The Ten Jewels!. Review on Ten Best Picturised Songs of Bollywood

Being a classical dancer myself, I think it were the great Bollywood songs and dances that have kept my interest in dancing and inspired me to pursue dancing even if many regard it as too effeminate for a guy to dance. And that too  ‘Kathak’ dance?….heck u must be out of ur mind! Anyways as a person who can understand the classical dance form, the list of songs I am about to write a review on naturally deals much with the dancing. So here it comes….

1) Mohe Panghat Pe Nandlaal Ched Gayo Re: Madhubala was at her sensuous best while dancing on this song from Mughal-E-Azam. Although the movie has many other better songs than this one(especially the ever green Pyar kiya to darna kya), the ‘shringar’ ras brought about by this beautiful actress is incomparable. Watch out for the expressions she delivers. Simply stupendous!

2) Hasta Hua Nooraani Cheraa: What can one possibly expound about this dance number? Remember in the era where radio was the only source of entertainment, this particular song remained at the numero uno spot on ‘Binaka Geet Mala’ for the longest period of time. This one is a fast number and the two dancers dance with such energy and enthusiasm that one indeed feels to embark oneself in their grandeur.

3) Arey Jaa re hat nathkat: This song from V Shantaram’s movie Navrang has all the nav rangs in it. I have always found Sandhya(Shantaram’s wife) a bit of radically different from any conventional dancers. She uses her neck and eyebrows so effectively which is too rare to find and immensely difficult to practice. The thing that is unique about this song is that Sandhya plays the female part from the front and the male part from the back which is a very great accomplishment because it is very difficult to bend one’s body backwards so that the audience might feel that the dancing man(Sandhya) is leaning forward.

4) Hoto Pe Aisi Baat: If indeed in a song, which initially starts with a slow pace and goes to the ‘drut-laya’ or the fastest pace, this unforgettable song from Jewel Thief should be crowned the master of all dance songs. And which other superb dancer than Vijayathimala Bali could have done full justice to this song. Easily the best choreographed song of Bollywood till date.

5) Piya tu ab toh ajaa: Helen being a versatile and a very talented dancer can be credited for bringing the cabaret dancing to the Indian cinema. Although Helen might seem to be good at cabaret dancing she happens to be a well-trained classical dancer too. That reiterates the importance of classical dance.

6) Hawa-hawai: Well, many might frown on the inclusion of this particular song in the list, but know what people dancing is all about enjoying and having fun. Sridevi manages to keep the humor as well as the synchronization throughout the song. While it’s very easy to portray all kinds of ‘rasa’, the haasya rasa is the most difficult and this has been her USP as far as her dance is concerned.

7) Choli ke Pichhe kya hain: The only negative thing this song has is its https://lyrics. Otherwise Madhuri Dixit and more surprisingly Neena Gupta dance exceptionally well and make you forget the https://lyrics. From the movie Khalnayak, this song generated enough controversy and attracted many people to the theatres. But I think this is Madhuri’s most memorable dance performance.

8) Muqabala muqabala: This song became the craze of the entire nation and people got to see a very different form of dancing. This again comes from a classical dancer Prabhu Deva who became the much talked about guy from the south and probably the first Indian to be compared with the legendary Michael Jackson.(Well how good was dat? One might wonder). Anyways the dance in the song is so difficult to imitate and has changed the way our heroes dance now a days.

9) Ek Pal Ka Jina: Surprised again? Well a multifaceted dancer will never confine to one particular dance form. Ek pal ka jina makes you take the modern and western dancing seriously. Hrithik Roshan was shot to instant stardom thanks largely to the ‘ti ding ti ding’ dance step he executes so wonderfully. Personally it makes me think that even Hrithik knows some classical dancing because he adapts to any change in the steps so naturally.(No no I am not of the opinion that western dancers are bad. Absolutely no offence meant to any other dance forms!)

10) Dola re Dola: Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai compliment each other so well and the track is so catchy and high paced. Dola re Dola from Devdas is an indicative that the classical dance is not an obsolete thing and breaks the notion that in order to appreciate classical dancing one needs to understand the ‘Taal and Laya’ behind the song. Dola re dola is a delight to watch.

Thanks for reading such a long review. Chalo nache nache nache………….!