Shall we dance?
SONAM JAIN
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Bollywood’s biggest dance celebrity opens up about his journey to the top. Meet Shiamak Davar.
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Photo: K.V. Srinivasan
Real to reel: A good move
“All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players”. Shiamak Davar would probably replace players with dancers! Remember his choreography in “Taal” added more than just rhythm to the Anil Kapoor- Aishwarya Rai-Akshaye Khanna starrer? “Have Feet, Will Dance” is in fact the motto of his dance institutes. As a dancer, singer, actor, educationalist and designer, tinsel town’s biggest dance celebrity wears many hats. Mentor to Aishwarya Rai, Shahid Kapoor, Boman Irani, Lara Dutta, Diana Hayden and Yukta Mukhi to name a few, their talent speaks volumes about his skills as a teacher. In an exclusive intervew Shiamak Davar sheds more light on his persona. Excerpts:
Let’s take a walk down memory lane. How did choreography happen?
I used to love playing the piano and was always singing and dancing all over my living room. I always wanted to get into acting. I even acted in a couple of plays: Che Guevera in Alyque Padamsee’s “Evita” and I also did Karla Singh’s “Greased Lightning”. Alyque Padamsee spotted my talent and took me forward from “Evita”. Choreography was actually an accident for me; it’s only because of Celia Lobo that I am a choreographer.
Shiamak Davar’s Institute for the Performing Arts (SDIPA) is globally famous. Why a foray into teaching?
My interest in dance started 26 years ago. I faced a lot of ridicule and humiliation because “boys don’t dance”. It was a tough phase but I made it. Even today my message to budding dancers and choreographers is to have faith and work hard. As for teaching dance, I love sharing and imparting knowledge. My father, Nani Davar, set up the Davar Institute of Commerce, and I kept up the tradition of being an educationist. Though I don’t teach myself, I personally train the trainers who teach there and I make it a point to attend the bi-annual stage shows in each city.
What are your other passions?
I love singing and would love to do a lot more of that. (He shared stage with Sting). I would love to do more albums. But every time I think of doing it, some movie comes along!
How did movies happen?
Choreographing for Bollywood was not planned. Gauri was a student of mine, and she came up with the idea of my choreographing “Dil To Pagal Hai”. I was quite sceptical, because my style was western, and Bollywood was not used to it. Shah Rukh Khan forced me to do it! I was quite nervous but it worked, and that’s how it started.
You seem quite choosy about the movies that you do.
Well, yes. Everything in Bollywood looks very repetitive and monotonous. I wouldn’t want to do those dances. It’s very important to only do something worth the effort.
Your take on the dance reality shows on TV...
Boring! They all look the same. What’s original there? They copy from You Tube, from me, from international stars. Often, the exceptional dancers get thrown out…
But you were on the panel of one show…
Yes, but that was different. It was a competition among stars and some of them didn’t know how to dance! It was good fun. There was no high level dancing and no great dancers. However, Sandhya Mridul and Sudha Chandra were brilliant.
On a different note, you recently designed and launched a Bollywood workout range in collaboration with Reebok. How does designing fit into being a performer and educationist?
I’ve been designing dance costumes all my life; so designing is nothing new. In fact, I was planning to launch my own line of clothing when Reebok asked to team up with them. But let me tell you, I do want to create a store that will have all sorts of dance gear, costumes, props, CDs… the whole gamut. I guess it’s something on the lines of the “Hard Rock Café”, except that this will be a one-stop dance store and not really a café.
For those waiting to see more of Shiamak Davar and his work, what do we have in store?
The IIFA Awards and the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer “Alladin”.
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