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Born in the ninth generation of the Kalka Bindadin lineage, Shinjini Kulkarni began her journey on stage at an early age. Today, one of the nouvelle kathak dancers and a philanthropist, she has bespangled the stage with her art alongside pursuing history honours from St Stephen’s College, Delhi.
Here in Chandigarh, she will be presenting ‘Veer Meera; Meera as a True Feminist of her Era’, an act directed by Shinjini, along with Padmashree awardee Sumitra Guha, a Hindustani vocalist. Shinjini is playing the lead character of Meera as well as choreographing the ballet, the script for which has been written by Pt Vijay Shankar Mishra.
Not many people, says the dancer, look at Meera as a feminist. She was someone who refused to take part in Sati, a historical practice in which a widow sacrifices herself by sitting atop her deceased husband’s funeral pyre and fought many societal norms such as the purdah system.
Her recent projects include a Kathak-based solo song composed by Pt Bickram Ghosh for the Bengali movie Har Har Byomkesh.
Meera even went out in public to dance and sing with saints and priests and was the only female Bhakti saint amongst all the male bhakti saints during the bhakti movement of the 16th century. “Much later with the power of her work, poetry, and bhakti, today she is seen as one of the most famous Bhakti saints and is also an icon of women empowerment who did not bow down before society and shattered patriarchy,” says Shinjini.
Notably, Shinjini had performed a dance sequence in Muzaffar Ali’s Jaanisaar, under the dance direction of Pt Birju Maharaj. Her recent projects include a Kathak-based solo song composed by Pt Bickram Ghosh for the Bengali movie Har Har Byomkesh.
WHEN: July 15, Tagore Theatre, Chandigarh, 6 pm onwards.
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