When you learn that someone has won two big medals at a national level dancing championship, you automatically assume they’ve been dancing all their life.
Actor Nakuul Mehta, who won two medals, says, “I am surprised I did so well. It was around a year and a half ago, when I did a charity show for choreographer Sandip Soparrkar, after which I decided to take up ballroom dancing lessons, since I liked it. No sooner than I knew it, Sandip wanted me to dance competitively.”
Nakuul further adds, “It was Sandip who thought that I was quite good at dancing and asked me to represent Maharashtra at the National Ballroom Championship that was held at Mysore. I agreed and decided I had to practise enough if I were to dance at a competitive level. I practised for as many as eight hours daily for a month. It was like a proper job.”
And Nakuul eventually did take part in two of the competitions the Standard Ballroom and the Latin Ballroom dances. “I did a waltz for the Standard Ballroom dance, which clinched me the gold. A rumba performance won me the silver for the Latin Ballroom dance,” he says.
Nakuul adds, “We had people from states like Chattisgarh competing. It was quite an interesting scene. Goa, naturally, won the most number of medals and topped the medals tally. Maharashtra came second and I won the most number of medals for my state. I feel quite proud and delighted.”
The actor now plans to take up dancing quite seriously too. “I think I want to compete in more championships. I know this will mean a lot more of my time spent on dancing. I was in Sri Lanka recently where I saw a ballroom dance championship. The level of dancing is extremely high. We Indians need to work a lot to compete at international events,” Nakuul says.
