I am interested in the depiction of Cabaret dancers in Bollywood, specifically looking at the famous Bollywood dancer/actress Helen. As I googled Cabaret in Bollywood, Helen kept popping up as one of the most popular Bollywood dancers (especially in relation to Cabaret). This really struck a personal note for me, as I grew up watching Bollywood films and always remember her numbers and my mom specifically talking about how beautiful a woman and dancer Helen was. I always wondered why her name was "Helen" and I loved watching her in the films. Now after a few google searches, I learned she is half burmese, quarter Anglo and quarter Indian and sort of happened upon the business after a very tough childhood fleeing Burma. I also learned her "breakthrough" film was when she sang and danced "Mera Nam Chin Chin Choo". This was one of my all time favorite old Bollywood songs and it was so interesting to see the video via you tube after just singing the song for all these years (not really knowing the meaning). I never knew Helen was up front and Geeta Dutt was only her background singer. Anyhow, my interest is piqued in wanting to learn more about what was permissible and what was not in terms of depicting female sexuality through dance in night club settings. Apparently, from what I read, Helen was a classy Cabaret act and though she was sexy, she was never considered vulgar. Her dance training was also eclectic, which reminds me of our very own PN collective members that grapple with being sexualized and perceived as exotic for being ethnically ambiguous. Was she sexually empowered or objectified vixen? I am also interested in researching if there was an actual Cabaret scene in Mumbai, India or if was only depicted in Bollywood Fantasy land. Here are a few links that I found and I'm excited to learn more.
http://post.jagran.com/Cabaret-Queen-Helen-celebrates-72nd-birthday-1319116432
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVKEMOenP-o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WX5D_bxSRQ
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Sangita cites "Muqabla Hum Se Na Karo" when writing about Helen and her role as "vamp" in her book, _Is it all About the Hips? : Around the World wih Bollywood Dance_. The contrast between Indian and foreign dance forms is striking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_LHOw4p6DE
ReplyDeleteAnjali, I am really looking forward to our exchange as we both are interested to research more about Helen and her work.
ReplyDeleteI feel that their is a lot that we can discuss just by looking at her song sequences.The choreography which was never her's but bore her stamp due to some signature steps and expressions, her costumes, hair and make-up, positioning of the song in the film's narrative all provide a lot of food for thought and can be great case studies to understand an entire era of Hindi cinema.
I would also like to add that Geeta Dutt was not her only background voice. Lata Mangeshkar has been her singing voice in many films, but I think most of her biggest hits have been sung by Asha Bhonsle. In fact because Asha Bhonsle sang a lot for Helen, for several years she was typecast as being suitable only for cabaret numbers or western style songs. It is interesting to note how the screen identity of these performers influenced and impacted their individual careers.
Yes, Helen has been fascinating for me as well for a very long time! In terms of my interest in Princess Amina, I am curious about the limitation of the "cabaret" to the nightclub, the exoticisms, and the racial ambiguity! I am excited to explore these parallels!
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize Helen performed in more recent films as Salman Khan's mother and grandmother, nor did I realize that she's still alive! Or at least she was in 2011 in which the article you linked celebrates her 72nd Birthday...wow!
ReplyDeleteAlso from that article an interesting little mention of Cabaret: "The word cabaret was like a taboo in Bollywood. It was Helen who changed Bollywood’s notion by glamourising cabaret through her fabulous and remarkable dance moves. Helen’s performances in all ways can be an inspiration for all the item girls in the film industry. In fact, undeniably it can be stated that she is the one to start the trend of item numbers in B-town in the form of cabaret." - http://post.jagran.com/Cabaret-Queen-Helen-celebrates-72nd-birthday-1319116432#sthash.PPIkBbp3.dpuf
This aversion to cabaret also reminds me of one of my Bharata Natyam guru's insistence that we never perform where people are eating. I seem to remember her equating their eating with the act of consuming the dancer in some way as well. Did anyone else get this kind of warning? I wonder if it was against the cabaret or dancing bar?
DeleteMy teachers never expressed such an aversion to me directly. My own dislike (which was stronger in the past than now) of performing while people are eating has to do with the "distracted spectatorship" of the cabaret - that you don't have people's full attention and have to compete with their food and conversation. My perception was that it relegated the performance to "light entertainment," though my readings on cabaret are shifting that perception.
DeleteI'm also not sure if there is a clear distinction between a cabaret and a dance bar. Perhaps the connotations of cabaret are different in an Indian context, but as far as I understand, a cabaret is anywhere open late at night where food and usually alcohol are served along with live entertainment.