The evolution of Gyration

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.