With those elegant footwork and gravity-defying turns kathak opens a fantastical world before a dabbler, who is sure to fall deeply in love with its mesmerising ways. Shila Mehta, an internationally acclaimed name in the kathak dance today, was one such lover. A Gujarati, born and brought up in India’s cultural capital, Kolkata, Shila got strongly influenced by the art and culture frolicking around her and found solace in dancing. Shila, who was in the city recently to perform in the Mudra Festival, spares some time for the City Express.
At the age of five, Shila sashayed into the vast world of dance under the tutelage of late Pt Prahalad Das. Shila’s decision to learn dance took a toll on her mother. With seven children to look after she struggled to make ends meet.
“My mother was not able to cope up with everything so she asked me to discontinue my dance lessons. I didn’t eat for one-and-half days. Finally she had to give into my demands,” says Shila with a triumphant smile.
Shila, who initially learnt Indian classical dance forms such as Manipuri, Bharatanatyam and Odissi, soon realised kathak is her calling. “I was taken away by the nagma (tune), taal (rhythm) and that extempore quality of kathak. There was that openness about the artform which I could easily connect with. All I wanted was to immerse in it,” says Shila.
Kathak has three gharanas or genres named after three culturally-rich places, Lucknow, Banaras and Jaipur. Shila, who was fortunate enough to learn from the legend Pt Birju Maharaj, belongs to the Lucknow gharana, deftly followed by her teacher.
She says kathak is a beautiful amalgamation of Hindu and Muslim traditions. With its ‘nazakats’ (delicate gestures) and andaaz (elegant poses), kathak has been gaining an international audience, who finds a connection with this art form despite its Indianness.
“Kathak has a very flexible language when compared to other classical dance forms. Due to its similarities with Spanish Flamenco dance, there are many who believe that Flamenco has been originated in India. Kathak the term was derived from ‘kathakar’ (story teller) who used to narrate vignettes from Ramayana and Mahabharatha at Hindu temples. Later on, kathak moved to courts because of Muslim invasions. Girls from Persia (courtesans) were brought in and they performed kathak before the Mogul kings,” says Shila, who had the honour to perform at various venues across the globe at many occasions. Being an empanelled artist of ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations) Shila had performed in 17 cities of Germany under the series ‘Culture on Wheels’ at Government of India’s invitation.
Kathak being a flexible medium, its practitioners have often tried innovative methods in the dance form and thus developed breathtaking styles such as sufi kathak. Shila, herself has designed one such style, ‘Charani Kathak’, a genre derived from Vraj Sahitya (Hindi literature) by using Charani Sahitya, an original folk literature of Gujarat and Rajasthan.
“We dance to ghazals (Urdu poems), thumris (a genre of semi-classical Indian music) and taranas (a type of Hindustani classical vocal music). There is also a spontaneity and subtle ‘abhinaya’ about Kathak. We usually dance to the syllables of Tabla and pakhawaj hence there is a lot of intricate footwork,” says Shila. Shila says kathak is becoming the new fad among youngsters who aspire to become film actors today, as it is used extensively in cinema. “I have many students who come to learn the dance to get into movies,” says Shila.
Shila, who had trained under legends such as Pandit Prahlad Das, VijayShankar and Birju Maharaj and most recently Suresh Talwalkar, is currently the artistic director of the ‘Nupur Zankar Academy Of Performing Arts and Research Centre’, Mumbai.
Shila is all praise for the Kerala audience. From Nishagandhi Dance Festival to Soorya Festival, she has been a part of all major dance fests conducted in Kerala. She has also performed at 10 cities in the state, as part of the Soorya Festival with 15 other dancers.
“There are two places in India I like to perform. One is Kolkata and the other is Kerala. I have been coming to Kerala for many years now. Two great artforms in India, Kathakali and Mohiniyattom are from Kerala. The state has such great art heritage. The audiences here are deeply rooted,” says Shila.
Shila has performed a traditional kathak dance dedicated to Krishna ‘Vanathachabi Shyamsundar’, ‘alas nayan khanditha nayika’ inspired from ‘geeth govind’s ashtapathi and taranas at Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan. She took a lecture demonstration on ‘Kathak in contemporary times’ for the dance aspirants.