Customer Reviews

Honey Kalaria's Bollywood Workout

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I bought this DVD with apprehension after reading the unflattering reviews posted on Amazon.
Here is some advice to enjoy this lovely work-out:
1-Ignore the hand positions at first: they are well broken down at the beginning, but you will become very confused if you focus on getting the hand positions right. Keep your hands flat.
2-Modify, modify, modify: At the beginning: concentrate on the footsteps and add fancy arm movements only after you have mastered the footsteps.
3-The Second Work Out is much easier than the first one, even though it is presented as more advanced.
I would recommend to buy the Masala Bhangra Work Out Volume 2 as a companion to this DVD.
I use both of these DVDS, the Masala Bhangra Work Out Volume 2 is a FANTASTIC work out that will have you burn lots of calories(Sarina Jain the creatrix, said that on average, these work out burn up 500 calories.)
When you feel you want to dance and have fun but are too tired to do a challenging work out: use Honey Kalaria's work out.It will give you a reasonable burn if you do the 2 work outs back to back.If you feel tired: doing just one will put you in a good mood.

As a bellydancer and a big fan of Bollywood movies, I've been trying to find ways to teach myself Bollywood dance techniques. When I saw this video, I thought it would be a good fit. Unfortunately, it is not.

The camera work is jerky, often focusing on Honey's face or feet, rather than giving the viewer an overall look at the movement. Honey explains some of the moves in the beginning, but not all of them. She calls out new moves without demonstrating them. Finally, the video is not really a good workout, not really a good instructional video.

With that said, I'd encourage you to buy this video if:
You have some experience with dance and can pick up an unexplained move or rhythm change quickly on your own.
You want a basic overview of Bollywood dance, but are not expecting to learn a whole lot.
You like to dance for exercise and want something a little different.

I'd encourage you not to buy it if:
You want to learn lots of Bollywood moves and routines.
You have bad knees, as the hopping and squatting can aggravate them.

Overall, I've learned more from Bollywood dance DVDs purchased through an auction. They cut right to the dance scenes and offer up to 70 dance sequences on a single disc. Sure, they don't explain the moves, but with my dance background, they are easy to pick up.

I like that Honey takes time to demo hand and head movements in the introduction even if they are just genaric motions. Traditional Indian dance conveys meaning through hands and head and the wrong movement can be 'profane' or just ridiculous.

My biggest problem with the video is that the dances aren't 'clean'. The choreography is sloppy and I would expect a professionally choreographed piece to be more exact. The timing is ever so slightly off and the dancers aren't doing *exactly* the same movements.

I had no problems following along, but I have a background in traditional dance from Hawaii, Nepal, China, India, and Persia in addition to ballet and other performance arts.

It does go from high impact to higher impact, so be careful with injuries.

Honey Kalaria seems like a sweet person, and she is really encouraging through the workout. Some of her descriptions of the hand movements ("woof-woof," for example) made them easier for me to remember. That was good! But other than that, I hated this DVD. I'm pretty sure that Ms. Kalaria and the ladies dancing with her couldn't actually hear the music that we hear through the DVD--I think the music was added later--so the beat of the dancing is not the beat of the music, and I can't handle that. Almost annoying as that is watching those poor backup dancers try not to trip on the thousands of throw pillows strewn about their workout area. They need more room! I really wanted to like this DVD but I couldn't make it happen.

Just to leave this on a more pleasant note: I loved to see fuller-figured women in a workout video, dancing and looking awesome. I wish more workout DVDs were like that.

I'm a Brit and so is this DVD; it galls me but I have to say that a lot of American fitness stuff is far better than ours, though this one offers something different. This is a dance workout that is more than simply learning a couple of steps. Honey is great, and starts us off with a low impact, very easy Bollywood workout, going on to a higher impact Bhangra one that - if you put your back into it - works up a surprisingly good sweat. The music was obviously put on afterwards, which is a shame as it is slightly out of sync with the dance moves, and there is no toning section, but other than that a good addition to any collection. Really good fun. NB for serious British cardio, try Nell McAndrew's Peak Energy or Maximum Impact - those are the only ones that really give the high level American programmes a run (ha!) for their money.

I don't know how this got such high ratings. I popped it in and couldn't even get through the first workout I was so annoyed. It's one thing if I can't get the dance moves down or follow Honey, but when her own backup dancers are causing distractions because they're so confused by her lack of guidance there's a problem. Plusses are that Honey is very energetic and upbeat, and the set is nice to look at. Minuses is everything else. Honey can't keep the beat if she tried, and there is NO way you can convince me she's a professional choreographer with her complete lack of rhythm.

There's a reason why it's so cheap people, save your money and find another workout.

I didn't find the moves on this DVD difficult, but I only did the workout a couple of times. The first time I did it, I had mostly positive thoughts about it (probably I was paying more attention to getting the moves down), but the second and third times I realized how annoying Honey Kalaria is and that she often gets off beat (this in itself is frustrating). In the second part of the workout there is a lot of hopping movement, so if you have bad ankles or knees, beware. I let a friend borrow this DVD, and then decided that she could just keep it, as I know I wouldn't do the workout again.

Half of the time they dance off beat, the music is intolerable and not bollywood at all!! (I suspect she is the one singing, poorly I may add)and I find naming a mudra "woof-woof" simply insulting.

As stated by previous posts, Ms. Kalaria is inconsistant in her explanations and springs some moves not introduced into the routines. It IS more like an aerobics class than a fun dance instruction that gets your body up off the couch and moving. I have previous dance experience and am quick to pick up steps but found her footwork hard to follow as she is wearing flared workout pants that cover her feet so you do not get an actual look at the feet doing the footwork. This is a program that is for the more physically fit, because again, as stated previously, there is a LOT of hopping, jumping, and squatting. If you are carrying excess weight (like me)you should probably start out with something with less impact, like the "Goddess" Workouts or the "Bellydance Fitness for Beginners." I hope Ms. Kalaria tries again. Bhangra is fun and entertaining and I WANT TO LEARN HOW TO DO IT!

This is a VERY effective and fun workout. I usually hate regular ways of exercising, but Honey Kalaria's Bollywood Workout video made it something I look forward to doing everyday. The only thing I didn't really like was that the camera angles kept changing so sometimes you couldn't see the moves they were doing, especially in the dance at the very end. Other than that, I'm really looking forward to seeing a second DVD.