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The right step
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There is more to Mamta Maharaj than being Birju Maharaj’s daughter. She talks about her one love, dance
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Photo: H. Vibhu
Carrying on a tradition Mamta Maharaj
She shut herself, in despair and sadness, in her room, and began dancing. Dancing with a promise to dance till her end. Fighting a disapproving conservative society, a famous father’s seemingly feeble stand towards the talents of his daughters,
Mamta Maharaj daughter of Kathak legend Birju Maharaj took to dancing with vehemence.
Living in the shadow of a celebrity father has not been easy for sensitive, talented Mamta.
“To me he is a guru first and only then a father. When he’s on stage he does not look like my father. I wonder if he’s the same person who’s at home. It confuses me and always has. There is happiness of course but it is a strange feeling too. I have never seen him as a father. I have never climbed on his shoulders, never sulked or fussed around him.
With the dance world at his feet, with awards and flashlights, interviews and applause, has Mamta lost out on a father to the glare of a celebrity?
“I learnt dance under him. Though he never scolds or ticks me off his eyes convey his feelings. He never praises me either. We rarely share our thoughts with our father because of respect, a certain way of life.” Continues Mamta, “It is a common saying that a teacher cannot teach his own children at home. A class is different. The students come first and only then it is me.” But why this prejudice? “It is because he feels that dance is in my blood and that I will know it even before it’s taught. So he focuses on the other students.”
And then Mamta divulges the reason behind her dancing.
“In my father’s times girls were not allowed to go up on stage. My father’s sisters didn’t dance. We, my two brothers and three sisters, were put on stage by my father half-heartedly, as Krishna, in his ballets. But he was never sure whether he should let his daughters take to dancing. My eldest sister, Kavita felt that her dance was not taken seriously. She stopped dancing. I was sad for her. I closed my room and began dancing. I made a promise to myself to dance till death.”
Mamta wants the girls of her ‘khandaan’ to carry on the family tradition. “They should be given the same due when it comes to dance.”
And then Mamta goes on to divulge a little secret. “Do you know if I was given a choice I would learn Odissi. It’s a graceful dance that involves the whole body.”
What about marriage and family?
“My work is my lakshya. I have not put aside marriage but I have come a long way in my work. I would like a man who chooses me through my dance for then my dance will live on... Maybe I am not ready for marriage but I would like to adopt a girl.”
PRIYADERSHINI S.
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