‘Birju Maharajji would have added to my research’

Malaika Castellino, Kathak dancer and law student

Malaika Castellino, a young law student, has been pursuing Kathak since the past seven years. In pursuing the classical dance form, this Colaba resident is simply following in the dance steps of her grandaunt the late, legendary Kathak exponent Guru Malati Pande.

Family tree

"I have very few years of Kathak practice. Dancing, though, piqued my interest in knowing more about my late grandaunt Guru Malati Pande and her husband, the late Guru Mohanlal Pande, both Kathak exponents of the highest calibre. Since there was no internet then [in the 1930s and 1940s], very little is known about them. I was in the process of trying to contact the late Guru Birju Maharajji for information on my Mumbai-based relatives. The Pandes were senior to Guru Birju Maharajji, and I learnt from my father, Bruno Castellino, that he used to visit my relatives' home to see them dance. I am doing some personal research on my grandaunt and granduncle, and wanted to see if Guru Birju Maharajji had any recollection about visiting them, or other memories he could share," she told mid-day.

Castellino's grandaunt Guru Malati Pande

Kathak community

Castellino recalled that her grandaunt "choreographed a ballet dance called ‘Chaula Devi' along with maestro Birju Maharajji and Gopi Krishnaji. I know that Kathak families are usually very close and there is a bond within the community. Since Birju Maharajji and my grandaunt had choreographed the dance, I knew that he must have known her and her husband well. I got in touch with his senior-most disciple, Guru Shashwati Senji, to help facilitate this, but before this could go ahead, sadly Birju Maharajji passed away."

Berlin Olympics

Castellino said she has managed to piece some parts of the Pandes' lives, which will be of special interest to Kathak history aficionados. She said, "They were part of Madam Maneka's Indian dance troupe. Her stage name was Madam Maneka. Her real name was Lady Leila Sokhey. My grandaunt was also part of the Indian troupe that performed in a Dance Olympics held concurrently with the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games! India had won a medal at the Dance Olympiad in Berlin."

Castellino's granduncle Guru Mohanlal Pande

Incidentally, this was the Olympics also dubbed by some as the ‘Nazi Olympics'. Adolf Hitler saw these games as a platform to espouse his evil ideology of racial supremacy. Yet, it is most remembered for black American athlete Jesse Owens who won four gold medals in Berlin and ground Hitler's Aryan supremacy theory to dust under his running shoes.

The legacy

She said, "Birju Maharajji is no more, but I hope to connect with his disciple Guru Shashwati Sen at a more appropriate time and glean what I can about my grandaunt's life. While there is hardly any footage or pictures from her and my granduncle's life, Birju Maharajji has archived a lot of material and videos, which we, the younger dancers, can learn from. The tsunami of accolades for him are probably not enough. His ghungroos have gone silent, but his legacy lives on exemplified in the complete dedication and devotion to his craft."