Gurgaon stage comes alive with stories of renowned courtesans

Last week, a 90-minute performance called Uff Malka Jaan and The Velvet Courtesans brought alive the stories of courtesans on a Gurgaon stage. This production weaves real-life stories of a number of famed courtesans from different eras including Malka Jaan, Gauhar and Nawabjaan.

Kathak dancer Manjari Chaturvedi introduced this production – a mix of traditional music, dance, and stories – a few years ago, after many years of research.

Fouzia Dastango


Bringing dignity to the word tawayaf
Manjari danced in the production, while Neesha Singh and Fouzia Dastango narrated stories. Manjari said, “Aaj thumri, Kathak, ghazal zinda hai, par iss kala ko hum tak pahunchane wali tawayaf ko hum bhula chuke hain. This production is an attempt to not use the word tawayaf as an abuse anymore, but to use it as a hallmark of achievement of art.” Agreeing to it, Neesha said, “Through our production, our attempt is to bring respect to tawayafs, and to expand the meaning of the word.”

Neesha Singh

Courtesans in Hindi cinema
The production narrated the story of tawayafs, who were doyennes of Hindustani music and were behind Hindi film music in the beginning. The artists in the production said, “If there wouldn’t have been tawayafs we’d have never received the heritage of music through our films. Yaad kijiye un tamam filmon ko jisme aapne tawayaf ki jhalak dekhi thi, Devdas, Anarkali, Mughal-e-Azam, Pakeezah. Inn filmon ki kamyabi tawayaf ke kirdaar ki wajah se thi.”

One of the stories was of Nargis’ mother Jaddan Bai, who was a courtesan, and later became a music director in Hindi films.

Sukhpreet Khanna, a businessman present in the audience, said, “We have had the only introduction to tawayafs through films. It’s through films that we know their stories, and it’s through films we know that they were looked down upon. But today’s production was an eye-opener. I didn’t know that courtesans were great artistes.”

Jaddan Bai

Begum Akhtar



‘Didn’t know a courtesan’s song was part of NASA’s Golden Record’
One of the stories was of Kesarbai Kerkar, a Goan courtesan. Her bandish – Jaat Kahan Ho Akeli Gori – was a Hindustani classical rendition based on Raag Bhairavi, and the only song from India which was included in NASA’s Golden Record. (The Golden Record also included the works of Mozart, Chuck Berry, Bach, and was launched in outer space in the ’70s).

Arihant Bagga, a business owner, said, “It scores really well in terms of language and sensibility. I thoroughly enjoyed all the stories, but I can’t stop thinking about Kesarbai Kerkar’s achievement.”

The audience was in tears while listening to the story of Chawri Bazaar’s Nawabjaan who fell in love with Ghalib. Nawabjaan’ story ended with Ghalib’s ghazal – Dil-e-nadaan tujhe hua kya hai, aakhir iss dard ki dawa kya hai.ghazal – Dil-e-nadaan tujhe hua kya hai, aakhir iss dard ki dawa kya hai.