Birju Maharaj and Anju Modi in conversation with Swaroop Dutta

Puja Goenka, YFLO Kolkata chairperson for the year 2016-17, opened her innings with an opulent soirée at Taj Bengal Kolkata on 3rd May, 2016. Doyens from two distinct field of art, celebrated Kathak dancer Pandit Birju Maharaj, and nationally acclaimed fashion designer Anju Modi shared minds, in what can be called an hour long tête-à-tête on ‘fusion of traditional and modern in Bollywood movies’. More than 250 members of FLO and YFLO attended the event making it a full house show.

The venue ambience was meticulously crafted to resemble a royal court resplendent with grandeur. The guest speakers enthralled the audience with articulated views on their fields of expertise.

Birju Maharaj, the leading exponent of Kathak dance in India, was sheer delight for the ears. His anecdotes on the Bollywood heroes and heroines thoroughly entertained the audience. A staunch believer in tradition, Pandit Ji, vouches for selective amalgamation of traditions, so that the authenticity remains undiluted in the process. Calling random mixing, ‘Bhayankar’ (dangerous), Birju Maharaj warned that mindless blending will result in kitsch cultural trends.

Anju Modi, whose fashion creations in Ramleela and Baji Rao Mastani have wooed the Indian fashion aficionados over the last few years, enamoured the ladies with her dulcet voice. The nuanced nuggets of her experience with the tinsel town opened a window to peep into the mysterious world inhabited by the starts of Indian cinema. Fashion and fusion, according to Anju Ji, is the need of the hour, and have immense potential if done sensibly.