Pandit Birju Maharaj (born Brijmohan Nath Mishra; 4 February 1938 – 17 January 2022) was an Indian dancer, composer, singer, and exponent of the Lucknow "Kalka-Bindadin" Gharana of Kathak dance in India.

Maharaj was born Brijmohan Nath Mishra, on 4 February 1938[3] into a Hindu Brahmin[4][5] family at Handia of Allahabad district.

[7] In addition to performing the Kathak dance form, he also brought along knowledge of Hindustani classical music and percussion instruments.

a charged and percussive phrase, repeated thrice to end with explosive effect) were noted to have been studied by Kathak students.

Some of the performances that he choreographed included for Saswati Sen in Satyajit Ray's Shatranj ke Khiladi (1977), Madhuri Dixit in Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Devdas (2002) and Dedh Ishqiya (2014), Kamal Haasan in Vishwaroopam (2012), Deepika Padukone in Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Alia Bhatt in Kalank (2019).

[15] In the immediate aftermath of Birju Maharaj's passing away, multiple people came forward on social media to share stories of being sexually harassed by him.