I never really went to school:

All of 23, actor Isha Sharwani is an established contemporary Indian dancer since the age of 8. Nimisha Tiwari gets curious about her brush with Bollywood

This PYT never had an inkling that Bollywood would come calling during her chanced visit to the city of dreams — Mumbai in the year 2005. Isha visited Mumbai with her mother dancer Daksha Seth, for chalking out a dance performance details. As luck would have it, filmmaker Subhash Ghai spotted Isha and was quiet taken in by her Aishwarya Rai like looks. Then, Ghai had required someone with talented dancing skills to perform in his movie Kisna.

He offered her a main role in the film opposite Vivek Oberoi. Since then she has continued her dance performances on stage, as well as signing several additional movies. She appeared as a female lead in the Hindi comedy Darwaza Bandh Rakho last year.


Brushing aside the glam and lustre of Bollywood, Isha says, “Money has never driven me. It is dance which keeps me alive, thriving and yearning for more.” Isha’s mother Daksha Seth is a renowned contemporary Indian dancer and her father Devissaro is an Australian musician, a composer and a photographer. With such genes, Isha says, “Even as a kid, I have often found myself playing in the lap of nature. I never really went to school. After a brief stint in Rishi Valley School, I was so home sick that I came back home for good. It is through correspondence that I’ve got my educational degrees. My real teacher remains my mother”


Picturesque is what Isha finds her surroundings are. “And that inspires us, tremendously. We have been living near Velayani Lake near Thiruvananthapuram for 13-14 years now. And we’ve founded an arts school called AARTI (The Academy for Art Research, Training and Innovation). Learning Kalaripayattu, Kathak and Chau, the mother-daughter duo practice these dance forms at 6 am everyday. Yoga is a crucial part of their regime too. With no television network in their village, doesn’t it get too still and boring sometimes. To that, Isha replies, “I have enough to do anyway. We have dogs, cats, birds, reptiles to play with. There’s a river nearby, so we go boating. In fact, the number of hours in hand are fewer. There’s so much to learn, you know.”


Well, well... so doesn’t she fancy anyone in Bollywood? Isha’s face lights up and says, “Hrithik Roshan is amazing. His looks are ‘international’. I’ve also admired Amir Khan, Rani Mukerji and Shah Rukh Khan for their acting skills. It’s Preity Zinta whom I admire not just as an actress but also as a gutsy woman. She’s just wow”
Voicing her concerns about global warming, Isha says that the youth must pay their dues to the nature and save this planet. She informs, “It’s been raining for six months continuously in Kerala. It never happened this way earlier. I’ve grown up in this green place and I really can feel a difference in the way the seasons cycle has altered.”
What about her link-up with Zaheer Khan? Isha says, “I do not watch much of cricket. But I quite follow tennis. My brother is a tennis player.” Clever, we say. What about the other good things of life? Isha says she loves to experiment with food. In fact, during performances, “Experimental is the way to be. I don’t eat red meat but dig paani puri, chaat and plain ghar ka khana.”

Isha is awaiting her forthcoming movie You, Me aur Hum directed by Ajay Devgan. She says, “My needs are simple but aspirations are big. I want to dance and conquer the world. Acting is rather incidental, but am loving it here.”

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com