By Subhash K Jha

About 40 unsuspecting passersby and strangers of all ages on the streets of Mumbai were captured last week trying to ape Big B’s zany “Monkey dance’ steps on ad- maverick turned first-time filmmaker Balki’s new music video, which hopes to promote the by-now popular dance step from Paa among kids and grownups alike.

Apparently, it was Paa producer Abhishek Bachchan’s idea to just go out on the road and capture people aping the Monkey step, expertly and clumsily but with genuine feeling.

Reveals Balki, “The idea to record random people on candid camera doing Auro’s steps did come from Abhishek. And I liked the idea immensely. Much better than getting a rehearsed group of enthusiasts to do the steps. We went out with the camera and found a surprisingly large number of people who were trying to do the Monkey Steps. We have them on camera as part of a music video we’ll air on television soon. We’re hoping they wouldn’t mind being caught with their guards down.”

The genesis of the Big B’s Monkey Steps is interesting.

Says Balki, “I wanted Auro to have his own peculiar dance steps, with King Kong’s beating of the chest, etc. Our choreographers Bosco-Caesar came up with the perfect little jig for Auro.”

Interestingly Shimit Amin’s Rocket Singh Salesman Of The Year has its own little jig billed as the “Rocket Step’ for Ranbir Kapoor.

So this December it’s the 67-year old Amitabh Bachchan’s “Monkey Steps’ vying for dance space with 27-year old Ranbir Kapoor’s “Rocket Steps’.

-Sampurn Media