Dancers in the dark.. reveal the grime behind the glamour

Imagine Madhuri Dixit and Salman Khan dancing to Jootey do paisey lo alone in Hum Aapke Hain Koun...! or Shahid Kapoor doing the signature step solo in the recent Gandi baat from R... Rajkumar, we'd miss out the fun minus the background dancers, right? Surely, it's these glitter girls and boys who pep up a dance number. And they're as busy as A-list actors, dancing 12 to 15 hours a day. Most have left behind worried parents to groove to the industry tunes. But their lives are not sobbing sagas. Not really. They have challenges to face on a daily basis but they believe every profession has that. They hate being labelled as extras'. They like the background dancer' tag instead. They dream of making it big as choreographers some day. And thanks to dance reality shows few of them have turned assistants and choreographers for the small screen.

Vernon Enthiado, 34 joined the industry as a background dancer in 2004 with the Mallika Sherawat starrer Kis Kis Ki Kismat, "I was just a social dancer. In 2004 I did a song in Kis Kis... and Kaal dhamaal with Shah Rukh Khan and Malaika Arora Khan in Kaal." Later, he acted opposite Prabhudheva in the Telugu dance film Style. With his great physique and deadly curls he's always placed next to the stars. His has been a joyride but Dev's and Shankar's journey has been tough. The duo had their dance troop, Annex in Delhi but wanted to do bigger things. Dev shifted to Mumbai in 2008 believing he'd be the best in the business. "The first one year was hell," recollects Dev. "I used to live in Kandivali and would leave the house early. I'd stand in the heat outside studios trying to make contacts." Dev couldn't afford lunch for a year and survived on peanuts and vada pav. His perseverance paid off when he got to perform at an award function. Soon he joined the CDA (Cine Dance Association) and things changed. He has even been a body double for Arjun Kapoor in Aurangzeb. Shankar too shifted to Mumbai and joined his dancer friend.

Diwakar Nayal, 30, a finalist in the second season of India's Got Talent (2010), first featured as a background dancer in Kisaan. "My parents believed in me. But my relatives were against it. I struggled for six years till I got selected in India's Got Talent Season 2." Today, Diwakar performs at weddings, shows and in films. He's appeared in Tees Maar Khan, Raaz 3 and in the forthcoming Akshay Kumar-Sonakshi Sinha starrer Holiday. He has also been a choreographer in the dance show, Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa. He makes Rs 3500 per day but says it isn't enough. "I spend all my earnings on house rent, electricity bill, travel and food. I hardly save any money." Sultan Khan, 27 who started his career in 2004, says that the money they earn is peanuts. "I want to buy a decent house but everything is expensive. We should get a raise by at least 50 per cent."

Suchi Shah, 28, has travelled to 15 countries including the USA and in her decade-long career has worked with stars from Amitabh Bachchan to Varun Dhawan. A female dancer has to contend with skimpy clothes and Suchi whines about that. "In dance shows we wear costumes on bodysuit, in films that's not the case. I have done few songs like Chammak challo
(Ra.One) and Ghagra (Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani) and thankfully in both the songs the clothes were decent. If my clothes are revealing, I politely refuse the song." Namrata Purohit, 28, who shifted to Mumbai from Indore asserts, "On occasions, my colleagues have refused the song due to the silly costumes." But the advent of foreign dancers is a threat to our desi girls. "Filmmakers want glamour and so opt for the foreigners," says Namrata "They make less fuss about wearing skimpy costumes. Also they look glamorous Looks matter so much that
the skill on display is becoming mediocre." But organisers hire Indian dancers for the events meant for family viewing. "We're ready to wear skimpy costumes provided we wear bodysuit underneath. Foreigners can never do the latkas and jhatkas typical in our songs," says Drashti Shah, who's all of 24 and hails from Mumbai. Her life is similar to Urmila Matondkar's in Rangeela. She always dreamt of dancing with Bollywood biggies. "I've danced with all my favourite stars. I've lived my dream," she says adding, "Some stars throw tantrums on choreographers and us and sometimes even on the supporting cast. This usually happens between two actresses when both have to dance to the same song. There are differences over camera angles, dance moves and costumes and this prolongs the shoot."

Namrata says that most of the stars are friendly and not prone to tantrums. Suchi shares an incident, "I was dancing with Madhuri Dixit and my hand hit her twice. I feared she'd blast me but she was so cool. But there are a few stars who have their noses in the sky." Sultan insists that stars who have come up the hard way are polite, "John Abraham, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone are all sweet. They pose for pictures with us too."The dancers have to be prepared for the unexpected - the steps could be changed at the last moment if the star is not comfortable. "It's fair, you cannot expect them to do certain steps that don't suit them." says Vernon. Avneesh Singh Jaiswal, 24, points out that dancers need go to the gym too. He has worked in chartbusters like Disco deewane (Student Of The Year) and Babli badmash hai (Shootout At Wadala). The dancer works out but bingeing on fried foods is his only option at times. "The unit provides us vada pav and tea for snacks, which is not good for the body. They need male dancers to go bare bodied and expect us to have a flat stomach. Can we remain fit with vada pav?" He rues the fact that the foreign dancers get better treatment. "If they want fruit juice, they get it." Pooja Jhaveri, 22, who is only 2 years old in the business reveals the discrimination she faces at the hands of her colleagues, "People who have spent 10 to 15 years as background dancers bully newcomers. They want to be seen dancing next to the stars so they're rude to us." "There are some dancers who sweet talk the choreographers in order to be placed in the first row. They're ready to be their slaves," frowns Sultan.

Adding to this is the casting couch' syndrome! A female dancer reveals that a certain male star asks for favours and is feely and touchy with women dancers'. "He is known for his philandering ways and tries to flirt with us girls," she flares. Another star is notorious for his bisexual liaisons. According to the dancers, not only does he try to get close to the female dancers but also to the male ones. "He (the actor) is such a chamdi (a flirt)!" confides a male dancer. Ahem! The next time when you watch a song and are swept away by its tune, choreography and even the costumes, remember the background dancers also add to the larger picture. So what if they remain in the background.