Actors narrating stories of the tawaifs

The "nachne-gaanewali" connotation, Chaturvedi shares, has to do with the patronage tawaifs received in pre-Independence India. "There were no cultural bodies like the NCPA back then. It was at the royal courts and for wealthy patrons that they performed. Come to think of it, men were performing for the rajas and maharajas too. While they were given the title of ustad and their lineages still exist, the children of tawaifs shy away from that association," she laments, adding that both men and women performed at intimate concerts — with no sound amplification available, it was the only way to go — but history has been particularly unkind to women.

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In her performance this evening, Chaturvedi's kathak choreography will be interspersed with stories narrated by two actors through which she aims to make the lesser-known side to the tawaifs more accessible. "When we speak of the powerful and independent women of Bollywood today, we give examples of Anushka Sharma or Priyanka Chopra having their own production houses.

Jaddan Bai

But how many of us know of Jaddan Bai, who ran a production house in Bombay before we became independent? Or that Goa-based Kesarbai Akerkar's classical rendition of Jaat kahan ho akeli gori was part of an album played in NASA's Voyager, back in 1977?" asserts Chaturvedi. Apart from being the first to overcome the stigma against the entry of women actors in films, several renditions of songs popularised by courtesans went on to become Bollywood hits. "Mughal-e-Azam's Mohe panghat pe Nandlal was a song popularised by Indu Bala, who was never credited for it," she says, adding that the re-creation of these iconic songs in the performance is a hat-tip to their unsung performers and an endeavour to give them their due place in art history.

"Last week, I met a 92-year-old tawaif in Jaipur," Chaturvedi says. "And I realised that this is our last chance to record their history in their words. Else, we'll have to learn about them through the eyes of men."

On Today, 7 pm
At Tata Theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point.
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Entry Rs 300 onwards

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