Sitara Devi (English: Sitara Devi; born- November 8, 1920, Kolkata; died- November 25, 2014, Mumbai, Maharashtra) was a famous dancer of India. Her name needs no introduction as a Kathak dancer. She had struggled a lot to reach where she was. Very few people know that at the age of just sixteen, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore honored her with the title of “Kathak Queen” after seeing her dance. Even today people introduce him by this title. Apart from this, Sitara Devi also has ‘Padmashree’ and ‘Kalidas Samman’ in her credit, which show her true dedication and hard work towards Kathak.
Sitara Devi was born on 8 November 1920, on the eve of Diwali, in a Vaishnav Brahmin family in ‘Calcutta’ (modern Kolkata). Her original name was ‘Dhanalakshmi’, whereas at home she was lovingly called ‘Dhanno’. He inherited Kathak from his father Acharya Sukhdev. Sitara Devi was deprived of the love of her parents in her childhood itself. Due to his crooked face, his frightened parents handed him over to a babysitter, who looked after him until he was eight years old. Only after this Sitara Devi could come to her home. Sitara Devi has one brother and two sisters, Alaknanda and Tara.
According to the tradition of that time, Sitara Devi was married at the age of eight. Her in-laws wanted her to take care of the household, but she wanted to go to school and get an education. His insistence on going to school ended his marriage and he was admitted to ‘Kamchhagarh High School’. Here Sitara Devi, on one occasion, gave an excellent dance performance and got a role in a dance drama based on the mythological story of Satyavan and Savitri and also got the responsibility of teaching dance to her fellow artistes. After some time, Sitara Devi’s family moved to Mumbai. He had a major contribution in bringing Kathak into films. Later, she married famous film director K Asif and then Pradeep Barot.
75 years ago no one would have thought that a girl from a noble family should learn dancing and singing. In a religious and traditional Brahmin family, Sitara Devi’s father and great-grandfather were all musicians, but there was no tradition of giving dance and music education to girls in the family. Sitara Devi’s father Acharya Sukhdev took this revolutionary step and broke the family tradition for the first time. Sukhdev ji was associated with dancing as well as singing. He used to write dance plays. He always had the same problem as to whom to dance with, because at that time only men performed such dances. Therefore, to bring reality to his dance dramas, he started teaching dance to the daughters of the house. The entire family had shown strong opposition to his decision, but he remained firm on his decision. In this way Sitara Devi and her sisters Alaknanda, Tara and her brother also started learning dance.
He got the reward of breaking some stereotype and getting engrossed in the practice of art in the form of ostracism from the community. Despite being ostracized from the society, Sitara Devi’s father continued with his work without getting distracted. He got a chance to work in films at a very young age. Filmmaker Niranjan Sharma wanted a young dancer girl for his film. On the advice of an acquaintance, he came to Banaras and after seeing Sitara Devi’s dance, she was given a role in the film. Sitara Devi’s father did not agree to this proposal, because at that time she was young and was still learning. But Niranjan Sharma insisted and thus she came to Mumbai with her mother and aunt. Apart from working in some films, he also did choreography work in films.
During her long dance career, Sitara Devi enthralled the audiences with her astonishing, rhythmic and energetic dance performances at many events and festivals in the country and abroad. She has spread the magic of her dance in the prestigious ‘Royal Albert’ and ‘Victoria Hall’ in London and ‘Carnegie Hall’ in New York. It is also noteworthy that Sitara Devi is proficient not only in Kathak but also in many Indian classical dance styles and folk dances including Bharatnatyam. She has also learned Russian ballet and some other dances from the West. Sitara Devi’s Kathak shows a fusion of elements from the gharanas of Banaras and Lucknow. She is an artiste of the time when Kathak gatherings used to remain in full swing throughout the night.
Sitara Devi died on 25 November 2014 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. He was admitted to Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai after complaining of stomach pain.