Dance choreographer Sekhar VJ is known for popular dance numbers such as 'Seeti Maar' from 'Duvvada Jagannadham', 'Saranga Dariya' from 'Love Story', 'Ramuloo Ramulaa' from 'Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo', 'Saami' from 'Pushpa', and several others.
Megastar Chiranjeevi's 'Waltair Veerayya' (January 13th release) and Nandamuri Balakrishna's 'Veera Simha Reddy' (January 12th release) are two of his upcoming movies. In this interview, the choreographer talks about working with two superstars. He also says that the upcoming Mahesh Babu-Trivikram movie is among his current projects.
The coming Sankranthi is a big thing for me. I have choreographed all songs in 'Waltair Veerayya'. In 'Veera Simha Reddy', I have done two songs. I did the songs without getting too stressed out, though. I am enjoying this phase.
I conceive dance moves based on the song, the music and the mood of the song. And then, I tailor-make the moves to the hero keeping in view body language. We compose the dances at the rehearsal stage itself. Sometimes, some moves are evolved on the location. We go to heroes with some moves as alternatives.
Both Chiranjeevi garu and Balakrishna garu are very dedicated. They never give up until they get their perfect dance moves. It was very comfortable working with them. With them, the burden of high audiences' expectations is only to be expected. Heavy practice and developing different versions of the moves are important.
Directors don't pick the same choreographer for all songs in a movie because monotony might set in. So, doing 'Waltair Veerayya' was a big challenge because I have done all five songs. For the Sridevi-Chiranjeevi song, which was shot in biting cold weather, it was not easy at all. Our hands would be frozen due to the cold! 'Suguna Sundari' was shot in Turkey, where the weather was too sunny. Both songs are superb in terms of visuals.
These days, Insta reels and social media are playing a pivotal role in making dance numbers popular. Signature moves like in 'Super Machi' (from 'Son Of Satyamurthy') and 'Blockbuster' (from 'Sarrainodu') were popularized by social media first.
If the musical beat dominates the song, I focus only on it. Otherwise, I also take the lyrics into consideration.
Both 'WV' and 'VSR' have been produced by Mythri Movie Makers. After 'Sarkaru Vaari Paata', these two came to me immediately. They are very comfortable producers to work with.
I am not interested to become an actor. As for directing, I might do it in the future. I have no plans to turn into a producer. My son is studying Class X currently.
I am doing SSMB28, two films with Ravi Teja ('Tiger Nageswar Rao' and 'Ravanasura'), and a few other projects.
