India is a country that is identified with its deep-rooted culture and tradition. The West recognises us as the land of gods and spirituality. Indian mythology is known to have thousands of gods and millions of saints and through the medium of dance we Indians portray their tales of heroics, love, defeat and life. Such kinds of dance ballets have been happening in India for more than five decades. Someone who can be associated with it wholly and bringing about a glamorous angle to the divine bodies is our Bollywood dream girl, the graceful and elegant Hema Malini.
For more than two decades now, she has been instrumental in bringing different mythological characters alive through her dance ballets. Be it Meera, Durga, Krishna Radha Raas, Draupadi, Shiva Parvathy, Hema Malini has essayed them all. Following her foot steps have been actresses like Jaya Prada, Gracy Singh and Sharbani Mukherjee, who danced their way into our hearts with dance ballets like Amrapali and Radhika.
You all know me for my Latin American and Ballroom dance forms, but somewhere deep within I have always had the desire to learn Indian classical forms, just that during my growing up days in Europe I had no opportunity to learn Indian forms, so today my hunger for it is much more. This is the same thirst that has made me an avid follower of all the Indian mythological dance ballets by the Bollywood beauties.
Dance ballets like these have everything possible from extravagant costumes, to majestic and heavenly dance sets, graceful dancers, the amazing blend of Indian classical dance form in a story format for a lay audience to understand and the ever glamorous actresses who portray their characters so aptly. But one thread that joins all these memorable dance ballets together is their choreographer Mr Bhushan Lakandri.
He is one of the most creative persons I’ve come across in the field of dance in our country. Living a life outside the arc lights and sitting by the side he has set up ballets that have become legendary. In spite of this he remains unaffected with all the applause and success. Extremely humble and down to earth with a humorous approach towards people that even funny man Johnny lever could take a few lessons from him.
I have been observing the mythological dance ballets, for quite sometime and I always had a wish to meet the creator, as his work is surely a treat for the eyes. The wish soon came true and the gorgeous Sharbani Mukherjee recently introduced me to him, we met him at his home over lunch. This charismatic man welcomed us warmly and the neat and clean house spoke a lot about his character of being a perfectionist. He simply made my day and said that he had prepared the meal specially for me as he loved me as dancer. Such a comment coming from a legend like him makes me feel humbled and happy about my own skills.
Two decades in this field, so many years of hard work, planning and executing mesmerising dance ballets and why no awards for him yet? His answer is something that will always remain with me just like his ballets. Bhushanji said, “I need no awards to be recognised, my dance ballets being performed all over the world, house full shows year after year, and the belief that only I can make gods come down from heaven and dance on stage are my awards.” And something that touched me was when he said, “The real award is when artists like you come to meet me.”
Today he may not be having his photographs splashed all over the new papers, but no one can deny that he is the man behind the success of Indian gods turning glamorous to reach to the audiences worldwide. Bhushanji is one content man who does not feel the need for limelight, for this true dance lover, creating dance moves, making the right expression, experimenting with lights and costumes is happiness.
I am writing this today because I feel privileged to have met a person like him, who is so happy and comfortable with himself, unaffected by the glamour around him, sharing his amazing thoughts and few words on creativity. Our meeting was of a positive nature that I am hoping one day I would get an opportunity to dance to his tunes and get to learn all that I always wished to.