New Delhi: Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt’s 'Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani' has won critics and audience hearts and is raking in numbers at the box office. Besides being an out-and-out Bollywood entertainer, the Karan Johar directorial also focuses on issues like patriarchy, cancel culture, classism, gender stereotypes, and more. The film has many high points, including veteran actor Dharmendra and Shabana Azmi’s love story, Jaya Bachchan’s negative character but the biggest highlight of the film hands down is the Kathak dance on Devdas’s song ‘Dola Re Dola’ by Ranveer Singh and actor Tota Roy Choudhury, who plays Alia’s father in the film.
In the film’s second half, Rocky (played by Ranveer), a typical rich West Delhi boy, an alpha male in every sense, dances with Chandon (played by brilliant Tota Roy Choudhury) to the song ‘Dola Re Dola’ , which is originally featured on Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit. The scene breaks gender stereotypes in the most subtle but strong way.
Rocky, who was bewildered by the fact that Chandon is a Kathak dancer and laughs at his performance a few scenes back, was dancing with joy, in sync and matching beats with him, wearing a traditional attire. Thus, coming out of his own shackles of masculinity and showing the Randhawas (his side of the family) and the audience that a certain dance form or any other art form as such doesn’t define one’s sexuality, nor is it limited to one particular gender. The scene is a joy to watch, not just for the message it sends across but also for how beautifully the two actors are dancing to the song, which is immortalised by the two biggest actresses of our times.
According to a report in Zoom TV, the two actors trained for more than a month for the sequence. “Ideally, Karan would have wanted the legendary Kathak exponent Pandit Birju Maharaj to train Tota and Ranveer. But he is no more. However, the two were trained by the best Kathak gurus for a month before shooting the performance,” Zoom TV quoted its source as saying.
The dance sequence came as a surprise for the audience, and their excitement was visible in the theatres with their hooting and clapping. Tota Roy also took to his Instagram story and shared the video of a theatre in Kolkata where the audience are seen applauding the dance performance. Sharing it to his story, the actor tagged Karan Johar and Ranveer Singh and wrote,“And the houseful audience breaks into spontaneous applause. Kolkata this evening.”
The video was then shared by Karan, who wrote, “You are a star Tota.” The actor reshared the filmmaker’s response and wrote, “Only because of you Karan sir. Forever grateful to you for your faith in me.”
'Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani' collected Rs 46 crore over the weekend.