If you like dancing, you will love these films

An innovator of Indian modern dance, Uday Shankar's first and only film, Kalpana (1948) was taken off elements of his own life. Shankar played Udayan, a young dancer who wants to set up his own dance school; in real life, he had set one up a decade earlier. Kalpana was a dance ballet paired with classical Indian dance forms featuring Shankar's wife Amala and a teenage Padmini, in her debut. A recent restoration of the black and white film by the World Cinema Foundation headed by filmmaker Martin Scorsese was triumphantly screened at the 65^th Cannes Film Festival in 2012.

V. Shantaram's Technicolor ode to dance showcased Indian classical dance (Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Manipuri) at its best. Starring his wife Sandhya and noted Kathak dancer Gopi Krishna as an estranged couple for the highly competitive Bharat Natarajan title. Sandhya was not a classically trained dancer and practised many months to match up to Krishna. The success of the film led to critical acclaim – it won two National Awards including Best Feature in Hindi and four Filmfare Awards along with wins for Best Film and Director.

Once again, V. Shantaram and Sandhya returned with another dance feature with the 1959 film, Navrang. The critically panned film was adored by audiences for its superlative dance sequences; it ran for 50 weeks at Mumbai's Liberty Cinema. Manipal played Diwakar, a poet lost in the world of his perfect woman and muse, Mohini. His wife Jamuna, played by Sandhya, tries to remind him about the realities of life until it's too late, when he finally comes to his senses. In the opening black and white credits, Shantaram made a personal appearance to talk about his battle with temporary blindness. Navrang was the colourful light waiting at the end of the tunnel for him. The movie then radiantly shifts to colour.

Director Lekh Tandon brought a 2,500-year-old classic tale of the courtesan Amrapali to life with this period film peppered with some great dances from Vyjayanthimala. Co-starring Sunil Dutt as King Ajaatshatru whose is obsessed with capturing the state of Vaishali. He changes his outlook on the business of battle after falling in love with Amrapali, who detests war. The soundtrack consisted of only four songs composed by Shankar-Jaikishan and sung by Lata Mangeshkar. Gopi Krishna choreographed the dances and the striking costumes designed by Bhanu Athaiya grew so popular that its style of blouses came to be known as Amrapali blouses.

14 years in the making, Kamal Amrohi's Pakeezah had a difficult path to release. There were personal differences between Amrohi and its star Meena Kumari, financial difficulties and the deaths of two of the technicians, music composer Ghulam Mohammed and cinematographer Josef Wirsching. Meena Kumari, in a double role, played Nargis and her daughter Sahibjaan, both who seek to escape the world of the brothel that they have grown up in. Both mother-daughter place their fate in the hands of the man they love; only one gets her happy ending. Naushad stepped in to complete the music after Mohammed's death. The songs and Meena Kumari's performance in them have become iconic especially after her tragic death only two months after the film's release.

Mithun Chakraborty brought disco to Hindi cinema with B. Subhash's Disco Dancer (1982). The story of a street dancer who becomes the top dancer in clubs is getting over the loss of his mother. The film has attained cult status in many parts of the world especially the former Soviet Union and the Western-inspired soundtrack composed by Bhappi Lahiri especially 'Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Aaja' has been sampled by many artistes worldwide. Mithun and his electric dancing came to define an entire decade and he was later typecast in many similar roles in his career. Bizarrely, superstar Rajesh Khanna has a brief cameo in Disco Dancer as Jimmy's mentor and hero.

Based on the true to life events of dancer-actress Sudha Chandran, this remake of the Telugu film Mayuri (1984) introduced Chandran to Hindi audiences. A gifted Bharatanatyam dancer, Chandran had her leg amputated after an accident and learnt to dance again, two years later, with a prosthetic. Both films follows a similar storyline. For her inspiring performance, Sudha Chandran was given a special Jury Award at the National Awards in 1986. Nache Mayuri remains a poignant reminder of what dance means to an individual and what the absence of it in life can lead to.

Yash Chopra's Dil To Pagal Hai was a strange mix of old and new. Using a traditional soundtrack to depict a love triangle set amidst a dance troupe, Chopra made the film contemporary by having the songs choreographed by Shiamak Davar, known for incorporating Western and jazz styles into his dances. The music scored by Uttam Kumar and the lyrics by Anand Bakshi were a big hit. Chopra made a bit of casting coup with two lead actors, Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor, opposite Shah Rukh Khan. At the National Awards, Davar picked up the Best Choreographer award while Kapoor was awarded Best Supporting Actress for a role rejected by most of the top heroines of the time.

Madhuri Dixit came back to Hindi films after a gap of six years with Yash Raj Films' dance-oriented film, Aaja Nachle (2007). She played Dia, a choreographer from New York who returns to India to rescue her guru's dance theatre Ajanta from folding down. Dia inherits a motley crew of dancers and non-dancers to put up a grandiose performance to save the theatre. Despite the draw of Dixit, the film wasn't successful. However, choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant won the IIFA Award for Best Choreography for the catchy title song.

India's first 3D dance film, (Any Body Can Dance) by choreographer turned director Remo D'Souza took the popularity of dance reality shows like Dance India Dance from the small screen to the big screen. With a cast full of talented dancers like Prabhudeva, Ganesh Acharya, Dharmesh Yelande, Salman Khan, and Lauren Gottlieb (from the US version of So You Think You Can Dance), the film introduced the first truly modern dance franchise in India, showcasing urban dance forms like krumping, locking and popping, and contemporary alongside classic dance forms like ballet and kathak. A highly successful sequel ABCD 2 that broke into the 100 crore club released in 2015.