QUEEN'S ROAD: Pandit Birju Maharaj walks in wearing a kurta-pyjama and an overcoat, walking stick in hand. He cracks a joke about traffic in Bengaluru and we all join in the laughter.
The legend has arrived straight from the airport. Kathak is his life. As he begins to speak about it, his tired eyes light up.
What motivates him to dance at 77? “Dance emanates from the rhythm within us. There is a rhythm with which our heart beats. I feel joyous when I dance. I don’t feel tired!” he says.
Birju Maharaj, who has been dancing since he was three, hails from the Lucknow Kalka-Bindadin gharana of Kathak, and was trained by his uncles, Shambhu Maharaj and Lachhu Maharaj, and his father, Acchan Maharaj.
Even today, he does riyaaz (rigorous practice) every day. “Actually, I teach a lot. I have to perform each step 10 times to demonstrate it to my students, and it ends up giving me more exercise than my students get,” he says, laughing.
Laya and bhaava (expression) capture the essence of Kathak. “Everyone expresses, even a new-born child does. He doesn’t announce he wants to cry but just does. When he laughs, he doesn’t declare that he is laughing, but just laughs. Bhaava begins from there,” says Birju Maharaj, the first and youngest recipient of the Padma Vibhushan in dance.
Saswati Sen, his foremost disciple, shares, “For the legendary dancer that he is, he is also an unaware child.”
“When he was called and asked how he would feel about being conferred the award, he said ‘Ruk jaao, main Saswati se poochke bataoonga’(wait, I’ll ask Saswati about it and let you know),” she recalls.
He hadn’t heard of the award, and asked the person to call back after half an hour. “When he spoke to me, I was shocked,” Saswati says.
Birju Maharaj has ushered in a renaissance in Kathak. Almost every contemporary dancer is influenced by his genius. He has designed ways of incorporating mythological, historical, social, and contemporary stories into the art. He even composed Romeo and Juliet in Kathak and performed it at Chowdaiah Memorial Hall some years ago.
He has also dabbled in the film industry by composing, singing, and choreographing sequences in Shatranj ke Khiladi, Devdas, Dil Toh Pagal Hai, and Vishwaroopam.
He reminisces about Amjad Khan on the sets on Shatranj ke Khiladi, where he was supposed to dance as a Nawab.
“Amjad came to me and said he could wave a pistol, but not dance! But he did do it eventually,” he says. “Working with Kamal Hassan was a wonderful experience. He is very sincere.”
Birju Maharaj is going to choreograph Deepika Padukone for a Kathak sequence in the upcoming movie Bajirao Mastani.
A lot needs to be done by the government to save the art, he says, but he is optimistic.
“Once, we were in Delhi performing with Zakir Hussain on the tabla. About 500 people were standing outside the gate, demanding a screen so they could watch. They threatened to break down the gate otherwise. If we have such a huge crowd, there is nothing to worry about,” he says.
People still come to hear musicians like Shiv Kumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia, and it is not over yet, he asserts.
The younger generation is also taking an active interest in this classical form. “There is an interest in every household to learn at least one traditional classical art form,” agrees Saswati.
“The only problem is that they are not willing to spend time to delve in depth.”
Birju Maharaj believes everyone is a performer. “Even in the way a mother makes a roti, there is a rhythm when she shifts the rolled dough from one hand to another, in the way she flattens it with a rolling pin. There is a timing in everything,” he says.
So anybody can dance? “Absolutely. As dancers, we observe and learn from things that happen in our surroundings. We just present them in a more graceful manner,” he says.