Dance Day Exclusive | 'Was asked to lose weight to become a professional dancer': Karishma Chavan

Choreographer Karishma Chavan has been on many reality shows, including Dance Plus.

Choreographer Karishma Chavan has spent 18 years in the film industry, having worked with Rekha in Kaisi Paheli (Parineeta) and Jacqueline Fernandez in Lat Lag Gayee (Race 2). She has also been a part of several dance reality shows, including Dance Plus.

She is also a body positivity advocate, and is fiercely confident in her skin and size. However, she was asked to lose weight when she first set out to ask for work as a backup dancer with various choregraphers in the city. She was rejected at auditions, and had to drop down to her ‘ideal' size of 60 kilos before she got her break as a professional dancer.

"You obviously wonder why people are not accepting you, but that doesn't mean that it breaks your confidence. I take rejection and channelise it into something positive. I don't worry about what people say, it is my duty to fulfill my dreams. If I don't fit into a particular mould, that doesn't mean I am not capable," Karishma tells Mid-day.com.

But she dreams of a more inclusive future, and doesn't discriminate basis shape and size when she is choosing dancers.

"It is not about the size, it is about the talent. I am dreaming of that day where I see backup dancers of all shapes and sizes. And it is not like it never used to happen. If you go back in the day, for example to a song like Husn Hai Suhana, choreographed by Ganesh Acharya, those backup dancers are really full girls.

"It's about bringing about the change, and me as a choreographer, I also follow that when I choose dancers. When I get the opportunity to audition, I only look for talent, not height, size or colour. If I have gone through something when I was starting out, I shouldn't propagate it. So that's my body positivity movement for the industry.

But not all the comments on social media are kind to women. "These are people who want to bring about a lot of hate. Of course it affects me when I see comments like ‘Ae moti, dharti phut rahi tere wajah se.' They are far more miserable with their lives, and less achieved. I reply with a lot of love, I say, ‘God bless you my child, if you are going through something, please visit my company's website, we will help you.' This is how I deal with it," she says.

Watch the full interview here: