BHUBANESWAR: Authors Manish Gaekwad, Madhur Gupta and classical vocalist Vidya Shah provided a peek into the lives of courtesans at a session on ‘Presenting Hidden History: Courtesans or Cultural Icons’ during the second day of Odisha Literary Festival 2023.
Interacting with senior journalist Kaveree Bamzai, Gaekwad - the author of The Last Courtesan - said his book is a memoir of his mother who was sold to a kotha at a young age. It chronicles the story of his mother Rekha who made a living dancing for patrons in the kothas of Calcutta and Bombay.
“My mother always wanted to tell her own story but she had no means to. So, she raised me, gave me education so that I become the medium through which her story is told,” said Manish, who had worked as a senior script creative at Red Chillies Entertainment.
His mother, Manish said, found herself in a situation where she had to adapt herself to survive because she could not get out of it. When the kotha culture started declining from 80s onwards and the girls started switching to dance bars and getting into sex work, she had to make a choice of continuing as a courtesan or getting into the work.
Giving examples of courtesans like Gouhar Jaan and Zohra Bai, author of ‘Courting Hindustan’ Madhur said many courtesans went on to become empresses, queens and women of prominence. Yet, many of them lived on the fringes of the male-dominated society and were forgotten. His book talks about 10 courtesans of prehistoric to pre-Independence era who stood their ground and kept performing and carrying on with the tradition that they were born into.
“They were better than any modern-day heroines. They had much more class, knowledge of music and poetry,” said Madhur, who is an Odissi dancer. Vidya gave an insight into her project ‘Women on Record’, a multi-media performance highlighting the contributions of the forgotten women performers in the gramophone era. “Many women sang, performed nautanki on record during the gramophone era but unfortunately, there is no record of them. This is what got me hooked onto this project which is not just about music but the stories of the women who created this music,” she said.
Singing a few lines from ‘Mohe Panghat Pe Nandalal Gher Leo Re’ by Indubala and ‘Jhumka Gira Re Bareli Ke Bazaar Main’ by Dulari, she said there are many versions of such songs that have been incorporated into movies.