see that even classical styles can be very appealing, interesting and dignified.”


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First major solo to National awards

At the Manmath Nath Ghosh festivities in West Bengal, Birju Maharaj had his first significant solo performance in front of luminaries of the music world. After being praised profusely for his style and expressions, he could never look back.

Once the government of India took notice of him, he was sent all around the world to represent India at international events. He was frequently asked to perform at major events in front of foreign dignitaries at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He was even invited to give performances and lectures in countries such as Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Burma and Sri Lanka among others.

Birju Maharaj’s contribution to Indian cinema can be traced from Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj ke Khilari (1977) to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bajiro Mastani (2015). Some of the most popular Hindi songs known for their dance performances such as Kaahe Ched Mohe of Devdas (2002) and In Aankhon ki Masti Mein of Umrao Jaan (1981) were choreographed by Birju Maharaj. Bollywood actor Madhuri Dixit, who was a student of Birju Maharaj, said, “He taught me the intricacies of dance and Abhinay but never failed to make me laugh at his funny anecdotes.”

The maestro won many accolades during his lifetime. Alongside Padma Bhushan, he received other honours such as the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Kalidas Samman, Nritya Vilas, Rajiv Gandhi Peace Award, National Film Award for choreography in Vishwaroopam (2013), and Filmfare Award for Bajirao Mastani.

The kathak dancer passed away at the age of 83 while playing antakshari, a game of songs. In his last moments, he was seen laughing and smiling with his family. In the interview he gave less than two months before his death, the ageing yet elegant artist expressed confidence in the future and the younger generation for carrying on Kathak traditions despite the numerous distractions of the contemporary world.

(Edited by Ratan Priya)

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