Choreographing Ranbir and Sonam in Saawariya

An instant reminder to Jai and Veeru of Sholay, choreographers Pappu and Mallu do their gig expertly in front of the mirror with concentration and seriousness, only until one of them makes a slight mistake and they suddenly burst into laughter and mock each other like kids.

Zahur Sheikh and Kavita Gandhi, better known as Pappu and Mallu respectively, are childhood friends. They lived in the same building, went to school and later to college together, and soon realised that they had the same dream - to dance through life and make others dance too.

Working together for the past eight years, they've done about 8,000 shows, a number of films like Devdas, Silsilay, Bardasht, Footpath, Excuse Me and TV shows like Boogie Woogie and Jhalak Dikhla Ja.

"While Bollywood dominates, corporate shows and international tours are a recent phenomenon. But for choreographers, stage shows are a challenge as well as a pleasure to do," says Mallu.

With More Piya and Chalak Chalak of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas to their credit, Pappu Mallu proved their talent. Nominated for a National Award for the same, Mallu eagerly describes the experience.

"We were doing a show in Udaipur when Sanjay Leela Bhansali spotted us. He called us when he returned to Bombay and in his matter-of-fact way told us that he liked our work and would like to work with us. We were ecstatic.

Jaise bhooke ko khana mil jata hai.

That's how Devdas happened. Then on the sets, it was a learning experience for us. Sanjayji is a perfectionist and the theme of love is his forte.

Every small thing we did had to have undertones of love or it just didn't work.

As for the actors, though we had worked with Shah Rukh, Madhuri and Aishwarya before, this was a different ball game. There were more than 200 dancers and there's always an element of surprise. Sometimes you plan things a certain way but on the sets something else comes up. You have to be spontaneous. It's like extempore," says Mallu.

Though fond of Jackie Shroff, Pappu confesses his initial nervousness of working with the 'short-tempered Jaggu Dada'. "He was apprehensive about dancing. There was a long sequence he had to do - pick up a bottle, drink from it, do some dance movement - and he told us that he couldn't do the whole thing in one shot. So we decided to break it up for him. But once the camera started rolling he did the whole sequence in one go and did it flawlessly," says Pappu.

The duo has a reputation of re-inventing themselves constantly. "People get tired of seeing the same things. You have to be able to give them something new and fresh everytime," says Mallu.

"That's what Sanjayji probably noticed when we were working at Jhalak Dikhla Ja and asked us to work with him on Saawariya." Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya, starring Ranbir Kapoor (Rishi Kapoor's son) and Sonam Kapoor (Anil Kapoor's daughter), is Pappu Mallu's next catch.

"Ranbir and Sonam may be newcomers but both have a talent for dancing. They are spontaneous and if there was any nervousness on their part or ours, it vanished in the first one hour of shooting," says Pappu.

With his animated face and spontaneous jokes, Pappu is effortless with his movements. As for Mallu, what she lacks in height, she makes up in grace.

"There's a lot more to choreography than just knowing how to dance. You have to observe and identify what's good in an actor or dancer and then choreograph him in a way that brings out the best in him. You have to accentuate his plus points and minimise his negatives.

You have to make sure that a person enjoys when he's dancing, because if he is uncomfortable, no matter how good the steps are, he's going to look awkward. Dance is a very transparent expression. You can't lie with it," say Pappu and Mallu talking of their eight-year long experience of choreographing.