Rock n’ roll(er skates)

Suhana Khan, Khushi Kapoor and Aditi Saigal in The Archies

Pulling off a dance routine entirely on roller skates sounds like a challenge. But to choreographer Ganesh Hegde, it sounded like his long-time dream come true. When The Archies director Zoya Akhtar told him how she envisioned the song, Dhishoom dhishoom, he knew it was his one chance to marry dancing and skating together. "For this song, I had a specific reference. In Xanadu [1980], Gene Kelly did a brilliant skate routine. There aren't many actors who are also dancers and can skate. Kelly did that with flair. Our films didn't have the space for it until Zoya wrote the sequence," he begins.

Ganesh Hegde

Hegde says the prep began two months before the song was shot with Suhana Khan, Khushi Kapoor and Aditi Saigal aka Dot, among others. For starters, the actors had to learn to skate. "I choreographed it two months in advance. We got a [skating] expert to learn [the moves], and she would train them every evening for two hours for a month. That was followed by a 10-day session with the cast, crew and the professional dancers I had got from Los Angeles." He heaps praise on the actors for picking it up quickly. "Suhana, Khushi and Dot were initially tripping, but eventually they got the expressions, steps and skating together. Skating is an art form acquired over years. Here, they did it in two months."

Having young, raw actors was an advantage, he believes, as they were more malleable. "[With them], I changed how I work. I couldn't be dominating because then they'd be in a shell. I had to be sweeter, gentler, more patient, and had to make them comfortable."