Choreographer criticises his fellow Bollywood choreographers for being part of camps and not bringing anything new to the table

Shiamak Davar has been conspicuously absent from mainstream Hindi films for a while now. But he insists that he had his hands full with several international projects.

Though the Mumbai-based choreographer is all set to choreograph Yash Raj banner's upcoming action film, he thinks the 'camp mentality' is the real reason behind his lack of exposure in the B-Town.

He says he's not desperate for a project and further adds, `A lot of the people from the industry are jealous of me as I take India not just Bollywood abroad. Besides, there are a lot of the so-called camps who are comfortable working with their own set of people. I don't know why I'm not part of their league. Maybe it has something to do with the originality in my work.`

With an experience ranging more than 25 years that includes setting up a dance school, Shiamak is convinced that choreography is a dying art form in Hindi cinema.


`Nowadays, it's a set formula. A majority of them are only good at editing dance moves. They don't have anything new to offer, as they don't work on creating their distinct style. And to make matter worse, the awards are given to the most popular song, not the best choreographed song,` he rues.

So is there any choreographer in tinseltown who Shiamak admires? Well, he only manages to squeeze out three names, `I enjoy the kind of work Saroj Khan, Farah Khan and Ganesh Acharya are doing.`

A round of music

Shiamak is going back to his first love: singing. His upcoming music album is a collaborative project that involves duets with Shankar Mahadevan, Hariharan and Shweta Pandit. He points out that Mahadevan was the backup singer in his debut album Mohabbat Kar Le and that he had encouraged the crooner to explore further opportunities.