Fashionista and actress Pernia Qureshi has been training in Kathak since she was three years old. Ahead of her dance recital Chandni Raatein, she tells Shrabasti Mallik about learning Kuchipudi and how she wants Indian classical dance to reach a wider audience
We have all marvelled at Pernia Qureshi deliver perfect Kathak mudras in her debut movie Jaanisaar. Such is her passion for the classical performing arts that she specially trained in the particular face form for the Muzaffar Ali film.
It is for the first time that the fashionista will be showing her dancing skills on the stage with a show called Chandni Raatein. To be staged at the Stein Auditorium of the India Habitat Centre on February 13, the dance recital would be based in the subject of love. “There will be a dramatic setting with moonlight to add to the overall atmosphere,” she said. The recital, she pointed out would be ab enjoyable experience and would appeal to the eyes. “We want the show to be as real and enjoyable as possible. That is why there will be live musicians and singers. It will also be a short performance and will conclude within an hour,” she added.
She will also be joined by Kuchipudi exponent Raja Radha Reddy for a brief while on the stage. And the excitement was evident in her voice, “To share the stage with him was an honour. Through our rehearsals and routines I have come to learn so much from him,” she praised.
Qureshi considers it a blessing to have Kumudini lakhiya as part of the show. Not many would know that lakhiya had also trained Rekha when she was shooting for Umrao Jaan. “It was kind enough on her part to take me under her wings and train me,” Qureshi beamed.
The actress was three-years-old when she took he first dance lessons. “I started dancing even before I went to school,” she laughed. Her first lessons were in Kathak under her guru late pandit Tirath Rama. Then when she attended college, she took interest in Kuchipudi and learnt it, too. “I have dedicated 10 years of my life to Kuchipudi. But last year I moved back to Kathak because of Jaanisaar,” she said.
Chandni Raatien is her attempt to popularise and propagate classical dance. “It just needs to reach more people and we all need to popularise it. The reason why the youth is ignorant of all this is because we do not know much about it,” she said.