Charu Kapoor’s presentation at the event ‘Nautch girls’ legacy in Indian cinema’ brought alive the forgotten graceful ladies of our cinematic past
The nautch girl in Indian cinema has been a subject of immense adoration and an emblem of poise, elegance, beauty and charm. Rekha in Umrao Jaan, Meena Kumari in Pakeezah, Aishwarya Rai in the remake of Umrao Jaan and more recently Deepika Padukone in Bajirao Mastani, have been onscreen representatives of this dancer who has been, it is argued, undervalued in our literature. Keeping the same in mind, an event was recently organised in Delhi that sought to revisit the era of the nautch girl.
Titled ‘Nautch girls’ legacy in Indian cinema’, the event held at the India International Centre on January 19. This ensemble of songs and ghazals was rendered by Dr Charu Kapoor. An alumnus of St Stephen’s College, Kapoor did her Masters in Physics and then PhD from Delhi University in the field of Superconductivity. Her research paper has been selected for presentation at the International Conference at Oxford in July this year. However, it is music that has been a passion for this Delhi University Associate Professor.
She completed Visharad in Hindustani Classical vocal at the age of 16 and has been a disciple of Dagar brothers, leading exponents of Dhrupad and also Savita Devi of Benaras gharana, famous for light classical.
At the event, she presented ghazals and songs depicting the legacy of nautch girls as portrayed in Indian cinema, from the films Mahal (1949) to Umrao Jaan (1981). The song Chhun chhun ghungarva from the film Mahal set the classical ambience of the programme, which was broadly divided into three themes. The first one captured the moments in the emperor’s court in the Mughal era where the nautch girl evolved as an institution of recitation and renderings. In this section was the famous Zamaana ye samjha ki hum pi ke aaye from Anarkali (1953) and Jab jab tumhe bhulaya fromJahanara (1964).
The next theme revolved around the nautch girls and theirkotha and mehfil: Yeh barkha bahar from Mayurpankh (1954) that got entry in Cannes film festival that year, Sakiya aaj mujhe from Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam (1962), Woh chup rahein toh, classic Madan Mohan creation fromJahanara, famous ghazal from Jeevan Mrityu (1970), iconic Meena Kumarimujra, Thade rahiyo from Pakeezah.
The last segment expressed the pathos of nautch girls. It included Unko ye shikayat hai andYun hasraton ke daag from Adalat (1958); Rehte the kabhi from Mamta (1966); Ye kya jagah hai doston from Umrao Jaan.
The event was organised by the Kl Saigal Memorial Circle and the inspiration was a book titled Nautch Girls of the Raj (2009) by Pran Nevile, an ardent music lover and author of books on Indian culture and history.