Exclusive: Campus Beats Creator Palki Malhotra On Gender Bias In Industry, Her Favourite Dill Mill Gaye Character, More
This dance director has the industry grooving!
Remember Karan Singh Grover’s Dr Armaan Malik from Dill Mill Gayye? Creative producer and dance director Palki Malhotra was the woman behind this character. After working on leading shows like Dil Dostii Dance, MTV Girls On Top and many more, this TV director is back with a romantic drama dance series titled Campus Beats on Amazon miniTV. In an exclusive chat with us, Palki revealed how Dr Armaan Malik was actually her favourite character and she lived vicariously through Dr Riddhima. She also shared how directing dance sequences for reality shows is different from fiction shows and competitions. Read on to know more.
View this post on Instagram
Q. You’ve directed dance sequences in shows and for reality shows as well as competitions? How are dance sequences for reality shows different from contests and those from shows like Campus Beats?
Palki Malhotra: International dance reality shows are extremely different from fiction shows. In non-fiction, you don’t have the liberty to cut or perform twice. I am not really sure about the dance reality shows in India now. I am not sure if they cut and do re-takes. With fiction shows, because it is story-led and character-led, you have the liberty to cut and get your character, story, or narrative of the scene highlighted. In fictional dance shows, you have to know what the character is thinking or feeling which is the key. On the stage, in reality shows, it is only about the skill set and technicality and not about what the dancers are feeling.
Having said that, both are extremely difficult because, on reality shows, you don’t have the time, you have to practice a lot and then go and dance for those 90 seconds and give it your best. In fictional shows, you also have to take multiple cuts for that 90 seconds to convey so many things. But people think, oh my god you have so many cuts, so it’s very easy for you to prepare and showcase that this person can dance very well. It’s actually not easy because the closer the camera gets, it catches the problems which makes it harder to hide if you’re not technically good. Personally, I believe in one-shots while dance directing, whether it is Dil Dosti Dance or Campus Beats. We always did one-shots. So after doing that one-shot for 90 seconds or a four-minute battle, we go all out, we kill ourselves, shoot everything in a single take, and then do our cuttings because that requires a little more story moments. It requires me to cut into ten different expressions of ten different people.
View this post on Instagram
Also Read: Mahira Khan Matches The Hook Steps On Ranbir’s Song ‘Dance Ka Bhoot’ And Nails It!
Q. You’ve witnessed the film industry change over the years, what was it like working in the industry back then vs now?
Palki Malhotra: The industry has changed drastically. It has been 26 years since I entered this industry. When I started off, I was very attracted to the BTS because I thought we were those people who could make dreams come true as we dream about our concept, our characters and go all out to make it happen. And it is our duty to give back to society in ways and means that can inspire people or make a change but I don’t think that is the outlook anymore. These days I don’t see any passion, it’s more of a 9 to 5 job. I don’t see anybody talking from their gut or taking risks. It’s more data-driven, more research-driven. Risks are less taken. I feel that passion is missing. It’s more like a job done, Saturday and Sunday off. I never thought the film/television industry or the audio-video medium was ever about doing a job. It was about creativity, it is about celebrating things at so many different levels. It was never supposed to be so tense.
View this post on Instagram
Q. Several people from the industry have revealed to us how the female crew on the set would often face problems due to a lack of facilities for women. Did you ever experience anything like that during any of the shows you worked on?
Palki Malhotra: Yes, this has been the case. But I think we’re just talking more about it now because we are privileged enough to be able to. Today, if I don’t have a washroom on set, I can talk about it and probably get it fixed but I feel our society has taken it for granted that because there’s more male crew so, their problems need to be addressed. I personally never saw it as a bias but I felt people were ignorant that there are some basic facilities that a woman needs. Something as simple as a washroom is extremely important because we can’t do it in the open. Washrooms really have been the issue. But some things are still an issue. For example, when we pack up late at night, I feel because we’re equals and want to be seen like that, it’s our responsibility to figure out how to get home. At the same time, I also understand that I can be strong but there need to be provisions for people who are probably new to the industry and don’t know how to travel. This gets more dicey with women. Women on the floor have to stick around for much longer when there are no such provisions. But this lack of facilities also comes from a certain kind of societal conditioning where people feel that men are the only crew so it’s not important for them to look into these things but we’re moving forward and progressing to the point where women are joining the industry workforce and making a change.
View this post on Instagram
Q. As a dance director, did you ever face casual sexism considering how male-dominated the film industry is?
Palki Malhotra: As a dance director, I did face a lot of bias actually. I have been around in the industry for a long time. I started as an ad production executive. Then I went on to become an AD, director, EP, and did so many things. I never really faced a lot of bias or pushback from men so to say. Of course, there was always a time when each time I would do well and it was probably when I was getting promoted, people thought it was easy promotion because I was one young girl trying to make it big and probably “friendly” with my boss. All this is not normal but it’s something people do. But I just learned how to handle it.
I faced many issues when it came to being a dance director. I never thought of becoming a dance director in mainstream film industry and today, I’ve given India its first official international dance crew Desi Hoppers. We also won India the first ever gold medal in World of Dance Championship in LA in 2015. It was personal for me because I was a dancer growing up and never thought that it could be a career. This made brought me here where I mentored people and helped them turn it into a career.
View this post on Instagram
Also Read: 10 Bollywood Songs Choreographed By Farah Khan That Gave Us Iconic Hook Steps
It was towards the end of my show that I created my crew, these 7 boys were allowed to fly due to their visa and by default, it became an all-boys crew. I was a female coach for a boys’ dance crew and while everything was great and we were doing well, my crew Desi Hoppers was not getting enough acknowledgement for their achievements and I didn’t know why. For the longest time, I thought it was because of insecurity as we didn’t belong to a team and weren’t from the dance fraternity. Eventually I learned that this was because that some popular people from the dancing fraternity did not like that a boys dance crew was led by a woman. I felt mighty guilty that my crew was winning accolades internationally and working hard but was being pushed back in India because of me. The boys were barely making ends meet and still managing rehearsals because we wanted to do something big and bring India on the dancing map and we were on the path too. I even felt depressed about it but I realised that if I was a man, these boys would have really been somewhere else.
View this post on Instagram
Q. Karan Singh Grover’s character in Dill Mill Gayye was iconic and he’s someone we’re all still very much obsessed with. What went into creating Dr Armaan Malik? In a time and age where we’re all about the female gaze, why do you think he is still likeable and relatable?
Palki Malhotra: Karan Singh Grover as Doctor Arman is one of my favourite characters. I think he’s still relevant today because a bad boy turning into a good boy is every girl’s dream. Each and every one of us has either dreamt or is still dreaming of fixing the bad guy. Let’s be honest, we love to fix the guy and Karan Singh Grover’s Dr Armaan Malik was exactly that guy. When we were creating Dr Armaan, we were creating a quest. We wanted our protagonist to be a Casanova. Yes, I’ve got a lot of flak for it in the beginning, from our team members and people who were really trying to fit into the box of how television worked back then. But for me, it was very important to take a risk with a character that wasn’t done in the past. So, when our Dr Riddhima was someone very innocent, sweet and naivé like the traditional girl, we wanted the guy to be the opposite and unapologetic about it. I was actually trying to make my dream come true. To me, it was that I could make my dream of a casanova, an absolutely charming boy surrounded by women fall for this sweet traditional girl come true.
View this post on Instagram
That’s how it happened. I feel that the courage of everyone involved (including my director, creative director, producers and all) was what helped us take this risk. I was very happy that everyone gave in to my vision and we made this casanova become a one-woman man. The most relatable aspect of this character was that it was everyone’s dreams come true and who can forget Karan Singh Grover’s good looks? I mean, the man is good-looking and so much more. The kind of acting and layers he brought to the character were amazing. He put so much of his soul and himself into the character is what made Dr Armaan Malik iconic. That’s why people continue to talk about him and Dill Mill Gaye today. People would fall in love with Dr Armaan or actually everyone is in love with Dr Armaan but continue to wait for someone like him to fall for them too!
View this post on Instagram
Dance Director Palki Malhotra gave us loads of information about how things within the film industry have changed and progressed along with juicy deets about Dr Armaan Malik. Watch the trailer of Palki Malhotra’s new show Campus Beats below.
