Madhuri Dixit-Who Entertained us with Iconic Songs & Dance

Madhuri Dixit is one of those few actresses who is aging so gracefully that with every passing year, she only ends up looking even more beautiful. She has given us some iconic songs like , Ek Do Teen, Tamma Tamma Loge,Choli Ke Peeche Kya hai, Kay Sera Sera that are definitely going to stay with us forever. she is blessed by the Gods of dance and in the industry that heavily relies on its culture of song and dance, she became a goddess.
She was born on 15th May 1967,she was a born dancer,started dancing at the age of 3.She  went on to practice the art of Kathak and later on to become a trained professional Kathak dancer.Pandit Birju Maharaj, a Kathak dancer, who choreographed Dixit in the film Devdas for the song "Kaahe Chhed", calls her "the best Bollywood dancer due to her versatility.
She made her acting debut in Rajshri Productions' movie Abodh in 1984 but got real success with Tejab released in 1988.The dance song Ek Do Teen made her famous throughout India.With the success of this film she became the favourite of the masses.n 1989 Subhash Ghai's drama Ram Lakhan was released, in which she was paired once again with Anil Kapoor. This film also became a super-hit,Thereafter Dixit got success in Rajiv Rai's multi-starrer action thriller Tridev, Now she was among the top 3 heroines of Bollywood.
In the early nineties she gave many hit films like Dil opposite Aamir Khan, Saajan opposite Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt, Beta opposite Anil Kapoor,Dixit's performance of Saraswati earned her critical acclaim.the highlight of the film was undoubtedly Dhak Dhak Karne Laga – probably the sexiest and most popular dance of Madhuri's career.
In 1993, Dixit starred in the controversial super-hit Khalnayak opposite Sanjay Dutt and Jackie Shroff. The audiences ran in droves to witness the Madhuri Dixit magic. In every scene, she holds you captive with her stunning beauty, demanding screen presence, expressive acting and excellent dancing skills. Saroj Khan’s dance choreography is entertaining to watch, particularly in "Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai".
Then came  Hum Aapke Hain Koun.in 1994 opposite Salman Khan. The film became one of the biggest hits in the history of Hindi cinema.1995 saw Dixit star in the hit Raja opposite Sanjay Kapoor.Her next release was David Dhawan's Yaraana opposite Rishi Kapoor, in which she played a dancer on the run from her abusive lover.She starred in Yash Chopra's musical romance Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), opposite Shahrukh Khan and Karisma Kapoor. Her role of a woman faced with a moral dilemma in a love triangle fetched her the fourth Filmfare Best Actress Award.
Her one of the memorable films was  Devdas, co-starring Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai. She portrayed Chandramukhi, a courtesan who is in love with the title character.It turned out to be her last film for a while as she shifted to Denver with her family.
In 2006, Dixit returned to India with her family, and acted in cinematographer Anil Mehta's dance film Aaja Nachle (2007) after that she appeared in  Dedh Ishqiya (2014).She also appears as Judge in many dance competitions show on TV.
In this blog I have selected the Iconic Dance numbers of Madhuri Dixit.

Song from Tezaab 1988

Song from Sailab 1990

Song from Thanedar 1990

Song from Beta (1992)

Song from Khalnayak (1993)

Song from Anjaam (1994)

Song from Hum Aapke Hain Koun (1994)

Song from Raja (1995)

Song from Yaraana (1995)

Song from Dil To Pagal Hai (1997)

Song from Pukar (2000)

Song from Devdas (2002)

Song from Aaja Nachle (2007)

The Evolution of Bollywood Dance

Songs and Dance are integral part of Indian films.No Bollywood film would be complete without many songs and dances.The style of dancing in earlier Bollywood films was based on Indian Classical Dance or Folk Dances from various parts of India. These dances included the classical art forms of Kathak and Bharata Natyam. But today, Bollywood has developed its own corpus of material.Bollywood Style of Dancing is now a craze in UK,USA and Europe.
Earlier films from south India tended to show a lot of influence from Bharat Natyam and Kuchipudi while Hindi films tended to show strong influences of Kathak or the "mujara" dances that were associated with the tawaifs.  
The very first movie fully Choreographed was Kalpana (1948) produced and directed by the renowned dancer Uday Shankar. In the same year another film released was S S Vasan's Chanrakanta choreographed by Tarun Chopra,the disciple of Uday Shankar ji.With the success of both these films the era of dance began in Hindi Cinema.Before that a film Roti (1942) became hit because of Sitara Devi's Dance.

Dance from Roti 1942

Dance from Kalpana1948

There were some great dancers in that era.  Indian Cinema was blessed with great dancers like Geetanjali, Sandhya, Vyajayantimala,Padmini,Ragini & Mahipal who with their outstanding energy and performance mesmerized the audiences and took dance to the next level. In 1951 Raj Kapoor gave the industry a lavish song-and-dance dream sequence.Filmed evocatively in black and white, ‘showman’ Kapoor gets his muse Nargis to ‘welcome her wanderer home’, on the backdrop of an over-the-top set featuring a grand stairway, lots of mist, a giant dancing Shiva and a crowd of background female dancers. Nargis rose to the challenge and proved her versatility with her dancing feet.

In the late 50's & 60's group dances began to evolve in Bollywood films & choreographers started managing larger groups of dancers, with influences from folk dances. One may also find songs about holidays, (e.g., Holi), Mother India, the moon, or other topics; but these are far less common.Another style of dancing evolved in 60s was heroes and heroines were singing romantic songs running and dancing around trees.Some of these moves were really rather hard to class as dancing.  The spastic deliveries of songs by Shammi Kapoor came to mind.  Still, from these random spastic jerks and jumping around, identifiable moves began to develop. In that period V Shantaram made few great Song & Dance Movies like Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje,Dr Vidya and Navrang.

Dance from Dr Vidya

In the 50s a new style of dance was introduced by Bhagwan dada which became very popular.A film Albela in 1951 had many songs and dance in a new style.These steps are still liked by the audience.Amitabh Bachchan copied those steps in many of hit films in 70s and 80s

Song from Albela 1951

The new entry in Bollywood dance was cabarets and western dances.The cabaret scene is probably the most significant artistic and commercial example of the Bollywood dance.  It may be considered to be the first truly 'Bollywood" form.

Song from Howrah Bridge 1958

Undoubtedly the reining queen of the cabaret dance was Helen.  She was born Helen Jairag Richardson, of mixed Anglo-Indian-Burmese descent.  She started dancing and acting in the 1950s, and by the 1960s was the undisputed queen of the item girls.  However by the 1970s, item numbers were going to the younger girls.
In the 80s Cabaret was replaced by Disco, which was a worldwide phenomenon at the time.
By this time classical dance vanished from Hindi films only in Period films Mujra were shown.With the emergence of Mithun Chakraborti disco was the main attraction during that period.After that in 90s came an era which introduced Bollywood Free Style of dancing which was well represented by dancers like Govinda who developed their own signature style of dance.
Now since the inception of MTV , Bollywood dancing has been heavily influenced by Western dance styles, and incorporates elements from the West. In many cases, the musical numbers are released as separate music videos, and the soundtracks are released prior to the film, in order to further advertise the upcoming feature films. In modern Bollywood films, the musical numbers are often based on the Hip-Hop style of dance as well as other variations of Hip-Hop dance.The dance movements have become more bold & extroverted to capture the audience’s attention. 

Dance from ABCD

For the last few years Remo D'souza the famous Choreographer is making films based on Dances.He made India's first 3D dance movie, ABCD - AnyBody Can Dance, with contestants from season 1 and season 2 of Dance India Dance (Dharmesh Yelande, Punit Pathak, Salman Yusuff Khan, Bhavna, Prince and others),Prabhu Deva and Lauren Gottlieb. After that ABCD 2, was released in June 2015. It starred Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, and Prabhu Deva in lead roles, with Lauren Gottlieb, Punit Pathak, Raghav Juyal, and Dharmesh Yelande in supporting roles.
The Evolution of Bollywood Dance is a process that is entirely Indian and yet cross-cultural at the same time.
Some of the Iconic Dances of Bollywood

This song changed the Indian music industry era & created a milestone platform important thing Lata Mangeshkar is the Golden voice gifted by the God....and the immortal Nagin dance by Vyajayantimala.

Song from Nagin 1954

                                The great Dance by Gopi Kishan and Sandhya

Dance from Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje 1955

 The best and liveliest example of Bharatanatyam on a film.

Song from Azaad (1955)

The famous Kathputli Dance was shown in Chori Chori.Very well picturized on Raj Kapoor & Nargis.

Song from Chori Chori 1956

After Sandhya I think Vyajayantimala was a dancing star in Bollywood. She was the first South Indian actress to become a Bollywood star and "paved a way" for other south Indian actresses to foray into Bollywood. Vyjayanthimala's main concentration

 was in Bharata Natyam,

 

Song from Sadhna (1958) 

WHAT A DANCE SONG, WHAT A CHOREOGRAPHY AND OF COURSE THE MUSIC OF SALIL Da.

Song from Madhumati 1958

Time is just frozen as you watch this masterpiece. Big salute to Madhubala and OP Naiyer ji

Song from Phagun ,1958,

One of the amazing song & dance produced ever, Sandhya performs so beautifully, one of the greatest dancer of Bollywood.She will always be remembered for her great personality and amazing looks.

Song from Navrang 1959

The milestone Dance of Hindi film industry is this song ,Lata Mangeshkar's voice and Madhubala s dance are just complimenting each other n a real justice to this song

Song from Mughal e Azam 1960

Helen is pure perfection. Every move, every gesture is on point.Helen"s thumkas, steps & insertions are nicely blended & took up the task of choreography perfectly.

Song from Parasmani (1963)

Wonderful dance by Asha Parekh - so talented , Look at the great talent of this woman ' Asha Paresh ' and maneuvering of her body in the way her Guru Gopi

Krishna taught.

Song from Ziddi (1964)

SERPENT DANCE BY Waheeda Rehman in GUIDE (1965).A real treat to watch

Dance from Guide 1965

This dance is from Amrapali , a 1966 historical Hindi film directed by Lekh Tandon, starring Vyjayanthimala and Sunil Dutt as leads. Music of the film was by Shankar-Jaikishan. Vyjayanthimala is truly one wonder woman.Personality,figure,her position,style,communication

skills, her dance graceful,

Dance from Amrapali 1966

Long dance sequence with minimum clipping...only Vijayanthimala can do it..5 stars to this song and dance sequence. Lata is just brilliant .Wow.

Song from Jewel Thief 1967

A great dance compitition between 3 legends  Vyajayantimala,Helen and Shammi Kapoor  

Song from Prince (1969)

How can we miss this great song and dance by Helen in Carvan 1971,this film has many dances.

Song from Carvan 1971

With this film Disco Dancer this form of dancing became popular.This songs gives you full energy... Your body get automatically start responding to every beats

Song from Disco Dancer 1982

Madhuridixit is one of the greatest dancer in India and no doubt people appreciated her performance in this song.She became hit after this dance.

Song from Tejab 1988

This is the Magic of Madhuri and Saroj khan.Madhuri Dixit is unmatchable in Bollywood,she gave many song and Dance hits.

Song from Beta 1992

With the emergence of Govinda his style of Dancing became popular.He along with Karishma kapoor gave many Hit songs,this is one of those songs.

Hero No1 1997

With Dil to Paagal Hai Shimak Davar changed the way dance was perceived in Indian films,he is the first to bring contemporary jazz and western forms of dance to India. He is known as the guru of contemporary dance in India.

Song from Dil To Paagal Hai 1997

Today's generation can't even imagine the craze of this song when it was released.With this film emerged a new form of dancing.

Song from kaho na pyar hai 2000

This dance brought Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai in sync with each other by Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Song from Devdas 2002

Folk Dances in Bollywood

We are seeing a controversy in the latest film PADMAVATI,another controversy has emerged about the Ghoomar Dance by Deepika Padukone.In this context I think that Films are more of imagination than the reality,we should see films in that manner and appreciate its creativity.
Bollywood dance is a difficult topic to discuss.It is a mixture of numerous styles.No folk dance shown in films is exactly the same but it has many steps from other folks also.Films before 1960 tended to draw heavily on classical and folk dance.  Since neither "classical dance" nor "folk dance" are homogenous entities.In this blog I have selected some popular folk dances of Bollywood.
The common  folk dances are Bhangra, Rajasthani Folk, Garba, Dandiya, Bihu Lavani etc shown in our films.There are many hit songs and dances in bollywood are worth mentioning.

Song from Khajanchi 1941

Song from  Baadal 1951

Song from Pahli Jhalak (1954)

Song from Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje [1955]

Song from Shree 420 (1957)

Song from Kathputli 1957

Song from Naya Daur 1957

Song from Madhumati 1958

Song from  Mughal E Azam 1960

Song from Ganga Jamuna 1961

Song from Saraswatichandra 1968

Song from Bandhan  (1969)

Song from Bobby 1973

Song from Inkaar 1978

Song from  Lamhe 1991

Song from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam 1999

Song from Mission Kashmir 2000

Song from Zubeidaa 2001

Vyjayanthimala-The Most Loved Actress of the Golden Era of Hindi cinema

 This South Indian beauty was much more than an actress. A Bharatanatyam Dancer, Carnatic singer, dance choreographer and parliamentarian, the actress is celebrating her 81st Birthday today.On this occasion we remember the dance and songs she performed in Bollywood Films,Whether it is Man dole mera tan dole (Nagin) or Chadh gayo paapi bichhua (Madhumati) or Buddha mil gaya (Sangam) or Hothon pe aisi baat (Jewel Thief), Vyjayanthimala performed some superhit song and dance numbers in Hindi films.Most of her Dances and songs were appreciated by the audiences and were crowd puller.

Nagin in 1954 made her super star,the song Man  Dole Tan Dole was a craze that time,the film became the highest grocer of that year.She got her first Filmfare Award for Best  Supporting Role in  the next year release Devdas as Chandramukhi. but she refused to take as she felt that she was the heroine.
In the  1958 film Sadhana  Vyjayanthimala got her first Best Actress Award. B R Chopra cast her in the film when Nimmi hesitated to play a prostitute. Vyjayanthimala played the mercenary prostitute with a no-holds-barred derring do and yet managed to evoke tears with the soul-stirring Sahir Ludhianvi number, Aurat ne janam deeya mardon ko, mardon ne usse bazaar deeya.Same year Madhumati released,she was among the top heroines now.

At her peak, Vyjayanthimala took off to do a series of much appreciated dance shows in Paris in 1959 besides working for top heroes like Dev Anand in Amardeep in 1957,Jewel Thief (1967), Dilip Kumar in Paigham (1959)Ganga Jamuna(1963)  and Raj Kapoor in Nazrana (1961).Sangam (1964).For her role Radha, who caught between her husband and her former lover, Vyjayanthimala was awarded with Filmfare Best Actress trophy. She then co-starred Dilip Kumar for the sixth time in Ram Mukherjee's Leader. The film was comeback film for Kumar whose last film was Gunga Jumna also with Vyjayanthimala.
Vyjayanthimala married Chamanlal Bali in 1968. After marriage, she gave up her acting career and moved to Chennai.However between 1968 and 1970, she shot for those films which she had signed before her marriage, like Pyar Hi Pyar, Prince, Ganwaar. They have a son, Suchindra Bali. In 2007, she published her autobiography, titled Bonding, with Jyoti Sabarwal as co-writer.

Song from Nagin 1954

Song from Devdas 1955

Song from Naya Daur 1957

Song from Kathputli 1957

Song from Madhumati 1958

Song from Ganga Jamuna 1961

Song from Sangam 1964

Dance competition from Amrapali 1966

Song from Amrapali 1966

Song from Jewel Thief 1967

Cabaret in Bollywood

1960s was the era when cabaret songs were the real life of the movies. It was so much popular that they pulled the audience towards the theatres.These Cabaret were the part of the story unlike today's Item Numbers.Cuckko was the first Cabaret Dancer of bollywood,then came Helen.
In the Late 60s and early part of the 1970s actresses Fariyal,Aruna Irani, Bindu, Jayshree T and Padma Khanna entered into what was Helen's monopoly. In fact there is a cabaret in Dharma 1973 movie where the Top 5 Cabaret Dancers of Bollywood appeared in one song.
 The range extended from the likes of the  sexy Asha Sachdev and Prema Narayan, to out-and-out garish Kalpana Iyer and Jayshree T. Between them, these beauties had the item song market cornered, and many a famous tracks were picturized on them. If Jayshree T had songs like ‘Naach Meri Jaan’ with Mehmood from Main Sunder Hoon, then Asha Sachdev had the suggestive ‘Jis Kaam Ko Dono Aaye Hain’, from the Jitendra-starrer ‘Ek Hi Rasta’, while Kalpana Iyer had the disco genre cornered through the ‘80s and Prema Narayan sizzled her swimming costume with a host of other beauties in ‘Mausam Mastana’ from Satte Pe Satta… 
 Cuckoo, was the first major dancing star  who ruled the cabaret scene in the Forties and Fifties.Her talent made cabaret a must in the Bollywood films. Her dance numbers in the film Anokhi Ada established her as the lead dancer of that era.She introduced a 13-year-old Helen into films as a chorus dancer in the films like Shabistan and Awaara(1951).Cukoo and Helen most notably appeared in song and dance sequences together like in Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi(1958) and Yahudi (1958). Her last film appearance was in Mujhe Jeene Do in 1963 after which she had disappeared from the film industry.

Song from Anokhi Ada 1948

Song from Awara 1951

Song from Aan 1952

Helen-Known as "Queen Of Cabaret",who started as a chorus dancer in films like Shabistan and Awaara (1951) later became the queen of cabaret.Her seductive dancing made her a star and is still respected today for her contribution to cinema. She remained for more than three decades an essential part of almost all first-rate movies, with at least one hot dance and song scene,  that was invariably the star attraction of the movie.

Song from Howrah Bridge 1958

Song from Intaquam (1969)

Song from Caravan (1971)

Bindu-her success story started with Shakti Samanta's Kati Patang (1970), where she had a sizzling cabaret dance, "Mera Naam Shabnam" to her credit; a number which is even today remembered as one of the highlights of the film.She  gave tough competition to the Queen of Cabaret, Helen. She was definitely the strongest contender for this particular crown.Her mesmerising performances in 1974 as a seductress in Imtihan, and as a nymphomaniac in Hawas, left audiences asking for more. 

Song from Kati Patang (1970)

Song from Zanjeer (1973)

Song from Anhonee 1973

Faryal-was born in the Damascus area of Syria to an Indian father and a Syrian mother.She  worked for a while as an air hostess in Air India before joining films.She was noted for her role as a cabaret dancer in the movie Jewel Thief released in 1967. One of her very popular cabaret number is Yeh Duniya To Hai Bas Paise Ki from the movie Do Thug.

Dance from Jewel Thief 1967

Dance from Puruskaar 1970

Dance from Insaan Aur Shaitan 1970

Aruna Irani-she made her debut in the movie Ganga Jamuna (1961) playing childhood Azra's character.She did small roles,comic roles and character roles also.She was heroine with Amitabh Bachchan in Bombay to Goa.Besides excellent acting she has is par excellent when it comes to dancing. She had many hit item numbers in many movies to her credit and one amongst them is the Cabaret song – Sapna Mera Tut Gaya from the movie Khel khel mein. 

Dance from Humshakal 1974

Dance from Fakira 1976

Song from Khel Khel Mein 1975

Jayshree T-trained as Kathak.Dancer but  gained popularity when she started performing item dances in films,She has done few very successful Cabaret dances in the Bollywood films. She had an oomph factor and her dancing was full of energy. One of her very popular cabaret song is Reshmi Ujala hai from the movie Sharmillee in 1971.

Song from Sharmillee 1971

Song from Anokhi Pehchaan 1972

Song from Rani Mera Naam 1972

Padma Khanna-Like JayshreeT she was also a trained Kathak Dancer under Pt Birju Maharaj. She came into limelight with Johny Mera Naam dance "Husn Ke Lakhon Rang"She is most remembered for her role in the film Saudagar with Amitabh Bachchan

Dance from Johny Mere Naam 1970

Dance from Paise Ki Gudiya 1974

Song from Jaandar 1979

Kalpana Iyer-She is best known for the song from Disco Dancer, 'Koi Yahan Nache Nache'.She was the Dancing Queen of 80s.She was a former Miss India.Some of her famous dance numbers were to the songs "Hari om Hari" in Pyaara Dushman (1980), "Tu Mujhe Jaan" in Wardaat (1981) and "Rambha Ho" in Armaan (1982 film).

Song from Disco Dancer 1982

Dance from Pyara Dushman

Dance from Armaan 1981

Beside these specialized Dancers many Heroines have also given Cabaret songs in Bollywood Rekha,Mumtaz,Zeenat Aman and Parveen Babi are few such Heroines.

Mumtaz in a Song from Humjoli 1970

Rekha in a song from Parineeta 2005

Zeenat Amaan in Qurbani 1980

Parveen Babi in Namak Halal 1982

Here is a Rare Song From DHARMA 1973 in which 5 famous Cabaret Dancer Of Bollywood(HELEN,FARIYAL,Sonia Sahni,JayshreeT and Bindu) are dancing in one Song

Song from Dharma 1973