Saturday, October 3, 2009

MJ-LOTD: Waheeda Rehman and the Snake Dance

To quote from Wiki - Dance (from French danser, perhaps from Frankish) is a sport and art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting.

Seeing at a lot of dance sequence in contemporary bollywood movies, if feel that dance has become more about costumes and uncalled-for body parts movements than about expressions. The 'expression' part in dance is lost. Recently, i watched Guide and came across this not-so-popular dance sequence by Waheeda Rehman:




Now this is what i call expression! In the movie, Waheeda Rehman is crazy about dancing. She get married to a person who thinks dancing is not something a wife of a 'decent family' should do. Waheeda Rehman and her husband are on a trip to a village. Waheeda Rehman asks the guide to take her to a place where snake charmers perform the snake dance while her husband goes on his errand. While in the snake charmers' place, she couldn't control herself from indulging into her passion. Her gestures and her movements expresses the above story - through dance. Each and every beat in the song is utilized to the fullest to express the emotions. Amazing. I think this is one of the best dance sequences in Bollywood.

6 comments:

abhishek poddar October 5, 2009 at 10:10 AM  

Prashant I feel that Waheeda ji was one of the best dancers of her time.So not even this, but her others performances are also scintillating.....

angel from heaven October 5, 2009 at 9:31 PM  

SO right you just cant beat the golden oldies.

Anonymous October 6, 2009 at 4:33 PM  

@ Prashant
Comparing Old Bollywood with New is something that does not happen.
Waheeda ji, Meena Kumari, Helen and similar such are living legends and cannot be compared with current actors in Bollywood.

Nidhesh Pandey October 7, 2009 at 2:55 AM  

so true...and Mr. Anonymous is also right here...there are in numerous old songs where u can witness actual acting and portrayal by characters rather than the modern-day-melodramatic acts.
No doubt, all the actress were talented and knew how to act, without any exception. But that said, the actors were equally good.
Watch this
video from junglee(ehsaan tera hoga) , u can see d mesmerizing act by Shammi and Saira Banu. It's just so decent and soulful.

Nidhesh Pandey October 12, 2009 at 12:55 AM  

Prashant,

When is your next post coming up? You haven't written for some time!

Prashant Mehta October 14, 2009 at 12:25 AM  

Abhishek Poddar ji,

yes. I agree. She's one of the finest dancers of not only her time but of all times!

Angel from heaven ji,

Perhaps!

Anonymous ji,

You are correct. It's not about comparing the actors/dancers. It's about comparing the meaning of dance. My point was that the meaning of dance has changed from a medium of expression to something else.


Nidhesh ji,

Ehsaan tera is one of my fav songs. And i agree - amazing choreography. The facial expressions does the 'dance' here!.

Also, i'll be soon back with a post.

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