Gayatri Patel was born and brought up in the US of A, doing her college from Alabama. Nerdy, as a child and very studious, Gayatri had decided as a little girl that she would be a Hindi film star.

She claims that she was a shy introverted sort of a girl, though no one would know that to hear her chatter away, as if her tongue would run away with her.

Her ebullience and enthusiasm is so infectious that one involuntarily wishes that her film is a big, big hit!

Gayatri Patel is all set to storm Bollywood with her debut movie ‘Let's Dance' releasing on June 19. lets see what she has to say!

Tell us more about your debut film ‘Let's Dance'?
‘Lets dance is about this young girl who wants to be a star. On her way up, she meets this bunch of street kids and she is convinced that they have loads of talent.

She believes ion their talent, but they don't. She has dreams for them but they don't believe in dreams. The film is about the journey that they undertake together wherein she teaches them to dream!

Your first film is being directed by a National Award-winning editor Aarif Sheikh ( the man behind the edits of acclaimed movies like ‘Makdee', ‘Maqbool', ‘Taxi No. 9211', ‘Parzania' and ‘The Blue Umbrella' and is making his debut as a director with ‘Let's Dance'). How does it feel to be launched by an already acclaimed person?
Aarif is just fantastic. I'm the luckiest person on earth to be directed by him. You know, most of us are a bunch of newcomers and for us its been a dream come true to work and learn from him.

Have you taken formal training in dance?
Yes, I absolutely have. I learnt Kathak as a child in America and when I came here three years ago, I became the student of Vijayshri Chaudhery, who is the pupil of the great Birju Maharaj.

I believe that the knowledge of a classical dance form has formed the basis of all the other stuff I do, you know, the rock and the hip hop and any other experimental stuff.

From a self acclaimed nerd, training to be a doctor to a Bollywood heroine and a dancing star. Tell us about the crossover.
Actually you know, my dad's a doctor but at the same time, we were always exposed to a whole lot of Hindi movies and music at home. TV Asia was always on at home.

When I was 8 years old, I won a dance competition and then again the next year and again the year after. That decided it. Still, studies were really important and I was doing my pre med in America for 2 years and also theatre and dance.

Then dad said that I should decide. Theatre practice was something like 10 hours a day and medical studies were hard too. But my dad encouraged me to follow my dreams and I came to Bombay 3 years ago.

How did the movie happen?
Well, I had done some music videos with Jugal Hansraj and also some print ads and commercials before the movie happened. The writer of the film knew the director, Aarif and he recommended my name.

They wanted a person who could dance and were not being able to find anyone.

At first Arif was sceptical but his brother, who is also one of the choreographers of the film, Pappu Mallu, came home and saw some of my home videos. And he was just floored! And I was IN!

Bollywood has had icons known for their dance and styles like Vaijayanti Mala, Waheeda Rehman, Asha Parekh, Hema Malini, Madhuri Dixit, Karisma Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty or Urmila Matondkar? Do you aim for that path?
Well, I do admire all these ladies but my icon is Vaijayanti Mala. I just love watching her dances and I always feel that they are too short. Wish they would go on for longer (laughs)

You've been labelled ‘the new dancing sensation' and even a ‘dancing tornado' after your promos have hit the television screens. How does it feel to carry such expectations? Are you nervous?
No, not really. I'm performing tomorrow at the music release you know, so that should set any residual fears to rest...not that I have any. I guess the only thing I am nervous about is not living up to the expectations of people.

From the film promos, we can see that you've done some daring dance steps, whirls, swirls and even splits. Were there any mishaps during the shoots and rehearsals? Or did it all go perfect?
No, no there were no mishaps but we had some pretty crazy routines you know. For my first schedule I had to dance on top of a crane, suspended 600 meters in the air.

Then we danced on a moving train, on buses, on a plane. The shoot was all for one song, ‘Sansanati'. But it all went well and there were no ‘incidents'.

Since you are US-born-and-bred, did you face problems with your Hindi diction? Like Katrina Kaif did some time ago, did you also take any special training for your diction? (Right now Gayatri has very clear Hindi diction without a trace of accent)
Oh yes, when I came to India, I had no knowledge of Hindi at all you know. I just took classes from theatre biggies, Satyadev Dubey, Makrand Deshpande and am still attending classes with Veena Mehta on diction and colloquial Hindi.

Your co-stars Ajay Chaudhary and Aqib Afzaal are new names to Bollywood. How was it working with them?
It was fantastic. Aqib is from London you know and a newcomer like me. Ajay is from Meerut but has done some work before so he's the experienced one. We just got along like a house on fire.

Music plays an integral part in any dance film, and ‘Let's Dance' has music by Vipin Mishra and Tarali Sharma, which are again not established names in Bollywood.
Ya, but the music is super! Vipin Mishra has given music for MP3 and also done a whole lot of ads. The music of the film is unique! You all really must listen to it. You'll love it. I believe that the music .

Your songs have been choreographed by none other than Longinus Fernandes, Rajiv Goswami, Pappu-Malu and the evergreen Saroj Khan. Did that raise the bar for you? Did these hard-taskmasters make you slog?
Actually, you know, the whole concept of chorography has changed totally. We don't practice for weeks for a song now. It's just about picking up things very quickly. The dancer is expected to be just perfect for the screen in 2-3 days now.

The song that I am performing on the music launch tomorrow, has been given to me just the night before, so you see?

Would you like to give a message or any dance tips to our readers?
Yessss! Dance karne ke liye ek bahana chahiye, so LET'S DANCE!!