Rhythm is everywhere. And it is within us, too, all the time,” declares Kathak dancer Mahua Shankar to her enraptured audience at Delhi’s culturally steadfast Triveni auditorium. Costumed in turquoise and gold, sparkling with polki jewellery and her ghunghroos setting the pace, Mahua seizes the moment on stage as she begins to perform, casting aside the past ennui of the pandemic. Agile on her feet, soft in her movements, and playful in her expressions, she becomes a translator of allegories. She throws an imaginary ball in the air to watch it dance playfully, in choreographed movements of eyes, face and fingers. She weaves like a leaf, floating down to the ground.
She mimes a stylised argument with an invisible companion. This series of mini dances proves that rhythm is everywhere, even if it isn’t visible to all. Mahua has to thank the ever-smiling Anand Maheshwari for that.
For two years, Maheshwari was waiting for the rhythm to restart. He is the founder of Culturally Active Delhiites (CAD), which organised the performance, 7 Essences of Music and Dance. CAD is dedicated to the promotion of Indian classical and semi-classical performing arts. Explains the man himself, looking very much the Delhi culturati with long salt and pepper hair,
“This production was initiated by Ustad Murad Ali Khan, one of India’s leading sarangi maestros.” Maheshwari, as versatile as his professions—corporate professional-turned-entrepreneur and finance wiz—clarifies that the performers have presented a complete story woven through multifarious classical music and dance forms.”
Ten years ago, Maheshwari and his friend Suneepa found themselves on a cold January evening in the precincts of Mandi House—culture’s ground zero of the city and housing the Kamani Auditorium, Triveni Kala Sangam, Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, the Little Theatre Group, the National School of Drama and Rabindra Bhavan. Their conversation led to the forming of the Facebook group Culturally Active Delhiites on January 17, 2012.
As they invited and added like-minded members and friends, the tribe grew. In May 2012, at member Madhu Narain’s insistence, CAD entered the real world in the basement of Suneepa’s Chittaranjan Park home. There was no looking back since then until the pandemic kept the curtain down for a while. This year’s annual concert was originally planned for March 28, 2020, but finally took place on a Friday evening in September 2022 after Delhi has made peace with the virus by many names. It was totally worth the wait for Maheshwari and the audience.
The ardour of the performers matched the adulation of the spectators. Murad Ali Khan is a sixth- generation sarangi player from the Moradabad tradition; that evening, the Moradabad gharana resonated in all its glory. There was jazz fusion exponent Fateh Ali Khan on the sitar. So was Ashish Gangani, from the legendary Gangani family from Rajasthan—his brother is the famous tabla player Fatheh Singh Gangani—who has been playing the pakhawaj since he was 15.
Ashish is an alumnus of Kathak Kendra, the National Institute of Kathak Dance. Shuheb Hasan lent his soulful vocals to the drumbeats of Ustad Akram Khan, a seventh-generation tabla player. Kathak exponent Nupur Shankar rounded off the musical ensemble with padhant, the recitation of rhythmic syllables and Kathak technical bol. The element tying it all together was Mahua’s performance.
A disciple of the legendary Birju Maharaj, and a ganda bandh shaagird (formal disciple) of Sarangi maestro late Ustad Ghulam Sabir Khan, Kathak enticed Mahua from the early age of five. The award-winning performer teaches at her own academy, Guru Pradeep Shankar Academy of Promoting and Performing Arts, in Delhi. Mahua, an exponent of the Lucknow gharana, shares, “Every time I perform, the energy is different. Kathak is a difficult art form, as it has difficult rhythmic syllables, but you have to make the audience understand its subtlety and nuances.
I’m blessed to have learnt from my Guru; I could adapt a little of that into my style. I have learnt playfulness from him. He also taught me to observe and absorb. These qualities are essential to become a good performer. Even at the age of 80, Maharajji was the king of the stage. We strive to be like him.”
Winter brings dance and music to the capital, to stages, homes and events. There is much to look forward to—CAD organises regular small-scale baithaks at the homes of their members. “The packed house and the overwhelming response to the show gives me extra happiness and confidence that the future of Indian classical music and dance is not so bleak,” smiles Maheshwari. The ghunghroos agree.