Rita Ganguly is an exponent in the Indian classical arts. An accomplished dancer, musician and vocalist, she was honoured with the

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IAST: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recogni ...

in 2000 and with the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

in 2003. She is the mother of actress

Meghna Kothari Meghna Kothari is an Indian actress. She has acted in Bollywood movies and in Gurinder Chadha's film ''Bride and Prejudice'' where she played the role of Maya Bakshi based on the character Mary Bennett and is known for the famous cobra dance cho ...

and the younger sister of the famous Ravindra Sangeet singer

Gita Ghatak Gita Ghatak (Geeta Ghatak née Ganguly) (23 January 1931 – 17 November 2009) was an Indian actress and singer. She mainly acted in Bengali cinema. Gita Ghatak was also an exponent of ''Rabindra Sangeet''. She had her primary lessons in Tagor ...

Biography

Rita Ganguly was born in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

, into a

Bengali Brahmin Bengali Brahmins are the community of Hindu Brahmins, who traditionally reside in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, currently comprising the Indian state of West Bengal and the country of Bangladesh. The Bengali Brahmins, along wi ...

family, and is the daughter of K. L. Ganguly, and Meena Ganguly. K. L. Ganguly was a freedom fighter and member of the Congress party. In 1938, he was selected by

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

to become the first editor of the

National Herald The ''National Herald'' is an Indian English-language newspaper published by The Associated Journals Ltd, and owned by Young India Limited, a company by Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, and Shiva Publications, a partnership firm by Vishnu Goyal ...

, a newspaper founded by Nehru. Rita therefore grew up in

, where the newspaper was based. She started learning

Rabindrasangeet ''Rabindra Sangeet'' (; ), also known as Tagore Songs, are songs from the Indian subcontinent written and composed by the Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Indian and also the first no ...

at the age of 12 under Gopeshwar Banerjee. She later joined

Visva-Bharati University Visva-Bharati (IAST: ''Viśva-Bhāratī''), () is a public central university and an Institute of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it ''Visva-Bharati'', which ...

, along with her elder sister,

with an emphasis on the arts whilst studying the Indian classical dance forms of

Kathakali ''Kathakali'' (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: Kathakaḷi ) is a traditional form of Indian Classical Dance, and one of the most complex forms of Theatre of India, Indian theatre. It is a play of verses. These vers ...

and Manipuri. She did further studies in Kathakali under renowned gurus, Kunchu Kurup and Chandu Pannikar and trained in modern dance at Martha Graham School, New York. She performed at various stages including the

Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈat(ə)r, t=Grand Theater) is a historic opera house in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové. Before the October Revolutio ...

, Russia and joined the

National School of Drama National School of Drama (NSD) is a drama school situated at New Delhi, India. It is an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. It was set up in 1959 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi and became an independent school ...

(NSD) as a faculty member of dance where she is known to have introduced a new course of ''Movement and Mime''. She taught at NSD for thirty years and during her tenure there, she is known to have contributed in productions and costume designing. She is also credited with efforts in the recreation of the classical theatre and in the construction of ''Vikrishta Madhyam Auditorium''. Under the aegis of NSD, she visited many countries such as Australia, England, Sri Lanka and Israel where she presented performances and held workshops on Indian Classical Theatre. In the fifties, a chance opportunity to sing during a performance in Delhi changed her career and she started concentrating more on singing. Encouraged by

Shambhu Maharaj Pandit Shambhu Maharaj (1910 – 4 November 1970) was a Guru of the Lucknow ''Gharana'' (school) of the Indian classical dance form, Kathak..Padma Shree Award -1958 Sangeet Natak Academic Award -1967 Early life and training Shambhu Maharaj was ...

, renowned

Kathak ''Kathak'' is one of the eight major forms of Classical Indian dance, Indian classical dance. Its origin is attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern India known as ''Kathakar'' ("storyteller"), who communicated stories from the ...

guru, she performed at many places in India along with

Siddheshwari Devi Siddheswari Devi (8 August 1908 – 18 March 1977) was a legendary Hindustani singer from Varanasi, India, known as ''Maa'' (mother). Her music embodied the Banaras Gharana style, which focuses on conveying deep emotions and feelings through mu ...

, a known classical singer. It was during one of these performances,

Begum Akhtar Akhtari Bai Faizabadi (7 October 1914 – 30 October 1974), also known as Begum Akhtar, was an Indian singer and actress. Dubbed "Mallika-e-Ghazal" (Queen of Ghazals), she is regarded as one of the greatest singers of ghazal, dadra, and thu ...

, renowned Hindustani singer, met Ganguly and took her as her disciple. The bond between the singers lasted till Akhtar's death in 1974. Ganguly is a

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

Fellow and has a doctoral degree for her thesis on the female singers of Indian subcontinent. She produced a multimedia production, ''Ruh-e-ishq'', incorporating the seven stages of

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

, in 1997, to celebrate the fifty years of Indian Independence. She is known to have a liking for nazms, a genre of

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

poetry and has composed music for the poems of such Bengali poets as Jibanananda,

Shakti Chattopadhyay Shakti Chattopadhyay (25 November 1933 – 23 March 1995) was an Indian poet and writer who wrote in Bengali. He is known for his realistic depictions of rural life. He was a green poet, many of his poems raised the issue of nature in crisis. ...

, Subhash Mukherjee, Shankho Ghosh,

Sunil Gangopadhyay Sunil Gangopadhyay or Sunil Ganguly (September 7, 1934 – October 23, 2012) was an Indian poet, novelist, short story writer, and critic. He played a key role in modernizing Bengali poetry and co-founded the 1953 Avant-garde, avant-gra ...

and

Joy Goswami Joy Goswami ( ; born November 10, 1954) is an Indian poet, novelist, and short story writer. Goswami writes in Bengali and is widely considered as one of the most important poets in the post- Jibanananda Das era of Bengali poetry. His work add ...

. She was involved with the

Soumitra Chatterjee Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelt as Chattopadhyay; ; 19 January 193515 November 2020) was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the histor ...

production, ''Homapakhi'' for which she composed the theme song. She has also acted in

Darmiyaan ''Darmiyaan: In Between'' is a 1997 Indian film starring Kiron Kher, Arif Zakaria and Tabu. The film is set in Bollywood of the 1940s and tells the story of an actress who discovers that her son is a eunuch. Hindustani vocalist, Rita Gangu ...

, a feature film by

Kalpana Lajmi Kalpana Lajmi (1954–2018) was an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter. Lajmi was an independent filmmaker working more on realistic, low-budget films, which are known in India as parallel cinema. Her films were often woman-oriented ...

. Ganguly has performed at the ''Festival of India'' events held in UK and France. She is the author of a number of books related to art and music such as ''Bismillah Khan and Benaras, the Seat of Shehnai'' and ''Ae Mohabbat... Reminiscing Begum Akhtar''. She is the founder of ''Kaladharmi'', a non-profit organization to promote young talents in arts and the ''Begum Akhtar Academy of Ghazal'', an academy for nurturing Ghazal tradition which has instituted annual awards to recognize excellence in Ghazal music. Her play on Begum Akhtar, ''Jamal-e-Begum Akhtar'', has been staged on many occasions and she is planning a film on the life of Begum Akhtar in association with the known ghazal singer,

Anup Jalota Anup Jalota, (born 29 July 1953) is an Indian singer, musician and actor, best known for his contributions to the bhajan and ghazal genre of Indian music. He is popularly known as the ''Bhajan Samraat'' ().Ketan Mehta Ketan Mehta (born 21 July 1952) is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter who has also directed documentaries and television serials since 1975. Early life and education Born on 21 July 1952 in Navsari in Gujarat, Mehta did his sch ...

and music director,

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...

. Rita Ganguly received the

for music in 2000. The

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

honoured her with the civilian award of

in 2003. She is also a recipient of Priyadarshi Award, Rajiv Gandhi Shiromani award, Critics Circle of India award and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Broadcasters Association of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Rita Ganguly is the founder of ''Kaladharmi'', a non-profit organization for the promotion of performing arts and ''

Academy of Ghazals'' (BAAG), a

ghazal ''Ghazal'' is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry that often deals with topics of spiritual and romantic love. It may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss, or separation from the beloved, and t ...

academy. Rita Ganguly was married to Keshav Kothari, a former secretary of

Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English language, English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. It is an autonomous body of the Ministry of Culture (India) ...

and the couple has two children, son Arijeet a poet and a daughter,

who is an actress in Hindi films. She appeared in the film

Parineeta (2005 film) ''Parineeta'' () is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language musical romance film adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's 1914 Bengali novella of the same name. Directed by debutant Pradeep Sarkar, it was based on a screenplay by the film's produce ...

and is credited for the song Dhinak-Dhinak-Dha composed by

Shantanu Moitra Shantanu Moitra (born 22 January 1968) is an Indian pianist, score composer and musician who has composed songs for the Hindi film industry, and is most known for his scores in the films ''Parineeta (2005 film), Parineeta'' (2005), ''Hazaaron K ...

penned by

Swanand Kirkire Swanand Kirkire (born 29 April 1972) is an Indian lyricist, playback singer, writer, assistant director, actor and dialogue writer, who works in Marathi and Hindi film and television. Kirkire won the National Film Award for Best Lyrics twice: f ...

. She has also sung for the film Sarkar (2005) the song Deen Bandhu .

Biography

See also

References

Further reading