I first came across the term tawaif with films Pakeezah & Umrao Jaan. The beauty in the art, dance & music made me want to know more. This Urdu word translates to courtesan. Today when we think of the word “tawaif” automatically we think that a tawaif is a prostitute.

A tawaif - a courtesan, was a woman of arts over time this blurred merged becoming a “prostitute”. For many years it was the Tawaifs that saved the art of Kathak dance, thumri & dadra style of singing. Here is an example from Pakeezah.

Poets longed to have their work performed by courtesans as it was a way for poets work to be passed down generation by generation. It is said that Ghalib famously wrote to the Nawab of Rampur asking if tawaifs in his court can sing his ghazals.

How did this all change? - Tawaifs participated in the uprising against the British in 1857 one known is Azizun Bai of Kanpur. Azizun dressed in a male attire & fought against the British. She trained other women too.

Many of the tawaifs kothas were meeting points for the rebels. Post 1857 the tawaifs especially from around Awadh & any who had participated in the uprising had their houses confiscated. The tawaifs who were once one of the highest tax payers were left in vulnerable positions.

Victorian ideals were spreading across the country & they were no longer seen as performers, artists but as prostitutes. By the 1920’s strong colonial ideals strengthened this thought along with the rise of Gandhian nationalism became very unwelcoming to tawaifs.

Thus many began to migrate to other professions some were lured by the gramophone & others moved towards Parsi theatre. Many moved to Bombay to set foot in the film industry, becoming the first female actors, directors and musicians before this in films men would act as women.

One popular former tawaif was Jaddan Bai. And was the mother of Bollywood star Nargis. You can listen to her on this video singing one of Ghalibs ghazal.

Fatma Begum the first female director. She launched her own production house, Fatma Films and directed her first film, Bulbul-e-Paristan, in 1926!

Fatma Begum’s daugher - daughter Zubeida went onto to act in the first Indian talkie film: Alam Ara.

Former tawaif Gauhar Jaan became the first recording artist in the subcontinent of India and was bestowed with the title – The Gramophone Girl in 1902!

There is so much history associated with Tawaifs as artists along with being rebels. Tawaifnama by Saba Dewan is an epic read for more info.