Malika e Ghazal is an exhibition about the life, music, and legacy of Begum Akhtar, curated at Lucknow Bioscope in Lucknow. It was on display from October 2025 to April 2026. I took it on as a personal tribute and, in equal measure, as something the city was owed.
The exhibition brings together music, artefacts, memorabilia, and living testimonies: her early years in Faizabad, the rose-scented mornings of Gulab Bari, recording studios, the all-women charity concerts, and the distant stages she filled. The materials came through disciples, friends, and strangers bound by a shared love for her and her music.
The restoration of her mazaar in 2013 happened the same way, through trust and generosity among people who had never met. This exhibition continued that tradition.
