Over the years, Bollywood has brought so much joy into our otherwise mundane lives by bringing in loads of action, crime, drama, emotion, comedy and romance. But what makes it even more special are the amazing dance performances. We have dived into the pool of history and dished some of the classic and memorable dance movies of Bollywood that forced us to hit the dance floor. From Mithun Chakraborthy's disco moves to Shahid Kapoor's hip hop dance, take a look at some of the top dance films of Bollywood.
Updated on : 25 January,2020 01:30 PM IST
Kalpana (1948): 72 years before Street Dancer, director Uday Shankar decided to present a film with Indian classical dancer in the leading role. Kalpana, released in 1948, revolved around a young dancer dreaming of setting up a dance academy. Shankar donned the hat of the classical dancer alongside a 16-year-old Padmini, who made her on-screen debut. Kalpana was the first Indian film to portray dance as an integral plot. (All pictures: Twitter/Instagram, Youtube screenshots and mid-day archives)
Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (1955): The 1955 classic, directed by legendary filmmaker V.Shantaram, depicted a fine tussle between dance and love. Girdhar (Gopi Krishnan), a classical dancer, has to prove his might after been disowned by his father (K.Date) for giving importance to his lady love (Sandhya) over dance. The couple has to win the dance competition to prove themselves. The classical voices of Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey with lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri enhanced the dance drama.
Navrang (1959): The source of classical dance-numbers "Arey ja re hat natkat", "Tu Chhupi Hai Kahan" and "Adha Hai Chandrama Raat Aadhi", Navrang was again a V.Shantaram masterpiece. The drama was all about love, nationalism, greediness, betrayal with dance and music as its central theme. The film is noted for its dance sequences of the lead actress Sandhya. The famous singer Mahendra Kapoor made his debut with this film.
Disco Dancer (1982): Mithun Chakraborty ended the three-decade drought of dance drama, and boy, in what way! Disco Dancer, released in 1982, changed the fate of Bollywood forever. From slow dance sequences, Mithun forced everyone to hit the dance floor with his fast beats. Bappi Lahiri's disco compositions perfectly blended with Anjaan's lyrics, ended up as a perfect ingredient. For years, "I am a Disco Dancer", "Yaad Aa Raha Hai" and "Jimmy Jimmy Aaja" gave us unending memories.
Dance Dance (1987): And if you think Disco Dancer was Mithun's only dance drama, you are wrong. Four years after the classic came Babbar Subhash's Dance Dance. This time, he shared the dance floor with Smita Patil and Madakini. The story was about the journey of two siblings (Smita and Mithun) making their living by dancing and singing in small functions. The siblings' lives turn upside down when a tragedy occurs with Patil. Coupled with superb performances by Amrish Puri, Dilip Tahil and Shakti Kapoor, Dance Dance emerged as a super hit at the box office. Mithun's Disco Dancer partner Bappi Lehri took up the music director's chair, while Anjaan wrote its lyrics.
Dil To Pagal Hai (1997): The Yash Chopra classic is an all-time favourite of the 90s kids. The crazy love story of the dance-and-musical troupe, with its two dancers Karisma Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit competing to get the love of Shah Rukh Khan as Rahul (naam toh suna hoga!). How can we forget the firing performance of Karisma in "Le Gayi", Madhuri's kathak dance, the two ladies' epic dance battle, SRK and Madhuri dancing their heart out in "Arre Re Arre", and our most favourite, the charming dance with kids in "Chak Dum Dum". Dil Toh Pagal Hain was a blockbuster hit and emerged as the highest-grossing film of 1997.
Holiday (2006): Pooja Bhatt's remake of the 1987 American film Dirty Dancing was about love and betrayal coupled with dance. Dino (Dino Morea) is a dance performer in Goa. His dance partner, Alysha (Kashmira Shah) is betrayed by a man who impregnates her. Enters Muskaan (Onjolee Nair), who replaces her as Dino's dance partner. The film is best remembered for Morea's soft and supple salsa dance, which was new to Hindi Cinema.
Aaja Nachle (2007): The Yash Raj Films production marked Madhuri Dixit's return to the big screen after five years. Madhuri, a New York-based choreographer, returns to her homeland only to find her dance theatre been demolished. Aaja Nachle follows her struggle to save her academy. Madhuri's epic performance in the title song was the star attraction of the film. Although Aaja Nachle failed at the box office, the film's soundtrack and Madhuri's killer moves fail to leave our memory.
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008): Shah Rukh Khan's love for the beautiful and vivacious Taani (Anushka Sharma) causes him to transform himself into playboy Raj Kapoor. Raj then enters into a dance competition with Taani and tries to vow her heart with his moves. Coupled with melodious music by Salim–Sulaiman, with lyrics by Jaideep Sahni, the Aditya Chopra directorial emerged as the highest-grossing Hindi film of that year overseas.
Chance Pe Dance (2010): Shahid Kapoor and his dancing skills were on full display in this Ronnie Screwala production. Chance Pe Dance is the story of a talented and passionate young man (Shahid Kapoor) trying to prove his mark in Bollywood. To fend himself, he works as a dance teacher in a school. Shahid's electric performance in the climax on the Pump It Up track was pulsating, to say the least.
ABCD: Any Body Can Dance (2013): Thrown out of the elite dance studio he founded along with Jahangir Khan (KK Menon), Vishnu's (Prabhudeva) spirits rebound when he sees young street dancers (some of them Dance India Dance contestants) prepping for an annual contest. With the help of the young boys and girls, Vishnu tries to win a dance competition to show Jahangir that dance is not about greed, money, and power. Some superb dance performances by the group particularly in the climax helped the film became a box office success.
Any Body Can Dance 2 (2015): Remo D'Souza returned with the sequel of ABCD with Shraddha Kapoor and Varun Dhawan in lead. The film explored the journey of Shraddha, Varun and the group pouring their hearts out to win the World Hip Hop Dance Championship. Prabhudeva returned as the mentor of the group. The film is particularly remembered for the superb dance performance by the actors in "Chunar" and "Vande Mataram".
Happy New Year (2014): A year before ABCD 2, another group, led by Shah Rukh Khan, competed in the World Dance Championship (WDC) with a motive to take revenge for his father's death. His dance troupe included Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood, Boman Irani, and Vivaan Shah, while Jackie Shroff played the antagonist. Although the Farah Khan directorial received a mixed response from the critics, Happy New Year grossed Rs 377.21 crore worldwide, making it one of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time.
Bhangra Paa Le (2020): Bhangra Paa Le is a film that gives us a glimpse of the evolution of bhangra through the ages as well as the evolution of love. The movie showcases the competitive journey of a dance competition that blooms into a mesmerising love story of two worlds - an old school romance and a new age love. Jagi (Sunny Kaushal)'s dream to go to London by winning a dance competition goes into bits and pieces when Simi (Rukshar Dhillon) enters his life as his dance competitor.
Street Dancer 3D (2020): The third dance film of Remo D'Souza was bigger, grander and larger with his usual ingredients- Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, and Prabhudeva. But, this time, Varun locked horns with Shraddha to win the coveted dance championship. We also saw spurts of some breathtaking dance moves by the actors. And yes, we also get one more remix, this time, the iconic Prabhudeva song, Muqabla Muqabla.
