Bollywood on fire
Malaika Arora Khan’s gyrating hips were the highlight of the Zee Bollywood Nite, but Sara Khan was no pushover with her spot-on dance moves.
Zee Bollywood Nite was a colourful, high-energy celebration of music and dancing.
BOLLYWOOD’S a strange place. It’s the only place where dancers get mainstream attention without having to sing a note or act.
Seems like a good deal – tone your body, wiggle your butt a bit, pout seductively and presto, you’re a Bollywood star ... and you don’t even have to run around trees.
But hey! Who are we people with two left feet to argue with what’s popular?
A group of Bollywood artistes came to Kuala Lumpur last Saturday to strut their stuff at the Zee Bollywood Nite 2012 and show off their dance moves.
This is the second Zee Bollywood Nite. The first was held in 2010. Last Saturday night’s show was organised by Astro’s Zee Variasi channel. The show will be shown on the Astro channel at a later date. No trees were abused during the twohour odd show which featured fastpaced choreography, eye-catching outfits and big Bollywood beats.
Malaika Arora Khan was the star of the night – her gyrating hips wowed hundreds of people at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre.
Her Arabian Nights-type, sexy, midriff-revealing outfit and sensual moves made her maiden performance here a memorable one.
Backed by four male and four female dancers, she danced and mimed to a medley of six songs that included career-defining songs like Chaiya Chaiya (from the movie Dil Se), Kolaveri Di (from Kollywood 3) and Chamak Challo (from Ra One), the song popularised by Akon.
Malaika, 39, performed this particular medley for the first time in her career.
She’s come a long way since her career as an MTV India VJ before becoming a model and appearing in movies like Prem Ka Game and Dabangg.
Malaika is one of India’s top item girls. “Item girls” are beautiful dancers in revealing clothes who perform catchy, upbeat, often sexy dance sequences to increase a film’s appeal.
She rose to fame dancing alongside Shah Rukh Khan on a moving train to the song Chaiya Chaiya in a scene from the movie Dil Se.
At a short interview before her performance backstage, she told the press about her experience doing the challenging scene from the movie back in 1998.
“Dancing on a moving train involved a lot. It took six days of non-stop training. But at the end of the day, the way the masses took to it was very rewarding. I think it was because the music was very different,” she said.
Malaika, in the flesh, was calm and collected and an obliging interview subject, giving the impression of a professional entertainer rather than a hair-flicking diva.
Her current plans include producing a follow up to the 2010 action-flick blockbuster Dabangg, with her husband Arbaaz, the brother of Salman Khan.
“It’s about a corrupt cop ... a loveable corrupt cop, though,” she revealed. It has been reported that the film will enjoy a Christmas release in India this year.
Malaika added she won’t be on camera for the upcoming movie and wants to be more involved behind the scenes in future.
“The producer’s role is the most important.” But at the end of the day, she just loves being in the movie business, be it behind or in front of the camera.
Malaika even sat with the audience to watch other artistes perform at the Zee Bollywood Nite for a while, before her own performance.
Host Manish Paul spotted her and walked over to her seat to ask Malaika for a message. She told the audience she “loved” them, before going backstage to prepare for her own spot.
There was a lot of love from the audience, too, for the night’s performers.
The audience applauded the dance and mime performances by Sara Khan and Sujay Reu, the lead actors of the family drama Ram Milaye Jodi.
Sara’s slim, supermodel looks and her sexy, spot-on moves won the audience’s attention.
There were also reality TV star runner-up talents like Binny Sharma from Dance India Dance, who danced to the songs Katiya Karu (from Rockstar) Munni Badnaam (from Dabangg) and Chikni Chameli (from Agneepath).
Child stars Vaishnavi and Ruturaj (from reality dance show Dance India Dance Little Masters) also warmed the audience’s hearts by dancing to the high energy tune Nakamuka (from Kadhalil Vizhunden).
But the night wasn’t just about dancing (yes, really!). Abhilasha Chellum from Saregamapa Singing Superstars, an American Idol TV type show in India, sang her heart out.
The Zee Bollywood Nite was hosted by Dance India Dance host Manish and local host Jessy Chalal.