Right now, two songs in Bollywood are scorching the charts – Kareena Kapoor’s Goan-flavoured ‘Mera Naam Mary’, from Brothers, and Sonakshi Sinha’s peppy ‘Nachan Farrate’ in the Abhishek Bachchan-film All is Well. Meanwhile, the recent Bajirao Mastani teaser, featuring fragments of a lavani dance-off betweeen Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone, is also creating a buzz. But back to Kapoor. The lady’s moves – she reportedly invested more than seven days of rehearsals (a first of sorts for her) – has resulted in over one million views on YouTube. Choreographer Ganesh Acharya is all praise for the actress, who he had previously worked with in ‘Halkat Jawani’ from Heroine. “We wanted to set a trend (like ‘Chikni Chameli’), but adopted a glossier method. We styled the set to resemble an old Catholic bar and introduced her using red lighting. She had to get herself wet, dry her hair using a table fan, beat the dhol and dance on the sands for this.
I wanted to ensure that Kareena looked her graceful self,” says Acharya, calling it the best dance number of the year. The appeal should also be attributed to singer, Chinmayi Sripada. Speaking about her first ‘glamourous’ Bollywood song, the Chennai crooner says, “Dance numbers require you to let go and live the song. I did it with music composer Ajay-Atul’s guidance and it is an outrageously different number.”
Drawing parallels
Remo D’Souza, who is working on the Bajirao Mastani song, considers it to be a ‘serious’ dance number.“Whenever I choreograph, I present my actress with elegance. It needs to look aspirational and set a trend,” he says. Talking about innovative choreography, another top choreographer, Bosco Caesar, says the song takes centre stage. “The lyrics give you tonnes of ideas. Choreographing unique dance numbers is creatively challenging but quite a high,” he adds, observing that Kapoor can carry off Indian dance numbers while Chopra, who he choreographed in Gunday, is more in the “cool, sophisticated, classy zone”.
In a day’s work
Sonakshi Sinha’s ‘Nachan Farrate’, set in an old fort-turned into a dhaba, has the actress attempting complex dance moves. Faintly reminiscent of ‘Kajra re’ (from Bunty aur Babli), it still manages to tap into her glamorous side. “We gave her a touch of sensuality. Though she has mass appeal, with this song she’s proved she can pull off classy, too,” says choreographer Ahmed Khan, adding that the actress only rehearsed for a day before they “went for the take.”