No Dola Re for PeeCee, Dippy
Kathak maestro Birju Maharaj will now choreograph a Deepika solo after Sanjay Leela Bhansali decided against the jugalbandi.
One of the talking points of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas was the Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai jugalbandi, Dola re, choreographed by Pandit Birju Maharaj. The Kathak maestro was supposed to direct a classical dance number featuring Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra for Bhansali’s upcoming period love story, Bajirao Mastani. But when Mirror quizzed him on this, the 77-yearold veteran revealed, “Sanjay was having second thoughts about this jugalbandi and I will choreograph Deepika in a solo act which is a more contemporary adaptation of one of my own performances set on an Avadhi- Brijwasi thumri, Balma re chunaria maiko lal.”
Birju Maharaj informs excitedly, “There’s a lot of lal rang in the song with Deepika dressed in fiery red, her head demurely covered by a ghoonghat but her eyes flashing fire.”
“I figured she would be able to dance gracefully to the thumri Sanjay had picked out. And I was right. Deepika who has received formal training in Bharatnatyam quickly mastered the footwork when she came for riyaaz to Delhi,” says Panditji who has worked with the likes of Waheeda Rahman, Kamal Haasan, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai.
However, the maestro is only five-feet tall and confides that he was fazed by the “too tall” Deepika. And he had to stand atop a table to see her facial expressions and instruct her.
“She’s not afraid of last-minute changes and is in no hurry. We shoot at our own sweet pace,” he smiles, adding that Bhansali will be filming the song at the end of the month in April in a studio. “We’ll be shooting for 12 nights at a stretch. And till then I’ve given Deepika lots of homework that’ll keep her busy,” he chortles.
One of the talking points of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas was the Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai jugalbandi, Dola re, choreographed by Pandit Birju Maharaj. The Kathak maestro was supposed to direct a classical dance number featuring Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra for Bhansali’s upcoming period love story, Bajirao Mastani. But when Mirror quizzed him on this, the 77-yearold veteran revealed, “Sanjay was having second thoughts about this jugalbandi and I will choreograph Deepika in a solo act which is a more contemporary adaptation of one of my own performances set on an Avadhi- Brijwasi thumri, Balma re chunaria maiko lal.”
Birju Maharaj informs excitedly, “There’s a lot of lal rang in the song with Deepika dressed in fiery red, her head demurely covered by a ghoonghat but her eyes flashing fire.”
He admits that he’s wary of working with untrained dancers but Bhansali made him watch Shah Rukh Khan’s Happy New Year which had Deepika performing a Kathak equence.
“I figured she would be able to dance gracefully to the thumri Sanjay had picked out. And I was right. Deepika who has received formal training in Bharatnatyam quickly mastered the footwork when she came for riyaaz to Delhi,” says Panditji who has worked with the likes of Waheeda Rahman, Kamal Haasan, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai.
However, the maestro is only five-feet tall and confides that he was fazed by the “too tall” Deepika. And he had to stand atop a table to see her facial expressions and instruct her.
“She’s not afraid of last-minute changes and is in no hurry. We shoot at our own sweet pace,” he smiles, adding that Bhansali will be filming the song at the end of the month in April in a studio. “We’ll be shooting for 12 nights at a stretch. And till then I’ve given Deepika lots of homework that’ll keep her busy,” he chortles.
