The Accidental Chennaite

– Kirty Kochar

On Madras Day this year, Kirty Kochar (neé Chopra), the daughter of famed Choreographer Anil Kumar Chopra, remembered her father.

It would not be wrong to call my father A.K. Chopra the Father of Choreography in the South Indian film industry. He was among the pioneers who gave meaning to film dances in Madras. In 1946, he came to Gemini Studios with his Guru – the great Uday Shankar – to shoot for the film Kalpana, in which he assisted as well as danced. However, the devastating Partition followed and his affluent family from Pakistan lost everything. It was S.S. Vasan of Gemini Studios who noticed his potential and offered him a permanent job for a salary of Rs. 500, a princely sum at that time. His passion for classical dancing was superseded by material needs and he stayed on in Madras. His time at Gemini Studios saw him giving hit after hit for both Tamil and Hindi films produced under its banner.

He co-choreographed the iconic Drum Dance, which even today is considered the epitome of dance choreography in films. He has worked with every superstar hailing from the south, from the great Sivaji Ganesan to the celebrated Rajinikanth. His personal favourite, however, was the versatile Kamal Haasan. My father’s dances were applauded in films like Anbe Vaa, Athey Kangal, and so many others. He made MGR do the Bhangra in Kudiruntha Koil and the Twist in Anbe Vaa. His range was expansive and included light classical, the folksy Thapankuthu (which he performed himself in Enga Veetu Mahalaxmi) as well as the Western styles. He wholeheartedly adapted himself to Madras and its vibrant culture and refused offers to shift to Bollywood despite their number. The film industry in Madras too patronised him, never letting him feel like an outsider. The only wounding cut was that his contribution to Jayalalithaa’s film career was never recognised. He was her dance teacher since the time she was twelve, and gave her the first break in AVM’s Man Mauji in which he composed a beautiful Radha Krishna dance.

He was always clad in a spotless kurta pyjama, his only luxury being the gold buttons that he wore. I remember that Sivaji Ganesan liked the buttons so much that he borrowed them to make a replica for himself. His last movie was Meendum Kokila, a Kamal Haasan and Sridevi starter; his composition for the song Radha Radha Nee Enge was much appreciated. He was too sick to do movies after that. It would not be wrong to say that he left this world with his dancing shoes on.

Associate Editor’s note: With thanks to Mohan Gopalakrishnan who posted the story on social media and kindly provided permission to carry it in Madras Musings..

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