Dedicated to his craft
TELLING your father you want to be a dancer when you’re an Indian male growing up in Chatsworth in the 1990s must have been a scary thing.
But winning a televised dance competition and getting to meet Salman Khan certainly helps.
Sashin Kandhai, 24, now based in Joburg, was the winner of last year’s Jhalak Dikhla Jaa South Africa, a locally produced version of Strictly Come Dancing.
“I remember standing there as they called the names of the person, who came third and then second and then I stood there looking at the audience and they said my name.
“I think I blanked out for a moment. It still feels like a dream.”
Kandhai recalls how his love with dance first began.
“I was very young and my grandmother loved watching Bollywood movies and videos. And I remember I was watching a black and white movie with Shami Kapoor and he was just being crazy and dancing all over the place and I remember thinking, ‘that’s what I want to do’. I decided I was going to study dance and that nothing was going to stand in my way.”
Telling his father his plans didn’t exactly go down so well.
“Initially, it was touch and go. He kept asking when I was going to get a real job. He didn’t think dance was a real way to make a living.”
Undeterred, Kandhai set about making his dreams come true.
“I studied dance at university and worked on building my skills. On the side, I got together a few friends and we performed at a whole bunch of events. Eventually I landed up in Johannesburg and it’s been amazing ever since. Once my dad saw the reactions I was getting, saw the news clips and how happy it made me, he came around and is incredibly supportive.”
Describing his style of dancing, Kandhai says: “I do lots of different Indian styles and will be dabbling in some new stuff very soon. I play around with hip-hop and contemporary as well.
“Fire dance, Hula and Tahitian dance and I even started taking belly dance classes. I train with the Art of Synergy team as well as in aerial and acrobatics.”
I ask him how much work goes into what he does, that perhaps, no one ever thinks about. “So much,” he says. “People don’t understand how fit you have to be and how much work goes into gaining and maintaining that fitness and strength. I’m always in the studio training, working on techniques and creating new choreography. It takes everything you have but in the best way.”
Winning Jhalak Dikhla Jaa SA meant winning a trip to India where he would get to meet a Bollywood legend.
I ask him to describe what that was like.
“I love Mumbai. I had my photographer friend, Yuveer Karunchund, take my pictures, while we just toured the city. The Lalit Hotel was incredible and being on Big Boss with Salman Khan was the highlight. He is such a powerful man. I got to watch him do his thing, while they shot the episode. The only regret I have, is not getting my selfie.”
He, however, did get a selfie with a swami.
“We were shooting in Mumbai and there was a swami standing on the side of the street and when he saw the camera, he immediately started adjusting himself as though he wanted to be in the picture. So we asked him if he did and and he posed for a photograph, gave me his blessings and then carried on like nothing had happened.”
Where do you go after winning a national competition?
“My ultimate goal keeps changing but I do want to work in the movies soon. After my latest dance cover to Laila Main Laila got 3 million views on YouTube, I’m even more confident I should be working in cinema.”
What does he do when something doesn’t work out?
“I never stop trying. You have to take risks,” he says.
But why, I ask him, why do you have to?
“Because it just makes life so much more exciting. I never want to stand back and wonder ‘what if ?’. I’d rather take the risk, even if it means it might not work out.
“Dance has taught me so much. It has taught me how to handle stressful and difficult situations. I’ve learned dedication and what it means to work hard and also about teamwork. Above all else it’s taught me the value of art in this world.”