As the audience flocked to the theatres to witness Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, they were unaware that they were about to experience something far beyond a typical popcorn entertainer. Karan delved into a subject close to his heart – challenging gender stereotypes. This is precisely where the viral ‘Dola Re’ sequence, starring Tota Roy Choudhury and Ranveer Singh, becomes significant.
Renowned Bengali actor Tota Roy Choudhury portrays the character of Chondon Chatterjee, Alia Bhatt’s father, in the movie. Chondon is a kathak dancer-trainer who faced numerous challenges and hardships in life. Despite enduring taunts and setbacks, Tota’s character, Chondon, grows in confidence and mastery of his art. He eventually shares his wisdom with ‘balle balle’ enthusiast, Ranveer Singh, leading to a spectacular ‘Dola Re’ sequence featuring both Tota and Ranveer.
IndiaToday.in spoke to Tota Roy Choudhury and he discussed the renowned ‘Dola Re’ sequence, his kathak training, and showered praise upon his co-star Ranveer.
“Let me start by congratulating Karan Johar and the writers for creating a sequence like that. It is very rare to come across sequences like that so sensitively handled and written. And it’s been picturised in such a way that it was in the truest sense of celebration of the evolution. Somebody who is from a patriarchal background, like Rocky, getting onto the stage to perform ‘Dola Re’, is in itself a very powerful statement made by the director,” he said.
Tota shared that when he joined the project, Karan Johar was adamant that his portrayal of Chondon Chatterjee should not appear as a caricature. Instead, the character needed to exude confidence and celebrate the essence of culture, dance, and art. To meet these expectations, Tota took on intense kathak practices and rehearsals, despite his tight schedule due to simultaneous shooting for other Bengali films. “I did a short course in Kolkata, and then in Mumbai and under the watchful eye of Vaibhavi Merchant, who started off as a kathak exponent and she knows about this. So I was taught by some very good teachers who really took care about teaching somebody like me, a middle-aged man, to mainly get the body language and expressions right, more than the steps,” he said.
About Ranveer, he said, “Ranveer is a delight to work with because he is so full of positivity. He’s such a lovely human being, not one mean bone in his body. He’s always so open, nice, always smiling, always making the other person feel important. He’s a different breed altogether. They don’t make human beings like him anymore. And I’m talking about in every field. He’s a lovely human being and working with him has been such a delight, in spite of him being such a big star. He was super star. He’s so down to earth. Working with him has always been good and he put in 200 per cent because he was also quite conscious about being authentic.”
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