Aishwarya Rai's Urge to Learn Dance

Astad Deboo, that contemporary and modern Indian classical dancer, has been lured into the deep jungles of Athirappilly, Kerala, by filmmaker Mani


Ratnam to teach the lovely Aishwarya Rai Bachchan some new steps.

Ash, who is shooting for Mani’s Raavan with hubby Abhishek Bachchan, is required to do a climactic life and death dance sequence for which the Padma Shri fusion dance choreographer was specially called in. The actress, of course, is as graceful as can be when it comes to dancing on screen (remember Nimbuda from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Kahin Aag Lage from Taal?), and choreographers from Saroj Khan to Shiamak Davar have raved about her professionalism when it comes to taking instruction. Now it’s Astad’s turn. This is his first experiment with Bollywood, though he did agree to lend his supple creativity to M F Husain’s Meenaxi before. According to a source, Astad’s chosen a tandav of passion, retribution and redemption for Ash, because Mani wanted a fusion of kathak, ballet and contemporary dance. The steps are intricate and new and Ash has to dance barefeet on slippery and unsafe ground. Moreover, she has to do the steps twice over and in quick succession, first with Abhishek for the Hindi version and then with Vikram for the Tamil version. Naturally, all this isn’t easy for the actress at all. She hasn’t been complaining, however. Probably because she’s getting her fun watching Abhishek, who is notoriously one of the worse dancers in Bollywood, struggling to work on his steps.