"Nateshwar Bhavan – The Kathak Institute of Late Natraj Gopi Krishna Ji (my Dada Guru Ji)"
Gopi Ji was someone whose dance ran through his veins, his whole body. From practicing (riyaaz) for around 10 hours a day to dancing in 40 - 45 stage shows per month, no one had ever imagined that a boy from Kolkata could win over the hearts of millions.
Sukhdev Maharaj Ji (his Nana Ji and Guru Ji) was dazzled by Shri Kalka Prasad Ji's and Shri Bindadin Maharaj Ji's dance. Soon he started teaching his daughters, Sitara Devi, also known as "The Kathak Queen", and Tara Devi. On 22nd Aug 1933, Tara Devi gave birth to Gopi Krishna Ji.
He was taught Kathak from a very young age. There was a clock tower near his house, and he used to follow the rhythm of the second hand for his riyaaz.
Doordarshan showed a documentary to narrate Gopi Ji’s story “The Living Legend” starring Gopi Krishna and his disciple Vaibhav Joshi, who portrayed the role of young Gopi Ji. He left home at a very young age to become an icon and stayed at Sitara Devi’s house in Bombay. Soon, Sitara Devi told him to leave her house and said he was big enough to pave his way. He started staying at Chunna Bhatti, where he started choreographing at the age of 17. He got his first movie when he was just 18 years, V Shantaram’s ‘Jhanak Jhanak Paayal Baaje’ starring Sandhya Shantaram and Gopi Ji. In 1951, V Shantaram gave him Rs. 501, as a token of appreciation, when he performed for the first time for Shantaram Ji.
Around 3 – 4 days after ‘Jhanak Jhanak Paayal Baaje’ was released, he went to Regal Theatre, to see the feedback. He saw his posters all around the theatre, but it was empty. The moment he turned around the entire theatre was full of people as they recognized him and were impressed by his dance and performance. He was a one-night star! After that, he used to do around 45 shows per month, that too one-man shows! He used to perform for three hours per show, and sometimes he used to perform 3 hours long shows, thrice a day.
Years later Gopi Ji, found a place, a home, where he could teach or practice whenever he wanted- it was Nateshwar Bhavan.
Shringaarmani Vaibhav Joshi (my Guru Ji), his disciple, even mentioned that Gopi Ji was his idol and inspiration and people back home used to call him “Gondiya ka Gopi Krishna''. In 1987 on Guru Purnima, he called Gopiji and expressed his desire to learn from him. He left home with his father, when he was just 16 to meet Gopi Ji, and take his blessings. Little did he know that he would end up learning Kathak from his idol, and not go home for the next 8 years, and spend his teenage years here in Mumbai itself. He used to stay at the Nateshwar Bhavan with Gopi Ji and his family. During those days, letting a boy learn an art form was considered taboo.
Those 8 years included a lot of training, a growth of guru-shishya parampara, assisting him with choreographies. During that time Gopi Ji could not do many stage shows due to asthma, so Joshi Ji would assist him on many such shows and movies. B.R. Chopra’s ‘Mahabharat’ was choreographed by Gopiji and assisted by Vaibhav Sir.
In 1993, around December, one of Gopi Ji’s students from South Africa came to meet and invited him to do some performances in South Africa. She asked him to come, but he insisted that he could not travel alone because of his age, so Vaibhav (Sir) would accompany him and do the performances. God had other plans for Gopi Ji sadly, we lost a star on the 18th of February 1994, he went way too early. After Gopi Ji passed away, Sitara Devi spoke with Joshi Ji and told him that he is big enough to understand everything and now he should pave his way and asked him to leave.
After he left, he got a call from the same student in South Africa and he agreed to go there, and after that, he went year after year. That was the period when he got to do many shows: contemporary, fusion, and much more. He had an opportunity to perform for South African President Mr. Nelson Mandela, not once but twice, but here people forgot his existence as Gopi Ji's disciple.
One thing he always noticed was how every time a new student would walk through the doors of Nateshwar Bhavan, Gopi Ji would whisper, “yeh kuch banegi”, “iska kuch nahi ho payega”. One such thing was the moment when Joshi Ji arrived, he saw Gopi Ji close his eyes for a few seconds. A few years later after he had completed his ‘Visharad’, and they were filming “The Great Maratha” in Jaipur, he asked Gopi Ji about what he thought that day, but Gopi Ji didn’t say anything at that time. Unfortunately, Gopi Ji passed away before he could tell him what that thought was.
In 2002, his parents told him to settle down, so he started teaching again. Joshi Ji faced many problems to start everything again. He had three different opportunities to build everything up again after falling, the first one was when he began learning from Gopi Ji, the second one was after Gopi Ji’s death, and the next one was after he did shows around the globe and came back home.
One thing that has been deteriorating over time is ‘guru – shishya parampara.’ It is not the same as it was back in his own time. Nowadays, we don’t see that kind of relationship between a guru and his students.
Over time technology has also enhanced the experience. Whether it's the better video quality or better sound quality, but this has also added the ‘4th Gharana of Kathak’, which is the ‘Youtube Gharana'. There are genuine people out there no doubt, but there are people who learn for some time and call themselves “Guru” or do semi-classical dance on a song and show it as Kathak or any other art form. As a Kathak dancer trained over the years, I have realized how offensive and disrespectful it is.
The originality of ‘Gharana’ is being ripped off to a point, where if a person has an audience, does semi-classical dance on a song, and names it after any dance form they are glorified. Whereas the ones who have worked so hard to learn and perfect that dance form and carry their Guru’s legacy get no credit or recognition at all. Working on half-knowledge will never be a good approach to anything; it only strips off the originality of that particular art form.
At the current time, Vaibhav Joshi Ji is teaching at his institute “Dharohar – Dedicated to Indian Dance” which is Gopi Krishna Ji’s Legacy.
And Nateshwar Bhavan is still a dance studio. It has witnessed and will always witness prominent dancers of their respective times.
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