Pandit Birju Maharaj is a loyal brand ambassador of art. He is the perfect combination of sur, taal and laya. He knows how to play seven musical instruments, is a trained vocalist, sketches at leisure and composes music too. But his first love will has always been Kathak. Panditji also enjoys teaching. He has students from China, the Middle East and even a far removed nation like Finland, he tells Deebashree Mohanty
Unfortunately today, dance is all about releasing your frustration. So you jump, thump and perform acrobatics. The pure form of dancing has been compromised,” Pandit Birju Maharaj tells you from Mumbai where he had gone to appear on a dance reality show. He tells you that, earlier, dance was a form of enjoyment. Today, it has become a business.
At his age, Panditji can perform for only 15 minutes on a trot but that doesn’t deter him from putting four hours of practice daily. “At 75, I feel very fit. Although, now I cannot complete a 30-minute full fledged performance, I am happy with the small appearances I am being offered. It makes me feel wanted. I have seen so many talented artists been pushed into oblivion. I hope people remember and love me like this till I die,” Panditji says. He adds that the reason behind his good health is his rigid dance workout and a spirited outlook towards life.
He says, today dance has become a packaged presentation where clothes, presentation and accessories take the lead and dance per se gets sidelined.
“Every dance form need not be a performance. Sometimes, art can enjoyed in isolation. In the days of yore, you had a dance recital just for a select audience where everyone understood the nuances of the form and what each adaa was about. But now, the focus is solely on stage presence, on how a large uninvolved audience can be kept rapt in attention for the entire duration of the show. The artists tries every trick in the book to engage his audience. After all, the motivation is to sell the art form. In that sense, we are killing pure art forms,” he says.
Panditji has a unique distinction of performing in more than 5,700 dance recitals in more than 18 countries. At present, he has about 78 dancing schools where his students can get dancing lessons and also a certificate at the end of the diploma.
Birju Maharaj has been dancing since he was 11 years old but the master artist says he got to know the real meaning of dance and art only after he turned 15. “The trick lies in observing Nature. The way the leaves dance around trees, the way lightening strikes, all this teaches us a lot of things. I come from a family of artists but real dance was taught to me by Mother Nature,” he says. For him, dancers today have no laya – the most important part of dancing. It is this laya, that makes Madhuri Dixit his favourite disciple.
“It’s her adaa and the laya that makes Madhuri a perfect dancer. Even if she may blotch up a step or two, you can easily miss it because you are so swayed in by her charm. She is a stunning dancer,” Maharaj says, adding that it is not true that only women have laya. Even a man can weave magic with his adaayen. “I have seen many men dancers who have grace. Women do have an unfair advantage owing to their feminism but men can easily outdo them. Hrithik Roshan has a lot of poise and a pleasing personality,” he points out.
While panditji feels proud that today Kathak has many as 37 variations, he is saddened by the plight of classical dancers in India. It is the lack of respect that gets to Birju Maharaj. “I have been associated with many foreign NGOs and have performed for so many international organisations. They have a genuine respect towards the art and the artist which is good to see. In India that pride of place has suddenly vanished. Classical dancers have been replaced by item girls,” Maharaj tells you. He is equally passionate about teaching kathak to students who want to learn the dance.
“I have 12 original schools around the globe and we get students from Finland and China. No other school apart from those mentioned on my URl have originality. But there are touts in India who sell their coaching classes using my name. They convince hapless parents that Birju Maharaj will himself hand over a certificate to them. That’s not true. And I would want this practice to stop immediately,” the maestro thunders. In the last couple of years, Maharaj has also been at the receiving end of many parents who blamed him for their wards’ depression.
“Poor parents would call to tell me that I have cheated on them by not giving blessings personally to their wards. It makes me feel bad to inform them that they have been sending their child to the wrong class,” he says.
For a dancer who started performing for a paltry sum of Rs17 in a village in Maharashtra, Birju Maharaj has had quite an eventful and long stint in the profession. “Whom should I send my resignation toIJ I have stopped giving full fledged concerts quite some ago and now I am concentrating on how my students are performing. But that doesn't mean that I have retired from dancing. I can still shake a leg every now and then,” he says, adding that his last full blown concert in New Delhi saw a capacity crowd of more than 5,000 people in the Talkotara indoor stadium.
He received Rs10 lakh for this solo performance. But money has never been a criterion for this veteran. “I know the value of money has increased manifold but the amount of money that artists are receiving these days is unbelievable. I am happy that their talent is being recognised but at the same time I feel sad that art ko paise se khareeda jaa raha hai. Once you have taken the signed amount, the artists becomes puppets in the hands of organisers,” he says pensively.
Although panditji insists that he is very passionate about Kathak as a form of Indian classical dance, he tells you that he is also fond of a few western dance forms. “I absolutely love the flow of the contemporary dance form. There is a lot of grace and a lot of poise needed to complete a full fledged performance. I am not a great believer in other modern dance varieties like the cha cha cha or even the disco dance forms. Each of them has its own charm but for me nothing beats the Indian classical. It is a wholesome dance form replete with ada, laya and subtle movements. An art connoisseur cannot ask for more,” Maharaj says.
As for present projects, Birju Maharaj leaves you with famous words: Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya....