Brijmohan Nath Mishra

Brijmohan Nath Mishra was born into the legendary Kalka-Bindadin dynasty of Lucknow Kathak dancers, the son of Acchan Maharaj and nephew of Shambhu Maharaj and Lachhu Maharaj. Giving his first public recital at age seven, he became head of the Kathak Kendra faculty in New Delhi at twenty-eight, training generations of dancers in classical Indian aesthetic traditions.

Birju Maharaj revitalized Kathak dance-dramas by choreographing large ensemble productions and composing original music and poetry. He choreographed historic sequences in Indian cinema, notably Satyajit Ray's The Chess Players (1977), Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas (2002) for Madhuri Dixit, and Bajirao Mastani (2015). A master of Thumri, tabla, and percussion, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian honor, in 1986.