It may seem that I am changing course again for the time being. :) I intend to pursue the Sufi poet thread in future posts, but maybe not so quickly. As we approach the end of the year, I thought I would do a simpler post about a double dance cover (that is, a cover that is “double” in a few different ways, with two dancers dancing together in two different versions to match two original versions) which happened to lift my own spirits at the right time. Although this “remote collaboration” is not brand new; it was done in 2021.
I think that 2021 might end up being remembered as the Golden Age of Remote Collaborations on YouTube, no doubt due to the restlessness of so many people having to “isolate” or “shelter in place” (or whatever other terms were used – I am already forgetting). Of course, that’s why it’s no coincidence that I also posted people’s homemade and/or home-based videos more often than usual during that time. But this is the first time that I found this particular collaboration, while I was viewing some other things. (Now, I should add that I am not sure that these two dancers did this collaboration exactly because they were stuck “sheltering in place” or anything like that, but it is certainly not a far-fetched conclusion to reach.) So, while I did not think that I would be able to do another post before the end of the year, now I am feeling a little inspired… Although I am not going to try to turn this one into a great piece of analytical writing. As I did more often in the old days at this blog, I am mostly just going to provide the clips.
And by the way, on a personal note, I am happy to report that I have been able to negotiate a change in my work schedule so that I will have more spare time (that is, a couple of days less of work per week), so that I am going to be able to do a lot more things again – at least until I am broke again. At least at the moment, that means that I plan to resume more regular posts on this blog (unless/until something else gets in the way). Please note that I will never undervalue the significance of “spare time.” In our era, especially, that is the time when the most creative work gets done by the greatest number of people – possibly as proven during COVID crisis.
Anyway, let’s get to this fine collaboration, which covers a certain very famous dance-off done in both Hindi and Tamil, originally between Padmini and Vyjayanthimala.
I will start off with the rendition of “Aaja Tu Aaja,” from the film Raj Tilak. This clip is on the channel of Sukanya Kumar, who plays the Vyjayanthimala role, while the Padmini role is played by Krithika Rajkumar.
Incidentally, I posted a clip of the original version of “Aaja Tu Aaja” on my YouTube channel, but even though that was a clip prepared by Tommydan, it was 13 years ago, and much clearer versions have popped up since then. The following clip is not perfect, because it has that big company logo in the upper left corner (which I never like) and, like so many more recent YouTube videos, near the end, it displays boxes showing other videos that are available, blocking out the final scene somewhat. Still, it is pretty clear – and a great pleasure to watch, of course.
And here is Krithika and Sukanya’s cover of the Tamil version, “Kannum Kannum Kalandhu,” from the film Vanjikottai Valiban. This one appears on Krithika’s channel, and this time, the roles are reversed, with Krithika playing the Vyjayanthimala role and Sukanya playing the Padmini role. (There are differences in the choreography worth noticing, too. In fact, looking for the differences between these two covers kind of matches the fun and intrigue of picking out the differences between the originals – a matter that I will get back to soon.)
And here is the original version of “Kannum Kannum Kalandhu.” (Once again, the clip is not perfect - it’s a bit dark and we see more annoying logos as well as preview boxes at the end, etc., but it’s the clearest one that I have found and is also certainly a pleasure to watch.)
In closing, I would like to dedicate this post to Cassidy aka Minai of Cinema Nritya, who posted a very comprehensive comparison between the original Tamil and Hindi versions a dozen years ago. Actually, I don’t think that I have seen anyone else examine those two versions so thoroughly in a blog post or any other piece of writing (and I am pretty sure that I have seen at least a few). I truly hope that Cassidy’s blog will come back one day! And, hopefully, I will come back with a new post here very soon (really!).