Aaja Nachle

Dia Srivastav is a dance choreographer who lives in New York City with her daughter, Radha Srivastav. One day, she receives word that her old dance teacher, Makrand, is dying. She returns to her hometown Shamli with Radha, to find that he has already died and left her the responsibility of saving his deserted dance theatre, Ajanta, which is to be demolished to make way for a shopping centre.

Shamli has changed a great deal since Dia left. Her parents left the town in shame a decade ago, after she eloped with an American photographer, Steve, and got married but they later divorced, and their house is now owned by the strict Mr. Chojar and his wife. Her childhood friend, Najma, is married to Farooque, a successful businessman. Both of them greet Dia coldly. The only ally she has left is her old friend, Doctor Saab. To save Ajanta, Dia goes to petition the local MP, Raja Uday Singh. Upon meeting her and exchanging a few insults between each other, he challenges her to see if she can put on a successful theatrical performance using only people from Shamli; if she does so, he will cancel the demolition.

That night, Dia dances in Ajanta to re-acclimate herself to her younger dancing days. The next day, she calls on the people in the town for auditions for the famous Laila Majnu. Jeering at her, they leave the theatre one by one, but Raja remains behind, reminding her of the challenge. Refusing to accept defeat, Dia goes out into the street the next day to scout for talent. When she returns to the theatre, she finds a group of thugs trying to burn the set, after being ordered by a local election candidate, Chaudhary Om Singh. Instead of being angry, she is intrigued by the ring-leader, Imran Pathan, and makes a deal with Chaudhary – she will help him win the next election, if he supports Ajanta and if Imran plays Majnu. He agrees and Imran is forced to take on the role. After finding out about the casting of Imran, many girls flock to the theatre for the part of Laila. Among them is Anokhi, a tomboy who is in love with Imran. She begs Dia to give her an audition, who is reluctant because of her rough appearance and lack of talent, but agrees in the end, thinking that her love for Imran will make her the ideal Laila. Other parts in the play go to Mr. Chojar, who wants to prove to his wife that he is not boring, Chaudhary who plays Laila's father, and Dia's former fiancé, Mohan, who is able to overcome his bitterness towards her, and takes on the role of Laila's husband.

With one month to put the show together, Dia struggles to get Imran and Anokhi to work together. With Dia's support, Anokhi changes her attitude and appearance to get Imran to take her seriously and soon their relationship deepens. A few days before the show, Farooque pays Chaudhary to abandon Ajanta and makes Najma spread hurtful stories about Dia. Chaudhary tries to get Imran to give up his part, but Imran is aware of Chaudhary's political intentions and refuses, leading him to be attacked by Chaudhary's men while Anokhi tries to protect him, making Imran fall in love with her. With the whole town against her, Dia loses hope until Najma arrives to apologise and asks to be in the show.

On the night of the show, Uday asks the inspector (who later gets roped in to play Laila's father) to make sure that whoever wants to attend the program should not face any obstacles in reaching the venue. Dia is amazed to find that the entire town has come to Ajanta. The troupe put on a performance that amazes and excites the audience, including Chaudhary who is moved to tears. Farooque is stunned to see his wife playing the part of Laila's mother and Mrs. Chojar is shocked and thrilled when her husband appears singing and dancing on stage. In the end, the audience cheers loudly as the cast return to the stage for an encore. The night is a success and Ajanta is saved. Imran and Anokhi become a couple.

Raja Uday tries to convince Dia to stay behind for another round of "fighting" as he has developed a crush on her, but she playfully says no. However, Radha hands over Dia's New York number to Uday, to which Dia does not seem to mind very much and he seems very happy to receive. Afterwards, Dia says her farewells to Shamli, and she and Radha leave to find her parents in another part of India. Imran and Anokhi go on to teach dance classes at Ajanta with Doctor Saab's help and dance becomes an inherent part of Shamli once again. Later it is shown that Raja Uday visits Dia in New York and is seen watching her dance. They smile at each other and he hands her a cup of coffee, implying that they will develop a romance.

Shooting began on 15 January 2007 at Film City in Mumbai and ended in March 2007.^[5]

The movie was banned in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Punjab on the first three days of its release over alleged casteist remarks. It had a major effect on its box office performance.^[6] Dia, the character played by Madhuri Dixit, lip-syncs the lines in the "Aaja Nachle" song rendered by Sunidhi Chauhan, Mohalle mē̃ kaisī mārā-mār hai; bole mocī bhi k͟hud ko sunār hai (transl. 'There is such chaos in the neighbourhood, even the mochi (cobbler) calls himself a sunar (goldsmith)'). Dalit groups said the line implied that mochis (the Jatav caste – a caste of cobblers) were inferior to sunars (goldsmiths).^[7] Punjab and Haryana followed suit, banning the film the next day.

However, the ban was later lifted in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, after a written apology from the producers and the removal of the controversial lyrics (bole mocī bhi k͟hud ko sunār hai) in the title song. The lyrics were replaced by other words: mērē dar pē divanõ ki bahār hai (transl. 'there is a parade of lovers at my doorstep'). However, a ban was imposed in the city of Patna on 2 December 2007. The issue was also raised in the Indian Parliament (Lok Sabha) by RPI member Ramdas Athawale who sought a ban by the government for hurting Dalit sentiments, but Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said that it was the responsibility of state governments to take any such action.^[8]

The film's soundtrack was released on 16 August 2007, composed by Salim–Sulaiman, with lyrics by Jaideep Sahni and Piyush Mishra. A few songs from the final sequence of the movie have not been included on the soundtrack including "Yeh Ishq". The title track of the film which got a lot of popularity was written by Piyush Mishra.

Vocals were performed by Sunidhi Chauhan (for Dixit), Shreya Ghoshal (for Konkona Sen Sharma) and Sonu Nigam (for Kapoor). The soundtrack also features Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Kailash Kher, Sukhwinder Singh, Richa Sharma, Sonia Saigal, Marianne D'Cruz and Salim Merchant.

The film's music was well received. This soundtrack debuted at #9 for the first week.^[9] The song "O Re Piya" was later used in the 2009 Malaysian movie Talentime.

Aaja Nachle opened to a poor response due to controversy. The domestic performance of the film was below average mostly everywhere. Overseas, the response was lukewarm as well. It managed to collect ₹207.5 million (equivalent to ₹630 million or US$7.5 million in 2023) and was declared a flop by Box Office India.^[10]

The film was received mixed-to-negative reviews from both critics and audiences. The performances of the cast too received mixed reviews. Khalid Mohammed from the Hindustan Times wrote, "Madhuri Dixit has a cool time. Konkona is overacting while Kunal Kapoor is flustered",^[11] while Rajeev Masand from CNN-IBN noted, "Madhuri is the one and only star of the film. Konkona Sen Sharma is nothing short of fantastic. Her greatest strength is that she isn't afraid of making a fool of herself and she doesn't worry about being laughed at. As a result, her performance in Aaja Nachle is fearless and uninhibited."^[12]

53rd Filmfare Awards:

Nominated

• Best Actress – Madhuri Dixit
• Best Female Playback Singer – Sunidhi Chauhan for "Aaja Nachle"

IIFA Awards

• Won – Best Choreography – Vaibhavi Merchant for "Aaja Nachle"
• Nominated – Best Female Playback Singer – Sunidhi Chauhan for "Aaja Nachle"

Stardust Awards

• Nominated – Star of the Year – Female – Madhuri Dixit

• Official website
• Aaja Nachle at IMDb