“Alia Bhatt is absolutely a fun person to work with,” says choreographer Kruti Mahesh

Choreographer Kruti Mahesh needs no introduction! Her maiden collaboration with filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali as an independent choreographer won her the prestigious National Film Award for the iconic “Ghoomar” song in Padmaavat. And now, she is winning raves for choreographing yet another high-energy song “Dholida” for the celebrated filmmaker’s latest offering Gangubai Kathiawadi, featuring Alia Bhatt in the titular role.

Ever since the makers dropped the song, it has got everyone grooving across generations and millions of reels have been made on it. “It is tremendously satisfying that people are enjoying it,” Kruti tells Eastern Eye over the phone.

The award-winning choreographer also shares with us what all went into making “Dholida,” the experience of working with Alia Bhatt and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. She fondly remembers her first meeting with the maverick filmmaker and reveals which song was the toughest one to shoot: “Ghoomar” or “Dholida”? Read on…

Congratulations on the huge success of “Dholida”. The song has received an overwhelming response from the audience. People of all age groups are busy making reels on it. How are you feeling?

I am already getting goosebumps just by your appreciation. It is absolutely overwhelming. I did not expect this kind of response but, yes, we wanted it to translate because the song has been very, very special even to the character Gangubai. So, yes, it is tremendously satisfying that people are enjoying it.

So, the most popular song of 2018, “Ghoomar”, was choreographed by you. And now you have choreographed the most popular song of 2022. What goes on in your mind when you take up a song to choreograph?

I like how you have already made a headline that it is the most popular song. It is very humbling but someone actually asked me earlier also, “You know you have already won a national award. How does it feel?” I said very honestly, “It’s nice to get appreciated and acknowledged for the work that you do in any kind of form but it only makes me realize that I really need to work harder and harder every time to create something unique and something as I am emotionally and passionately attached to what I do.” It’s going to be difficult after you already put the pressure on by calling it the most popular song of 2022.

How did you come up with that hook step?

We were supposed to shoot the song in January 2020, but unfortunately, we couldn’t. I had already shown my choreography to sir and he had loved it already at that point. So when I heard the song the first time, these Kathiawadi men, especially have a very different swag to their Garba. It is not something you will see in Ahmedabad or Surat or Baroda. It is very, very unique to them. I just thought that how I could use that swag and that movement to a woman who has lived in Bombay now for a very long time. So we are like no one can stop us from doing the Bambaiya dance. So there was a certain mixture to that Bambaiya Garba and the Kathiawadi feel to it and “Dholida” means the person who plays the dholi. So it had to be something that had a little bit of attitude, that had a little bit of that Kathiawadi swag at the same time everybody can do it because this was the time when everybody in Kamathipura had to dance. All the women of all age groups. Children, the elderly, everybody should be able to do it. So it was very simple as a brief that everyone should dance, have fun and it should not go away from the whole Garba and the authenticity. So yeah, when I heard “Dholida” I felt this is it.

How many days did Alia Bhatt take to learn the entire choreography?

So we did want to rehearse in 2020 but we couldn’t. Then she trained with me and my team for a bit about 6-7 days and then in 2021 before we shot the song, I rehearsed with her for almost again 7-8 days. But the last shot was never rehearsed before, just the last one take. It was something that we cracked two days before the shoot.

Any fun moments while shooting the song with the team?

Oh, so many. My team and I generally like to not take the stress of the shoot and keep it fun and light because it does get stressful. Whatever everyone sees seems very glamorous but behind the scenes, we have a lot of work that goes into creating it. So we try to keep it fun and exciting and relaxed. And at the same time, Alia is absolutely a fun person to work with. She doesn’t take stress. I mean, she is very light as a person to work with. There were many fun moments that kept our energies going. And we used to laugh a lot. We knew that it was Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s set, but we used to try and get things done smiling and laughing.

Alia Bhatt is a still from Gangubai Kathiawadi (Photo credit: Universal Communication)

How was your first meeting with Sanjay Leela Bhansali?

Wow, that’s a very interesting question! So I have been a part of a reality show called Dance India Dance. I was actually, at that point, a skipper on DID Little Masters in 2012 and I remember I got a call from Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s office, saying that sir wanted to meet me. As a person who does not come from this background, has only seen his films, I think that phone call itself was an award for me and I was like I need not do anything in my life. I got a call from Sanjay sir’s office. I had gone to the meeting and I remember seeing him for the first time. It was very, very surreal. There was a man who has created magnum-opus kind of films, epic love stories, intense films which everybody else remembered and danced and watched. So he said, “Would you like to work with me? I wanted to choreograph something.” I said, “Absolutely, it is my pleasure, my honour actually.” “But all said and done, will you be able to choreograph like Saroj Khan?” he asked. I was like, “Woah! One legend talking about another legend.” They are two legends. I said, “I don’t think I am a Sarojji or I will ever be a Sarojji because she is a legend in her own way. I mean, nobody, there is no other Sarojji ever that exists. I said, “Sir, one thing that I will always promise you is whatever you give me, I will give you my 200% and more. That is something that I will always give.” He said, “Okay”. There was Aditya Narayan who was actually assisting him at that point and so he said, “Okay, we will get in touch with you.” So I get a call again one more time and I was given a CD to start listening to and start choreographing and before I could start playing it, somebody came and just took it away and said, “Sir will come back.” I was like, “Okay, I am not getting that opportunity. Probably it’s not the time yet.”

And then again, I got a call after about two weeks of, saying that sir wanted me to come to Kutch because they were shooting a song. At that point, I was on a reality show. I was already under contract, so I could not leave at that moment and go because it’s not right because I would get sued for that. So I said, “I am so sorry, but  I cannot leave right now. Are there any other days that we can work out?” But that didn’t work out and I never got a call back. I have cried for three months saying that my opportunities to work with Sanjay sir have been lost. But then I was assisting Remo sir on Bajirao Mastani and this was two years later. So I thought sir would never remember me. But he looked at me the moment he entered the rehearsal hall and he was like, “You had come for the meeting two years ago” and I was like, “Woah! This man has a sharp memory.” And I was like, “Yes, yes sir I had.” Then he didn’t say anything. And when we were shooting for Bajirao Mastani, I remember him telling me, “Oh, you are the one who doesn’t want to work with me.” I said, “Why would anybody not want to work with you.” I mean somebody would be crazy enough to say no to him because I was genuinely under a contract and I could not. I said, “Sir, anytime you call me now onwards, I would be there for you at the drop of the hat. And then I get a call for Padmaavat and he said, “Would you work with me this time?” I said, “Of course, with all my heart and soul.” So that’s how Padmaavat happened.

This is your second project with him. How was the experience of working with him on these two projects?

Actually, independent choreography-wise, yes, it is my second project with him, but because I have assisted Remo sir on Bajirao Mastani, it is my third. I do have a sense of how he works and what he likes and how he likes to see his characters in terms of movements and choreography. So I absolutely enjoyed working with him because he does not just push himself into his films and live his films but he makes sure that everybody is working on the film, lives, and reads the film otherwise there is no point. So I completely enjoyed his process and I think there is nobody like Sanjay Leela Bhansali and there will be nobody like him. Because he is a true genius. And if at all I get even one percent of what he does in cinema and reliving every character, getting characters to life in many forms, I would think an artiste and choreographer I have done a decent job.

He is said to be a tough taskmaster. Do you agree?

Everybody says this. I mean, I do want to believe what everyone says, but I genuinely feel – and it is not coming from anywhere else – that he is really passionate about his films. It is almost like if somebody is not understanding what you are trying to tell them as a journalist if you are trying to sell your story and someone doesn’t understand it, obviously you are not going to like it, right? In some way or the other, you will react. So, at the core level, he is very passionate about what he believes in and what he lives and what he writes, and what he directs. So I don’t think it is wrong to do what he does. He is just an absolute sweetheart. Yes, he does get difficult at times, but I think that’s why you see what you see on the big screen, otherwise, if he wouldn’t be a taskmaster, we would never get films like Devdas, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Bajirao Mastani, Padmaavat, and now Gangubai Kathiawadi.

Kruti Mahesh (Photo credit: Raindrop Media)

What kinds of inputs come from him when you choreograph a song?

Yes, he is very, very involved right from seeing an artiste’s safety pin to make-up to, you know, nail polish. I think he has lived this character in detail. So he is very, very involved in terms of choreography also. If he feels that we can do this instead of that, he would say, “give me something more” or “turn around and walk the other way”. There is always an input, there is always a director’s perspective and I think it is very important to have that because he knows his characters well. He knows if the character would do a namaste or not.  As a choreographer, I know what would look good on the song, but he knows what a character would do. So, obviously, there is always great inputs coming from him. I never shy away from incorporating them because I think they only make the song look amazing.

Which song was the toughest one to shoot: “Ghoomar” or “Dholida”?

They both have their ups and downs I would say because “Ghoomar” was my first independent choreography with Sanjay sir. There were a lot of things that I had to keep in mind but “Dholida” was difficult because it was not just about Garba, but it was about Gangubhai’s trials and tribulations, and her emotions that had reached some different level that I and you will never be able to understand. And I also was hospitalized during the making of “Dholida”. So I think “Dholida” was the toughest to shoot, yes. I had a back injury and I still came back for a day. I got injections and I came back the next day and we were shooting.

What has been the proudest moment of your career?

Wow! It was actually when my sister and my mother saw the “Dholida” song and they came and hugged me and said that they were very proud of me. That has definitely been my proudest moment.

Gangubai Kathiawadi is currently running in cinemas.