Protima Bedi
Encyclopedia
Protima Gauri Bedi
was an India
n model turned Odissi
exponent. In 1990, she established 'Nrityagram
', a dance village near Bangalore
.
, the second daughter in a family of four, which included three daughters and a son. Her father Laxmichand Gupta was a trader who belonged to a bania
family from Karnal district
, Haryana
, and her mother Reba, was a Bengali
. Her father had to leave home, because of opposition to his marriage, Thereafter he started working in Delhi
.
In 1953, her family moved to Goa
, and later to Bombay in 1957. At age nine, she was sent to stay at her aunt's, in a village in Karnal district
for a while, where she studied in a local school. On her return, she was sent to Kimmins High School
, Panchgani
, where she received her early education. She did her graduation from St. Xavier's College, Bombay (1965–67).
during the daytime for the launch of the Bollywood magazine, Cineblitz
at Juhu Beach in Bombay.
dance recital completely changed her life when she ran into the Bhulabhai Memorial Institute by chance, and saw two young dancers giving an Odissi performance. It filled her with a kind of passion she'd never known before, in spite of its extremely complex rhythms, patterns and sophisticated hand-and-eye gestures. She became a student of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra
from whom she learnt the art of dancing for 12 to 14 hours a day and faced a lot of hardship as a beginner. She transformed herself from being the tight trouser, halter neck, off-shoulder girl with gold streaked hair to Protima Gauri, later as Gauri Amma or Gauri Maa, as she was affectionately known amongst her students.
To her dance was a way of life. She proved to be an excellent learner. To perfect her dance, she started studying abhinaya from Guru Kalanidhi Narayan of Madras. From then on, she started giving performances all over the country. Around the same time, Protima started her own dance school at Prithvi Theatre
in Juhu, Mumbai. It later became the Odissi Dance Centre. After her separation from Kabir Bedi in 1978, she was looking for an anchor and she found it in her dance.
Nrityagram
, situated on the outskirts of Bangalore, became India's first free dance gurukul
, village for various Indian classical dances, consisting of seven gurukuls for the seven classical dance styles and two martial arts forms, Chhau and Kalaripayattu. She wanted to revive the guru-shishya parampara in the right kind of environment. Nrityagram was inaugurated on May 11, 1990, by the then Prime Minister, V.P. Singh. The dance school has a small community of students from all parts of India, but with a common aim - dance. The Nrityagram ensemble was soon performing all over the world.
Nrityagram, created as a model dance village, was constructed by master architect, Gerard da Cunha. It had even won the 'best rural architecture' award in 1991. To raise funds to run Nrityagram, a tourist resort Kuteeram was built in 1992. Nrityagram is also the venue of the annual dance festival Vasanta Habba
, which was first started in 1994 and had 40,000 visitors when it was last held in 2004. It has not been held from 2005–2007, due to the advent of the 2004 tsunami and a shortage of funds.
, committed suicide in July 1997, while he was studying in North Carolina
, this changed the course of her life irrevocably, as in early 1998, she announced her retirement and changed her name to Protima Gauri, soon she started travelling in the Himalayan region, starting with Leh. In a newspaper interview given in April, 1997, camping at Rishikesh during the Kumbh Mela
, she said, "I have decided to give myself up to the Himalayas. It is the call of the mountains which has beckoned me to them. And who knows what may come out of it? It is bound to be something good," Subsequently, in August, Protima Gauri set off on her pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar and it was there that she disappeared after the Malpa landslide
, near Pithoragarh
, in the Himalayas, leaving behind her most lasting achievement — a flourishing dance village, Nrityagram
, where students continue to learn the classical dance styles of India. Her remains and belongings were later recovered after several days along with 7 other bodies as remains of a landslide in Malpa, a village along the Indo-Tibet border.
In her autobiography, Timepass, based on her journals and letters, collated and published by her daughter, Pooja Bedi
in 2000, she gives a candid account of all her relationships, her rebellious lifestyle, her family life, the birth of her dream project, Nrityagram
, and her eventual transition into a sanyasin
, towards the end of her life, when she retired from public life and wanted to explore the Himalayas.
. Within a few months of their meeting, she walked out of her parents' house to live with him. It was another indication of her expression of individuality, which continued throughout her life. She and Kabir married in 1969 and had two children - Pooja Bedi
; who took acting for a brief while before becoming a television presenter, and Siddharth Bedi.
was an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n model turned Odissi
Odissi
Odissi, also spelled Orissi , is one of the eight classical dance forms of India. It originates from the state of Orissa, in eastern India. It is the oldest surviving dance form of India on the basis of archaeological evidences. The classic treatise of Indian dance, Natya Shastra, refers to it as...
exponent. In 1990, she established 'Nrityagram
Nrityagram
Nrityagram is India's first modern Gurukul for Indian classical dances and an intentional community in the form of a dance village, set up by Odissi danseuse Protima Gauri in 1990...
', a dance village near Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
.
Early life
Protima was born in DelhiDelhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, the second daughter in a family of four, which included three daughters and a son. Her father Laxmichand Gupta was a trader who belonged to a bania
Bania
Bania may refer to:* Bania or Vanika, a trader or merchant belonging to the Indian business class** Punjabi Banias* Bănia, a commune in Caraş-Severin County, Romania* Bănia River, a tributary of the Nera River in Romania...
family from Karnal district
Karnal District
Karnal district is one of the 21 districts of Haryana state in northern India. Karnal town is the administrative headquarters of the district. Other major towns in this district are Assandh, Gharaunda, Nilokheri, Indri and Uncha Siwana. This district is part of Rohtak Division.-History:Karnal...
, Haryana
Haryana
Haryana is a state in India. Historically, it has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar . It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south...
, and her mother Reba, was a Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
. Her father had to leave home, because of opposition to his marriage, Thereafter he started working in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
.
In 1953, her family moved to Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, and later to Bombay in 1957. At age nine, she was sent to stay at her aunt's, in a village in Karnal district
Karnal District
Karnal district is one of the 21 districts of Haryana state in northern India. Karnal town is the administrative headquarters of the district. Other major towns in this district are Assandh, Gharaunda, Nilokheri, Indri and Uncha Siwana. This district is part of Rohtak Division.-History:Karnal...
for a while, where she studied in a local school. On her return, she was sent to Kimmins High School
Kimmins High School
Kimmins High School is a girls' boarding school in Panchgani in the state of Maharashtra, India, founded in 1898. It was considered to be the "sister" school of Queen Mary School in Bombay because they both belonged to the same mission whose objective was to provide top class education to girls...
, Panchgani
Panchgani
Pānchgani is a town and municipal council in Sātārā district in Mahārāshtra, India .-History:Scenic Panchgani was discovered by the British during the British Raj as a summer resort, and a superintendent named John Chesson was placed in charge of the hill station in the 1860s...
, where she received her early education. She did her graduation from St. Xavier's College, Bombay (1965–67).
Modeling career
By the late 1960s, she had become a prominent model. In 1974, she came into the news for streakingStreaking
Streaking is the act of running nude through a public place.-History:On 5 July 1799, a Friday evening at 7 o'clock, a naked man was arrested at the Mansion House, London, and sent to the Poultry Compter...
during the daytime for the launch of the Bollywood magazine, Cineblitz
Cineblitz
Cine Blitz is a Hindi film and gossip magazine published every fortnight in India. It is based in Mumbai.Cine Blitz belongs to the VJM Media Group, promoted by Dr. Vijay Mallya. It was originally started by Rifa Publications, headed by Russy Karanjia and publishers of the popular political weekly...
at Juhu Beach in Bombay.
Dance career
In August 1975, at the age of 26, an OdissiOdissi
Odissi, also spelled Orissi , is one of the eight classical dance forms of India. It originates from the state of Orissa, in eastern India. It is the oldest surviving dance form of India on the basis of archaeological evidences. The classic treatise of Indian dance, Natya Shastra, refers to it as...
dance recital completely changed her life when she ran into the Bhulabhai Memorial Institute by chance, and saw two young dancers giving an Odissi performance. It filled her with a kind of passion she'd never known before, in spite of its extremely complex rhythms, patterns and sophisticated hand-and-eye gestures. She became a student of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra
Kelucharan Mohapatra
Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra was an Indian classical dancer, guru and proponent of Odissi dance, who is credited for the revival of the classical dance form in the 20th century....
from whom she learnt the art of dancing for 12 to 14 hours a day and faced a lot of hardship as a beginner. She transformed herself from being the tight trouser, halter neck, off-shoulder girl with gold streaked hair to Protima Gauri, later as Gauri Amma or Gauri Maa, as she was affectionately known amongst her students.
To her dance was a way of life. She proved to be an excellent learner. To perfect her dance, she started studying abhinaya from Guru Kalanidhi Narayan of Madras. From then on, she started giving performances all over the country. Around the same time, Protima started her own dance school at Prithvi Theatre
Prithvi Theatre
Prithvi Theatre is one of Mumbai's best known theatres. It belongs to the Kapoor family, one of the most influential actor/director families in Bollywood. The theatre is named after Prithviraj Kapoor who first founded 'Prithvi Theatres', a travelling theatre company in 1944. The company ran for...
in Juhu, Mumbai. It later became the Odissi Dance Centre. After her separation from Kabir Bedi in 1978, she was looking for an anchor and she found it in her dance.
Nrityagram
Nrityagram
Nrityagram is India's first modern Gurukul for Indian classical dances and an intentional community in the form of a dance village, set up by Odissi danseuse Protima Gauri in 1990...
, situated on the outskirts of Bangalore, became India's first free dance gurukul
Gurukul
A gurukul is a type of school in India, residential in nature, with shishyas living in proximity to the guru, often within the same house...
, village for various Indian classical dances, consisting of seven gurukuls for the seven classical dance styles and two martial arts forms, Chhau and Kalaripayattu. She wanted to revive the guru-shishya parampara in the right kind of environment. Nrityagram was inaugurated on May 11, 1990, by the then Prime Minister, V.P. Singh. The dance school has a small community of students from all parts of India, but with a common aim - dance. The Nrityagram ensemble was soon performing all over the world.
Vasanta Habba
Vasanta Habba , which means spring festival in the Kannada language, is a cultural festival organised by the Nrityagram foundation in the city of Bangalore, India. It is a very popular event and is considered the classical Woodstock of India. This festival, first held in the year 1990, was the...
, which was first started in 1994 and had 40,000 visitors when it was last held in 2004. It has not been held from 2005–2007, due to the advent of the 2004 tsunami and a shortage of funds.
Final years
Protima's son Siddarth who was suffering from SchizophreniaSchizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
, committed suicide in July 1997, while he was studying in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, this changed the course of her life irrevocably, as in early 1998, she announced her retirement and changed her name to Protima Gauri, soon she started travelling in the Himalayan region, starting with Leh. In a newspaper interview given in April, 1997, camping at Rishikesh during the Kumbh Mela
Kumbh Mela
Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage in which Hindus gather at the Ganges river.The normal Kumbh Mela is celebrated every 3 years, the Ardh Kumbh Mela is celebrated every six years at Haridwar and Prayag, the Purna Kumbh takes place every twelve years, at four places Prayag, Haridwar, Ujjain,...
, she said, "I have decided to give myself up to the Himalayas. It is the call of the mountains which has beckoned me to them. And who knows what may come out of it? It is bound to be something good," Subsequently, in August, Protima Gauri set off on her pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar and it was there that she disappeared after the Malpa landslide
Malpa landslide
Malpa landslide was one of worst landslides in India.On 11 and 17 August 1998 at village Malpa in Uttarkhand state about 380 people were killed when massive landslides washed away the entire village...
, near Pithoragarh
Pithoragarh
Pithoragarh, is a city with a Municipal Board in the Pithoragarh district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, was carved out of district of Almora in 1962.-Geography:...
, in the Himalayas, leaving behind her most lasting achievement — a flourishing dance village, Nrityagram
Nrityagram
Nrityagram is India's first modern Gurukul for Indian classical dances and an intentional community in the form of a dance village, set up by Odissi danseuse Protima Gauri in 1990...
, where students continue to learn the classical dance styles of India. Her remains and belongings were later recovered after several days along with 7 other bodies as remains of a landslide in Malpa, a village along the Indo-Tibet border.
In her autobiography, Timepass, based on her journals and letters, collated and published by her daughter, Pooja Bedi
Pooja Bedi
Pooja Bedi is a former Bollywood actress and currently a television talk show host. She is the daughter of actor Kabir Bedi. She has also participated in Bigg Boss 5 and was voted out on 26th of November.-Biography:...
in 2000, she gives a candid account of all her relationships, her rebellious lifestyle, her family life, the birth of her dream project, Nrityagram
Nrityagram
Nrityagram is India's first modern Gurukul for Indian classical dances and an intentional community in the form of a dance village, set up by Odissi danseuse Protima Gauri in 1990...
, and her eventual transition into a sanyasin
Sannyasa
Sannyasa is the order of life of the renouncer within the Hindu scheme of āśramas, or life stages. It is considered the topmost and final stage of the ashram systems and is traditionally taken by men or women at or beyond the age of fifty years old or by young monks who wish to renounce worldly...
, towards the end of her life, when she retired from public life and wanted to explore the Himalayas.
Personal life
Protima Bedi during her modeling days met Kabir BediKabir Bedi
Kabir Bedi is an Indian television and film actor. His career has spanned three continents including India, the United States and many European countries in three mediums: film, television and theatre. He is noted for his role as Emperor Shah Jahan in Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story...
. Within a few months of their meeting, she walked out of her parents' house to live with him. It was another indication of her expression of individuality, which continued throughout her life. She and Kabir married in 1969 and had two children - Pooja Bedi
Pooja Bedi
Pooja Bedi is a former Bollywood actress and currently a television talk show host. She is the daughter of actor Kabir Bedi. She has also participated in Bigg Boss 5 and was voted out on 26th of November.-Biography:...
; who took acting for a brief while before becoming a television presenter, and Siddharth Bedi.