BANGALORE: He grew up listening to the rag-to-riches story of various personalities, and of course, loved watching the impeccable acting and dancing style of superstar Rajnikanth, who has scripted history of sorts in Indian cinema.
However, for Ajeesh, who was brought up in a conservative background in a small town in Kerala, being in limelight for some filmy reasons is just like a part of a well-knitted dream.
When luck came calling on a fine day, he slunk his way into the hallowed gallery of star performers by dancing to the tunes of AR Rahman for the robot’s part in the song 'Pudhiya manithaa' in one of the biggest budget movies in India, 'Enthiran' ('Robot'). The dancing sequence was morphed on the robot using motion capture technology.
Seemingly unfazed by the sudden publicity and appreciation he was bestowed with, Ajeesh says being part of such a big project was a dream comes true.
“Naturally, I was on cloud nine when my friend and I were called for the project. As my friend could not make it in the last minute, I have performed Bharatanatyam, Kuchupudi and Kathakali, blending it with a few contemporary dance forms. The robotic dance was choreographed by Prabhu Deva’s assistant Vishnu master. Director Shankar fine-tuned it to suit Rajni's style. The Superstar was also present at the set,” Ajeesh says.
According to him, the dance sequence would exhibit the robot’s prowess in performing various activities, including Indian classical dance forms.
Ajeesh, who spent his childhood weaving dreams of conquering the stages with rhythmic steps, moved to Chennai after schooling. Though he was coerced into dancing at a young age, it was at Kalakshetra Foundation that Ajeesh blossomed into a true dancer and exhibited his penchant for the art form in various venues across the world. He had earlier performed a classical style dance in Vijay-starrer Tamil movie 'Villu'.
Ajeesh has done more than 100 stage performances in classical and contemporary styles and worked with Bharatanatyam dancers like Shobana, Vineeth, Jayabharathi and Lakshmi Viswanathan. Apart from being an avid performer, Ajeesh, who made Chennai his second home, is working as a part-time teacher at Kalakshetra.
“I am a fan of Rajni sir,” says the young dancer, who has plans to visit Bangalore this month to perform a dance ballet.