Opening Doorz

By Martin D’Souza | Opening Doorz Editorial | January 30, 2017

When Hrithik Roshan lights up the dance floor
Watching Hrithik Roshan emote on the dance floor to Mon Amour with Yami Gautam was a surreal moment in Kaabil, which released last week. An absolute gem in terms of emotions, performance, technicalities and expression: The dynamics of this dance was perfect to the ‘T’.

But then, Hrithik is a proven dancer of the highest caliber as far as Bollywood is concerned. He is the uncrowned king of dance of the dreamlike variety. With Mon Amour, Hrithik has, according to me, the best three dances in Bollywood in recent times. In Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, along with Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol he lit up the dance floor to the tune of Senorita. Farhan was grooving alright but it was Hrithik who was in a zone of his own. The third dance being, ‘Dhoom Machale’ from Dhoom.

Watching Hrithik move his body effortlessly, keeping in step with the beat, be it with his foot or shoulder or knee movement, reminds me of Julio Iglesias and his singing. If you have heard and watched Julio sing you will know what I mean. There’s emotion in every word he sings and a drop and change in the intensity of the emotions in every line. That same subtlety can be experienced in Hrithik’s dance.

Hear Amor Amor and When I Need You Sung by Julio Iglesias and you will see comparisons of his expressions in the way Hrithik emotes on the dance floor.

Bollywood needs to get tough from the inside
What happened to Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the sets of Padmavati in Rajasthan is deplorable. But then, Bollywood have themselves to blame for the manner in which they have kept themselves open to assaults and ridiculous demands from people who want to cash in on the publicity that is inadvertently generated from these filmi episodes.

Methinks, Bollywood need to clear up their act from within. There are so many disillusioned actors and actresses who are being driven up the wall by producers, directors and now even more by self-proclaimed Casting Directors. There are even upset technical people. This is a new disturbing trend in cinema where Casting Directors puncture the confidence of an actor by their ‘I am mighty in this industry’ attitude. Ask any newcomers or even those who have spent over 10 years in this industry and you will hear shocking tales.

It’s time the industry ensures no episodes like these takes place. There are ways and means of making this industry attractive from within, not only on screen. Once the inside is cleaned up, the outside will automatically shine.

But for that to happen, every person who owes allegiance to Bollywood should stand as one, whenever people are being ridiculed from within and also when anyone from the industry is being wronged by ‘outside forces’. I admire the guts of Farhan Akhtar who said: “No question of giving Rs 5 crore for Raees.” We all know how Karan Johar buckled.

Arjun Mathur, said it best when he posted his views on the Padmavati episode on Facebook saying: “…This will not be the last of it. It’s only the beginning. We need to get our act in order and think beyond production-budgets and box-office numbers for one hot minute, because sometimes it takes an extreme stance (a complete industry strike being just one tiny example) to show that no shit will be taken and It definitely takes a lot, lot more than a hashtag to stand by anyone or for anything.”

Arjun is known for his outright views as much for his passionate performances. If only the industry can think alike and bring that passion within their dealings, we will not have any future incidents like we did in Rajasthan.