A Romp Through Transitions In Dance Forms
Raj Ayyar
This Is How We Dance Now!: Performance In The Age Of Bollywood And Reality Shows by Pallabi Chakravorty Oxford University Press, 2018, 256 pp., 700
June 2018, volume 42, No 6

Chakravorty’s work is an interesting romp through decades of Bollywood and reality show dance styles. Occasionally, she takes time out to link her observations to traditional Indian aesthetic theories such as those put forward by Abhinavagupta. In traditional Indian dance, the emphasis is on bhava (feeling), rasa (taste), bhakti (devotion) and shringara (erotic expression).

Chakravorty’s somewhat rambling account covers several decades of Bollywood history beginning with the ‘Naach girls’ of the 40s and 50s all the way to the item numbers of today’s reality shows like ‘Dance India Dance’. Her book evokes nostalgic recollections of filmy numbers past from Mera naam chun chun chun in ‘Howrah Bridge’ to the famous mujra Inhi logo ne le li dupatta mera from Pakeezah. One interesting trajectory mapped by Chakravorty in her work is the slow transition from the dance as the province of the vamp played by the likes of the talented Anglo-Burmese actor Helen to the dance as an expression of commodified desire on the part of the central female and male protagonists. Thus, the dance number has moved from the margins of being a ‘bad girl’ artform to the center of the Bollywood film.

Chakravorty pays rich tribute to the sometimes mad eclecticism of Bollywood musical and dance numbers. They draw upon sources as diverse as old Bollywood ‘Naach’ numbers, Indian classical dance especially Kathak, Jazz, Blues, African folk and multiple world fusion musical genres.

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