some artists need no introduction and pandit birju maharaj ji is one of them even in his 80s he is known to captivate millions of people with his beautiful expressions and graceful moves he has even made many bollywood stars dance to his tune and painted the btown in the colours of the classical dance form recently this magnificent and legendary kathak dancer was in noida at routes2roots for a cultural event wherein he spoke to etimes exclusivelyread alsoexclusive interview madhuri dixit on pandit birju maharajs 82nd birthday he personifies kathak and he is danceetimes got in touch with her exclusively to speak about the maestro with whom the actress has collaborated on several occasions from their first meeting to the jugalbandi in dil to pagal hai the actor spoke about how learning from the dance master has enhanced her skill excerptshe talked about the portrayal of classical dance in bollywood in the current times maharaj ji said some good directors likesanjay leela bhansali understand the value of classical dance and they try to enhance the beauty of the same in their movies at the same time there are some directors who cant portray the art form that way so basically there are only a few who understand the beauty of the dance formi like working with him sanjay leela bhansali have worked with him in devdas bajirao mastani and as of now also there are some upcoming movies in the talks quoted the padam vibhushan awardee he further added people believe classical is a difficult form but honestly it is not it is a very beautiful art form if choreographed and presented in a nice way maharaj ji mentioned that sometimes to bring out the best performance of kathak a filmmaker needs to understand the process and needs to be a little flexible with the choreographyafter speaking about his beloved director pandit birju maharaj ji also spoke about his favourite bollywood actors he told us madhuri dixit is one of my most favorites she treats me like a guru teacher to date she calls me and asks me when i am coming to mumbai she also asks me to spend an evening with her whenever i am in the cityjackie shroff treats me with the utmost respect he gives me a call almost every 15 days so there are many like these concluded maharaj ji