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[aryan]

KOLKATA: In a soulful rendition of the works of the 'bard of Bengal' Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's family mesmerised an audience, which included the wife of West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, at a function to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.

Even as the number two in union cabinet was busy with his work elsewhere, wife Shubhra Mukherjee, a gifted vocalist, lent her voice with daughter Sharmistha setting the floor on fire by her deft 'kathak' steps to the accompaniment of select Tagore songs at Rotary Sadan last night.

Aptly named 'Ananda Dhara' or 'the stream of joy', the dance narrative was a medley of choreography and lyrics, with nature over-manifest, the Tagore hallmark.

Sharmistha, who had created ripples after writing an open letter to her father before last year's union budget, was attired in full kathak costume.

The young artiste, who has been trained under legendary Pt Durgalal of the Jaipur kathak gharana, keeps a low-profile as much as her unassuming mother, who has been running Geetanjali Troupe since 1978 to propagate Tagore's philosophy espoused through his songs and dances.

Meera Bhattacharjee, wife of Bengal's self-confessed Tagore enthusiast chief minister, later said "I immensely enjoyed the beautiful choreography".