By Subhash K. Jha

Mumbai, Mar 19 (IANS): Let's not mince words. Jacqueline Fernandez is a very beautiful girl with a svelte figure. But she is no Madhuri Dixit. Not by a long shot.

When Madhuri danced, the world stood still, and not just to stare but also to wonder how such graceful movements could flow out of such diminutive limbs.

"Ek do teen" in "Tezaab" is the ultimate iconic 'item' number. It oozes the elixir of enchantment.

Cut to Jacqueline Fernandez, whose repertoire and range of facial expressions go from A to B as opposed to Madhuri's A to Z. She is dressed like Madhuri was in the original song, though the costume, as expected, is a lot skimpier. But that's about it. There is none of Madhuri's bridled comehitherness in Jacqueline's all-out act of brazen seduction.

Alarmingly, the new version of "Ek do teen" has added a whistle to the dancer's treasure trove of titillation. It sounds disturbingly like a clarion call for the male gaze to fall lustfully on the dancer. Not a very elegant way to get attention.

The choreography and the male chorus line-up are brutally blatant in displaying the sexual primeval instinct. While the original Madhuri song was a covert invitation to seduction, this is an all-out red carpet welcome to a mating game where the "Ek do teen" becomes a countdown to the sex act.

This is perhaps the millennial "Ek do teen". Raunchy, robust and sexed-up to a brimming point. The item girl comes on stage, slips off the jacket on top of her skimpy dancing outfit (the outfit changes at least three times in the two-minute video) and launches into a convulsive jig as though to say, "Madhuri was then. I am now."

"Ek do teen", as per Jacqueline and choreographer Ganesh Acharya, looks too eager to please, too committed to renewing the seductive promise that Madhuri's Mohini in "Tezaab" made to a generation of open-mouthed drooling admirers 30 years ago.

Tragically, Jacqueline's movements convey not even an iota of Madhuri's fluid grace.

No dancer-actress would seriously try to do Madhubala's "Mohe panghat pe" or Sridevi's "Hawa hawaai" unless it's Deepika Padukone doing a derivative homage to the former in "Bajirao Mastani" or Vidya Balan just freaking out with her friends to the sound of the latter.

But a faithful replica of "Ek do teen"? Can't be serious!