Hema Malini: ‘I miss classical dance in today’s films’
Malini rues the change in preferences of producers.
NEW DEHLI:
She is a trained classical dancer and has wowed people with her dance moves. Little surprise then that actor Hema Malini says she misses the elegance of classical dance in today’s films.
“I really miss classical dance in films, but I cannot have it. Who will watch it? Audience today likes the ‘Munni Badnam’, ‘Sheila Ki Jawaani’, ‘Jalebi Bai’ kind of dances. Even the producers would never make a film on classical dance,” says Malini. “There is so much vulgarity in songs. I don’t like it at all,” she adds.
The actor has not kept the art to herself. Her daughters Esha and Ahana Doel are accomplished bharatanatyam dancers (one of the most popular of the Indian classical dance forms in South India). All three members of the family have been performing on stage quite often.
Malini is delighted to see dance reality shows that help provide a platform to people to showcase their talent. She would love to do something along similar lines, dedicated completely to classical dance, but is apprehensive. “I would love to make a show where you have all the classical dances like bharatanatyam, odissi, etc, but times have changed. We can hardly do anything as even television producers are not willing to take up a concept like that. None of the channels support me,” said the 63-year-old, who is married to veteran star Dharmendra.
There are many feathers in Malini’s cap; apart from being a good actor and dancer, she is a director as well as a producer. Her first film as a producer and director was Dil Aashna Hai in 1992 which had Shahrukh Khan playing the lead role. After 19 years, Malini has once again donned the director’s hat with her new film Tell Me Oh Khuda, which stars Esha, Arjan Bajwa, Dharmendra, Rishi Kapoor and Vinod Khanna.
Changes in the industry
So, what changes has she noticed in the field of direction and production over the years? Malini adds, “Direction has undergone a dramatic change. Technological advancement has taken film direction to a newer level. And it is important to make full use of it in the right way,” said the actor.
However, she feels post-production has become quite expensive. “Many times I have seen, if something goes wrong, they say ‘it would be corrected in post-production’. This process of delaying it not only becomes expensive but also time-consuming,” adds Malini, who has films like Dream Girl, Sholay, Johny Mera Naam and Seeta Aur Geeta to her credit.
“Earlier, we had no option but to do everything completely correctly. I feel films made earlier were also of good quality. There was no technology at that time, they used to picturise it very well and the lighting was very nice. We don’t see that beauty on screen any more.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 24th, 2011.
She is a trained classical dancer and has wowed people with her dance moves. Little surprise then that actor Hema Malini says she misses the elegance of classical dance in today’s films.
“I really miss classical dance in films, but I cannot have it. Who will watch it? Audience today likes the ‘Munni Badnam’, ‘Sheila Ki Jawaani’, ‘Jalebi Bai’ kind of dances. Even the producers would never make a film on classical dance,” says Malini. “There is so much vulgarity in songs. I don’t like it at all,” she adds.
The actor has not kept the art to herself. Her daughters Esha and Ahana Doel are accomplished bharatanatyam dancers (one of the most popular of the Indian classical dance forms in South India). All three members of the family have been performing on stage quite often.
Malini is delighted to see dance reality shows that help provide a platform to people to showcase their talent. She would love to do something along similar lines, dedicated completely to classical dance, but is apprehensive. “I would love to make a show where you have all the classical dances like bharatanatyam, odissi, etc, but times have changed. We can hardly do anything as even television producers are not willing to take up a concept like that. None of the channels support me,” said the 63-year-old, who is married to veteran star Dharmendra.
There are many feathers in Malini’s cap; apart from being a good actor and dancer, she is a director as well as a producer. Her first film as a producer and director was Dil Aashna Hai in 1992 which had Shahrukh Khan playing the lead role. After 19 years, Malini has once again donned the director’s hat with her new film Tell Me Oh Khuda, which stars Esha, Arjan Bajwa, Dharmendra, Rishi Kapoor and Vinod Khanna.
Changes in the industry
So, what changes has she noticed in the field of direction and production over the years? Malini adds, “Direction has undergone a dramatic change. Technological advancement has taken film direction to a newer level. And it is important to make full use of it in the right way,” said the actor.
However, she feels post-production has become quite expensive. “Many times I have seen, if something goes wrong, they say ‘it would be corrected in post-production’. This process of delaying it not only becomes expensive but also time-consuming,” adds Malini, who has films like Dream Girl, Sholay, Johny Mera Naam and Seeta Aur Geeta to her credit.
“Earlier, we had no option but to do everything completely correctly. I feel films made earlier were also of good quality. There was no technology at that time, they used to picturise it very well and the lighting was very nice. We don’t see that beauty on screen any more.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 24th, 2011.