History of poetry hidden in plain sight unfolds through ‘Sufi Kathak’ retelling

Bhopal: The lawns and grounds of Bharat Bhavan shone with exuberance on Sunday as Kathak dancer Manjari Chaturvedi walked on stage.

What followed over the next hour was not just a dance performance, it was a journey back into a part of Indian history that most people have never even heard of.

Radha Raas, first put together in 2010, is built around a very simple but surprising fact: Some of the most heartfelt poetry written about Radha and Krishna was penned by Muslim poets and Nawabs. Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh once dressed as Krishna and performed the Raas himself.

Nawab Raza Ali of Rampur too wrote verses in devotion to the divine couple. Poets like Nazeer Akbarabadi poured their hearts into compelling about Krishna, and their words are still sung at temples today. This was the world that Manjari Chaturvedi set out to bring back to the stage.

Her performance, Radha Raas, was everything at once: dance, show, poetry, music and story, all woven together into one. She was joined by dancers from the Sufi Kathak Centre Priyanka Paudel, Charu Shankar, Sonal Mody and Ishira Mehta while Ankush Sharma kept the audience connected through narration.

As Sharma read out verses and explained the history behind them, the dancers gave those words a body and feelings. What made the evening truly exceptional and heartfelt was its message that love for art has never belonged to just one community.

A thunderous applause followed, and for many, it was the kind of performance that makes you think long after you have left your seat.