Kathak is her Soul

Last week I saw Sharmishtha Mukherji performing with her troupe at Nehru Centre, Worli, Bombay.

Sharmishtha is a Kathak exponent but  experiment it with other folk or classical dance forms, it was quite evident from her performance. 

She got her dance training  under three of the most prominent gurus - Late Pt Durgalal, Uma Sharma and Rajendra Gangani. She  developed a unique style; natural, spontaneous and full of joyous abandon over a period of time.

Few years back, on the occasion of Indian President Dr Kalam’s visit to Iceland, her tour created sort of history. it was for the first time any Indian classical dance performance took place in Iceland. Her extensive travels and interaction with artists from different art forms at an international level has helped her develop an integrated approach to art and aesthetics, which is the philosophy behind her art. Her soul lies in Kathak but she is experimenting with Spanish Flemenco as well as Hungarian Folk also. 

Sharmishtha performed her new production for the first time here at Nehru Centre.  it was based on female deities from Rigveda, one of the earliest literature dating back 4000 to 5000 years. Each deity represents an element or force of nature. and by the interpretation of the choreographer, also aspects of human emotion and divine spirit. She talks through her abhinay about these six deities :

Vac is the goddess of speech, the vehicle of knowledge, the harbinger of communication.Prithvi is mother goddess Aranyani is goddess of forest. Ratri is goddess of night, mystrious yet very powerful, containing potential of destruction only to pave the way for new creation.

Aditi who  is primodial energy, the creative force behind all creating, the mother goddess.

We met her after her show in Green Room and asked her that she is performing since long but whether she feels any further room for improvement. She said that she has worked some poets like Maithili Sharan Gupta, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Mirza Ghalib.  A very interesting experience was to work on classical Arabic poetry of 10th century and working with local musicians of Jordan. One of her dream is to perform at Kalidas festival at Ujjain.

Sharmishtha is from a legendary family, her father Pravav Mukherji is senior most congress man now  central finance  minister she rarely use this clout for her professional gain. Her mother was also in classical , she draw lot of inspiration from her mother. 

             

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