'Don’t I deserve the Bharat Ratna?'

Noted danseuse from the Banaras gharana, Sitara Devi, was conferred with the lifetime achievement award at the Shaniwarwada Dance Festival on Monday. In Pune to receive the award, she couldn’t help but get emotional as she remembered her association with the late Bharat Ratna, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi.

Having performed with the legendary vocalist several times, she said, “Sometimes, his performance used to follow mine. Singing after a dance performance is difficult as the music and movements have a rather different impact on the audiences. But even after a dance performance, Bhimsen Joshi’s golden voice used to have a great impact. He was such a great artiste.”

Talking about Kathak, the 90-year-old danseuse said, “Kathak has a history of 150 years. But what many don’t know is that our ancestors have imbibed many things from folk arts and even eunuchs and prostitutes to make the dance form rich.”

Sitara Devi’s father, Sukhdev Maharaj, was a noted Kathak exponent. Looking back, she is happy to have carried forward his legacy. “My father had to struggle a lot to preserve the dance form. Earlier, there was a perception that this is dance only performed by prostitutes. When my father decided to teach us Kathak and started Radha Krishna Dance Academy, society boycotted him but he didn’t relent,” she recollected.

It is a well known fact that it was Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore who gave Sitara Devi the title of ‘Nritya Samragini’ after being impressed with her enthralling performance when she was just 11 years old.

“He was happy with my performance and wanted to give me a sari and Rs50 as a token of appreciation. But, as per my father’s instructions, I asked for blessings instead,” she recalled.

The living legend is quite candid about refusing the Padma Bhushan almost a decade ago. “Don’t I deserve being honoured with Bharat Ratna? After contributing so much to Kathak consistently for so long, they were giving me Padma Bhushan along with artistes who are junior to me in age and experience,” she said.

Speaking about her love for the rich culture of Maharashtra, Sitara Devi said that one doesn’t get to see such a large number of artistes in any other state. “Whether it is music, bhajan or dance, Maharashtra has a huge cultural tradition. I particularly like Usha Chavan’s lavanis, but now lavani has become very commercial,” she said.