Five Must-Watch Bollywood Films Based On Dance

Dance has always been an integral part of Indian films. It is hard to imagine a Bollywood film without its salient feature of songs and dances. Bollywood dance has evolved enormously over the years. Earlier the dance in Bollywood movies was based on Indian classical dances like Kathak and Bharata Natyam and folk dance forms. Late 50's and 60's witnessed the advent of dance groups where choreographers directed a larger crew of dancers. Even though the age of colour films had started a few years back, another significant change began in 70's. Cabaret as a dance form found its place in many mainstream films. Next came Disco which quickly became a global cult replacing Cabaret. What followed was an era of free and contemporary styles of dancing. Where the dancing protagonists of their respective times came to be known by their own signature steps. Due to the emergence of MTV in 80's, Bollywood was significantly influenced by more new age western dance forms like break dance, hip-hop, etc.

The dance in Bollywood is creating a huge wave on the mainstream platform now. With McDonald's Dance USA Dance Season 2 all ready to hit the TV screens next month, this is going to be another milestone for people who truly believe in the dance movement. 

Here is a list of a few timeless Bollywood movies with dance-oriented plots:

Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (1955)

Directed by V. Shantaram, the movie showcases Shantaram's wife Sandhya and dancer-actor Gopi Krishna in lead roles. This was one of the earliest Bollywood plots based on dance theme. Apart from being among the oldest Indian Technicolor films, it bagged the prestigious National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and the Filmfare Best Movie Award. The movie was a massive hit.

Disco Dancer (1982)

This was directed by Babbar Subhash and written by Rahi Masoom Raza. With Mithun Chakraborty in the lead role, this dance n' musical drama film portrayed the journey of a passionate young dancer from streets to stardom. Songs of the movie were composed by Bappi Lahiri. It turned out to be among the earliest hit disco albums of the country with tracks like "I am a Disco Dancer", "Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Aaja" and "Yaad Aa Raha Hai" which stormed the musical charts and ratings. Disco Dancer was the first Indian film to gross ₹100 crore worldwide.

Naache Mayuri (1986)

This is a dance biography in Hindi directed by T. Rama Rao. It is based on the real-life story of a Bharatanatyam dancer Sudha Chandran who plays herself in the movie. Sudha lost her leg in an accident while she was traveling back to Trichy to Chennai on June 1981. The accident could not hold back the flare of passion in her. She received an artificial prosthetic foot and eventually practiced to dance again. With her sheer spirit and determination, she conquered her fate and ultimately become a very successful dancer.

Dil To Pagal Hai (1997)

One of the most applauded movies for its storyline, music and dance sequences, this musical dance & romance flick was directed by Yash Chopra. The story presents the love pursuits of two lead members of a dance crew played by Madhuri Dixit and Karishma Kapoor. They both strive for the love of a choreographer played by Shah Rukh Khan. The movie was a blockbuster and topped the Indian box office collections for the year worldwide. Songs of the movie were composed by Uttam Singh. The film bagged three national and eight Filmfare awards.

ABCD 2 a.k.a. Anybody Can Dance 2 (2015)

This is Bollywood's first 3D dance movie directed by renowned choreographer Remo D'Souza and produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur in association with Walt Disney Pictures. The film is based on the true story, the journey of Suresh and Vernon, two members of "Fictitious Dance Crew". The group made its way to the finals of the World Hip Hop Dance Championship in Las Vegas. They were runner-up at the competition. On their way up, they also defeated their idols, Philippine Allstarz. This was the first time when an Indian team showed up on the global Hip Hop circuit. The film stars Prabhu Deva, Shraddha Kapoor and Varun Dhawan in leading roles with famous new dancing stars Raghav Juyal, Punit Pathak and Dharmesh Yelande in supporting roles. It is the sequel to the movie ABCD (2013) which incidentally featured DUD Finale Judge, Actor, Dancer Lauren Gottlieb in a leading role. 

The list doesn't end here. We will be back to talk about other films that made us ecstatic about the world of dance and dancers. Kindly share the feature list on your social media and let us know you liked it.

- DUD Team