Kalindi Darpan Socio-Cultural Organisation recently hosted Smaran 2018 in the fond memory of Kathak Queen Sitara devi on December 30 at Mohit Maitra Mancha, 5 pm onwards. The event was held on her fourth death anniversary.
Very few of us know that Sitara Devi had a very close connection with Bengal. She was born and brought up in Kolkata and was very fluent in Bengali. At a very tender age, she got a chance to perform in front of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore in Shantiniketan. After watching her dance, Rabindranath offered her some gifts while she requested something which was eternal. Finally, Tagore blessed her with the title 'Queen of Kathak'.
Then she joined the film industry, earned adequate stardom but didn't go with it in the long run. She made her film debut with Usha Haran in 1940 and went on to appear in films like Roti, Anjali, Mother India and so on. She left working in films quite soon just for her dedication towards Indian Classical Dance. She was fortunate to perform at the Royal Albert Hall, got the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Padma Shree, Kalidas Samman but refused to take Padma Bhusan saying, "Is this government not aware of my contribution to Kathak? I will not accept any award less than Bharat Ratna."
Coming back to Smaran 2018, it featured some duet performances including the presentation by Kolkata artist Paramita Maitra and her daughter Nilopa Maitra, Kajal Misra Roy and her daughter Trina Roy, Vishal Krishna and his sister Shriyana Krishna, Vidha Lal and Abhimanyu Lal. The chief guest of the event was famous classical dancer Molly Roy.
Speaking about the event, Soumali Ganguly, Secretary, Darpan Socio-Cultural Organisation, said, "It's an honour to host the prestigious event remembering the legend Sitara Devi where her family members are also involved. This is the only festival which is dedicated to the Kathak legend Sitara Devi. We love to promote the rich tradition of Indian classical dance forms among the youth."