Some stories tell of positive thoughts, of perseverance, destiny and success, while others are of tragedies engulfed in despair, pathos and fate. Some…lead from one to the other – like the ‘riches to rags’ tragic life story of arguably the first male dancing superstars of Indian cinema. The stories of Hindi actor-dancer-director-producer Bhagwan dada aka Bhagwan and Tamil dancer-singer-actor-director-composer-producer J.P. Chandrababu are hauntingly similar. We have all been fans of the signature slow dancing steps of Amitabh Bachchan, with his hands thrust downwards and the palms inverted, accompanied by a slow moving torso and the craning of the neck; this ‘step’ was also perfected by other dancing stars of Bollywood like Mithun Chakraborty, Govinda and Rishi Kapoor. The credit for revolutionising this step goes to Bhagwan, the dancing star of Hindi movies from the 1930s to 1950s. The portly Bhagwan, with bulging eyes and protruding teeth, began his film career with the silent movie ‘Bewafa Aashiq’ in 1930. After other successful movies in the 1940s, he tasted success in 1951 with ‘Albela’, one of the greatest movies on Hindi celluloid. ‘Albela’ portrayed the story of a young poor man who wished to make it big in cinema, much like the story of Bhagwan himself - who was the son of a poor textile worker from Parel (Bombay). His slow dance movements in ‘Shola jo bhadke’ - in which Bhagwan dances a peppy twist inspired by the Hawaiian hula dance style, ‘Sham dhale khidki tale’ - in Indian mujra-inspired style, and ‘Bholi surat dil ke khotey’ - where Bhagwan mixes his western steps with the Indian steps of the chorus dancers, made film goers throng to film theatres for more than 25 weeks - a commendable feat in those times.
Bhagwan followed his heart and attempted more movies emulating his dance success of Albela, but all these films failed at the box office, creating financial difficulties for him. He had famously remarked, “The distance between Foras Road (a downmarket red-light and tawaif area of Bombay) and Lamington Road (a 1950s upmarket area and presently the IT hub of Mumbai) can be covered in 15-20 minutes, but it took me 12 years to reach there”. It is a statement that summed up his iconic rise to riches and fame through sheer hard work and dedication. Bhagwan owned a sea-facing Juhu bungalow, which had 25 rooms, and a fleet of 7 cars - one for each day of the week. Failure had seemed unimaginable, Kishore Kumar’s decision to walk out of the film ‘Hanste Rehna’, for which Bhagwan had pledged everything he had, was the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back. A fire also destroyed all the prints of his old films (prior to ‘Albela’). He continued to act in bit roles in Hindi movies, mostly as the villain’s sidekick - dancing with a whisky bottle in hand, or as a side comedian – breaking into a slow jig. While he was honoured by the Maharashtra Government before his death in 2002, he died in a chawl in Dadar (Mumbai). Bhagwan danced to the tune of life’s travails. As a mark of respect to the great man, noted Director Niranjan Patwardhan announced a biopic on him in 2013.
J.P. Chandrababu, Tamil superstar, the ‘Hank Williams’ of Tamil cinema, was also born in poverty in Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu) and raised in Sri Lanka by his devout Catholic parents. After his initial struggles and an attempted suicide, one day the wandering Chandrababu, while walking on the Marina Beach in Madras, decided that he would like to sing and dance in movies. He began his movie career in 1947. By the mid-1950s Chandrababu had established himself as a dancing superstar. He could sing, dance and act. He introduced yodelling (in singing); in fact it is said that Kishore Kumar learnt his famous ‘Rajesh Khanna yodelling’ from him. Chandrababu could dance everything: he could cha cha, tango, twist and ballroom, and could also do a ‘Tappan kutthu’ - a local street dance of Madras - with ease. He could as easily play the role of a suave suited-booted anglicised gentleman, as a rickshaw puller. His moves in ‘Jolly Life Jolly Life’, ‘Rock Rock Rock’ - a fusion between Rock and Carnatic music, and ‘Paper Paper’ are still danced on and remixed, and are popular disco themes of party dancing. Chandrababu is most recognised for his role in the Tamil classic ‘Shabash Meena’. He was the first actor to command Rs. 100,000 for a movie. He owned a huge bungalow of 20 grounds at Greenways Road in upscale Madras, with a car park on the first floor - outside his bedroom window. The late 1950s and early 1960s belonged entirely to Chandrababu. But his non-conformist and frank opinions did him in – just like they did Bhagwan dada. MGR, the Tamil superstar turned Chief Minister, whom Chandrababu had insulted in his heydays, walked out of his under-production movie ‘Madi Veetu Ezhai’, which reduced Chandrababu to penury. Though he attempted to revive his career by dancing ‘funnily’, acting in bit roles and directing films (which did not work in the changing landscape of Tamil cinema), the damage had been done. Producers whom he had insulted during his heydays, made him ‘dance’ to their tunes, Chandrababu continued his passion to dance, and though he danced well, he became more of a chorus dancer - who was sidelined to the corner of the stage by the ‘Hero’. He tottered into penury. Alcohol, women and an addiction to ‘pethidine’, a drug popular in ‘high societies’ in the 1970s, hurled him to his death in 1974. Buried at Quibble Island in Chennai, Chandrababu is now recognised as the first dancing legend of Tamil cinema.
The virtual world has resurrected the ‘original’ dancing stars of Indian cinema. Bhagwan and Chandrababu have been immortalised by the various remixes of their dancing numbers that are being uploaded on the Internet. Their numbers are also played as dance songs in rave parties and are regular features in ‘old songs’ music channels. These superstars did live a full, eventful life – though unfortunately backwards.
The Writer is a renowned Kuchipudi Danseuse and Choreographer
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