Odisha girl Rajsmita Kar, who beat four contestants to become the Dance India Dance winner, says she left her graduation midway to prepare for the popular reality show.
Kar beat competitors like Pradeep Gurung, Raghav Crockroaxz and Sanam Kumar to win the third season of the Zee TV show on Saturday.
“It was a tough journey.
I quit BA to prepare for the show.
I would get up at 4am in the morning and rehearse because I always wanted to win DID and took it as a challenge.
I mastered stunt and hip-hop style because I wanted to prove that girls too can do stunts,” Kar said in an interview.
The dancer whose expressive style won over judges, public and Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, says she learnt dancing by imitating her childhood idol Sridevi.
“Sridevi is my idol.
I used to copy her dance moves and expressions as a child.
She used to get so many expressions in a single song and I would try to bring those elements in my moves whenever I performed,” she said.
Kar started learning dance when she was eight-years-old.
She trained in stunt and hip-hop style from Aman Nayak.
Though her forté is hip hop, the 20-year-old is well-versed in other forms of dance as well.
The small town girl credits Mithun Chakraborty and her mentor Geeta Kapoor for encouraging her on the show.
“Abhik was the best.
I haven’t seen any performer like him.
I have learnt a lot from the show.
Initially, I was not a good performer but Mithun da and my mentor Geeta Maa used to encourage me a lot.
Dada used to call me the ‘dark horse of the show’.
All the moments shared during the show were the biggest achievement for me,” she said.
Kar now plans to complete her studies and hopes to open a dance school for girls in her locality.
“I will start my studies again.
I am happy that people look at me with new respect.
I hope to open a dance school for the girls in my locality now.
Our chief minister has gifted me a house for winning the show,” she said.