As if to fill in the void and rock the floor, here comes
US-born-and-bred Gayatri Patel, all set to storm Bollywood with her
debut movie 'Let's Dance' releasing on June 19. The film has the girl
playing a simple but determined dance teacher, who on her path to fame,
changes course, to motivate a group of underprivileged kids.
This
petite dancing tornado aims to make everyone groove to her moves. She
can, as she is no novice to the world of dance. Gayatri is trained in
Kathak and is also a pro at Yoga. A lethal combination this, it helps
her attempt the most daring dance steps, breath-taking whirls and
swirls and some awesome splits.
"I could have very well been a
doctor like my father, rather than an actress, had I not started
performing on stage at the age of eight," she reveals.
At the
tender age of seven, Gayatri went to a local Indian dance competition
in Dothan, Alabama and decided that she was going win the trophy the
coming year. She did win the next year and the year after that and the
year after that, till they stopped the competition as she had none. Now
that's something!
While in the United States, the spunky girl
graduated from high-school and went on to study at the acclaimed Emory
University in Atlanta, Georgia. Here, she also won the 'Miss India
Georgia' title and later emerged the first runner-up at 'Miss India
USA'.
"Around this time, I realized that I loved theatre, dance
and acting, more than studying science," she quips. Finally, her family
decided she shift base to Mumbai to pursue acting. Reaching here,
Gayatri spent time taking tips from theatre top-guns Satyadev Dubey and
Makrand Deshpande, did an acting workshop with Veena Mehta and played
the role of Ophelia in Neeraj Kabir's play 'Hamlet'. She also did three
music videos for Venus opposite Inder Kumar and Jugal Hansraj, till one
day, National Award winning editor Aarif Sheikh decided to launch her
as the lead in his directorial debut 'Let's Dance'.
Having music
by Vipin Mishra and another National Award winner Tarali Sharma, her
movie's songs have been choreographed by none other than Longinus
Fernandes (of "Jai Ho"-'Slumdog Millionaire' and "Pappu Can't Dance
Saala"-'Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na' fame), Rajiv Goswami (of 'Veer-Zaara'
and 'Dhoom' fame), Pappu-Malu (of 'Saawariya' fame) and the evergreen
Saroj Khan.
Produced by Dr Arvind Patel, the film co-stars Ajay
Chaudhary, Aqib Afzaal, Sugandha Garg, Asif Basra, Abhaas Yadav,
Nikuunj Padaya, Paras Arora and Anjan Srivastav. "I've done jazz,
hip-hop, filmy, Kathak and Natwari dancing in the film," informs
Gayatri.
So here she is, urging one and all to don their dancing
shoes. Now let's see, if 'Let's Dance' helps Bollywood find its new
groove.