Amitabh, Deepika, Saif turn teachers for a day

Who would not want to learn dance moves from Deepika Padukone? Everyone would, of course, but it was students from different colleges who came together at the Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, Mumbai, who got their wish fulfilled. They got to interact with the stars of Aarakshan, which will be in the theatres on August 15.
 
In the class she took, Deepika taught dance together with choreographer Jayesh. They chose the song Mauka -- Ik Chance Toh Dede Meri Jaan.

It began with Jayesh asking students to volunteer to learn the dance without revealing who the teacher would be. Three girls and one boy volunteered.

When the boys saw Deepika climb onto the stage, they must have deeply regretted not volunteering! The lone boy volunteer was very stiff but Deepika took a lot of trouble to teach him. She later said that Farah Khan and Saroj Khan should learn thumka from him.

Deepika went over the moves several times and in the end all the wannabe dancers had learnt the steps and could sashay along to the song.

Saif Ali Khan was not keeping well but he still came. Though he did not take a guitar class as originally planned, he took questions from the students and later strummed his guitar.

Some of the kids asked him about his preparation for the role and how he worked on his looks in the film. He told them that on the first day of the shoot, he came on the sets looking clean-shaven and smart. The director told him to look more like a Dalit, grow some stubble and get a tan because he looked too chikna.

Saif said that Aarakshan has changed his views on reservation. He was not in favour of reservation but now he feels that there should be reservation, though to what level he is not sure. Up to school level at least it is important, he feels.

Then he entertained the audience by strumming Dark Night by Deep Purple on his guitar while joking that he never tried to impress a girl by strumming on his guitar. He revealed that he was all right in his studies and the subjects he liked best were History, English literature and Art History.

Amitabh Bachchan, who plays the role of the principal of a college in the film, told the students a little about his college days and how after he finished school his parents wanted him to go to college. In those days, there was no vocational guidance or else he would have joined acting class right then.

He insisted on studying science even though he was advised against it by the college. "I told them, 'either you give me admission in science or else I don't want it.'" He got his way but, he said, "On the very first day of college, in the first 45 minutes of the lecture, I knew I had made the wrong decision."

He used to bunk classes and go to a coffee shop, and once a neighbour caught him having coffee with a girl, and promptly told his mother, whose only comment was, "Thank god he's straight."

He spoke a little about the caste system. He was Amitabh Srivastav born in a Hindu Kaystha family -- Srivastavs are all Kaystha. His mother Teji Bachchan, however, was a Sikh, and when he was admitted to school, his father dropped 'Srivastav' and gave him the surname 'Bachchan' so that he will never be recognised by his caste.

Manoj Bajpayee would have liked to take an acting class but since there was very little time, he taught the students dialogue delivery. He first showed them a small clip from Rajneeti and then asked some of the students to come up on stage and say the dialogue 'Karara jawaab milega'.

Next, he gave them some situations and asked them to prepare and act them out, but, unfortunately, there was no time to see them perform.

But he did ask a few girls and boys to come on stage and say the dialogue 'Maine tumhare bachche ki maa bane waali hoon' with three different emotions -- excited and laughing, crying, and frustrated. The students were good in this round but they could not remember the dialogues.

Prateik Babbar asked the students to write graffiti on a canvas placed in the classroom. The whole class of 60 students enjoyed spraying paint on the canvas, writing and drawing.

Shankar, Ehsaan and Prasoon Joshi made some extempore music and songs and also played songs from old movies like Dil Chahata Hia, Kal Ho Naa Ho and Aarakshan itself.

Prakash Jha, director of the film, was suppose to take a class on filmmaking but he mostly spoke about the kind of films that he makes and how he chooses his subjects. Scriptwriter Anjum Rajabali spoke about writing the screenplay and the film Aarakshan.

At the end of the day, there was a convocation ceremony and Amitabh Bachchan gave away certificates to the students.