Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Photo H. Vibhu

Lissom moves Mamata Maharaj

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.

It is like two faces and the same man. I cannot make out. I cannot see his greatness at home,” she says still searching for her father in her guru.

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. He is my guru. Though he never scolds or ticks me off his eyes convey his feelings. He never praises me either. I get to hear the praise from a third person, if there is any praise at all. We rarely share our thoughts with our father because of respect, a certain way of life. He is very selective and only a few are special to him.”

And she, the special one, his daughter, “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 students from outside.” And then Mamta divulges the reason behind her dancing.

“In my father’s generation girls were not allowed on stage. My father’s sisters didn’t dance. We, my two brothers and three sisters, were brought on stage by my father half-heartedly, as Krishna, in the ballets but he was never very sure. He didn’t realise how far he can take his girls on stage. My father doesn’t know whether we can give it a 100 per cent. That’s his dilemma. Badi didi (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, to dance till death.”

And Kavita who has been her inspiration: “She is like my father, identical in dance. You cannot differentiate between the two. But she does not dance any more. She was married off bringing to an end a budding career, a talent that’s gone waste. That’s what egged me on to take to full time dancing. Dancing is my passion.”

And so her dogged decision. “My decision is to carry on what belongs to my family. Girls who belong to my ‘khandaan’ should carry on the tradition. They should be given the same due when they dance.”

Dancing in Kerala for the first time, is she looking forward to it?

“The blessings of my guru and God are with me. This is an exam for me. For my dance performances I do some of the tukdas, which are typical of my father. Those little ‘tukdas’ where the audience can hear the birds, see them, see the ball being played and partake in the game of hide and seek. These are exclusive to my father. Of course what he can explain in half a page I will do so in four pages. That’s the difference.” And then Mamta goes on to divulge a little secret. “Do you know if I was given a choice I would choose to learn Odissi. It’s a graceful dance that involves the whole body.”

And devoting a life to dance what about marriage and family? “My work is my lakshya (aim and goal). 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 from an orphanage.” Mamta Maharaj performed in the city last week.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail