Bollywood dance: Desire for the ‘other’

Abstract

To think of Hindi movies without a song and dance sequence is unimaginable. The centrality of these songs and dance sequences is not only a reflection of its popularity but the universality of these dance picturizations in the domain of a cultural artefact like movies configures and defines the society itself. As the most significant feature of Hindi popular cinema, the song and dance sequence, in the words of Sangita Gopal and Sujata Moorti, “occupies the constitutive limit of Bollywood cinema,”1 however, it even tends to circulate outside its cinematic contexts. From being played on stage, to Broadway productions, to community centres, at marriage celebrations, to television serials, at fitness clubs and being performed on the margins of global events like Indian Premier League (IPL), Bollywood dance sequences are now culturally, in Sangita Shresthova’s words, a “global phenomenon.”