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Nautanki is one of the oldest folk arts in India. This art is quite popular in small towns and cities.
Photographer Udit Kulshreshtha is telling how this art has survived in the era of entertainment readily available on smartphones.
In traditional animal fairs, crowds throng to see gimmick and dance even today. Recently, at least eight such gimmick or dance companies gave their presentation at the famous animal fair in Sonpur, Bihar.
Tickets usually range from 100 rupees to 500 rupees and if the dances are discussed, then they will be over very soon.
Nautanki artists usually give presentations based on the story of mythology or popular folk tales. The story is told through dance, music, and drama.
The presentation usually takes place in a very light environment and people keep demanding to repeat the dance or drama. Most girls work in gimmick who dance to songs made by their own colleagues.
Before leaving the stage like a rockstar, these actors prepare in a small make-up room made of curtains behind the stage.
Sangeeta says that she works because of poverty. “I had nothing to eat. Then I started dancing. But now I like to dance, now my feet don’t stop.”
She says that she has learned from dancing to Bollywood films and from her fellow dancers.
She says that sometimes this work gets dirty. Sometimes the presentation lasts from 5 in the evening until the next day in the morning. During a presentation at the Sonepur fair, many times the drunk audience tried to touch Sangeeta.
Moushumi Sarkar, 34, has been performing in gimmick for over a decade. She says that her art has taken her to places like Dubai and Nairobi.
She says, “I like traveling with my group. I have also performed in government programs”.
However, Moushumi says that it is difficult to run a house with the money she earns from this work.
She says, “I earn two thousand rupees per day. The government should give jobs to our children and when we retire, give us a pension.”
These dancing female artists do not usually get respect as an artist.
Amit Kumar Singh married Chandni three years ago and he had to give up his family property for this. Now they do minor work in gimmick only.
Amit says, “I am from a well-to-do family but after marrying Chandni, she broke contact with me. Today I have nothing.”
But gimmick productions do not always end in peace. Many times drunk people get entangled and break-even chairs.
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