Every time actor Vijay has joined hands with dance master Ashok Raja, excellent choreography has been the result. Take for instance, Aadungada Enna Suthi... from Pokkiri and Villu Villu Varan Villu... in Villu. And it seems that the two have again delivered something big. Claims the choreographer, “Sonna Puriyadhu Sollukulla Adangadhu... from Vijay’s Deepavali release, Velayudham, will be the grandest song that I’ve choreographed for Vijay sir. We shot the song for 10 days in Pollachi with over 200 dancers.” While some of the dancers were flown in from Italy, others were from Chennai. “The salaries of dancers alone ran into lakhs,” he says and thanks producer Aascar Ravichandran and director M Raja for their support. However, there is no collar-lifting move in the intro song for Vijay, according to the choreographer. “The song is more like an interaction between him and his fans and the steps that have been used suit the lyrics,” says Ashok Raja.
Unlike his earlier songs, the choreographer does not appear anywhere in the song.
Raja, who has worked in over 150 films and won the state award for a dance number in Thirumalai, personally likes choreographing mass songs.
“The music in such songs automatically makes you move,” he says. Ashok Raja has worked with all leading actors in Tamil including Ajith, Kamal Haasan, Silambarasan, Dhanush, Vikram, Jiiva, Suriya and Jayam Ravi and says everybody has a unique way of dancing. “Finding it out and helping them use it is what we dance masters do. Vijay loves every movement he does in a song, while Ajith impresses you with his bold acts. In Thirupathi, there’s a sequence in which Ajith actually spits fire. It is for real,” he says.
While Ashok Raja has choreographed just one song in Velayudham, he says that has become the norm now. “Very rarely does a choreographer get a chance to do all the songs in a movie. But it helps us to work in more films and with many actors,” he says.