Tell us about the tandav dance that you are rehearsing with Nargis?
(smiles) Well, Pranali-The Tradition is the story of a girl born in a Devdasi family somewhere on the border of Maharashtra and Karnataka. The film is about how she becomes an object of desire for highly respected and well-known people of the society and her fightback in such societal setup. Through the tandav dance, she displays her frustation and anguish towards the devdasi system.
Why was there a big gap after Devdas?
Yes, I know that it’s too long a time. But that’s not of my making because I am always waiting for a filmmaker to approach me and offer me a classical dance-based film. Alas! filmmakers may be wary of making such a film for they fear it may bomb at the box-office. I want to stress that fiilmmakers have the upperhand and can mould cinegoers with the best they can give instead of bending to what people want. What we see today in our films is trash material.
You had earlier worked with Satyajit Ray.
Yes, we worked together in Shatranj Ke Khiladi. In the film my disciple Shaswati Sen danced for a number which also featured Amjad Khan. Amjad was a very good person and we had a few good moments talking to each other. Later one day Yashji came upto me and asked me to choreograph a dance sequence for Dil To Pagal Hai that featured Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit. After that I did Gadar: Ek Prem Katha. The song that I choreographed was sung by Pt. Ajay Chakrabarti and Parveen Sultana. But when I saw the sequence on film I was taken aback and felt that all my hard work had gone waste as the song had been drastically cut. Then I did Devdas and I must say that I liked working with Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai. Now I am doing this film.
You have worked with Madhuri, Aishwarya and are now working with Nargis. What is the difference between them?
Well both of them are trained, Madhuri being trained by none other than dance maestro Hazarilalji. Regarding Nargis , all I can say is her body language gives an indication that she can be a good dancer. I have entrusted one of my disciples Priti to pay attention to her and polish her dancing skills. Nargis is working very hard.
Haven’t you also worked with Asha Parekh?
That’s years ago. I worked with her when she was into Gujarati theatre. I remember having choreographed for her in plays like Gulam Hoon Tamari Choon and Amrapali.
We see a lot of choreographers resorting to foul language while rehearsing.
Not me, I am a calm-headed person and never use foul language. I try to sweet talk the dancer concerned and feel that by shouting, one loses interest. I am of the view that people should enjoy what they are doing, dancing included.
These days we find a lot more female dancers than the male?
Initially, we have had men dancers like Krishna and Shiv. When the time of the Raja’s and Nawabs came they changed the format bringing in female dancers. In my family itself we have about seven to eight dancers like my sons Deepak and Jaikishan Maharaj and some of my cousins.
How do you differentiate modern dance and classical dance forms?
The modern dance form is all about display of flesh and talking by way of body language. On the other hand classical dance is all about talking through the eyes and emotions. Sadly, these are missing today.
Any classical dance of today that has caught your eye?
These days dance numbers consist more of flesh show that doesn’t interest me at all. But here I would want to make a special mention of that song from Bhool Bhulaiyaa that starts with the Bengali words Aami Je Tomar..., You know I like Bengali a lot.
How come?
I have travelled a lot in Bengal and Maharashtra and have seen people in both these states have a deep interest in music. In Maharashtra, have been to places like Pune andSolapur, have performed before Saibaba at Shirdi. I treat Bengal as my mother and Maharashtra as my father.
