Swaying to new rhythms

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This Kathak dancer is the one with the coolest moves of late in Bollywood. We catch up with Mansi Aggarwal to speak about her journey from ghunghroos to groovy moves in films like Dev D and Gulal.

She is responsible for some of the most hip-shaking moves in recent Bollywood movies. Having composed quirky pieces in movies like Dev D, Gulal and Shanghai, Mansi Aggarwal is the new choreographer in B-town. A trained Kathak dancer, Bollywood is a style she stumbled upon at a dance rehearsal.
“I was dancing with my batch of students at a rehearsal in Delhi. Anurag Kashyap happened to see my performance and almost immediately walked up to me to ask if I could choreograph for his film, Gulal. I agreed almost instantly,” she admits.
She has, over the years, choreographed songs like Ranaji starring Mahi Gill and Bharat Mata Ki Jai starring Emraan Hashmi among others. So how has the transition been from classical Kathak to free-flowing Bollywood? “Kathak has given me a strong sense of rhythm. It has taught me to break down steps in a disciplined way,” she says. Mansi does not believe in complicated choreography. “I like to have steps that everyone can replicate. I choreograph for the people,” she says.
Where does she draw inspiration for her moves? “I simply learn by observing people. While choreographing Bharat Mata Ki Jai, I just observed how people swayed during the Ganpati festival in Mumbai. When I get a brief, I start observing people in situations and then fit dance steps according to the narrative and mood of the song.”
Having shifted base to Mumbai permanently, Mansi has two big dreams for her career — one, to dance with every possible star in the industry, and second, to make a movie dedicated to dance. “Everybody has rhythm in their body. I believe in the adage, ‘have legs can dance’. But how well one can dance is something that depends on the dance master. And I want to be one to every actor in Bollywood,” she smiles.
About her second dream she continues, “Hollywood movies like Dirty Dancing and Step Up are dedicated to dance. But we have no such concept in Bollywood. I wish to change that during my stint here. I want to bring dance to the forefront.”