BENGALURU: Be it Madhuri Dixit’s portrayal of Chandramukhi in Devdas or Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as the beguiling Umrao Jaan, there has always been a deceptive connection between seduction and independent women, well-versed in the art of dance and music, also known as courtesans or tawaifs. Now, while the portrayal of these courtesans as women who were mostly ruled by their desires still persists, behind this veil lies a rich history of women who were not only masters in their art but were highly-educated individuals. Many even became actors and singers in Bollywood post-Independence.
This story is not heard often, but one that Delhi-based Manjari Chaturvedi, a renowned Sufi Kathak dancer, has been working to bring to the limelight with The Courtesan Project. With her upcoming performance of Main Tawaif in the city, she seeks to honour the legacy of these misunderstood artistes, integrating years of dedicated research and performance. “A lot of people told me this is professional suicide.
They told me to let it go because they are relics of history. But I said they are not part of history because no one knows anything about them. We have removed their names from the history of performing arts.
In Kathak, there is no mention of women before Independence because they were all tawaifs and the more I found out, the more angry I became,” shares Chaturvedi, who started this project 15 years ago. Her meeting singer Zareena Begum in 1999 in Lucknow, when she was just starting as .
