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PAPER 4

Detail Study Of Kathak, Nautch Girls, Nritta, Nritya, Different

Gharana-s, Present Status, Institutions, Artists

Module 25 Kathak In Films

Kathak has been easily and freely assimilated in mainstream

cinema. This has been possible due to language outreach

(Hindi/Urdu/Punjabi/Awadhi/Bhojpuri) and also due to cultural

closeness of the subject.

Kathak was story-telling in temples and thus the same devise

has been easily adapted in Hindi films. The stories of nautch

dancers, or tawaifs, or courtesans or, classical dancers have all

added to body of film works. The first full-length feature film

made in India - Raja Harish Chandra - used north Indian dances

minimally and Kathak being from north and central India, had

easy access and viewership. This 1913 Indian silent film was

directed and produced by Indian icon Dadasaheb Phalke. The

film had an all-male cast as no woman was available for playing

female leads. Phalke struggled to get women, including nautch

girls, to agree to act in the film. He hence had to cast a delicate-

looking man Anna Salunke/अन्ना साल ुंके to play the role of

Queen Taramati, Harish Chandra’s wife. Phalke discovered

Salunke, who used to work in a restaurant as a cook, for this

role. Salunke would later play the role of both Rama and Sita in

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Phalke’s 1917 film Lanka Dahan and become the most popular

actor of his time.1

The plethora of mythological films introduced a different slant

to the use of music and dance in Hindi cinema. As the formula

for romantic and soulful rendition of song and a simplistic

dance number by the heroine could not apply to the gods and

goddesses of mythology, such films required greater emphasis

on dance. Most heroes or heroines could not dance and the

notion of choreography did not exist. Consequently, studios

contracted trained classical dancers from different parts of the

country. Interestingly, the initial dances in films were by the

best dancers in the country who conceptualized and

choreographed for them. Directors gave the dancers basic

instructions and guidelines and song and dance numbers with

elaborate sets and costumes were posturized to add to the

fantasy of ‘Devlok’ or ‘Indralok.’

Trained classical dancers such as Sitara Devi and later Gopi

Krishna and western style dancer Azoorie kicked off the

popularity of the classical dance form in Hindi films. These

dancers were so popular that the film posters highlighted

“dances by Sitara Devi.” Dance masters such as Prof. More often

composed these elaborate stage dances. As dancing became

more popular the need for dance masters and later

choreographers was felt. Azoorie, one of the popular dancers of

the very early days, trained two boys Surya Kumar and Krishna

Kumar who in turn started training actors to dance to their own

tunes. Choreographers such as P. L. Raj, Satyanarayan,

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Badriprasad and a host of others came in then.2 The era of

dance started in Hindi films with the entry of trained dancing

actresses Padmini, Ragini and Vyjayanthimala from the south. In

any film featuring these actresses there would definitely be

dance!

1940s: Uday Shankar’s seminal film Kalpana, the first fully

choreographed film released in 1948 also had portions on

Kathak. The story of this film was based on dance. This reached

out to many as the film had a national release. S.S. Vasan’s

Chandralekha had choreography by Tarun Chopra, a disciple of

Uday Shankar. Ram Gopal too used Kathak sequences in his

films, making it internationally popular. Zohra Sehgal is special

because she showcased the Uday Shankar dance style in film

two years before Kalpana was released. That film was Neecha

Nagar (1946, Hindi), and her contribution was two beautiful

dances (a "twin" and "trio" dance) with graceful side sways,

undulations, arm positions, and hand gestures that look directly

inspired by the Uday Shankar style as evidenced from extant

footage of Kalpana. Her daughter Kiran Sehgal’s

book Fatty sheds some light on the influence Zohra had on

dance through her training of everyone associated with Prithvi

Theatres. Kiran notes that students, Suresh Bhatt and

Satyanarayan, later went on to give dance direction in films,

and she also lists Badnam (directed by DD Keshav) as one of

Zohra's film choreographies. Kiran notes that the female

dancers identified in the credits of Neecha Nagar, Ruma

Ganguly and Gopa Lal, were students of Zohra at Prithvi

Theatres!3

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Kathak soon gained currency in mainstream Hindi cinema of

Bombay and many dancers were trained in Kathak like Sadhona

Bose, Devika Rani, Waheeda Rehman, Meena Kumari, Sandhya

Shantaram among others. Sadhona Bose was a contemporary

of Uday Shankar. A classically trained dancer (Kathak dance

under Taraknath Bagchi and Manipuri under Guru Senarik

Rajkumar) Tough Sadhona was an actress she was a dancer first

and all her film successes were in dancing roles. She even sang

her own songs in some of her films including her first Alibaba.

An English version of her best-known film, Raj Nartaki (1941)

was distributed in the USA as Court Dancer.

1950s: Most of the Kathak found in Indian films tends toward

the courtesan/mujra style of Kathak with a focus on abhinaya

(expressive interpretation), lyrical poetry, and a slower pace to

show off the dancer's feminine charms. In cases where the

pace quickens to feature footwork and spins, the dances still

aren’t up to par and the dancer's lack of lengthy Kathak training

usually shows (or in the case of Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje, the

dancer - Gopi Krishna - is clearly trained but "spices up" the

dance for film so much that it strays from classical Kathak).

Film Kathak often features close-up shots of the dancer’s

footwork, but it’s almost always a shadow of the real thing.

There are a few film dances, however, that are gleaming

exceptions to the rule in their presentation of rhythmic,

technical Kathak, and the star of this style is undoubtedly

Kumari Roshan. Roshan’s dance style was certainly a product of

her training in the Jaipur gharana of Kathak. In the 1959 Bengali

film Jalsagar directed by Satyajit Ray, Roshan performs a

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"trivet," a fast-paced dance item popular in the Jaipur style but

rarely performed today. In the historical film Mirza

Ghalib (Hindi, 1954) set in the time of the “magnificence of the

court of the last Mughal” the story follows the romance of the

Indian poet Mirza Ghalib and a dancer who was played by

Roshan. Roshan Kumari is said to have danced in quite a few

Bengali and Hindi films, one of which was Basant Bahar

(Bengali, 1957). In Parineeta (Hindi, 1953), we have a double-

whammy with Roshan Kumari and Gopi Krishna as performers!

Gopi Krishna wowed with his effortless turbo-spins and Roshan

had delightful form in the way she holds herself.4

V. Shantaram made films based on dance characters as his own

partner Sandhya, whom he married later, was an accomplished

folk dancer knowing many classical forms; thus many of his

films from Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje (1955) to Jal Bin Machchli

Nritya Bin Bijalee (1971) used Kathak heavily. The latter film had

a plot which allows almost everyone to declare their willingness

to sacrifice themselves for love, or for dance, or for the love of

dance. Though earlier Sandhya had almost given up dancing

because of backache, she staged a comeback as a dancer in this

picture with a vengeance. Her snake dance, beautifully shot

outdoors, is a visual delight.

One must remember where, when and how dance came in

films! Each film had minimum of 6 to 8 songs (RPM and LP vinyl

records had two sides and each side had 3 to 4 songs) thus,

each film had 6-8 songs and most songs had to be danced or

enacted to a storyline. Thus films gave allowance for such

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depiction through song and dance, thus also earning the

sobriquet from international cinema community (and

audiences) that Indian films were all “song and dance” story or

sequence, which could also be demonstrated by dance. As

Kathak was the only north Indian form, it became very popular

and thus won instant audiences. Folk forms were also very

easily involved and thus dance permeated all aspects of film

making.

1960s: Many actresses came from south India and brought

Bharatanatyam with them; and this also helped pan Indian

audiences see this form. By then the Bombay film industry had

benefit of great gurus like Lachchu Maharaj, Kundanlal Gangani,

Mohanrao Kalyanpurkar who composed dance sequences using

Kathak.

Pandit Lachchu Maharaj of the Lucknow gharana made a

significant contribution to Hindi film choreography. The first

main film using story of a dancer - a courtesan - Anarkali was

Mughal-E-Azam (1960), in which the great K. Asif used

Madhubala who danced mostly Kathak, composed by Lachchu

Maharaj and Shambhu Maharaj. Mughal-e-Azam enchanted

audiences with its majestic sets, elaborate dance sequences

and soulful music. The dance sequences featuring Madhubala

and hundreds of junior artistes took the audience’s breath

away. Anarakali was a nautch dancer with whom young prince

Salim (played by a young Dilip Kumar alias Yusuf Khan) falls in

love much to the dislike of his father, the King, played by

theatre doyenne Prithiviraj Kapoor.

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Pakeezah was another film choreographed by Pt. Lachchu

Maharaj with elaborate Kathak dance sequences. The film tells

the story of a Lucknow tawaif played by actress Meena Kumari.

All the Kathak dance sequences were performed by an ailing

Meena Kumari herself except for the last dance sequence

wherein a body double (Padma Khanna) was used in the long-

shots. Meena Kumari died weeks after the film was released.

The cameraman and director K. Asif Khan later married well

known Kathak dancer Sitara Devi. From when she was just 12,

Sitara Devi performed dance sequences in Hindi movies like her

debut in Usha Haran (1940), Nagina (1951), Roti, Vatan

(1954), Anjali (1957). In Mother India (1957), she performed a

Holi dance dressed as a boy. After that, she stopped performing

dances in movies to concentrate on Kathak. She taught Kathak

to many Bollywood celebrities like Madhubala, Rekha, Mala

Sinha and Kajol.

Sohanlal also introduced Kathak in Hindi films. He was also one

of the first teachers of today’s superstar choreographer Saroj

Khan. His brother Hiralal also took up the profession of

choreography and was an established dance director himself.

Sohanlal’s hit films included Jewel Thief, Chaudvin Ka Chand,

Saheb Bibi Aur Ghulam and Satyam Shivam Sundaram.

1970s: Gopi Krishna, a nephew of Sitara Devi, rose to establish

Kathak in a big way in films. He added immensely to the Kathak

profile and outreach. Although he came and himself performed

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in festive songs like on Holi or village fair, he soon became a

popular choreographer and did many films. One of his dancing

partners was Padma Khanna and she too became established as

Kathak dancer in films, in addition to doing character or cameo

roles. Gopi Krishna was born into a family of Kathak dancers. His

maternal grandfather Pandit Sukhdev Maharaj was a teacher of

Kathak and his aunt Sitara Devi was a Kathak dancer who had

performed around the world. In 1952, 17-year-old Gopi Krishna

became one of the youngest choreographers in Hindi

film history when he was hired to choreograph dances

for Madhubala in Saqi. In 1955, he appeared as dancer-actor in

his first film Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje. In the film he played

Girdhar, a talented young dancer whose love for his partner

jeopardizes his dancing career. Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje is

filled with Gopi Krishna’s dances such as his famous

introductory pirouette-pillar dance and his energetic tandava

with Sandhya. The film was successful and helped to revitalize

public interest in classical dance. It is known that he danced

with Roshan Kumari before that in Parineeta (1953) and he also

danced in Aandhiyan (1952) in which he choreographed for

himself.5

Gopi Krishna choreographed for many films like

Grahasti (1963), Dastaan, Mehbooba, Umrao Jaan, Naache

Mayuri (1986) and The Perfect Murder (1988). You'll notice in

Gopi’s dance duets that he is usually paired with a female

dancer who can keep up with him and possesses a similar in-

born joy to her dance - Helen lookalike Madhumati,

Vyjayanthimala, Kamala, Priyadarshini, Helen herself, and

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Roshan Kumari. Only one dance of his exists with Kamala

in1959’s Naach Ghar. Gopi Krishna was a prolific choreographer

in Indian cinema. He composed the Sayee-Subbulakshmi

Kathak duet in Bharosa (1963). His compositions featured

ecstatic movements, sharp transitions, ample spins, and an

almost super-human pace with movements inspired by classical

dances particularly Kathak. While Gopi is listed as one of the

choreographers for Umrao Jaan (1981), he only composed for

one dance because the producers “were dissatisfied with Gopi's

work after he composed the first number and wanted

something more authentic” and soon hired the talented Kathak

dancer, Kumudini Lakhia.6

All through this phase, the 1950s to 1980s, although there was

Kathak and other forms, cabaret too was popular and no film

was complete without one number by Helen or Shashikala or

Bindu. In fact, Helen made dances very popular without ever

looking cheap. This woman singly won new audiences for

dance, cabaret or Indian forms. She even competed with

Vyjayantimala, a star from south, trained in Bharatanatyam, in a

duet in the film Prince (1969) where Helen did jazz, flamenco

and an Arabian Night’s routine, and Vyjayanthimala did

Bharatanatyam, Kathak and Kathakali along with apt changes in

costume for the song Mukabala hum se na karo.

Vyjayanthimala’s dances in Amrapali and Waheeda Rehman’s in

Guide were famous.

In the 1970s Jeetendra (father of Ekta and Tushar Kapoor) was

called Jumping Jack due to his dancing and even before him

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non-dancing stars like Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Raaj Kumar

danced few steps that looked like Kathak! Other classical forms

were too difficult or alien for them to even try to do, though

most undertook folk forms easily.

1990s: Madhuri Dixit tried to use her basic knowledge of Kathak

in films like Tezaab and desired to learn from masters like Pt

Birju Maharaj. He has directed, composed music and sung for

two classical dance sequences in the film Shatranj Ke Khiladi

(The Chess Players) directed by Satyajit Ray. One was a group

dance picturised on Wajid Ali Shah (Amjad Khan) shown

dancing along with his queens. Birju Maharaj’s ace disciple

Saswati Sen did all the court dances. The other was a solo

dance forming the backdrop of a crucial sequence of the story.

He directed and composed a music piece for the film Dil to

Paagal Hai, as a jugalbandi. Madhuri Dixit performed the dance

on this piece in the Kathak style, with a contemporary touch. In

the film Gadar, he choreographed a group dance based on the

song Aan Milo Sajana, forming a backdrop to show Ameesha

Patel’s turmoil. He choreographed, composed music for and

was the male lead singer for the song Kahe chhed mohe in the

film Devdas. This dance represents a true portrayal of bhava as

performed by Madhuri Dixit, in the classical style. His disciples

have performed as the accompanying artistes for these dance

sequences, along with the film personalities. P.L. Raj, Bhagwan,

Saroj Khani, Vaibhavi Merchant, and others have added to the

large body of work.

2000s: Audience tastes began to be changed by filmmakers who

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began offering gymnastics by way of dance sequences largely

because actresses were not trained in any one dance form

properly and could not be bothered to learn one either! Thus, a

new breed of starlets can only move like athletes and gymnasts

and so choreographers too have devised easy movements.

Though this has been the general trend, a few exceptions also

exist, like Birju Maharaj choreographing for Sanjay Leela

Bhansali’s Devdas featuring Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit.

Luna Pan, Debosmita Mukherjee, Pallabi De and Swati Ghosal,

all students of Pt. Birju Maharaj have performed in the song

Kahe chhed mohe composed by Birju Maharaj in Devdas. He

was the winner of the National Award for Best Choreography

(2013) for choreographing the song Unnai Kaanadhu Naan,

which featured Kamal Haasan performing Kathak in his

multilingual film, Vishwaroopam.

Kumudhini Lakhia is one of the very first women dancers to

choreograph not only for the stage but also for films like Umrao

Jaan (1981) and Sur Sangam. Based on the

famous Lucknow courtesan, Umrao Jaan starred Bollywood

actress Rekha in the main role. Director Muzaffar Ali hired the

best choreographers (Gopi Krishna and Kumudini Lakhia) and

watching the film, one would be surprised to know that Rekha

had no formal training in Kathak dance, which was the

backbone of the movie based in that era. The courtesan was a

well-trained Kathak dancer, hence Rekha went through training

to master her dance sequences. In an interview Rekha confided,

“In fact to be authentic in my dance movements, besides Gopi

Krishnaji and Kumudini Lakhiaji, Muzaffar Ali had also invited

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many Nawabs of the bygone era, who were acquainted to

the mujras. These nawabs were exclusively called to closely

monitor my Kathak steps and many a times they guided me and

came up with valuable suggestions thus making my dance

standout.''8

Thus Kathak gurus have not shied from composing for

mainstream cinema, without sacrificing content for

entertainment. In this new century, although Kathak is sort of

marginalized in films (as are all classical forms) because old

themes have given way to new, still focused directors like

Muzaffar Ali make period films like Umrao Jaan. In his latest

film Jaanisaar (2015), for one of the songs, lyrics were taken

from the poetry of Wajid Ali Shah and Rahi Masoom Raza. The

heroine of this period film is a courtesan played by Pernia

Qureshi, a trained Kathak dancer.

Among TV documentaries made exclusively on Kathak, mention

must be made of Sukhdev’s 1971 documentary featuring

Roshan Kumari, Damayanti Joshi, Sudarshan Dheer and Birju

Maharaj. Doordarshan has done some documentation but

nothing focused. SNA documents only those it awards! That

way many have been left out. In recent decades, the highest

TRP ratings on dance series on national TV was Taal Mel made

by Sharmistha Pranab Mukherjee and Ashish Mohan Khokar for

Doordarshan.

Kathak as a genre has captured national imagination because of

Hindi films in large way, just like in the 1940s Bharatanatyam

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came to southern films. Many actresses were trained in classical

dance, making it easy for them to absorb and learn quickly and

prime example are Vyjayanthimala, Hema Malini and Rekha

after the first generation of greats mentioned in opening paras.

These leading ladies were adept in horse riding, swimming,

tennis and classical dances! Talk of multi-tasking! Kathak has

now become nationally known and accepted and in no small

measure is the contribution of films and film makers,

choreographers and composers.