Hyderabad, April 20: In a domain that is conventionally female dominated, Haleem Khan took a step to create a niche for himself in the world of Kuchipudi dance. How difficult was it? “Well, I faced all the possible difficulties that were expected to come my way — questions about taking up Indian classical dance despite being a male or from a different religion,” states Khan matter-of-factly, adding, “But, not many people know that in Kuchipudi it was very common for men to play female characters and that only 50 years ago, women became a more dominant part of this dance community.”
The 28-year-old dancer says that his main inspiration to become a Kuchipudi dancer came from watching K Vishwanath’s movies. “It may sound silly, but that was my inspiration. I started learning this art from when I was studying intermediate, but it was all in secrecy because my parents were against it,” explains Khan.
Haleem Khan, who hails from Ongole, migrated to the city around six years ago to pursue a masters degree in management. Post his studies, he also took up a job, but eventually everything else was over shadowed by his passion for dance. “Initially I tried to juggle between dance performances and work, but then I wasn’t able to perform satisfactorily. So, a little over a year ago, I decided to give up my job to become a full time dancer,” says Khan, who has given various performances both nationally and internationally.
He started his career donning only male characters, but he has recently shifted to female impersonation as well. “I thought I should continue the tradition and decided to perform female roles as well,” says the dancer, who believes in breaking the language barrier and reaching out to the young audience with this form of art. “I think that youngsters today don’t have any interest in learning our traditional forms of art. If they won’t learn it now, who will be performing 30 years down the line?” questions Khan.
With an idea to keep Indian art and heritage alive in the hearts of the youth, Khan tries to attract them with his ways of experimentation — using Ghazals and English poetry along with Kuchipudi dance, so that the audience can relate to his performances better. “I am trying all sorts of ways to connect with the young audience so that they can get inspired by our culture instead of the western culture,” confesses Khan, who plans on starting a dance academy in the city.
–Agencies