Michael Jackson‘s impact on the Indian mind can be seen in the dance competitions on TV every night, where young and not-so-young Indians, male and female, flaunt the results of the rediscovery of their bodies, bumping, grinding and holding their crotches, with fathers, mothers and others applauding happily.
If anybody came close to meeting The Man before the phenomenon, it was Prabhudeva, son of the South Indian choreographer, Mugur Sundaram, whose family has built a marriage hall in Visveswaranagar in Mysore to reaffirm their links to their City of origin.
Prabhudeva met MJ on his only visit to Bombay in 1996, thanks to Anupam Kher. Not surprisingly, the theme of the meeting of the lord and awestruck devotee was silence.
“People repeatedly ask me, “What did Michael Jackson say to you?” “What did you say to him?” All I remember is that I was struck speechless, but that face-to-face encounter, however brief, sent a thrill down my spine, a rendezvous accomplished almost as if I’d completed a long-planned pilgrimage.”
In the video, above, from the Tamil movie Kaadhalan which also launched him as a movie star, Prabhudeva moonwalks to the strains of A.R. Rehman, Suresh Peters and the late Shahul Hameed, for a couple of seconds in Mysore (1:45). The film, directed by Shankar of Sivaji fame, had busty Naghma as the female attraction, with Girish Karnad playing her corrupt and cruel governor-father.
churumuri 
Churumuri,
You did a dis-service to your Michael Jackson fans by making your post more about Prabhudeva(nothing against him) and less about MJ. Yes MJ is mentioned as the inspiration and the post is about Deva’s mute meeting with the king of pop ; but shouldn’t it have been more about the star we lost than say a busty Naghma ?
As you fleetingly note, MJ had a huge fan following in India — something that crossed a slew of barriers. He had a name recognition that our politicians would kill for ; for many of us, his albums were the first records we owned ; my granny who could not spot USA on a map knew him.
But you are more happy noting that MJ inspired Deva was dancing in Mysore for a sub-second ? I’m a proud Kannadiga, but not everything needs to be tied back to Kannada roots to be appreciated by your readers. You seem to be doing it quite often, however scant and however faint the dotted line. We are not that vain ; we can appreciate good in people even when they do not have a Kannada-Karnataka influence..
Here’s one that did justice to the fallen star..
http://www.desicritics.com/2009/06/26/105313.php
RIP MJ..
LikeLike
Well, I dont so much mind churumuri not covering too much about MJ himself – there are enough and more websites and TV channels that are doing it than churumuri can ever hope to do. What I do mind is the sometimes fallacious connections that are strived for in some instances – diluting both the subject and the roots (MJ and Mysore, in this instance). I guess Prabhudeva and his brother (who choreographed the song) depict the movement in INdian cinema from Mithun’s disco dance of 80s to MJ inspired break dance of 90s – they were probably the first generation of dancers to have been inspired and grown up on MJ.
Apparently, all music stores are running out of MJ records this weekend. So, if you want a newer better playing version of those songs, rush to the music stores immediately.
LikeLike