Showing posts with label evolution of dance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evolution of dance. Show all posts

Wednesday 16 December 2020

The Great Dance Based Films of Bollywood



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 Chandrakanta 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.
The story of Kalpana revolves around a young dancer’s dream of setting up a dance academy, It is a disguised autobiography of Uday Shankar. He presented dance in a captivating manner, and with a message that he wants India to be saved from the west and its bad influences.


V Shantaram was the earliest filmmaker who made films on dances and dancers of India. His film Jhanak Jhanak Baje Payal(1955) was one of the first Hindi films that revolved entirely around dance. Filmmaker-actor V Shantaram directed wife Sandhya and dancer Gopi Krishna in this classic. A young 17-year old Shivkumar Sharma too was heard playing santoor in this National award-winning film. This was also the first time santoor was used in Indian cinema. Magnificently shot in Technicolor, the film is considered a classic with hit songs such as Jhanak Jhanak Baaje Re More Palaliya, Jo Tum Todo Piya, and Murli Manohar. This too remains one of Ganesh Acharya's favourite dance films.


He made another film Navrang(1959), this film was heavily concentrated on the dance sequences, a few of these dances are immortal. Diwakar(Mahipal) is a poet and loves his wife Jamuna (Sandhya)more than anything. But Jamuna feels that Diwakar lives in a fantasy world and is irresponsible in the real world. Diwakar creates a muse from his imagination, who looks exactly like his wife and whom he calls Mohini.
Nartaki (1963) The story was about a dancing girl (Nanda) brought up in the Tawaif (courtesan) milieu, who wants to better herself with an education. She is helped amidst great societal clash, by a newly arrived Professor (Sunil Dutt).

Guide(1965) was a film based on a novel by R.K Narayan, Guide stars the legendary Dev Anand as Raju, a tourist guide who takes Indian and foreign visitors to historic locations and tells them stories about these magnificent places. Raju meets Rosy (Waheeda Rehman), the wife of his client whose passion is pursuing old caves. Rosie’s passion is dance. Raju helping Rosy find her feet as a dancer.  Rosy achieves stardom with the help of Raju. The film was known for its Kalbeliya dance sequence as also the song 'Piya tose naina lage re', which showed different folk dances from across India as also celebration of different festivals.


Jal Bin Machhli Nritya Bin Bijli (1971) is another V Shantaram's dance film. The heroine is madly in love with dance and refuses to marry the groom her father has chosen for her. She runs away and joins a dance troupe and there she finds a like-minded soul who is equally in love with dance.


.Pakeezah (1972) is another film based on a courtesan. The heroine is a courtesan, this was played by Meena Kumari. Though it’s said Meena Kumari was unwell to dance herself and hence Padma Khanna was used as a body double for songs requiring rigorous footwork.


Disco Dancer(1982) is a dance film but not on Indian classical dances but about disco songs and dances. Anil (Mithun Chakraborty) is an artist who earns his livelihood by performing on the streets. He was noticed by a Dance trainer and took him from the street and introduce him on the stage as Jimmy. Jimmy starts gaining popularity in Goa, so David arranges for a show in Mumbai. Mithun styled himself on John Travolta in the film and the plot points of the film too were kind of inspired by Saturday Night Fever.


Naache Mayuri is a 1986 dance biographical Hindi film directed by T. Rama Rao. It is a real story of Bharatanatyam dancer Sudha Chandran, who lost her leg in an accident on her way to Trichy to Chennai on June 1981. The story depicts how she received an artificial Jaipur Foot and eventually learned to dance again, triumphing over her fate, and ultimately becoming very successful in her life. 


Ilzaam is a 1986 film starring Govinda in his film debut He plays a criminal,  who sings and dances on the streets, distracting people, while his colleagues break into apartments and rob the residents. It was a box-office hit.


Dil To Pagal Hai(1997) The film follows the love lives of the members of a musical troupe, in which two dancers played by Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor compete for the love of a choreographer played by Shah Rukh Khan 



Taal (1999) is a story of Mansi(Aishwarya Rai) daughter of a poor spiritual singer named Tara Babu (Alok Nath). meets Vikrant Kapoor (Anil Kapoor), a successful and famous music producer/director, who happens to be a fan of Tara Babu's work. With the encouragement of her uncle Prabha, she signs a three-year contract with Vikrant, and Mansi performs dance numbers and remixes of Tara Babu's songs as well as some of Vikrant's productions. She wins awards and becomes a sensation in India. In the meantime, Vikrant starts to fall in love with Mansi.
Taal (1999), music and dance played such an important part in the movie.  The story of the film had a very common plot point which includes, poor girl and the rich guy falling love and the family disapproving of the relationship. But, what makes this movie so incredible, is exquisite dances. Costumes, art direction and music 


Aaja Nachle (2007), the movie is about a woman named Dia who tries everything to make sure the academy in which she learnt dance continues to survive. She takes it upon herself to come back to her village and save the dance institute. The film revolved around a dance drama, which Madhuri Dixit is conducting and the dance sequences in songs such as Aaja nachle is superb.Aaja Nachle was Madhuri’s comeback film in Bollywood.


ABCD: Anybody Can Dance (2013) is a film directed by Remo D Souza, a celebrity choreographer. Prabhu Deva and Remo D’Souza come together for a movie one thing you can expect for sure is amazing choreography and ABCD gave us just that. Prabhu in the movie was seen as a choreographer who is sacked from the academy he is working at. He then ends up creating his own dance group with the aim of beating his former employer in a prestigious dance competition.


In 2015, Remo directed the second instalment of ABCD Franchise, titled Disney's ABCD 2, It stars Varun DhawanShraddha KapoorPrabhu DevaRaghav JuyalLauren GottliebDharmesh Yelande and Punit Pathak, the film explores the career journey of Suresh and Vernon of the "fictitious dance crew" Kings United India, who went on to win the World Hip Hop Dance Championship in San Diego. 

Sunday 4 February 2018

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 YelandePunit PathakSalman Yusuff Khan, Bhavna, Prince and others),Prabhu Deva and Lauren Gottlieb. After that ABCD 2, was released in June 2015. It starred Varun DhawanShraddha Kapoor, and Prabhu Deva in lead roles, with Lauren GottliebPunit PathakRaghav 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 BollywoodVyjayanthimala'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-JaikishanVyjayanthimala 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