Smart Moves

While we wonder if Hrithik Roshan at all needs dance lessons,choreographer Sandip Soparrkar says that he makes for the most delightful student. Roshan,who plays a salsa dance teacher in Anurag Basu’s Kites,turned to Soparrkar to get into the groove of his character. “There’s a definite difference in body language of a teacher. The teacher always has to be two steps ahead the students. Since the students in Kites were non-Indians trained in latino dance forms,Hrithik worked hard to be a convincing salsa teacher,” says the salsa expert. Soparrkar also cant’ stop gushing about how much of a perfectionist Roshan is as an actor. “I remember an instance when he made me act out a scene where he has to instruct his students for two-and-a-half minutes. I was surprised how he almost mirrored every gesture and yet lent his own feel to the character,” he adds.

Kites apart,Soparrkar is looking forward to a couple of more Bollywood assignments. “Bollywood is finally waking up to the technical precision of dance. And also experimenting with international dance forms,” says Soparrkar. The coming days will see the him choreographing for Cyclone (N Chandra’s adaptation of Dance With Me),Mithun Chakraborty’s Phir Kabhi and Neha Dhupia-Emran Hashmi’s Raftar. “Raftar has a very Moulin Rouge feel to it. People know Emran as a non-dancer,but he worked really hard on his moves in this film. Though he asked me not to give him complicated salsa steps,” says Soparrkar.

Apart from fund raiser shows (he recently did one for the trust of Prince Charles in Nigeria) Soparrkar is looking forward to Rob Marshall’s Nine where he has choreographed a rumba and a tango number. The rumba number saw him match steps with Penelope Cruz and Daniel Day Lewis. “It’s a totally different work ethic that drives the film industry in the West. They are so professional that they will pay you for every second you give them,” says Soparrkar. And there’s no place for shortcuts to perfection. “For the 22-second piece,everybody,including the stars rehearsed for seven days. Where as in Bollywood,you don’t even get a day to rehearse. And if you cannot get a step right,you have to go on practicing till you learn it. Here,people would just ask the choreographer to replace it,” he explains.