10 Decades of Bollywood Cinema and dance with Shiamak Davar

Music as the Muse: Indian culture is predominantly defined by its music: classical, folk, regional and western. Dance evolved hand-in-hand with developments in music. The entire production of music has seen a 360 degree transformation with the use of quality enhancing technology, which has had a positive impact on dance. DancEmotions: A wedding celebration, Read More">theRead More

Music as the Muse: Indian culture is predominantly defined by its music: classical, folk, regional and western. Dance evolved hand-in-hand with developments in music. The entire production of music has seen a 360 degree transformation with the use of quality enhancing technology, which has had a positive impact on dance.

DancEmotions: A wedding celebration, the love between two people, a tragedy, a family feud; there is a dance for everything. The climax of a scene, a turn of events, the emotional quotient; all are defined by a well chalked out dance sequence in Bollywood. Over the last ten decades, Indian Cinema has made its identity through song and dance, and has kept that intact, which is testimony to the cultural importance and inherent attraction towards music and dance in India.

Dancing Divas: The first name that comes to everyone’s mind is Madhuri Dixit. With grace, style and the strength of a dancer, she had the entire nation dancing to her tunes. Bollywood has seen a series of actresses who, along with their acting, have proved to be equally natural on the dance floor. Madhubala, Vijayatimala, Read More">Read More

Dancing Divas: The first name that comes to everyone's mind is Madhuri Dixit. With grace, style and the strength of a dancer, she had the entire nation dancing to her tunes. Bollywood has seen a series of actresses who, along with their acting, have proved to be equally natural on the dance floor. Madhubala, Vijayatimala, Rekha, Sridevi and Aishwarya Rai are just a few names on this exhaustive list!

Lights, Camera, Action, Cut! If you watch older dance videos, there was a continuity in dance movement, but today, more than choreography, it has become about editing. After each count, there is a cut. Though from a screen perspective the eventual outcome is beautiful, from a creative outlook, this is not a true demonstration of talent as it was!

Thank you Shiamak Davar for sharing your personal perspectives on Bollywood and how it's changed over the past 100 years. We're in the mood to watch a movie now!

Photography Courtesy: Shiamak Davar

Signature Moves: Shammi Kapoor’s shimmy, Mithun’s disco moves, Big B’s style, Read More">Govinda’s expressions and Hrithik’s perfect grooves – over the last hundred years there have been some unique dance moves that have become a staple for Bollywood dance. From Daflis to LEDs: The use of properties has also come of age. The plain daflis nowRead More

Signature Moves: Shammi Kapoor's shimmy, Mithun's disco moves, Big B's style, Govinda's expressions and Hrithik's perfect grooves - over the last hundred years there have been some unique dance moves that have become a staple for Bollywood dance.

From Daflis to LEDs: The use of properties has also come of age. The plain daflis now have a touch of technology with a string of LED lights. Sets and props have not only become more modern but also bigger, better and grander in terms of quantity and quality.

Dress to Dance: From Anarkali suits to floral printed shirts, the white salwar kameez to chiffon sarees, Read More">and bell bottom pants to miniskirts – actors and actresses have set trends that the nation has followed and how! The look of a song becomes a style statement. [Editor’s Note: How many of us copied Madhuri Dixit’sRead More

Dress to Dance: From Anarkali suits to floral printed shirts, the white salwar kameez to chiffon sarees, and bell bottom pants to miniskirts - actors and actresses have set trends that the nation has followed and how! The look of a song becomes a style statement. [Editor's Note: How many of us copied Madhuri Dixit's outfits from Hum Aapke Hai Koun, Kareena in Jab We Met, or Aishwarya in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanaam?]

'Item' girls to 'item' boys: Though the reference to stylized dance performances as 'item' is not my favourite, over the decades they've proved to be the ticket to attracting audiences to films. The quintessential dance queen, Helen, has remained unbeatable, but the newer lot has done justice to the tag as well with their Munnis, Sheilas and Jalebi Bais [character names from different film songs]. Men have caught up with their 'Dard-e-Disco' and Dabaang moves, and Bollywood sees a shift from macho man-based cinema to the metro sexual hero.

Step Together: Bollywood dance is a fusion of various dance forms, with ethnic and western influences. At the time of its inception, classical Indian dance forms ruled the roost and Bollywood moulded itself with classical movements and found a way to connect with the people. As time passed, Read More">interest changed with the evolution of musicRead More

Step Together: Bollywood dance is a fusion of various dance forms, with ethnic and western influences. At the time of its inception, classical Indian dance forms ruled the roost and Bollywood moulded itself with classical movements and found a way to connect with the people. As time passed, interest changed with the evolution of music and dance globally. So from the qawwalis and the mujra to rock'n roll and Disco, from folk and regional music to Hip Hop and House influences, Bollywood music and dance has adapted itself to global sounds.

From trees to technique: For the longest time, dance in Indian cinema was synonymous with lead actors running around trees to express their love. When Shah Rukh Khan, whose wife Gauri used to dance with me, asked me to choreograph Yash Chopra's Dil To Pagal Hai, I was very apprehensive as my work was very western for Bollywood back then. Little did I know that I'd go on to win a National Award and more importantly, [the film] changed the face of Bollywood with more structure and introduced systematic choreography, fit dancers and a sense of direction to songs. Dance as we see it today, has come a long way.