Delhi’s cultural landscape just got enriched with the addition of a photorealistic mural of Pandit Birju Maharaj – a composer, singer and exponent of the Lucknow “Kalka-Bindadin” Gharana of Kathak dance, in the Lodhi Art district, conceptualized & executed by Ruchin Soni, a mural specialist faculty of the School of Visual Arts at World University of Design (WUD). The mural, a significant addition to the Lodhi Art District, New Delhi and was inaugurated on the birth anniversary by Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasiya, who is also a close friend of Pandit Birju Maharaj.
To create the mural in the popular locales of the capital, artist Ruchin Soni was approached by Start India Foundation, which creates art projects in urban public spaces to art accessible to a wider audience beyond conventional museum and gallery spaces. With the support of Shivani Varma, who is a disciple of Pandit Birju Maharaj and a well-known Kathak Dancer, World Kathak Day, Vedanta Verma Foundation, CPWD and NDMC this mural was brought to life.