B’wood jhatkas, southern style

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Rani Mukerji is back in action. And her gaudy costumes, zippy moves and sensual expressions in Dreamum wakeuppam song from her upcoming film Aiyyaa have got everyone talking. The raunchy, energy-packed, fast and lively dance moves from the Southern films have always enthralled us. And the trend is back in Bollywood, says choreographer Pony Verma. Pony brought back the South Indian dance moves to 70 mm screen with Dirty Picture.

“We have been doing decent choreography in Bollywood for a while now. But with Ooh la la we have brought back the fun of extravagant sets with colourful matkas, a parade of background dancers, loud and lively dance steps,” says Pony.
The zippy moves could be seen in Salman Khan’s dance steps in Wanted, Akshay Kumar in Rowdy Rathore and Kareena Kapoor in Ra.One. What clicks about these dance sequences is that they offer a change from the usual performances, says choreographer Ganesh Acharya. “Audiences always like variety and dance can get monotonous because most of the actors have a particular style of dancing. So when Vidya Balan or Akshay Kumar do something different and fresh, it always amuses the fans,” says Ganesh.
However, not every actor can dance to these tunes with the same grace and poise, says background dancer Samshad Khan. “Bollywood dance requires upper body movements and South Indian dance needs fast movements of lower body, especially knees. Therefore, it is very tiring to do these dance steps since they need a lot of stamina and practice,” adds Samshad who accompanied Akshay Kumar in Rowdy Rathore.
Dancer, actor, choreographer and film director Remo D’Souza says that the South Indian dance moves reached its peak in the 80s when Sridevi, Jitendra, Jaya Prada and many other actors gave us some unforgettable dance items. “But then in the 90s, films like Dil, Deewane and Hum changed the way we danced on screen. Now, the South Indian dance moves are gaining popularity again but this is also a phase that will pass,” says Remo.
However, as long as the phase is here, we sure can expect many more of these dhinchak dance sequences, adds Remo whose upcoming film based on dance will have some South Indian moves.