(A young girl is giving her mother a long list of accessories so that she can get decked up for her first ghoomar) O Mhaane Ramta ne Kaajal Tiki Lyado ye Maa The beat of jhaanjar and tabla was in her blood. She had the entire audience enthralled by her footwork as she moved to the sonorous melody of bansuri and sarangi. Then she ran to the front of the stage and started spinning. No sooner did the folk lyrics “ O Mhaari Ghoomar che Nakhrali ye Maa” came on the speakers, my two-year-old daughter started dancing in her seat. The teachers opened the celebration with a traditional ghoomar. It was the annual day function at my son’s school at St. A sweet memory of this folk dance emerges like baby fingers through soft silt: something precious and cherished twirling with mystery, magic and magnificence. Having lived there for over a decade, I remember several live performances. While I have enjoyed the filmy ghoomar for its larger-than-life allure, I have even fonder memories of its authentic expressions in Rajasthan. Painting of women performing ghoomar by Monita Soni And then came the magnum opus Padmavat in which Rajasthan’s ghoomar was showcased in extravagant sets with massive star power (Deepika Padukone, again!) and luxuriant music composed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
In Ramleela’s massively popular Nagada Sang Dhol, heartthrobs Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone made the Gujarati garba sizzle with romantic flamboyance. Mission Kashmir gave us Kashmir’s rouf dance while Chennai Express gave us a frivolous filmy peek at Kerala’s kathakali. But to their credit, these movies have popularized regional folk dances to national and international audiences-even when not always representing them in their most authentic forms. Bollywood may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the artistry and aesthetics of the many exquisite regional folk dances of India.
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