happy hanif - interview

Hanif Hilal and his partner Pooja Bedi were quite worried at the start of Nach Baliye3. They believed that Bollywood dance was not for the two of them but they took up the challenge and with the way the past three performances have been loved by the judges and audiences we asked Hanif if they were just joking about not knowing any Bollywood dance!

Below is an excerpt from the interview

Three Weeks up in Nach Baliye3. How is it going?

It is going very well. No doubt about that. But it has its negative sides too… we have no time for our own personal lives and our bodies are hurting because the rehearsals are very rigorous. And the worst part is as the competition is progressing we are getting even lesser time to rehearse. We get barely four days as one day goes into technical rehearsals and then the other day goes for the actual filming. So in like four days we not only have to come up with an act that is brilliant, different and is liked by everyone but also learn it completely. It is quite difficult to learn it perfectly in four days. But having said all that we are having a lot of fun. It's a great opportunity to push yourself completely. So in that sense I am having a great time because I am learning a lot about myself… about how I can push myself so much and still come out on top.

When Pooja and you began the competition the two of you were worried about replacing Latina American dancing with Bollywood jhatkas and matkas. But with three good weeks under your belt have you changed your mind?

I am having so much fun I can't even begin to tell you! I am loving the whole experience. You know I don't have to unlearn anything and that is the best part. I have learnt something and now I am learning something more. For any dancer learning a new form or style is always great fun. I am learning new styles – Hip Hop, Jazz, Bollywood thumkas and matkas- and I am enjoying myself so much. You know right now my dance style resembles a bhel puri. It's not conventional…it's different. Right now I am at a point where I do not understand either Latin or Bollywood completely! Toh aaj kal Bollywood ke saath saath latin ka ek thumka bhi lag jaata hain!

Last night's performance fetched you a 27 and over the three performances you'll have only gotten better. What are you doing to get it right every week?

See as far as the first performance is concerned everyone knows that we changed choreographers and as a result we got very little time to rehearse. Having said that the judges liked our performance and dance even then. What they didn't like was possibly the lack of emotions or lip syncing. So probably that was one of the reasons why we didn't score high. And for the second act we put in a lot of hard work.. I won't lie… we really worked very very hard and I am so glad that people liked our performances. You know every other jodi is putting in as much if not more effort but sometimes you know something can just go wrong. And therefore we are very happy that the judges and based on the public feedback that we go everyone loved our performance and we are genuinely happy about that! And then last night as well we did well… so I'm happy about that!

Vaibhavi is quite stern with choreographers in the show. So do you sometimes thank your luck that you are here as a part of a jodi and not someone's choreographer?

You know when we first got the offer for Nach Baliye my first reaction was 'Yes! I am here to dance and not as a choreographer!' Yes it feels very bad when your choreography has been criticized. Sometimes what happens is that even a choreographer is helpless. You need to understand that if they have been selected from thousands and thousands of choreographers for a show like Nach Baliye then it is because they have something special in them! And you need to understand is that not every choreographer has that liberty to say 'Yes I have a great dancing jodi!' They maybe great dancers but their jodi is not and they have to teach them how to dance. And each person has his or her own learning graph… its not that easy. So yes I feel quite bad about it… Sure there are many factors that go into the making of an act like song selection which maybe wrong or maybe the jodi hasn't given them enough support or maybe the jodi just hasn't done what was expected from them. But I guess it is part and parcel... agar acha hain toh badhaiyaan aur agar kharab hain toh gaaliyan!

Sumeet, your choreographer, is the youngest in the competition. So is their ever an issue about taking instructions from a 20 year old?

No… never...not at all! I believe that when you come into a professional space then age is not a criteria which determines the person's capabilities. As far as Sumeet is concerned he is a great choreographer and he knows his dance very well. And Sumeet has years of experience behind him. He has done numerous stage shows and has worked with a lot of people. He is very talented and I think it's not about age; it's about what you put forth on the table. If there is something that Sumeet suggests that we don't like then that's a different thing. But if he says something with truth and conviction then there is no dispute from our side. The only time we ever say something is when after trying we have seen that we are unable to do it. And as far as Sumeet is concerned one thing I must give him credit for is that as soon as he sees that we are unable to do something he will immediately change it even without our saying and I think that is a mark of a true choreographer who can understand the limitations of his or her students.

source: www.indya.com