You’d have been living under a rock if you haven’t come across video clips of Raveena Tandon’s daughter Rasha Thadani grooving to the beats of the song Uyi Amma from her recently released debut film Azaad. In a day and age when there are as many opinions as there are mouths, especially on social media, some have lauded the budding actress’s dancing skills, while others have opined that the song and its lyrics, especially when viewed in the context of being filmed on a 19-year-old actress, are in bad taste. This author, for one, has loved every single move and expression of the debutant actress in the song.
There are several reasons why Rasha has managed to leave many netizens impressed with Uyi Amma. Ever since the makers of Azaad released the song, a number of netizens have been drawing parallels with her mother who is known for her iconic dance numbers, expressions, and perfect lip-sync in songs like Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast (1994), Tip Tip Barsa Paani (1994), Sheher Ki Ladki (1996), Kisi Disco Mein Jaaye (1998), Ankhiyo Se Goli Maare (2002), among others which cemented her position as one of the IT girls in the industry back in the days. Some have even compared the finesse and ease with which Rasha has nailed the choreography in Uyi Amma with that of Katrina Kaif’s 2011 hit dance number Chikni Chameli.
However, we feel that the reason Uyi Amma has managed to grab the eyeballs is because there haven’t been as many iconic dance numbers since Chikni Chameli that have managed to stand the test of time when it comes to the recall value, especially in terms of the dance choreography and expressions. With the exception of probably Kareena Kapoor Khan’s Fevicol Se (2012), Sunny Leone’s Laila Main Laila (2017), Nora Fatehi’s Kamariya, Dilbar (2018) and O Saki Saki (2019), and Kriti Sanon’s Param Sundari (2021), we can hardly recall any other Bollywood dance number that stood out because of either its choreography or the expressions of the leading lady it was picturised on.
This is where Bosco Martis has hit it out of the park with choreographing the dance set pieces in Uyi Amma, that have a very specific kind of rustic feel which brings back the nostalgia of Katrina’s Chikni Chameli. However, those gyrating steps would have fallen flat had it not been for Rasha – totally killing it with the nazaakat of her movements (especially in the song’s antara aka chorus) and nailing her facial expressions to the T, never missing a single beat – something that Katrina too aced in Chikni Chameli. There’s a certain sense of abandon with which Katrina used to perform in her dance numbers and the same quality can evidently be seen in Rasha. Naysayers can dismiss the praises showered on her with comments like, “Ohh, she must have given the shot after numerous takes”, “It’s all only for the cameras”, or “She’s too young for such performances” but have they really seen her articulating the expressions not just with her movements, but also with her eyes, during the promotional events of Azaad? It’s one thing to rehearse and get a song right while shooting on the set, but it’s a thing of beauty to get it right, every single time, during even the most impromptu occasions. It just goes on to show her hard work and dedication to the craft.
We’ve always been of the belief that one of the parameters to ascertain the true calibre of an actor is to notice how confident they are in tight closeups. Going by that, Rasha definitely leaves an impressive mark in her closeup shots in the song, coming across as bold, dramatic, and quite astounding! In one of her promotional interviews, Rasha had shared that her mother made her watch some of the most iconic songs of the legendary actress Rekha, to make her understand the nuances of the art form. “She (Raveena) has made me watch and learn from a lot of Rekha ji‘s songs like Inn Aankhon Ki Masti Ke and lots of others. She has always tried to emphasise how these movies have so much strength in them because of the expression. She makes me pause and say, ‘See, Rekha ji’s expressions in this (song), see her eyes’.” Rasha had told BollywoodLife. Well, it seems that Raveena has taught her daughter well and she too has taken her mother’s advice quite seriously as it clearly shows in the song.
While the fate of Azaad doesn’t look as promising considering its performance at the ticket windows, that of Rasha in the industry surely does. For, a good actress may not always be a great dancer (eg: Kalki Koechlin, Konkona SenSharma, etc); but a good dancer, generally, turns out to be a good actor in the long run (eg: Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan etc).
(PS: There are always exceptions.)
