My Master, My Guru, My DRONACHARYA...

It was a tale of sheer grit, determination and willpower by our ‘Bharat ki Beti’; Sakshi Malik (Bronze Medal- Wrestling), P V Sindhu (Silver Medal- Badminton) and Dipa Karmakar (4^th position- Gymnastics) at the recently concluded Rio Olympics 2016. Their journey would be incomplete without the special mention of their Coach; Kuldeep Malik , P Gopichand and Bishweshwar Nandi.

So it got me into thinking, would Arjuna (Mahabharat) be the world’s greatest archer if not for his master Dronacharya? or would Sachin Tendulkar be the celebrated batsman without the training and guidance from his master Coach Ramakant Achrekar? Even Benjamin Graham (author of ‘The Intelligent Investor and a professor at Columbia Business School) has a major role play in defining Warren Buffet’s style of value investing.

My life is majorly influenced by three entities, Financial Guru (Dad), and my Dance Guru’s Shri Kalyan Raman Pillai (Bharatnatyam) and Sandip Soparkar (Ballroom Dance Art)…

SAMBA

Ballroom is a conglomerate of various dance styles (Rumba, Cha Cha, Jive, Paso Doble, Salsa, Foxtrot, Waltz and the list is long). It’s very difficult to choose between these many styles but my personal favourite forms are Samba and Waltz. Think of a Brazilian Carnival fest and we know it’s got to be Samba, a dance of celebration and jubilancy, redefines the classic ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ (wink). On the contrary everything about Waltz is royal, from the grandiose to the appeal to the costumes, every movement is enticing. Just watching two people dance in a wave like movement (1-2-3; Down-up-down) will make you fall in Love again.

How do I know all this? The answer is one man Sandip Soparkar. The Global face for Ballroom India … (Cannes Film Festival, recent World Film Festival) needs no introduction. Ask him when do we see him progressing into film direction or acting (for the good looksJ), pat comes the reply ‘I love to Dance and I love to teach Dance. So the fear of not being able to dance will always prevent me from doing anything else (laughs).’

With the ‘Teachers’ Day’ approaching soon I thought to write about the journey of my master Sandip Soparkar.

Your father was in the Indian Military service what inspired you to take up dance as a full time profession?

In the army culture at parties we would have live bands n people dancing the foxtrot, waltz and other ballroom dances. So I was introduced to these dance forms very early in life. I pursued professional training (Ballroom) abroad along with my MBA studies. 15 years back I came to India on a holiday and some family commitments. KITU (Gidwani) took me out dancing to Velocity one night, some days later I got a call from Shyam Benegal’s office. I went to his Tardeo office, he said ‘I believe you dance very well’ and offered me to work with him on his film. That’s how Zubeida happened. The film became a hit, critically acclaimed, and fetched me my first award.......

You know the trend in Bollywood once it starts it just starts. So here I am 15 years and counting(smiles).

Tell us more about the India Dance Week….

India Dance week, I began this when I won the first award from the government ‘National Achievement Award’ in 2014. The government gave me a certain number of funds to do something for the dance community, so I thought why not create a platform where dance styles of different genres come together and celebrate the spirit of Dance Art. We started out as a 5 day festival but logistical hazards motivated us to pursue 2 days wherein 1 day is for showcasing and the other is for competition. It’s been 3 years since inception and the response has been overwhelming.

The place where it all began St Andrews college (Class Time):wink wink:-)

Which is your favourite Dance forms among the Latin and Standard Ballroom formats?

I love the Rumba and Paso Doble from Latin Ballroom style and Waltz is an all-time favourite amongst Standard Ballroom.

Who is your favourite dancer from the current crop of actors?

I like Hritik Roshan he is very talented, I just wish if he could devote more time to dancing and create something out of it. Among the girls I love Priyanka Chopra, she is fantastic you give her anything and she just picks it up. I have worked with both of them on various projects and a memorable one is Darling (Saat Khoon Maaf) with Priyanka.

Any final message…………

In my years of experience, I have seen people change when they start dancing and are struck by the Fame bug. Stay grounded with your talent and you will go places.

A rendezvous with Sandip Sir is always a beautiful memory etched in my aura. In the spirit of Teachers Day I would like to tweak the years old saying………

BEHIND EVERY SUCCESSFUL MAN/WOMAN IS AN INSPIRATIONAL GURU.

My Guru!!

Special thanks to Amit Dolawat my fav Dance Partner and my lovely team Happy Baheti and Ashish.