India is one of the largest film producers in the world, and while it may not always churn out top quality, the Indian film industry certainly makes up for it by offering the world something that no one else seems to have – choreographed dance numbers in the middle of the movie. Something that might appear alien to European or American audiences, is an intrinsic part of Indian films. Every era of Hindi films has a distinct song and dance style and for those who grew up in the 1990s, this era was defined by the choreographed songs of Saroj Khan. With popular songs like “Ek Do Teen”, “Choli Ke Peeche”, “Nimbooda Nimbooda” among many others, Saroj Khan’s dance steps were a part of the pop culture, but it was Devdas’ song “Dola re Dola” that won her her first National Film Award. Composed by Ismail Darbar, with lyrics by Nursat Badr, the vocals here were done by Shreya Ghoshal and Kavita Krishnamurthy. Such was the impact of the song that the sarees and jewellery worn by the actors, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai, became a part of mainstream fashion, and 21 years later, Karan Johar paid tribute to the song in his film Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani.
Devdas was an ambitious project for director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and he left no stone unturned in getting every element of the film just right. Reportedly made on a budget of Rs 50 crore, the making of Devdas was an arduous process, and so was the making of the song “Dola Re Dola”. Calling it the “toughest” song of her career, Saroj Khan once said that she saw it as a “feather in my cap.” This was also the song that had to deliver on the biggest promise of the film – the dance-off between Madhuri and Aishwarya. Both top actresses, and the best dancers of their generation, this music video had people comparing them throughout to see who would come out on top. Saroj was well aware of this and on top of that, she also had to make sure that both actresses had enough to perform, so it wouldn’t look like one was given preference over the other.
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