Circa 1988, all of 16, I ended up in a theater watching a
Hindi movie with a few friends; probably the first time I watched a Hindi movie
on the silver screen. Sholay might have been up there but for someone who was baptized
in the Kollywood land it was sacrilege to watch a Hindi movie.
The Heroine was a fresh face who had a very not-so – filmi-name, 80’s was
decade when close to 13 ladies made their debut into Bollywood breaking the hegemony
of Rekha, Hemamalini, Zeenat, Shabana, Smita Patil and the likes. This movie
was the break this actress was looking for and her dancing skills catapulted her
to fame and stayed queen of the industry for close to a decade.
Having been so conditioned to the Sri series (Sreedevi,
Sripriya, Srividya, Srilatha et al) of actresses in Kollywood it was a welcome
break for me to see a dance performance by this relatively unknown actress who
would go on to be part of the history of Indian cinema.
Life and the world moved on since that day in 1988, we went
our separate ways; the actress went on to make a name for her while I went on
to try and make a living for myself. That performance stayed however in memory for
the gyrations and the graceful moves and above all the music associated with
the song. It was the so called catchy performance which in today’s cinematic
jargon gets referred to rather crudely as an item number.
The song and the dance unfortunately was replicated by an
expat actress recently 30 years down the line in a movie officially as an Item
number, watching it made me realize the transformation the art of music and dance had undergone in
the last 3 decades.
The radius of gyration had increased exponentially while the
bending angle had moved from acute to obtuse, the epidermal exposure was directly proportional to the elapsed time period and above all the first part
of the song was missing…3 decades back.. It began with a conversation that went
thus…
Dancer: Namaskar…kahiye kya sunengey aap!!! (good day! What
would you like to hear)
Audience: Arrey!!! Pehley yeh kaheye kahaan thi aap? (Oh
tell us where you were all these days)
Dancer: Mein…Mein karr rahithi kissi ka intezaar… (Me? I was
waiting for someone!)
Audience: Khon hai wo? (Who is that?)
Dancer: Wo jissey mey karthi hun pyaar!!! (The one that I am in love)
Dancer: Aur jissey karthi hun minnethe baar baar! (And to
the one whom I keep requesting)
Audience: Kaisey? (How is that?)
Dancer: Aisey ( Like this!!! Ding…Dong Ding…Ek Do teen…)
Well, the song and dance had a dialogue like prelude that
gave the audience an interactive experience that made them remember this number
for years to come. Unfortunately 3
decades down the line the cultural landscape does not allow people the time to
enjoy a work of art at length and hence the fast paced version did not resonate
with me.
I might sound old school and so not in sync with choice of
the Gen Z when it comes to music and dance. But it’s left to each one of you to
watch both the version below and take a call.PS : The direct links are posted below. Its possible you might have to log on to YouTube to watch the Gen Z version.
