‘Every day, after ‘pack-up’, Khansaab and Deepika would come for dance practice and rehearse till around 1-1.30 am.’
‘The weather was a challenge because while on screen, it looks warm and sunny, it was actually bitterly cold, with a sharp, stinging wind which had the actors and dancers shivering in their summer clothing.’
With around 900 songs to their credit, Bosco Martis and Caesar Gonsalves, who went to the same school and college, and played football together, are Bollywood’s leading choreographer duo, who have made all the top stars dance to their moves.
Starting with small shows, they moved on to gigs with pop stars like Shaan and Sagarika, and music videos, like Raageshwari Lomba’s Oye Shava and Daler Mehndi’s Ho Jayegi Balle Balle, before turning dance director with Rind Posh Maal.
The song was shot on Hrithik Roshan for Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Mission Kashmir.
“Pradeep Sarkar gave us our first break and we remain eternally grateful to him,” smiles Caesar.
On the occasion of International Dance Day, April 29, the winsome-twosome trace their 23-year journey in films.
“We have come to realise that while complicated choreography is appreciated, it’s songs like Zoobi Doobi that find mass appeal and remain evergreen,” Bosco tells Rediff.com Senior Contributor Roshmila Bhattacharya.
The stories behind a dozen popular hits and favourites.
‘Every day, after midnight, Khansaab and Deepika would rehearse’
We wrapped up Jhoome Jo Pathaan in just four days.
On the first day of shooting, it was raining so heavily that we could not take a single shot till about 4.30-5 pm.
We were filming in a foreign country, Spain, and aligning with the dancers, the DoP (Director Of Photography) and other technical crew, some of whom did not speak our language, took a lot of time.
If we could pull off such a big song, which would normally take six days to choreograph in half the time, it was only because everyone, including Khansaab (Shah Rukh Khan) and Deepika (Padukone) were so well prepped.
It was a hectic schedule and they were filming back-to-back.
But every day, around midnight, after ‘pack-up’, Khansaab and Deepika would come for dance practice and rehearse till around 1-1.30 am.
We had to travel a lot, around an hour every day, to the locations.
The weather too was a challenge because while on screen, it looks warm and sunny, it was actually bitterly cold, with a sharp, stinging wind which had the actors and dancers shivering in their summer clothing.
We overcame every challenge and today, the song is playing everywhere.
‘Maine Pi Rakhi Hai was filmed over seven days with 500 dancers’
We got real satisfaction from choreographing the songs for Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar.
Luv (Ranjan, producer-director) gave us all the time we wanted and ensured the production matched a certain standard.
Maine Pi Rakhi Hai was filmed over seven days with Shraddha Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor and 500 dancers.
We created a huge club set on Madh Island.
The revolving chandelier you see hanging over Ranbir’s head in certain portions posed a big challenge.
It had a mind and motion of its own.
It would move randomly and sometimes would even get stuck.
All this is not apparent on screen because of the way we have edited it, but that chandelier complicated the choreography for us.
‘Two men celebrating Holi is the novelty of Jai Jai Shivshankar‘
The director of War, Siddharth Anand, was very clear that the film would have a lot of action, and a lot of dancing, between Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff.
Two men celebrating Holi together is the novelty of Jai Jai Shivshankar.
In the past, the revelry around the festival in a song has usually revolved around the hero and heroine.
Jai Jai Shivshankar was shot over five days at YRF Studio and it glorified both actors equally.
After we wrapped it up, we took the shoes Hrithik was wearing in the song and Tiger’s white singlet as mementoes, our prizes for this song.
It was a difficult one, but today, we have the satisfaction of having journeyed with it and created history.
‘Rajini sir did Endhira Logathu Sundariye with such dignity’
We had been wanting to work with Shankar sir (director) for the longest time.
We finally landed the opportunity when we were signed for Vikram’s I.
We love working with him as he gives you so much scope and the production values a big song needs.
When we were approached for 2.0, it was an immediate ‘yes’.
We were excited to work with Rajini (Rajinikanth) sir.
He is so humble and cooperative; he didn’t want a single step changed.
He just told us that we should keep his age in mind and ensure that the moves suited him.
He brought alive Endhira Logathu Sundariye, performing with such grace and dignity.
‘There was a lot of debate over kala chashmas’
Everyone has a favourite song when in school or college and a desire to do it someday.
Baar Baar Dekho Director Nitya Mehra fulfilled that desire through this song, Kala Chashma.
There were lots of ideas floating around about how to execute it and where.
We finally zeroed in on Royal Palms in Goregaon, (northwest) Mumbai.
The hotel is no longer functional and has become the go-to place for any film unit stuck for a location.
We built a set in that dilapidated building.
The first day of the five-day shoot did not go well.
Katrina (Kaif) was wearing a ghagra and her steps weren’t visible.
The next day, she came up with a really cool dhoti-sari contraption and it worked very well for the choreography.
So did Sid’s (Sidharth Malhotra) swag and the dancers’ zest.
There was a lot of debate over the kala chashmas and if everyone should be actually wearing the dark glares just because it’s mentioned in the lyrics.
We worried that it might appear too cliched, but then decided to for it and thank God for that!
It set off a trend.
‘Shakun Batra could not find the right dancer so…’
Two days before the shoot, Shakun Batra (director, Ek Main Aur Ek Tu) confided that even after numerous auditions, he had not been able to find the right person to perform on Aunty Ji Aunty Ji.
He coaxed Bosco to step in and execute the moves on camera.
It was a challenge for him, performing and directing, but the team wanted it and so did our director.
It is a cute song, with a lovely Catholic community vibe.
We bagged a Filmfare Award for Aunty Ji Aunty Ji.
‘Senorita won us the National Award’
In retrospect, Spain has turned out to be a lucky destination for us despite the language barrier because it always brings us glory.
Senorita, from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, was shot in the picturesque country over three days with the three lead actors, Hrithik (Roshan), Farhan (Akhtar) and Abhay (Deol).
In such cases, there is always some one-upmanship, even insecurity, with every actor thinking the other one is doing it better.
But in this case, everyone just came together and had a blast.
That is the key to the song’s success.
Even Abhay, who was initially nervous, eventually surrendered and gave himself up to the fun happening on the set.
It was Zoya’s (Akhtar, director) idea to rope in a local dancer, a middle-aged diva performing on the streets and at events, to start off the song with the boys joining in, glorifying her, then taking over the party.
The lady was very cooperative.
It was only the Hindi lyrics which threw her off because she didn’t understand the words.
But then, she gave herself up to the beat, and the words no longer mattered.
The shoot was like a picnic, we took just three-four shots a day for the first two days.
Then, suddenly, on the last day, we realised we still had 40 shots left.
It was not an easy song and I don’t know how many actors could have done this.
But we pulled off a miracle!
Everyone was so charged up; it was like a mission impossible which we made possible.
Senorita went on to create history and won us the National Award for Best Choreography.
‘Chor Baazari was choreographed on the set’
This song from Love Aaj Kal won us our first Filmfare Award.
We have to admit that we were surprised because it didn’t have that much choreography.
Truth be told, we choreographed it on the set.
It happened naturally, organically, with a lot of improvisations.
It’s a beautiful song which has stayed on in people’s minds.
Even today, it is an integral part of baraats.
‘Zoobi Doobi won us our first award after 14 years’
This song from 3 Idiots is a story within a story and there was plenty of discussion on each story.
We had half-a-dozen meetings on the one in which Kareena (Kapoor) and Aamir (Khan) are dancing on a swing over a sea of umbrellas.
While it was a brilliantly innovative concept, it seemed like a really tall order to execute.
Going by simple calculations, the umbrellas would be held at a height of at least four feet and the average height of the actors was around five feet six inches.
So, when Kareena and Aamir swayed over them, wouldn’t their hands hit the ceiling?
The solution to the problem was simple: Get the dancers holding the umbrellas to bend.
In fact, the magic of Zoobi Doobi lay in its simplicity.
We have come to realise that while complicated choreography is appreciated, it’s songs like these that find mass appeal and remain evergreen.
Zoobi Doobi won us our first award — the Screen Award — after a 14-year wait.
‘We waited from 9 am till 6 pm for the first shot of Mauja Hi Mauja‘
Again, the first day’s shoot of this Jab We Met favourite did not go off well.
It was a 9 am shift and everyone was ready by 10.30 am.
But the first shot was taken only at 6 pm.
The reason was that we wanted a particular type of mirror-ball chandelier, but when we saw it, it just looked like bulbs hanging.
We didn’t want to compromise, so we waited for it to be replaced.
Naturally, the delay made Imtiaz (Ali, Director) and the rest of the team nervous.
The joke going around was, ‘Sir, badi picture hai, kuch chodna nahin.’
But if you are confident and you know what you want, everything eventually falls into place.
Once the chandelier was in place, we completed Mauja Hi Mauja in just four days.
‘We vented at Katrina’
We go back a long way with Katrina.
This superhit song from Race boosted her confidence, both as a performer and a dancer.
There was a lot at stake, and two days before we went in to shoot, when she showed us the steps, we vented at Katrina because it wasn’t working.
That really hit her hard and she worked very hard. The result is a tastefully done song in which she looks ravishing and dances beautifully.
After this, her career zoomed, and Katrina went on to do many more cult songs.
One of our best works with her after Race is Pashmina (Fitoor).
After a spate of commercial dances, like Chikni Chameli, we were attempting a beautiful contemporary dance piece with her.
The idea was to change the vibe and dance style.
Katrina executed Pashmina so well, with such grace.
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