Atul Jindal: Yo Yo Honey Singh, Diljit Dosanjh and Badshah value choreography

Renowned choreographer Atul Jindal who has made artists like Yo Yo Honey Singh, Diljit Dosanjh, Shahrukh Khan, Kriti Sanon, Badshah, and more, recently sat for a cup of candid conversation with ETimes. During the same, he spoke about how the choreography in Punjabi music videos works, what are the key factors, actors who know the worth of it, and much more. He also spoke about training artists for their live shows! Read the excerpts below:

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The Punjabi music industry has grown multi-folds in the last few years. Visionary artists like Honey Singh changed the game with their albums like ‘International Villager’ and made the independent music scene what it is today. Today, music videos are neck to neck with big Bollywood numbers, and the number of independent artists from Punjab making waves the world over is insane!

The choreography scene has also grown tremendously, we introduced a new flavor, a new movement style with ‘Blue Eyes’ and since then we’ve tried our best to keep bringing new and innovative choreographies, dance styles, and visual treatment to each song we do.

Over the years we’ve tried to change the perspective that dancers are not just placed in videos as background dancers, but as artists that add so much to the video. For me, choreography is so much more than just the steps, but visualizing the overall character and vibe of the song. Trained dancers, the right styling & makeup adds so much and takes the music video to the next level.

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I also feel with so many artists and such a huge industry, there are very few artists that actually focus on detailing. Yo Yo Honey Singh, Diljit Dosanjh, and Badshah are a few of the artists that create good quality videos and value what choreography and dancers can bring to the video.

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Firstly Yo Yo always brings such new and different genres of songs. The music, the vision for each song is very unique, so the most important thing for me as a choreographer is to understand what the song demands and what the visual treatment is going to be and then choreograph accordingly. First, to choose the right genre of dancing that justifies his music, it could be hip-hop, a new school like a 'Love Dose' or even a fusion with belly dance and semi classical-like ‘Saiyaanji. Choosing the right flavor is the most important.

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Having worked with Honey bhai for so many years now, I know what kind of movement will suit him. He has such a strong personality and has a natural rhythm and groove, that he takes any steps you throw at him and adds his own style to it. So my idea always is to give him something that enhances his natural style, so he enjoys it and that makes it 10 times better.

Further, a very important factor is to create choreography that’s easily relatable to the audience. Our idea always is that your hook step should be something catchy that everybody listening to the song can dance along to. Your audience is your biggest cheerleader and given the massive fan base, Yo-Yo has, I need to create a choreography that becomes iconic to songs like ‘Ek Pal ka Jeena’ or ‘Blue Eyes’!

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Key factors to keep in mind while choreographing live shows

Live shows have always been my favorite as I studied performing arts at Broadway New York.

Choreographing for live shows you need to act as a stage director to visualize the entire performance, with dancers, audiovisuals, costumes, props, transitions, entry and exit, and of course grand reveal for the artist.

I’ve had the opportunity to choreograph for some amazing shows like Temptation Reloaded tour, Mirchi Music Awards, Badshah’s Ultimate Pop Show, and reality shows and worked with artists like Shahrukh Khan, Kriti Sanon, Shushant Singh Rajput, Abhishek Bachchan, etc.

Your performance needs to be grand, creating a big visual experience for even a person sitting far off from the stage. With live shows, there’s no room for error and hence performance needs to be well-rehearsed with the artist. It’s also very important to create a good connection between the dancers and the artist, so it looks like one harmonious performance.

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I also trained Diljit Dosanjh for his performances and it was an amazing experience as he was so enthusiastic to learn new dance styles and show a new side to his performance. I strongly feel that every artist should do dance training. Even if they are not doing proper choreography and there are no dancers, training in grooves and body language adds so much to their overall performance and stage presence.

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