Alia Bhatt’s upcoming cabaret performance in Love & War has sparked renewed interest in the dance form, prompting a nostalgic look at the legendary actresses who mastered the art.
Key Points
- Alia Bhatt’s teaser for Love & War reportedly features her in a cabaret sequence.
- Helen, Bindu, Aruna Irani are celebrated for their iconic cabaret performances.
- Zeenat Aman to Priyanka Chopra have contributed to the evolution of cabaret in Hindi cinema.
Seduction. Enigma. Tease.
The Bollywood cabaret dancer exists to attract and allure.
Her sublime movement of hips and feline charms around lusting eyes and wishful thinkers, as she toys with hearts and flaunts her splendour, is an imagery most moviegoers grew up on till suggestive item songs took over.
But the art of cabaret dancing is far from obsolete with Alia Bhatt reportedly joining the pantheon in Love & War, co-starring Ranbir Kapoor and Vicky Kaushal. Dishing out glitz, glamour and glory under the Sanjay Leela Bhansali brand of grandeur in a wine red costume and feathery headgear teaser, the actress has certainly piqued our curiosity.
While one of the most awaited extravaganzas of next year hits the screens only on January 21, Sukanya Verma rewinds to some of Bollywood’s best cabaret performers over the years.
Helen
The art of cabaret begins and ends with the Helen school of sensuality. Even after decades her legacy of smouldering cabaret chartbusters — be it Caravan‘s Piya Tu Ab To Aaja, Teesri Manzil‘s O Haseena Zulfonwali or Intequam‘s Aa Jaanejaan — her mastery in lithe and sexy is unrivalled.
Madhubala
A far cry from her staple of spoilt heiress or distressed damsel, Madhubala’s showgirl oomph in Aaiye Meherban is possibly the reason behind Howrah Bridge‘s enduring popularity, proving the heroine can break the good girl mould and tantalise with equal ease.
Bindu
When not spewing venom or concocting schemes at her hate-list on screen, Bollywood’s voluptuous vamp Bindu asserted her cabaret prowess as Shabbo (Kati Patang) or Mona Darling (Zanjeer) sending a shiver down the coy Bollywood heroine’s spine.
Aruna Irani
Armed with an hourglass figure and shrewd gaze, Bollywood’s original spice girl renders the cabaret drill both fun and foxy. But it’s when Aruna Irani lets her guard down to reveal her vulnerability beneath the glamour in Khel Khel Mein‘s Sapna Mera Toot Gaya, she goes from mast to memorable.
Jayshree T
Helen, Bindu and Jayshree T, the glorious triumvirate of cabaret dancers would be incomplete without the mention of the lattermost. Her elegant dance and sizzling temptress turned quite a few heads including two Dilip Kumars in Dastaan.
Mumtaz
An explosive combination of cute and sexy, Mumtaz never stuck to playing the coy leading lady and burned the dance floor on more than one occasion with her cabaret ditties in movies like Humjoli and Apna Desh.
Padma Khanna
Not one to hold back, the uninhibited prowess and jiggling efficiency of Padma Khanna is unmistakable whether displaying more than 50 shades of ‘husn‘ in Johny Mera Naam or shaking a leg in Joshila and Paise Ki Gudia.
Zeenat Aman
Marking the time when lines between heroine and vixen began to blur, Zeenat Aman showed her all-rounder appeal at being both diva and devi. The star’s 10 on 10 figure and inbuilt sizzle only swelled her popularity every time she glided to the beat of cabaret around ’70s masala<.
Parveen Babi
Ditto for the super slick Parveen Babi. Not particularly keen to hog the Bhartiya Nari slot held tightly by the likes of Hema Malini, the Namak Halal siren took to new-age cabaret to tease her man with declarations like Jawani Janeman and Raat Baaki.
Kalpana Iyer
Kalpana Iyer’s unconventional, groovy vibe when voiced by kindred spirit provided a welcome break in the song and dance scene of the cabaret genre through movies like Kudrat, Sawaal and Avinash
Rekha
Before she transformed into a portrait of womanly perfection, buxom Rekha enthusiastically slipped in shiny burlesque costumes to entice ogling wolves in movies like Zameen Aasman, Heeralal Pannalal, Hawas to name a few.
Madhuri Dixit
One of the most accomplished dancers of Bollywood, Madhuri Dixit hasn’t performed too many cabarets but her tantalising Idli Doo shine in Khel refuses to leave our memory.
Pooja Bhatt
Decades before half-sister Alia’s Love & War, Pooja Bhatt took pains to shed her cutie pie image for daddy Mahesh Bhatt’s crime drama, Naaraaz, highlighting her a foxy dancer in Roza Roza Sayang Sayang Re.
Richa Chaddha
Few will remember the universally panned, Pooja Bhatt-produced Cabaret revolving around Richa Chaddha as a small-town runaway trying to make it big as a dancer in the city of dreams.
Sonali Bendre
English Babu Desi Mem is best left forgotten but for a slim and slender Sonali Bendre dishing out her cabaret friendly oomph in songs like Bijuriya and Love Me Honey Honey
Deepika Padukone
If only as a spoofy ode to Helen’s slinky ardour in O Haseena Zulfonwali fleeting few minutes of Deepika Padukone role-playing as the OG cabaret queen to Dhoom Taana in her Bollywood debut Om Shanti Om reserved her spot in showbiz for good.
Priyanka Chopra
Her sharp portrayal of a FBI agent in American TV series Quantico landed her a vamp’s role in the upcoming Baywatch movie. If Hollywood also saw her hotstepper side in Gunday‘s electrifying cabaret numbers, they’d sign her for a Chicago-style musical too.
Anushka Sharma
Bombay Velvet may have tanked but it gave Anushka Sharma a rare opportunity to shimmer in vintage fantasy as a classic cabaret girl in 1960s Bombay.
Raveena Tandon
It’s almost criminal how little one gets to see of Raveena Tandon in Bombay Velvet but her diva act evoking the drama and dazzle of jazz and cabaret culture of vintage era Mumbai in Aam Hindustani and Mohabbat Buri Bimaari is electric to say the least.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
