And Now... A South Indian Dance Extravaganza!

It’s finally finished! My ode to the wonders of South Indian (specifically Tamil and Telugu) film dancing! Enjoy this little compilation (er, EXTRAVAGANZA!) of the collective awe-inspiring massalicious moves of Bharath, NTR Jr, Prabhas, Vikram, Mahesh Babu, Lawrence, Vijay, and Prabhu Deva (and a smidgen of Arya!).

Someone’s name conspicuously absent, you ask? Well, I figured since Bunny had an entire video of his own I should give the stage to some of the other fantastic Tolly/Kollywood dancers. :D And there just wasn’t enough room for Ram Charan, Gopichand, or Ram, and really I was limited to what I had in my DVD collection for all these boys.

I’ve never before fully appreciated Bharath’s dancing- he does the lungi-wearing everyman street-style perfectly, and while he’s not conventionally handsome he has the charm laid on thick! He dances with his whole heart! NTR Jr of course is a fabulous dancer, but I found myself gravitating towards his earlier massy crap films where he’s much stockier and the choreography is hilarious. How can you not love it?! Seriously, I was smiling and cracking myself up through the entire editing process. Get his earlier films. Just for the songs. You’ll thank me later.

If you’re curious about the films these songs are from (which is part of the point here, to spread the southie love!) here’s a list:

• NTR Jr – Andhrawala, Kantri, Yamadonga, Ashok, Samba,
• Prabhas – Bujjigadu, Billa, Munna, Pournami, Chatrapathi, Ragavendra, Varsham
• Bharath – Chennai Kadhal, Emtan Magan, Koodal Nagar, Pattiyal, Veyil, Azhagai Irukkirai Bayamai Irukkirathu
• Mahesh Babu – Pokiri, Athadu
• Vijay – Pokkiri, Sachein, Shahjahan
• Lawrence – Style, Pandi
• Vikram – Dhool, Gemini, Arul
• Prabhu Deva – Minsara Kanavu, Pokkiri

This is where I now blab about the virtual blood, sweat, and tears involved in bringing me to near-insanity whilst putting this 720p shindig together (which looks soooooo much better than poor Bunny's!). I’d like to thank the following programs for simultaneously pissing me off and wowing me: Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD, Handbrake, Audacity, AoA DVD Ripper, Total Video Converter, Replay Media Catcher, and all the software, codecs, and other insanely complicated things I tried. I’m so proud of myself for figuring out how to make NTR Jr’s crap 1.33 aspect ratio DVDs look like widescreen, deinterlaced marvels. Note to all you Sony Vegas users out there- if the program is crashing lest you even breathe on it wrong and says anything about memory, read this tip. This saved MY UNIVERSE because until the 11th hour it looked like all the hours I’d spent copying and cutting and clipping and pasting and mixing on this thing were completely wasted.

Last, the music! Again, I have no idea what they are singing, haha. Hopefully it’s not too trashy. :) Here’s the mix:

• “Gira Gira” from Sowram (Telugu)
• “Dhakku Dhakku” from Shankam (Telugu)
• “Daddy Mummy” from Villu (Tamil)
• “Sexy Lady” from Ninaithale Inikkum (Tamil)
• “Raja Maharaja” from Ganesh (Telugu)

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