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Karishma Chavan: One should never accept body shaming!
Dancer-choreographer Karishma Chavan, who choreographed films like ‘Tumhari Sulu’ and ‘Veere Di Wedding’ and was seen as a judge in the last season of the reality show ‘Dance Plus,’ says that she faced repeated rejection earlier in her career due to her weight issues.
Dancer-choreographer Karishma Chavan, who choreographed films like ‘Tumhari Sulu’ and ‘Veere Di Wedding’ and was seen as a judge in the last season of the reality show ‘Dance Plus,’ says that she faced repeated rejection earlier in her career due to her weight issues.
“I joined Shaimak Davar’s dancing classes for a few years but as background or stage dancer I never fit the bill due to my weight issues. I had hormonal problems that led to weight gain, but I refused to give up! I joined local choreography classes and worked on myself to lose 25 kilograms. That’s when I decided to find work in the field of dance,” said the young choreographer who made also her acting debut with the film ‘ABCD.’
Karishma had a tough time reaching where she is today. “I struggled a lot to find work and did a couple of dance shows ‘Nach Baliya’, ‘Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa’ and finally I started assisting senior choreographers in films. I met Sonam Kapoor and got to train her and it was then I had an opportunity to work for producer Rhea Kapoor. It was then I did two songs for her production ‘Khoobsurat’ followed by ‘Kick’, ‘Hasee Toh Phasee’ and others.”
Karishma has a lot of plans for 2021. “I remember people telling me ‘arre yeh kaise kaam karegi iiska toh zyada weight hai’. I was tired of such comments. Also, after losing weight, I couldn’t maintain it for long as my work hours and profession made me go back on heavy side.”
Presently, she has decided to come with a clothing line for plus size people. “We too want to dress up and not just fit in some clothes so soon I’ll launch my brand. Also I will be directing a short film penned by me based on a female issues continuing with film choreographing. I don’t want young girls to face what I faced, body shaming is never okay and one should never accept it. We need to change this perception any which way.”
