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'I was nervous to dance with Shahid'
"Meri toh batti gul ho gayi,” that was newbie Chandan Sanyal’s immediate reaction when he learnt that he’d have to shake a leg with Shahid Kapoor...
"Meri toh batti gul ho gayi,” that was newbie Chandan Sanyal’s immediate reaction when he learnt that he’d have to shake a leg with Shahid Kapoor to the tunes of Dhan te nan, the Kaminey chartbuster that’s driving everyone into a tizzy.
Deadly duo
To make matters worse, Ahmed Khan was choreographing the number and like everyone in the industry, Sanyal too knew about Kapoor and Khan’s decade-old friendship and their on-screen chemistry. “I was so nervous that I just froze,” recalls the actor who’s been doing theatre for the last seven years.
He was convinced that just as he had lost Delhi 6 to Cyrus and Rock On!! to Arjun Rampal because he didn’t “look” the part, Kaminey, his third “big break” would also slip out of his fingers.
Rocking moves
But, to his surprised relief, director Vishal Bharadwaj took him aside and told him to relax. Says Sanyal, “The song didn’t really require serious dance movements. It’s shot in a pub and once Vishal told me I was free to do my own moves, I got into the groove, literally,” he grins.
Ahmed Khan reiterated this, saying he let Sanyal off the hook because Dhan te nan wasn’t a real dance. “It reminded me of Manoj Bajpai’s item number. Chandan was petrified, so I told him to just chill and go with the flow. I didn’t alter the steps and though not a dancer, he’s done well,” applauds Khan.
Sanyal’s understandably ecstatic. Not only is his song top of the charts today, he even got a congratulatory call from director Anurag Kashyap.
