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What is the world of classical Indian dancing all about? And does dancing become an obsession with some families? All this and more is brought vividly to life when to-be-weds Lata (Anoushka Shankar) and Vishal (Sameer Soni) visit their parents’ sprawling, antique-filled mansion in Bangalore to get their blessings in Dance Like A Man. Lata is also getting ready for her arangetram (debut as a dancer) and her classical dancer mother Ratna (Shobana) is all excited about it. For her it is "more important than the engagement" and when one of the accompanying musicians suffers multiple fractures Ratna simply goes hysterical. But her dancer husband Jairaj (Arif Zakaria) is quite familiar with these tantrums. This hullabaloo is the spark or catalyst that puts that dancing couple’s past under close inspection. Jairaj’s despotic father, businessman and freedom fighter Amritlal Parekh (Mohan Agashe) never wanted his son to be a dancer and thought it only to be craft of prostitutes." But it his domineering wife Ratna who seems to have him in the palm of her hands and their chequered lives and secrets come to light in this rather absorbing family drama of power and its abuse. Director Pamela Rooks does well to bring out the different layers of conflict in this renowned family. That Jairaj is by now an alcoholic is not surprising and this helps him establish a rapport with his businessman son-in-law-to-be Vishal. From their first watering hole meeting they seem to console each other. But what about Lata? "You are helping me to make my dreams come true," she tells her ambitious, scheming mother Ratna. But does she really want to become a dancer? She isn’t too sure. And will history repeat itself? With the judicious use of the flashback, director Rooks unfolds this rather enigmatic story. Shuttling between Bangalore and Mysore, the ambience is well captured. The old mansion with a good deal of Portuguese rosewood furniture comes alive. So does the family saga of deception and the compromises one has to make. Innuendo, too, is used effectively and this foursome is able to hold the viewer’s attention for the most part. If Shobana is too exuberant, it is probably because of the strong character she is portraying but Arif Zakaria and Sameer Soni are able to balance this with their restrained acting. The performance of Anoushka Shankar, daughter of sitar maestro Ravi Shankar is rather patchy but Marathi drama actor Mohan Agashe is the worst of the lot. But Dance Like A Man does well to capture the psyche of a dancer and how the old order has to at times make way for the new. Well worth watching. |
