Out & About October 2017

me for work,” he said with a grin. At the height of his career, in 2003, he met his wife Bridgette in Mumbai when she was working in an international school. She reminisces: “We lived the Bollywood dream for 18 months, but I had to return to the UK as I was pregnant and really poorly. And on balance it was better to stay here. “It was a wild Bollywood time. We had these parties … which went on until 4am and still no one left, and I wanted to go to bed. “We would often go out at 10 o’clock at night and come back in the early hours the following morning.” Surendra added: “It was a great and amazing time. It was never my plan to come to England. “When I met my wife I switched off my career. “I retrained as a hairdresser. I’ve worked the bar at Audley Inglewood for two years, and I have chef-ed at Pizza Express, but it is time to go back to dancing. “It was very hard to change country and career. I used to make a lot of money and here no one knew what Bollywood was. “I’ve done lots of community shows and Diwali festivals here. “Now Bollywood is more popular so more people are getting in contact, such as schools and colleges.” As a professional Bollywood dancer Surendra had an exotic lifestyle travelling to Dubai,

Bangkok and Australia for shoots and this was one of the highlights of the industry for him. “I loved the lifestyle. For the shoots, food was coming, drinks were coming, flights were booked, costumes were brought. I miss the lifestyle. “I’d love to go back to India and take part in movies again. I’m still in contact with everyone and they ask me ‘when are you coming back?’.” But it wasn’t all glamorous. “It would take a week to film one dance routine. “There were so many lights, sets and costumes. We would dance for 16 beats or 24 beats and then the lights would be changed and we would then do another 16 or 24 beats.” Surendra is managed in his comeback by his wife Bridgette, who acts as his agent. She has organised workshops and performances at local schools including Robert Sandilands, Ashford Hill Primary and Hungerford Primary schools, as well as bespoke workshops and performances. He is clearly popular and one of the residents at Audrey Inglewood, Doreen, approached him after his performance and told him: “You were wonderful. You have so much energy.” She then turned to me to tell me how kind he is and what a gentleman he is. Surendra obviously enjoys the praise and is in his element when performing. He explained he never had any formal training and simply learnt routines from the TV: “I am able to watch a

routine and then learn it,” he said. Surendra offers bespoke workshops for schools, colleges and youth groups, birthday parties, weddings and corporate events and has received some great feedback so far. Bridgette said: “He has received lots of interest from people in London. Bollywood is very popular right now.” However, Surendra has wider ambitions than workshops and classes and said: “Hopefully I will be able to choreograph a song in a movie, or even the whole movie.” He travels back to India every couple of years and normally stays with his sister and her family. He is hoping the next trip will be in the New Year for a family wedding. “It’s lovely to see everybody. My mum has visited me here and my sisters. They are due for a visit soon.” Surendra and Brigitte’s son Prem, 12, who goes to Park House School is not likely to fol- low in his dad’s footsteps. Surendra said: “He’s not a dancer, he’s an X-box fan.” Surendra is planning on starting a Bollywood class in Speen in the autumn. He said: “Hope- fully if the classes run, then we could do some shows. It would be great to have a dance troupe and we could go out as a group and perform.” For information on classes and workshops visit www.bollywoodworkshopswithsurendra.co.uk/

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