The success of ‘Parudeesa’ is a ray of hope for the dance community in Kerala, say choreographers Sumesh Sundar and Jishnudas

Sumesh and Jishnu have choreographed the viral song from Amal Neerad’s Mammootty-starrer ‘Bheeshma Parvam’

Choreographers Sumesh Sundar and Jishnudas are over the moon. They are getting rave reviews for their work for the track ‘Parudeesa’ from Amal Neerad’s Mammootty-starrer Bheeshma Parvam. The song, composed by Sushin Shyam and sung by Sreenath Bhasi, is picturised on Soubin Shahir, Sreenath, Srindaa and Anagha. The video has clocked over 41 lakh views so far.

“Viewers have enjoyed the choreography. The appreciation is a heady feeling,” says Sumesh. They started Myself and My Moves, a “dance community” in 2016, and opened a dance studio by the same name in Thrissur a year later. The studio has been teaching different Western dance styles, besides Bollywood, semi-classical and contemporary. They have also been uploading videos of their performances and of the team on their YouTube channel (Myself and My Moves). One of those dance videos caught the attention of Amal Neerad.

“The call from his office came out of the blue. We were asked to meet him in Fort Kochi. Until we did meet him in person, we could not believe it was really happening,” says Jishnu.

Sumesh adds: “Amal ettan had seen our video of the song ‘Happy New Year’ from the Tamil film Kuruvi. Initially, he thought that we were choreographers from Tamil Nadu. Once he learned that we were based in Thrissur, he got in touch with us. We were surprised to know that he had seen all our videos. Even Soubin ikka, Bhasi and other artistes were discussing our videos.”

Amal’s brief for ‘Parudeesa’ was that since the song has the vibe of the late ‘80s, the choreography should not have too many new-age dance moves. “He needed the style that was popular during those times, such as the famous Michael Jackson moves. We have incorporated that [like Soubin’s moonwalk] and hip-hop party moves. All thanks to Sushin’s music and lyrics by Vinayak Sasikumar,” explains Sumesh.

The 20-odd dancers in the video include members and students of the dance studio. “Amal ettan’s plan was to shoot the song towards the end. But the pandemic upset the shooting schedule and so the shoot had to be done immediately. That’s why we went with our own dancers,” says Jishnu. The song was shot at Uru Art Harbour in Fort Kochi.

They say that since Soubin, Sreenath and Anagha are good dancers the teaching process was smooth. “Amal ettan had insisted on rehearsals and it was the actors who were excited about it. Many of our actors are good dancers but they rarely get a chance to showcase that in Malayalam cinema. ‘Parudeesa’ was an opportunity for the actors in the film to rock. We gave all of them the space to perform,” Sumesh says. They have choreographed one more song in the movie, which features dancers from their studio.