‘Kartik Aaryan is the easiest actor to work with, he understands very fast’: Choreographers Piyush-Shazia

Choreographers Piyush and Shazia have worked with all from Kartik Aaryan, Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon to Janhvi Kapoor. Their latest efforts are in the form of Bhediya song Jungle Mein Kaand which was shot over just one-and-a-half nights, and Freddy song Kaala Jaadu, which was inspired by Hrithik Roshan’s Lakshya song Main Aisa Kyun Hoon. In an interview with Hindustan Times, the two opened up about the making of these two songs and how it’s always fun working with the three of them. (Also Read | Kartik Aaryan says playing murderous dentist Freddy gave him ‘disturbing nights’)

Shaziya and Piyush started their careers as choreographers with reality show Dance Plus in 2016 and went on to bag some much-talked-about dance numbers like Jacqueline Fernandez-starrers Paani Paani and Genda Phool. Talking about their latest song Jungle Mein Kaand, Piyush says they were given the brief of creating a “fun and energetic number but with a wild feel” as per the concept of the film Bhediya.

“A local festival is held in Ziro, Arunachal Pradesh which has been recreated in the party song. All locals are seen partying with Varun Dhawan in the song,” says Shazia, adding, “People think we shot the song in four days but we shot it in just 1.5 nights.”

Piyush claims it was challenging to shoot the song in Ziro. He says, “First you have to take a flight to Siliguri, then by road, you have to reach Arunachal border and then take a chopper to Ziro because the highway isn’t that developed. All dancers and the shooting crew were taken to Ziro. It was challenging since we were shooting at the live location and the temperature was around 8-10 degrees every night.”

The duo also made Kartik dance to Freddy song Kaala Jaadu. As a suited-up Kartik dances to the song, he reminds us of his Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 title track which had him dancing in a similar setup, though in a black kurta and dhoti. Compare the two songs and Piyush says, “Kartik looks cool when he is dancing. So, he looks cool in all his dance numbers. The audios are very different.”

“Kaala Jaadu was difficult because we had to stick to his character of Freddy and also keep the hooksteps for entertaining the audience. The song was fully conceptualised on the story of Freddy – how he sees a girl as a dentist and then tries to kill her and then dance,” he says.

They also call Kartik the easiest to work with. “He understands very fast, his observation level is very high. The results are also visible in his songs. He had to perform a lot in Kaala Jaadu. Not just dancing, he also had to do acting in the song. We kept Main Aisa Kyun Hu in mind while creating it,” reveals Shazia.