Kathak Queen Sitara Devi wanted to meet PM Narendra Modi

Kathak Queen Sitara Devi wanted to meet PM Narendra Modi, wrote a letter to the PM few weeks before her death

The last letter that Sitara Devi wrote was to Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Just a few weeks before she was admitted to the Cumballa Hill Hospital, dancing legend Sitara Devi in a recorded video interview had told IndyaNewz.com that she wanted to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sitara Devi was a great fan of Modi and hoped that Modi would help her get her dance academy moving. All her hopes were pinned on Modi. She even wrote a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and requested us to forward it to him, says Flynn Remedios, Editor of IndyaNewz.com. The letter was dictated by Sitara Devi to her daughter Kathak guru Jayanti Mala Mishra who penned it down in the presence of a couple of her students and handed it over to the Editor of IndyaNewz.com. That was probably the last letter that Sitara Devi would write. A copy of that letter still is in possession with IndyaNewz.com and is published below. READ THE LETTER HERE.

For the last 30-35 years Sitara Devi had been running from pillar to post to get a plot of land in Mumbai, sanctioned for a dance academy which she planned to set up. At her insistence about six months ago, on the 26th of March 2014,  IndyaNewz.com launched an online campaign on Facebook titled "Support Sitara Devi" (Facebook.com/support.sitara.devi), but like the dancing queen's efforts, the campaign fell on deaf ears. A very sad tribute to the fallen legend, the campaign did not even get  50 LIKES on their Faceboook page and was abandoned by the organisers.  Says Flynn Remedios, "We tried to popularize the cause, but there was no response.  We had to abandon it as there were no funds and even the media was not so supportive."

A scanned image of the letter can be found at the link below

http://www.indyanewz.com/kathak-queen-sitara-devi-wanted-to-meet-pm-narendra-modi-wrote-a-letter-to-the-pm-few-weeks-before-her-death/

Kathak dancer Ranjana Bhattacharya honoured with the Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar award

Kathak exponent and actress Ranjana Bhattacharya who recently performed at the Bhavans Mumbai Kathak festival and the Taj Mahotsav was honored with the Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar award at a Shiv Jayanti function in Mumbai today. Ranjana Bhattacharya has been studying Kathak for the last 10 years under Kathak gurus Jayantimala and Sitara Devi. Jayantimala is the daughter of the legendary Padma Shree awardee Sitara Devi.

Ranjana Bhattacharya will also perform at the Maharashtra Cultural Festival to be held in Mumbai during April this year.

Ranjana has displayed her Kathak skills at the Taj Mahotsav and has given performances at the Lucknow Kathak Kendra, Isckon Mumbai, Ujjain Festival last year where she performed with her guru Jayantimala.

Ranjana has been studying Kathak under the guidance of Jayantimala for the last 7 to 8 years and has given hundreds of performances in India and abroad. After studying Kathak for about two years she got a bengali film Sonar Sansar opposite superstar Prosenjit which launched her in the world of films and Bollywood eventually. She also featured in films like Zilla Gaziabad, Right Ya Wrong, Chashme Baddoor and has done ad films like Vithoba dantmanjan, Nmart, Zalim lotion, Kabjamrut, etc. She also did a Bhojpuri film Ee Mati Mein Sab Kuch Kathe produced by her Guruji in which she played the lead female role.

Ranjana has been doing theater for the last 5 years and has acted in plays like Uncle Samjha Karo , See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Get rid of my Wife.

Ranjana who was introduced to the classical dance legend best described by Rabindranath Tagore as Nritya Samragini, meaning the empress of dance – Sitara Devi and her daughter Jayantimala by a well-known film photographer who is a family friend says, “Of course we all love her, she is so modern in her thoughts and tell us all the time to create and have an identity of our own first and then try to achieve something.”

Speaking about her training to Newz66.com, Ranjana says, “:My guru has a house where we practice and live the entire day. That’s like my second home where I eat, live, dance. Sometimes bade guruji chit-chats and teaches us but we all are very scared of Sitaraji as she is a strict and very disciplined teacher.”

Ranjana’s hobbies include travelling and exploring different cultures and cuisines, cooking watching movies and sometimes reading inspirational books.

Speaking to content agency Newz66.com, Ranjana Bhattacharya said, “I am honored to be presented with the Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar award for my contribution to dance, art and culture. It’s a long way and the woods and lovely dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep,” she said quoting Robert Frost.