Welcome to Pint of View – Pune’s first-ever community where lectures meet drinks in a relaxed pub-style setting.

About the Lecture:

Bollywood has always been deeply intertwined with Kathak — but the story of how it represents dance, dancers, and respectability has constantly evolved.

From early films shaped by courtesans and Kathak traditions, to the rise of the “respectable” middle-class woman learning classical dance, to the studio-driven choreography of the 1990s — each era reflects changing social values around gender, class, and art.

In this lecture, we trace this fascinating journey through cinema, choreography, music, and popular culture. We’ll explore how courtesans once central to the art were gradually pushed out, how Kathak was reshaped to fit new ideas of respectability, and how, in recent years, the courtesan figure has made a striking comeback — now aestheticised, celebrated, and widely accepted in mainstream culture.

From Mughal-e-Azam to Dil To Pagal Hai, from Pt. Birju Maharaj’s influence on Bollywood choreography to the viral aesthetics of Heeramandi, this session looks at how Kathak moved from stigma to prestige — and what that reveals about how society chooses to remember, reinterpret, and reclaim its cultural past.

This is not just a lecture about dance.

It is a conversation about identity, memory, cinema, gender, and changing ideas of culture itself.

About the Speaker:

Siddhi Goel is a Kathak dancer, teacher, and researcher whose work explores the intersections of dance, cinema, culture, and identity. She holds an M.A. in Arts and Aesthetics from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Supported by the India Foundation for the Arts, her research focuses on Kathak in Bombay cinema — tracing how dance, performance, and ideas of respectability have evolved through Indian films and popular culture.

Her work has been featured in publications such as The Hindu, Scroll.in, and ASAP Art, and she has been invited to speak at institutions including Princeton University, Savitribai Phule Pune University, FLAME University, the Cambridge University South Asian Arts Society, and Kathak Dance School Berlin, among others.

She is also the founder of All Things Kathak — a platform dedicated to Kathak research, education, and community building.

What to Expect:

💃 A fascinating lecture on Kathak, Bollywood, courtesan culture, and changing social identities

🎬 Film clips, choreography analysis, and cultural storytelling across decades of Indian cinema

🎤 30 minutes of interactive Q&A with the speaker

👋 30 minute mixer with the speaker and fellow participants

🍹 A complimentary drink included with your ticket

Event Details:

📅 23rd May 2026 | 5PM onwards

📍 Malaka Spice, KP

🎫 Limited seats only

💰 Early bird pricing available for first 15 tickets

About Pint of View Pune:

Pint of View is inspired by the successful Lectures on Tap community in the U.S. We’re bringing this format to India — where big ideas meet bar tables, and where you enjoy a drink in hand while walking out with a new way of seeing the world.

What's Included

• A complimentary alcoholic / non-alcoholic drink
• 15% discount on food for Pint of View members
• Valet parking

What's Not Included

• A-la-carte food orders