Just Lavan-it!

Lavani — the traditional song and dance performed by women folk of Maharashtra for over 500 years — is sadly looked down upon today by many in society because of the suggestive nature of the dance. Two individuals, Savitri Medhatul (a theatre actor) and Bhushan Korgaonkar (a chartered accountant), decided to make a documentary film on the lives of Lavani dancers and the societal pressures they face. 

Titled Natale Tumchyasathi — Behind The Adorned Veil, it depicts the winding journey of their lives involving love, pain, survival and segregation of society. “We have researched the subject for two years before making the film. It was sad to know that these dances are still perceived as a cheap representation of Maharashtrian culture,” says Medhatul, the director.

Despite the hardships the Lavani dancers face, they have been found to be of a very strong character. Producer Korgaonkar informs, “Although the dancers never get married, they have a marriage-like ritual with a man that they like and who has been watching their performance as a client. If the couple has kids, the male does not allow them to use his name and the dancer brings them up single handedly. Yet these women are happy. It’s sheer courage of will to raise the children in a society which does not want to accept them.”

The film advocates viewers not to regard the dance as anything close to prostitution and urges sensitivity towards the dancers.