Aditi/Mini in NB4 Discussion - Page 3

by Vidhya Krishnan

Oct 23, 2008, Bangalore

Mohit and Addite, one of the jodis in 'Nach Baliye', startled the judges with their kathakali performance in an episode, which will be aired this week. They performed on the "Tha karke" from 'Golmaal Returns'. And they performed kathakali beautifully, braving many a hardship.

For this performance, they had brought the costumes all the way from Kerala. The headgear that Mohit wore weighed 5 kilogram! With the heavy make up and costumes, they could not even drink and eat for hours. They had also been fasting since morning as they could not gulp food. The judges really appreciated both of them; Farah Khan said that they were the most hardworking couple and complemented them for their brilliant performance.

We spoke to the couple to know more and they said, "Actually, our theme was to perform a Kathakali dance, but though we did have an option to change it, we took it up as a challenge. In fact, our choreographers had to learn the exact moves of Kathakali and teach us. We did a lot of research by surfing the net. We wanted to give the typical authentic performance; we were also particular about the costumes and the outfits. We got them all from Kerala since in Mumbai stores, their condition was pathetic. We luckily got the costumes in time and they arrived just on the previous day of our performance. We rehearsed with those costumes because we wanted to get used to it while performing on stage and also get the feel of the dance. Indeed the costumes were very heavy but we became the characters once we were in that outfit.

And it was our choice to do the dance and we did it with confidence, sincerity, grace and most of all, piety. And we followed the traditions with utmost respect; we did not eat or drink until the performance; we were not supposed to wear footwear or do any thing bad; we didn't touch non-vegetarian food for two days; we didn't want to insult the dance form at any point.

We will not say that it was not stressful….it was very hectic but we are glad that we carried it off pretty well and at the end of it, we feel very satisfied. We kept our fingers crossed throughout and this is our most beautiful and memorable experience. We also got some good comments from the judges which we will not disclose, but wish everybody will watch this episode, because we did it with a lot of hard work.

That is commitment, folks… Kudos to the couple