Begum Akhtar Love’s Own Voice

Aye Mohabbat Tere Anjam pr Rona Aya
Ab Chhalakte Huye Sagar
Ye na Thi Hamari Qismat
Diwaana Banana Hai to Dewana
Uzr Anne Mein Bhi Hai
Ulti Ho Gyi Sab Tadbiren
Nanadiya Kahe Mare bol
Hamar Kahin Mano Rajaji
Lagi Beriya piya ke Avan ki
Mora Balam Pardesiya

Katharina Faizabadi or Begum Akhtar as she was later called was a much loves classical diva of 20th century India. The last of the great female singers form the courtesan community. Begum Akhtar effortlessly transcended that label to marry Barrister Ishtiaq Ahmed Abbassi of Lucknow. Witty, vibrant and engaging with the world at various levels here was a remarkable woman who took life head on and by many accounts perhaps a bit recklessly. As tawaif she was trained to charm the system and subvert narrow patriarchal practices by means of highly sophisticated seduction. At another level she was a hapless victim constantly tormented by the twists and turns of her own destine. She braved on regardless driven by a deep inner w\quest to pursue love in its priest form as an end in itself no it in music or in life. Begum Akhtar love’s Own Voice documents there troubled and tempestuous closest friends and associates.

S. Kalidas has been writing prolifically on the Indian art scene for over tow decades. He ahs been the art editor with India Today, the leading Indian news magazine and ahs worked for Indian newspapers like the time of India and the Pioneer in senior editorial capacities. He is a trained musicologist and has given lectures at universities and conservatories in India and abroad. In the mid 1990s he made a highly well received documentary Hai Akhatari on the life of Begum Akhtar. He also conscripted the film Rasa yatra on the life of his teacher Mallikarjun Mansur which won the Golden Lotus at eh National film Awards in 1994. He is the son of J. Swaminathan an acclaimed Indian Modernist painter and art critic.