Arshad loves to dance

Arshad Warsi has proven his versatility on screen time and again. While he has effortlessly dabbled into various genres and roles, this fluency in his craft seems to come from his initial journey in the dance arena.

Not many know that Arshad started his professional life as a salesman and later took up some other jobs. But having a keen interest in dance, life had other plans for the Munna Bhai actor, from joining Akbar Sami’s dance group in Mumbai to dancing and choreographing in Bharat Dabholkar, Alyque Padamsee, and Firoz Khan’s plays, it all seemed like a plan falling into place. He even choreographed ads for some brands.

In 1991, Arshad won the Indian dance competition, followed by a fourth prize in the Modern Jazz category in the 1992 World Dance championship, London, at the age of 21. Fueling his passion for dance further, he started his own dance studio, Awesome, and also formed a dance troupe where he met his wife, Maria Goretti. In 1993 he got an opportunity to choreograph the title track for Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja.

His journey seems to have come a full circle with him turning judge for Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa Season 11 now. Arshad says, “It just all feels surreal. When I go into flashback, it just feels like it was all meant to be. I always had a special liking for dance and life gave me the chance to get associated with it. Now, I am in a seat where I will be judging dancers, so it is sort of unbelievable, but a great feeling too.” In fact, Arshad, who is in Goa mostly, flies down to Mumbai to only shoot for Jhalak!