Sanya Malhotra shares her journey from yoga instructor to actor

New Delhi [India], Nov 26 (ANI): Actor Sanya Malhotra, who started her Bollywood journey with the critically acclaimed film ‘Dangal’, has always been passionate about dancing.

The 26-year-old actor keeps treating her fans with her dance videos time and again on social media. While she hasn’t gotten the chance to show her stunning dance moves on the big screen yet, she has had a special connect with dance over the years.

Interestingly, she also choreographed Aamir Khan in the movie ‘Secret Superstar’.

The ‘Badhaai Ho’ actor opened up about her journey from being a dance teacher and yoga instructor to entering the glamorous world of movies.

During her college days, Sanya had joined the choreography society to learn and explore new dance forms and techniques. To continue with her passion, she joined a ballet company as an instructor and to explore dance further, she later joined a school as a dance teacher.

“I was paid Rs 15,000 and I gave my first salary to my parents,” she said recalling her initial days as a dancer.

Taking a step forward towards her dream, she auditioned for a dance reality show titled ‘Dance India Dance’ in Mumbai and was shortlisted among the top 100, but, couldn’t make it to the top.

However, she decided to stay back in Mumbai to appear for a few more auditions and try her hand in dancing and acting.

The ‘Pataakha’ star auditioned for a few months, during which she also worked as a yoga instructor for the women in her locality. After appearing for several auditions and working in commercials, she got a call from casting director Mukesh Chhabra’s office for a film which was for a second lead but the flick eventually got shelved.

A few months later, Sanya received another call from Mukesh’s office, this time for the main role in Dangal. Sanya had auditioned and appeared for the screen test but had forgotten about it until she was informed that Aamir Khan wanted to meet her. Sanya, who was in Delhi, returned to Mumbai immediately but discovered that 20 other girls were shortlisted for the same character.

“We had to go through a few more sessions. Aamir sir came to meet us in his Mahavir Phogat avatar. The sessions went on for a month, by the end of which, we were all getting impatient to know who had bagged the part as we had been asked to not take up any other work. Then, Fatima (Sana Shaikh) and I got a call from the production house informing us that she would be playing Geeta, Mahavir’s elder daughter, while I had landed the part of the younger daughter, Babita Kumari. I will never forget that day. The rest, as they say, is history,” the actor shared on how she finally got the role.

Sanya was last seen in ‘Badhaai Ho’ opposite Ayushmann Khurrana. The movie recently entered the 200 crore club and garnered immense appreciation from both audience and critics.

Sanya will next appear in Ritesh Batra’s ‘Photograph’ alongside Nawazudidn Siddiqui. [source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]