Taal - Ramta Jogi

So I continue to write about Taal, since this was one movie that I would say marked the beginning of stylised choreographinization. Ramta Jogi is my second favourite from this movie.

What Ramta Jogi exactly means, I am not too sure of, but I guess its something to do with being a jogi or a saint who is drunk and high on love. Main prem piyala pee aaya..main tere dil wich kee aaya...punjabi lyrics that when translated would mean that I have drunk from the cup of love...

Again, similar to Ishq Bina, one of the most striking feature of this choreographinization is the setting itself which this time is a combination of orange, red, yellow, brown, white and grey that is bought out in the form of the wooden flooring, the dim orange lighting, the yellow spotlights on the floor and fancy cieling lights in addition to the yellow string like decor, the orange walls and pillars and the huge poster of Anil Kapoor in black and red with grey clouds as background.

One thing that catches my interest is the optimum utilisation of space. If you notice, there is not a single moment when space is underutilised as dancers or other features are equally distributed. For example, even while the main dancer is dancing at centre stage where one can see the railing of the first floor from the same shot, its not empty, you can see dancers who are sitting on the railing and casually swinging their legs to the tune of the song in perfect sync.

I would say that this song might have been slightly difficult to choreographinize since Anil Kapoor who plays the main protagonist - dance director, is not much of a dancer and a song that is so rich in beats, it would have been a difficult task to fit him in. Inspite of that, he has fit in perfectly owing to a couple of factors. Firstly, his costume which has a lot of puffs around it especially the sleeves which are designed in the Arabian Nights style.

Due to the several layers of the outfit at the sleeves specially, each step that has been done by him seems to fit in with the strong beats as they have kind of boosted the energy that has been put in by the actor. For example, if you held a cloth in your hand and then swiftly moved your hand up and down, the movements would be more visible since its not only your arms that are moving but also the cloth that you are holding as opposed to your arm movements without any cloth. The same has worked for this choreographinization. Ofcourse, timely movements with the beats along with an amazing "I am the master of this game" attitude has made him look like a trained professional dancer..!

A lot of gymnastic and acrobatic steps have been used in this choreographinization with a bit of freestyle on punjabi beats which I would say has worked quite well with the song.

I particularly loved the coordination of movements with the beats. One particular example was Anil Kapoors entry where he walks down from a wooden staircase that is suspended on strings and while he is walking down (which is shot from the exteriors), it is perfectly coordianted with the beat and music of a string instrument.

The water sound effect also enhances the overall outcome of the dance and in fact there was a scene where an orange lighted water bowl is shown from where the sound effect is produced.

The use of spotlights on the main actors in the otherwise dark lighting have also been very attractive as it highlighted movements and even gelled very well with the overall set and created a mysterious feel.

Aishwaryas entry was interesting and especially the way she comes up from the staircase as opposed to Anil Kapoor whose entry was made as coming down a staircase.

I liked the idea of the long coat that hung loosely over her as there has been a lot of wind blowing effect used that obviously will create more of an effect if there are objects nearby that can produce the result of such an effect. In fact, her movements in front of the huge background poster with highlights on the clouds in it boosted the impact of the blowing wind effect.

The second part of the choreographinization was however less impressive. The set seemed over crowded thus reducing the appeal of the whole scene. In addition to that, the costumes were not exceptional either. Makes me wonder why they have to keep Aishwarya dressed in either blacks or whites. Black and white is normally well complemented with a colorful background, but with a setting that already has a lot of black and white, it would have been better if she was dressed in a brighter color like red which would even be in sync with the other costumes which were predominantly black, white and red.

Overall, this choreographinization was much more impressive in the first part and could have been even better if the second part was not conducted in a somewhat hasty manner. Excellent coordination and sync with the music and beats would be my opinion about the striking factor of this choreographinization.