It’s The Time To Dandia 
By Gaurav Malani, October 16, 2004 - 02:21 IST
Dandia days are back. Its that time of the year to garb yourself in the traditional ghagra, choli, churidars, bandhani dupattas together with dazzling jewelry and gear into the traditional dance mode. From religious affair to social gathering to fun outing the festival has varied facets to it.
Coming to the song and dance scene, the music is not just restricted to a Gujarati folk tune of a dholida or a pankhida these days. The music has gone much more contemporary from the traditional tunes, to suit the taste of the present generation. So today, the first thing that gets to your eardrums after the ceremonial aarti is done with is a Kaanta Lagaa, a Chadti Jawani, a Chail-Chabila Babu or Ek Pardesi.
Talking about the festival's portrayal in Hindi cinema, Bollywood has consistently shared a give and take relationship with Navratri. The more songs Bollywood has given to play in the festival, the more inspiration the festival has given Bollywood to churn out new songs and sequences.
The oldest memory of the festival in Bollywood goes down to actress Nutan, set in the garbha mode to the tune of “Mein to bhool chali babul ka desh” from Saraswati Chandra (1968). This one still remains to be one of the most popular tracks among the old crowd in the festival circuit. On the very similar tune came out the devotional song "Mein to aarti utaru re" from the 1975 film Jai Santoshi Maa.
Next to follow were Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha swaying their dandia sticks to the tune of "Sabse Bada Tera Naam" in Manmohan Desai's Suhaag (1979). This Laxmikant Pyarelal number proved out to be an instant hit.
Singer Narendra Chanchal famous for his devotional renditions, who covered the range of every possible goddess bhajan from Durga, Ambe, Gauri to Laxmi maa has two superhit songs to his credit that still make the rounds of the festival. “Tune Mujhe Pukara” from Asha (1980) and “Chalo Bulawa Aaya Hai” from Avtaar (1983) are more devotional than dance numbers.
Cut to mid 80's, Babla entered the festival scene, blending disco with dandia starting the trend of Disco Dandia. This formula worked wonders at that time and the most hit song in this genre was the remixed version song from Nagin (1954) – “Man dole” which still forms the grand finale of most dandia dance rounds.
Till the early 90's, only traditional Gujarati folk songs made rounds at dandia nights. It was at this time that Hindi film music made an entry into the festival scene and there was no looking back. Popular tracks from Hindi films were reformatted into the dandia version by just adding a four beat rhythm in the background of the original songs. The trend still remains the most popular one till today, while setting the dancing crowd in full swing.
Also the time saw the entry of famous film personalities into the festive mood through star-studded nights. Organisers of dandia shows worked on a simple mantra: Get the film stars and the crowds will follow. It added a touch of glamour to the nights. The fact that stars add value to the festival of Navratri is unmistakable. While a film star graced the occasion for not more than half an hour, the passes priced over 1000 bucks would sell like hot cakes. There was this case in 2000 when a local dandia organised at Juhu had a Fiza evening, a Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai evening and a Jis Desh Mein Ganga Rehta Hai evening with stars from these movies making an appearance on each night.
Also, Navratri became that time of the year when playback singers were in most demand. As per trade sources, singers earned in lakhs for their performance.
Then the fact that the festival gave Bollywood new singers is undeniable. Falguni Pathak, for instance, who was quite popular in the dandia circuit shifted to pop and film music, soon. Others to follow were the sibling singers Preeti and Pinky (of Piya Piya fame) who grabbed Bollywood offers after getting noticed at dandia nights.
Favorite tracks in recent times constitute “Dhol baaje” from Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) that has turned out to be the garbha anthem. Other Bhansali film song “Dola Re Dola” from Devdas (2002) is more hit in the Kolkata circuit as the song was set at a Durga pooja, which is celebrated with much fanfare in the eastern belt.
The other numbers include “Radha kaise na jale” from Lagaan (2001) that had a typical rustic feel with A.R.Rehman’s music not getting too heavy on the ears like the other songs in this genre. Rehman’s other dandia composition Aaj garbhe ki raat hai from the film Dil Hi Dil Mein (2000) couldn’t get the same measure of success. Aamir and Juhi, when still a hit pair, matched their stick movements in the Disco Dandia track from the 1989 film Love Love Love. Aishwarya tried to woo Akshaye Khanna in Aa Ab Laut Chale dancing to the tune of Yehi Hai Pyaar on the festival night. More recently Ash attempted to enlighten Hollywood hunk Martin Henderson with the desi dandia dance steps in the Dola Dola number from the crossover culture cinema Bride and Prejudice.
There was even a film, which had its first half completely dedicated to the Navratri festival. Remember the Hrithik-Amisha starrer Aap Mujhe Aache Lagne Lage where the nine nights of Navratri had a footage of more than nine stretched scenes? Unfortunately the idea wasn’t much appreciated or accepted.
Also Navratri is the time when music companies churn out special albums for the festival constituting hit songs of the year, remixed with a techno dandia beat that plays about 45 minutes of non-stop music. These albums act as an affordable alternative to orchestral arrangements at small budgeted local dandia nights.
Some of the tracks that would be heard in the cassette format or crooned by orchestra singers this year basically constitute popular item numbers of the year like Sajna Ve Sajna (Chameli), Aisa Jadoo (Khakee), Dhoom Machale (Dhoom), Ishq Khudai (Rudraksh), Chinamma Chilakamma (Meenaxi), Bindaas (Krishna Cottage), Janaabe Ali (Bardaasht), Aaja Soniye (Mujhse Shaadi Karogi), Oh! What A Babe (Rakht) and Saaki (Musafir) . Not to forget the remix tracks “Kaanta Laga”, “Saiyan dil mein aana re”, “Chadti jawani”, “Ek Pardesi”, “Pyaar Ka Nasha” and “Pardesiya” are proving out to be the maximum crowd pullers.
Whatever be the case, the fact that - Bollywood and Navratri go hand in hand is inescapable.
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