Vijay Ganguly on Akshay Kumar’s insane tractor jump, Amitabh Bachchan’s NFT joke and more | Exclusive

Vijay Ganguly opens up exclusively about Akshay Kumar’s incredible tractor jump, Amitabh Bachchan’s NFT joke, Chaka Chak and reuniting with Aanand L Rai.

New Delhi: From making viral dance numbers like ‘Chaka Chak’ to seamlessly driving movie plots forward through choreography, Vijay Ganguly is redefining how songs are used in Hindi cinema. Reuniting with filmmaker Aanand L Rai for Nayyi Navelli, the sought-after choreographer opens up in an exclusive conversation with News9 Digital, opens up about his artistic journey, inheriting his father Anil Ganguly’s storytelling, and what it’s really like working with superstars Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan behind the scenes.

You’ve reunited with Aanand L Rai after Atrangi Re for Nayyi Navelli. How did this one come your way?

Whenever Aanand L Rai sir makes a film and thinks that there’s scope for storytelling through a song, he calls me up. For Nayyi Navelli, Himanshu Sharma (producer) and Balaji Mohan (director), and I sat down together, and they told me the film is quite unusual. When they explained the story, I thought it was damn exciting because it’s not what people might assume—it’s not just some random trope; it’s deeply emotional. I wondered how songs would fit into such a tone, but they told me the songs were already written into the script. It has a distinct South Indian cinematic sensibility where songs are seamlessly woven into the narrative.

The Chaka Chak song from Aanand L Rai’s Atrangi Re put you on the map. How did your association with the filmmaker begin?

Before Atrangi Re, I had done Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan with him. All the songs in that film were story-oriented. For the end credits, the director Hitesh Kewalya and I decided we........

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