Adding to Ramayana’s beat

Bringing his creative vision to an epic deeply rooted in India’s cultural consciousness as the Ramayana is a distinct artistic undertaking. And Shiamak Davar has approached it with two strikingly different expressions of movement. From the powerful Shiv Tandav associated with Yash’s portrayal of Ravana to the devotional visual presentation of Jai Jai Ram, conceived as an Aarti for Shri Ram, his choreography brings together intensity, scale and emotion. The expansive temple sequences accompanying Jai Jai Ram further showcase his ability to use movement as an integral part of cinematic storytelling.

What makes this association particularly interesting is the journey that precedes it. Shiamak has spent decades shaping the visual language of dance in Indian cinema, introducing a contemporary movement vocabulary to mainstream Bollywood with Yash Chopra’s Dil To Pagal Hai, for which he won the National Film Award for Best Choreography. He went on to create some of Hindi cinema’s most remembered dance moments through films such as Taal, Bunty Aur Babli, Dhoom 2 and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. But his contribution has always extended well beyond the big screen.

From choreographing the Asian Games ceremonies in 1982 and establishing the Shiamak Davar Dance Company in 1989 to founding the Shiamak Davar Institute for Performing Arts (SDIPA) in 1992, he has consistently worked towards taking dance to wider audiences.