Manish Chauhan’s father drives a taxi, while Amiruddin Shah’s is a construction worker. Both boys dropped out of formal education early on. And this is their story of becoming professional ballet dancers.
Many might know ‘Asif’ and ‘Nishu’ from the movie ‘Yeh Ballet’ streaming on Netflix. But not many know that the movie of two ballet dancers is based on a true story.
Amiruddin Shah and Manish Chauhan were two underprivileged kids from Mumbai. At the age of 15 and 21, respectively, they were discovered by ballet guru Yehuda Maor. Their grace, flexibility and backflips caught his eye and that’s how they started training.
The amazing talents were soon invited to international events but due to their financial circumstances, those were left off. Soon, the duo was picked for a one-year scholarship in America to get trained at the Oregon Ballet Theatre in Portland.
Today, both Amiruddin and Manish are professional ballet dancers. Their life story was documented by Sooni Taraporevala in 2017, which later became a motion picture.
In the movie, Amiruddin’s role is played by debutant Achintya Bose, who has a background in dance. Manish, on the other hand, plays a fictionalised version of himself in it.
Watch the journey of these graceful dancers here:
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