Indu Mitha

Indu Mitha (née Chatterjee) (born 1929) is a Pakistani exponent of Bharatnatyam and one of only two in the nation (the other being Sheema Kirmani).[1] She is also a faculty member at the Rawalpindi campus of the National College of the Arts.[2]

Personal life

Indu Mitha was born Indu Chatterjee to a Bengali Christian family in 1929. Her father, Gyanesh Chandra Chatterji, was a professor of philosophy and president of the Government College in Lahore, which was where Mitha grew up.[3] Her family moved to Delhi from Lahore during the Partition of India. In Delhi, she learned Bharatanatyam from Vijay Raghava Rao and Shrimati Lalita.[4]

In 1951, she married Captain Aboobaker Osman Mitha, a Mumbai Memon against the wishes of her family, and moved back to Pakistan. Their daughter, Tehreema Mitha is an accomplished Bharatnatyam dancer.[5]

Career

Under the banner of Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization, Pakistan began regarding many of the arts, as haraam. Surprisingly, it was during this time, that Mitha began teaching Bharatnatyam in Lahore. Her first position was at the Lahore Grammar school, where she became a celebrated dance teacher. Her students and her were even able to put on a full-on performance at the end of her first teaching sojourn.[1]

Her early performances occurred were at private all-women parties, military functions, and Red Cross charity shows or in front of the All Pakistan Women's Association.[6] She now does one show a year for private audiences, mostly all-women groups, due to the heightened atmosphere linked to the rise of the Taliban[1]

Adaptations

To suit Pakistani cultural norms, Mitha has altered the performance and style of the Bharatnatyam she teaches. She has composed Bharatnatyam songs in Urdu, due to her lack of understanding of Tamil, Telugu or Sanskrit, the three languages Bharatnatyam songs are traditionally composed in.[6]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Bharatanatyam in the time of the Taliban The Hindu - July 23, 2009
  2. ↑ NCA’s ‘Spotlight’ to feature Indu Mitha The News, Pakistan - April 3, 2008
  3. ↑ Tikekar 337
  4. ↑ Dance is thought and feeling, says Indu Mitha DAWN - April 4, 2008
  5. ↑ Struggling to dance Jang - June 2008
  6. 1 2 Veteran dancer wins over Pakistan BBC News - August 11, 2009

References


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