He needs no introduction! His name and talent are well-known the world over. Pandit Birju Maharaj alias Brij Mohan Nath Mishra has endowed the Indian cinema with a few dancing divas as well...Madhuri Dixit in ‘Devdas’ will always top the charts. But, the Padma Vibhushan Awardee seems to be raising his eyebrows with the wrong portrayal of Kathak-Form in most of the bollywood flicks these days.
The 70-year-old artist says in an unhappy tone,
Kathak is being portrayed in the wrong manner in Indian Cinema. Sometimes, what one sees is a mix of cabaret and mujra in the name of Kathak. The influence of Bollywood has even made foreigners ask whether the dance numbers in the movie Umrao Jaan are done in authentic Kathak style. It is an irony.
In that case, I would like to suggest the wrong-doers to watch Birju Maharaj’s directed classical song sequences in films like ‘Shatranj ke Khiladi’, ‘Dil to Pagal Hai’ and ‘Devdas’.
Various dance-based talent hunt shows on television such as ‘Boogie Woogie’ and ‘Nach Baliye’ are also fueling the fire since such programmes corrupt the mind of children as not even a single show highlights classical dance, says the versatile artist.
In such shows, participants dance for movie-songs that are sometimes too exposing and vulger. This trend will spoil the children and keep them away from classical dance forms.
Via - zeenews
