Casting Coup

TAT tat tat trika dhan dhan8212;a chant in time to the beats of a tabla. Coming from a small tiled room in a middle class colony, Mumbai mo...

TAT tat tat trika dhan dhan8212;a chant in time to the beats of a tabla. Coming from a small tiled room in a middle class colony, Mumbai model Aditi Gowitrikar is the reason behind this. In Pandit Veeru Krishna8217;s home in Bandra, she spends an hour, five times a week, practising Kathak. Why? Because it will help her Bollywood career8212;honing her dancing skills, expressions and building stamina.

In a subdued salwar, chunni tied firmly around her waist by her guruji, and perspiration smudging the red tika across her forehead, Aditi goes through the moves. 8216;8216;Now tukda number 13,8217;8217; he says. 8216;8216;Yeh zameen pe girne wala to nahin hain na?8217;8217; she questions hopefully. But it is, and after a few movements, she throws herself on the floor. 8216;8216;My knees are blue,8217;8217; she says with a rueful smile. But that8217;s not stopping her. Aditi says she always wanted to learn an Indian dance form, so this seemed the obvious choice because the basics 25 tukdas and tihai, with a bit of a filmi twist are taught here in three months.

8216;8216;She8217;s a good student,8217;8217; informs her guru. 8216;8216;She8217;s learnt plenty in just a month,8217;8217; he adds. He8217;s been teaching for 40 years, so he should know. Most of his current students are former beauty queens-turned-actors. 8220;I only take in the dedicated ones,8217;8217; he says.

You8217;d expect today8217;s Bollywood belles to relate to Beyonce8217;s swivelling hips more than Kathak, which frowns at pelvic movements. But the North Indian dance form has achieved a casting coup of sorts. Lara Dutta, Priyanka Chopra, Sameera Reddy, Neha Dhupia, Katrina Kaif, Yukta Mookhey, Riya and Raima Sen and singer Sophia Choudry, all seem keen to ditch filmi jhatkas for intricate footwork.

Katrina, another of Krishna8217;s shishyas, should be declared the brand ambassadress. She has shed all those bulges and is recommending Kathak to everyone. 8216;8216;I picked it up a year ago thinking it might turn useful, but I had no idea what a fitness gift it was,8217;8217; she says. Besides helping her well-being, Kat also attributes her glowing skin and stamina to it.

Others also wax eloquent. Sophia says that it8217;s made her hour-long, fully choreographed live shows smooth sailing. 8216;8216;Kathak8217;s given me that edge and I8217;ve also picked up expressions8212;of the eyes, hands and feet. Neha feels it has eased her out in front of the camera. 8216;8216;Now I don8217;t think about a hundred things while dancing8212;practising Kathak takes care of graceful movements and expressions,8217;8217; she says. What Yukta enjoys most, however, is the workout. 8216;8216;As the beat of the tabla increases so does the footwork, so there is lots of sweat and fun.8217;8217; It incidentally burns about 250 to 350 calories an hour, the same as taking a brisk walk, and the fact that Kathak has spirituality intertwined with it doesn8217;t hurt either.

So what is this Bollywood connection? V Shantaram8217;s Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje, made in the 1950s, showcased the guru-shishya relationship, Vyjayanthimala immortalised Madhumati in Amrapali, while Madhubala ensured that K Asif8217;s Mughal-E-Azam will be remembered forever. We also saw some pure Kathak in Satyajit Ray8217;s Shatranj Ke Khiladi, and Rekha8217;s performance in Umrao Jaan got her a National Award. Recently it was Madhuri Dixit8217;s Kahe Chedhe in Devdas choreographed by Pandit Birju Maharaj.

		KATHAK CALL

			8226; Katrina 1 year Veeru Krishna 8226; Priyanka 2 years Veeru Krishna 8226; Lara 2 years Veeru Krishna 8226; Sameera 4 years Veeru Krishna 8226; Sophia 2 1/2 years Late Tulsidas Mangeshkar 8226; Neha 1 year Veeru Krishna 8226; Yukta 4 years Late Tulsidas Mangeshkar 8226; Aditi 1 month Veeru Krishna 8226; Masumi 9 months Roshan Kumari

Choreographer Saroj Khan thinks that it is one Indian dance which teaches rhythm. 8216;8216;In the industry, I8217;ve noticed that our dancers know only one rhythm8212;the 1-2-3-4 beat, while Kathak teaches counts up to seven, 12 and 16, which dancers should get accustomed to,8217;8217; she explains.

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Though Kathak is not for everyone, according to TV actress Prachee Shah. She has been practising since she was four, and has done an MA in the dance form. 8216;8216;I don8217;t think anyone can say that they have been trained in Kathak if they8217;ve just done it for six months and then given up,8217;8217; she says.

But, just take a look at the resumeacute;s of most of Bollywood8217;s actresses8212;they do list it as an asset. Choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant says the reason for this Kathak euphoria is simple. 8216;8216;Every newcomer knows that if they want to be an actress, they have to know how to dance. Kathak makes your movements more refined.8217;8217;

Refined is probably not a word that Pandit Birju Maharaj, the present leader of the Lucknow gharana, would use of Kathak in Bollywood today. He says that the 8216;cocktail8217; of dances is not very aesthetic. 8216;8216;Waheeda Rehman, Madhubala and Vyjayanthimala did good Kathak, and more recently even Madhuri, who has been trained,8217;8217; he says.

With inputs from Harneet Singh in Mumbai