Pratik Gandhi has surprised audiences with his stunning pole dance sequence in the recently released film Dhoom Dhaam, co-starring Yami Gautam and directed by Rishab Seth. Choreographer Vijay Ganguly, in an exclusive interview with ETimes, opened up about the challenges of filming the sequence and how Pratik embraced the performance with professionalism.
Ganguly shared how the film’s producer Aditya Dhar approached him for the song, saying, “When Aditya sir called me and told me about the song, we were like, how are we going to shoot this? Because it’s essentially a striptease, and for a man, that’s not easy to pull off. It’s a difficult act—it can’t look vulgar.”
Revealing the creative process behind the choreography, he said, “We sat down with Pratik and discussed, Karein kya? (What should we do?) Because everything we were trying was coming across as vulgar. Maintaining that class and dignity was crucial, and we had only one day to shoot it.”
To ensure the scene felt natural and engaging, Ganguly advised Pratik to approach it like a live performance. “In the film, the character is hesitant from the start of the song until the end. Initially, he’s scared to remove his clothes. Then, the girls start undressing him, and eventually, he pulls off his own pants. So, instead of focusing on the striptease aspect, we decided to play with his journey—from a nervous man to a confident one.”
One of the most challenging moments was when Pratik had to remove his boxers. Ganguly recalled, “By the end, he had to remove his boxers, and we kept wondering, How are we going to pull this off? Imagine dancing in just your boxers in front of a crowd when you’ve never done something like that before—there’s always hesitation. But he just went for it. He’s such a professional. He said, Abhi chhodo… (Just let it be…) He wasn’t even bothered about grabbing his pants or wrapping a towel around himself.”
Praising Pratik’s dedication, he added, “He simply told me, Jo karwana hai, karao (Do whatever needs to be done). We had no time for retakes or for him to sit and reset. He was a complete sport.”
Ganguly, who had previously worked with Pratik in Madgaon Express, already knew his potential as a performer. “In this song, we played to his strengths—his performance. He even did a cartwheel on the bar all on his own!” he revealed.
