Two to Tango: The Dubai-based choreographer who made Randeep Hooda dance

Let’s face it, not every contemporary Indian actor is as effortlessly twinkle-toed as, say, Madhuri Dixit or Hrithik Roshan - there are many who have to work extra hard on their dance sequences for films; there are also those who would rather leave out dancing from the contract altogether.

However, neither the naturally gifted nor the two-left-feet category of thespians had anything to fear when they were shooting Mira Nair’s BBC One series A Suitable Boy, because Dubai-based dancer, choreographer and DanceSport champion Rajeswari Vaidyanathan was there to work her magic. The former banker left the corporate world to pursue her passion and founded one of the largest Latin Ballroom dance schools in India, VR DanceSport, which now has a footprint in Dubai.

A Suitable Boy - a variety of dances

Rajeswari in a chat with City Times described the experience of working with Mira Nair and the cast of A Suitable Boy, including Extraction star Hooda, who has been known to shy away from films that involve elaborate dance sequences.

“It’s not a typical Bollywood project (being a BBC production) and ours is a very niche audience, we concentrate a lot on quality; Mira was looking at a lot of people, and we were initially shortlisted to do the Tango sequence, but upon seeing our work she decided to get us fully on board for the project.”

Rajeswari, who also trained actors Vaani Kapoor and Ranveer Singh for their Tango sequence in 2016’s Befikre, said A Suitable Boy demanded more of an international flavour as far as dancing went.

“This was a very post-Independence setting where Britishers had left their mark. So the dances couldn’t be a fusion of Bollywood styles, but had to cater to the international market, and be very authentic. An integral part of the main plot was where one of the suitors gets introduced to Lata, who is the lead protagonist (played by Tanya Maniktala), and for that, Mira had the Tango in mind. We trained about ten actors in total for the Tango sequences - including Tanya, Shahana Goswami, Vivek Gomber, Randeep Hooda (who had the slots but later dropped it), and veteran star Barun Chanda.”