EXCLUSIVE: Did you know Ranveer Singh had anxiety before his iconic Dola re Dola performance in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani?

Ranveer Singh is an excellent dancer and the world knows it. This year, he gave an iconic performance on the recreation of Dola Re Dola for Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. The recreation got a lot of notice for its social commentary as well as the performance of Ranveer and Tota Roy Choudhury. But in an exclusive chat with Bollywood Bubble, choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant revealed the ordeal the actor was in before the song’s shoot.

Vaibhavi Merchant on recreating Dola Re Dola with Ranveer Singh

Sharing how the conversation around the song started, Vaibhavi discussed her call with director Karan Johar. She revealed, “Karan challenged me and told me that Dhindora Baje Re hai with Ranveer and Alia (Bhatt). But before that, there is Tota Roy Choudhury and Ranveer Singh who have to break into classical Kathal dancing. And they are doing it to Dola Re Dola. I was like, hey bhagwan, marr gayi main, mere paas hi kyun aata hai ye? (I was like, why does these kind of things only come to me.)”

She went on to add, “Dola Re Dola is an iconic song, a classic performed by two dancers Madhuri Dixit ji and Aishwarya Rai ji. With that, the combination of Sanjay Leela Bhansali ji and Saroj Khan ji. In that, my sweet little Ranno, Ranveer Singh, he has never stood in the pose of Kathak. And then Tota Roy Choudhury, who is a brilliant actor from the Bengali film industry, he has never danced to save his life. He is not a dancer. And I am asking, Karan what were you on? What were you thinking when you decided this sequence?”

Ranveer had anxiety before the song shoot

Vaibhavi revealed how the two actors as well as Karan were feeling right before the shoot of Dola Re Dola. She shared, “Ranveer is palpitating, he has got anxiety calls. He can’t call me and tell me nahi hoga because I have done Band Baaja Baarat. So, he knows he will not get away with that call and it will not be easy. But I had to ensure that all his anxieties are calmed. And poor thing, Tota Roy Choudhury is silently like bola hai to karna padega, koi choice nahi. Karan is also anxiously calling me, Vaibhavi we will keep it very this. I said, Karan just relax, now we are in this. It is too late in the day for us to contemplate at what measure and how much. Leave it up to me, I will design it.”

The choreographer insisted that being a trained Kathak dancer, she had to make sure the professionals aren’t offended by the performance. “I am walking on a two-edged sword. I remember tying the ghungroo for Ranveer and I gave him a bit of a crash course.” Well, the crash course worked as the performance became iconic. It also raised a conversation and that shows the success of it. Vaibhavi credits a lot of that to the writing of it.

You can watch the entire chat with Vaibhavi here:

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Vaibhavi Merchant addresses Besharam Rang controversy: If we had called it something else, it would’ve solved our issues