Its funny how in Tamil cinema (Kollywood) male dancers have always dominated the screen.
The usual pattern is for the "hero" to have an intro song of sorts, which basically cater to him imparting advice to , youth, parents of beautiful girls, parents opposing love as a concept, etc. The intro song also features an item girl, who in most cases is more into swinging on-screen, what with her being obnoxiously buxom.
Almost every single movie also features this romance number, somewhere near the interval, knowing that a majority of the junta watching the movie in theaters are going to take a much needed nicotine break. The rest of the population watching on CDs will just fast-forward.
So, this in effect leaves out the "kuthu" song, which is becoming a part of virtually every single masala movie. This is probably the only time when the actor and the actress both have a chance to prove their dancing prowess. But, in all recent movies, the actor simply dances circles around the actresses. Indian cinema industry has produced some very good female dancers. But they seem to be nowhere when compared to skilled dancers like Vijay (yay!!!) and Simbu (the guy is a sorry excuse for an actor, but lets face it, he's a good dancer).
The recent movies of Vijay featured actresses like Trisha and Asin (both very skilled dancers). Even these actresses failed to eclipse Vijay's dancing, or even hold a candle to his steps. It usually ended up with Vijay actually dancing and the actress making a commendable effort to keep up with his movements.
Kaalai - the latest Simbu starrer, featured Vedhika, who is fresh new thing in Kollywood. It was quite to see an actress dominate the dancing scene in Tamil Cinema. That too in a kuthu song! The song :"Kutti Pissase". She actually makes Simbu look boring and bourgeoisie making you think "Is this the only kind of steps he can dance?". She seems to have a natural flair for dancing. Maybe a dancer turned into an actress, instead of the usual girl a pretty face trying her best to shake a leg? As aptly put by Maayavi, "Ava simbu-va muzhungita" (literally translated it means "She swallowed Simbu"). Not far from the truth. In kuthu songs, where major portions of the dance involves throwing self around and lots of hip gyrations, there is an elegance in the way she does the very same thing, but tastefully.
Cheers to Vedhika!!!
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2 comments:
hmm.. I have to ask the question. Why do Indian movies have-to-have so much dancing.. ?
Imagine the hit the industry will take if songs and dance were removed from movies. Music directors, singers, choreographers, extras - all unemployed.
If we were to follow Hollywood, we would have to have songs from some album or even if new songs were sung for that specific movie, it will have to be as background music.
hmmm... somehow i don't see movie songs and related dance going out of movies in a hurry.
Pity how songs made their way into movies because classical music was an integral part of our culture, but they have degraded to these levels...
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