Dancing Dhamaal!

Through a love of Bollywood music videos and animation comes Dancing Dhamaal! (Dancing “Fun!”), a 2D/3D hybrid Marathi animated music video. The film follows the main character, Aadarshini, feeling out of place at a traditional Indian wedding. At the reception, she is mesmerized by dancer Parvati, who is the embodiment of classic Indian culture. Aadarshini fails to keep up with Parvati’s choreography, but finds acceptance in her community through her unusual but endearing dancing. Like Aadarshini, our director Nimisha connected with her Marathi culture through its dance and music. We wanted to share this film with anyone struggling to connect with their culture in an orthodox sense. While certain ideals may be expected from a culture or community, we strived to show there is room to express our unique voices within them. Throughout our production process, we designed our film to showcase a fun and colorful motif. A majority of the art direction takes cues from Indian art. We were inspired by classic Rajasthani puppets for our main character designs and cut-out shadow puppetry for the designs of the wedding crowd. Our team aimed to combine the appeal of animation with the diverse aesthetics of Indian culture.