Dance pioneer Astad Deboo dies in Mumbai at 73
Mumbai, Dec 10: Contemporary Indian dancer Astad Deboo, renowned for marrying Kathak and Kathakali into a unique form, died here on Thursday, his family said. He was 73.
"He left us in the early hours of December 10, at his home in Mumbai, after a brief illness, bravely borne," the family announced on social media.
"He leaves behind a formidable legacy of unforgettable performances combined with an unswerving dedication to his art, matched only by his huge, loving heart that gained him thousands of friends and a vast, number of admirers," it said.
The announcement said, "The loss to the family, friends, fraternity of dancers, both classical and modern, Indian and international, is inestimable. May he rest in peace. We will miss him."
Deboo is noted for creating a modern dance vocabulary that was uniquely Indian.
He once said there was a time when most Indians saw his style as "too western" while westerners found that it was "not Indian enough".
His innovative style of Indian dance may have raised some eyebrows in the 1970s and 80s, but the 1990s saw people embrace this new idiom.
Born on July 13, 1947 in Navsari town of Gujarat, the dancer, who studied Kathak with Guru Prahlad Das from a young age, and later Kathakali with Guru E K Pannicker, described his style as "contemporary in vocabulary and traditional in restraint".
With a dance career spanning half a century, he had performed in over 70 countries, including solo, group and collaborative choreography with artistes, at home and abroad.
Known for his charitable endeavours, Deboo worked with deaf children, both in India and abroad for two decades.
In 2002, he founded the Astad Deboo Dance Foundation which provided creative training to marginalised sections, including the differently-abled.
Deboo also forayed into other art disciplines, like films, choreographing for directors such as Mani Ratnam, Vishal Bhardwaj and legendary painter M F Hussain's "Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities".
"He has created a dance-theatre style which successfully assimilates Indian and Western techniques," said the citation for the the Sangeet Natak Akademi award he received in 1995 for his contribution to contemporary creative dance. He was also a recipient of the Padma Shri in 2007.
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Have only resigned as Delhi Congress chief, not joining any political party: Arvinder Singh Lovely
New Delhi, Apr 28: Arvinder Singh Lovely on Sunday said he has only resigned as chief of the Congress' Delhi unit and is not joining any other political party.
His clarification came after Congress ex-MLA Asif Mohammad Khan claimed that the BJP would field Lovely from the East Delhi constituency, replacing Harsh Malhotra.
"I have only resigned as Delhi Congress chief and I am not joining any political party," he said at a press conference at his residence.
Lovely said his resignation reflected the pain of Congress workers saddened by the fact that the "ideals they had been fighting for during the last seven to eight years" were being compromised.
"We are fighting the elections together but never did the Congress workers say that we are giving a clean chit to them or giving them credit for building schools and hospitals, which is far from the reality," Lovely said, referring to the party's tie-up with the AAP in Delhi for the Lok Sabha polls.
"Those who are saying that I have resigned out of anger over ticket (distribution), it is not like that. You all know that I introduced the candidates by holding a press conference three days ago," Lovely said.
Earlier in the day, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj asked in a post in Hindi on X, without naming anyone, if the BJP was changing its candidate for East Delhi.
Questioned about Bharadwaj's post and whether it hinted at him joining the BJP, Lovely said he only resigned as the Delhi Congress chief.
"Thanks for Bharadwaj's wishes. I think he takes decisions on behalf of all other parties. I have just cleared to you that I resigned from the post of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president," Lovely said.
In a setback to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Lovely resigned as the party's Delhi unit chief, citing the alliance with the AAP as one of the reasons.
He said the Congress' Delhi unit was against the alliance but the party high command went ahead with it.
"The Delhi Congress unit was against an alliance with a party which was formed on the sole basis of levelling false, fabricated and mala fide corruption charges against the Congress party ... half of the cabinet ministers (of the party) are presently in jail on corruption charges," Lovely said in his resignation letter sent to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday.
"Despite that, the party (Congress) made a decision to ally with the AAP in Delhi. We respected the party's final decision ... I even went to the extent of visiting Mr (Arvind) Kejriwal's residence on the night of his arrest along with Mr Subash Chopra and Mr Sandeep Dikshit, despite the same being against my position on the matter," he said.
The Congress is contesting the Lok Sabha elections in an alliance with AAP in Delhi. As part of its seat-share arrangement, the Congress is contesting from three seats while AAP has fielded candidates from four constituencies in the national capital.
Lovely had resigned as chief of the Congress' Delhi unit in 2015, taking moral responsibility for the party's worst-ever performance in the assembly elections.
The Congress had failed to win a single seat in the 70-member House as AAP swept to victory in 67 constituencies and the BJP won three.
Lovely contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 from East Delhi against the BJP's Gautam Gambhir and AAP candidate Atishi, securing 24 per cent votes.
Gambhir won the seat by 3.93 lakh votes ahead of Lovely in second.
Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seats will go to the polls in the sixth phase on May 25.
