Some of the most renowned choreographers, including Remo D’Souza, Bosco Martis, Kruti Mahesh, Vijay Ganguly, and Ganesh Acharya, recently convened to discuss the underappreciation and lack of recognition for the contributions of dance directors in the Hindi film industry. During the discussion, they revealed instances where they haven’t been credited for their work on popular songs like “Badtameez Dil” and “What Jumka?” by producers as their names have not been mentioned in the YouTube description section. They also expressed dismay over the fact that Prem Rakshit, the choreographer behind RRR’s immensely popular song “Naatu Naatu,” was not celebrated enough at the Oscars.
Talking on the YouTube channel Nritya Shakti, Bosco said, “The job of choreographers is to take a lot of responsibility for a film’s promotion. For instance, every teaser will have a shot of a song or only shots of the song. So, they specialise in giving a film that glory.” Bosco then quickly moved towards Remo and reminded him how his name is not in the credit list of the song “Badtameez Dil” on YouTube. He said, “Your name is not there in the description of Badtameez Dil.”
Ganesh Acharya added to the conversation and shared how he also wasn’t credited in the YouTube description of the song “What Jhumka?” from the film Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. Bosco added that his name is absent from the credit list of the song “Senorita” from the film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara even though he won a National Award for his choreography in the song.
The choreographers said that they have been fighting for decades for credits, but still aren’t receiving due credits on platforms like YouTube. Shakti Mohan, who was moderating the discussion, said that there is no catalogue for choreographers and the songs that they have done so it is sometimes impossible to find out who has done which song.
During the discussion, the choreographers also expressed their disappointment that their colleague, choreographer Prem Rakshit, who choreographed the Oscar-winning song “Naatu Naatu,” wasn’t celebrated enough at the Oscars, despite the awards ceremony featuring a performance of the song.
Bosco said, “I was shocked… ‘Naatu Naatu’ the song was celebrated at the Oscars. So, I was like why was the choreographer not celebrated? That song was performed at the Oscars, they performed those steps that he created.” Remo added to this and said, “And no actor, no director, no music composer nobody mentioned his name.” Bosco added, “When you get that platform, you make sure that you are visible, that you are celebrated because you have put in a lot of effort and hard work, and not only India, the world danced to that song.”
Though Prem Rakshit wasn’t present at the 2023 Oscar ceremony when “Naatu Naatu” won the Best Song award, the music composer of the film MM Keeravani did mention his name in the speech and said, “This award belong to in order of priority to my brother and the film’s director SS Rajamouli for his vision and constant trust. In order of priority…Mr Prem Rakshit, who animated the song and without him this wouldn’t have happened.”
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