Protima Gauri Bedi (12 October 1948 – 18 August 1998) was an Indian model turned Odissi exponent. In 1990, she established Nrityagram, a dance school in hesarghatta

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

Early life

Protima was born in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

,''Time Pass: The Memoirs of Protima Bedi'', Introduction, pp. 1–2. Biographical info: "Early Years" the second of four siblings, three daughters and a son. Her father was Laxmichand Gupta, a trader belonging to a business family from

Karnal district Karnal district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in North India which constitutes the National Capital Region (NCR) of the country. The city of Karnal is a part of the National Capital Region (NCR) and is the administrative headq ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...

, and her mother Reba, a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

. In 1953, her family moved to

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

, and in 1957, to Bombay. At age nine, she was sent to stay at her aunt's in a village in the Karnal district for a while where she studied in a local school. On her return, she was sent to Kimmins High School, Panchgani, where she received her early education. She graduated from St. Xavier's College, Bombay (1965–67).

Career

Modeling career

By the late 1960s, she was a prominent model. In 1974, she came into the news for

streaking Streaking is the act of running, often naked, through a public area for publicity, as a prank, a dare, or a form of protest. Streaking is often associated with sporting events, but can occur in more secluded areas. Streakers are often pursued b ...

during the daytime for the launch of the Bollywood magazine ''

Cineblitz ''Cine Blitz'' is a Hindi and English film magazine published every month from Mumbai about Bollywood, Hindi cinema. Started in December 1974, as of 2006, it was one of the top three film magazines in India. ''Cine Blitz'' belongs to E.N. Commu ...

'' at

Juhu Beach Juhu (Pronunciation: ͡ʒuɦuː is a posh and upmarket neighbourhood of Mumbai. It is known for the sprawling Juhu Beach. It is surrounded by the Arabian Sea to the west, Versova to the north, Vile Parle to the east and Santacruz to the sout ...

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

Dance career

In August 1975, at the age of 26, an

Odissi dance Odissi (), also referred to as Orissi in old literature, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the Hindu temple, temples of Odisha – an eastern coastal state of India.Kelucharan Mohapatra Kelucharan Mohapatra (8 January 1926 – 7 April 2004) was a legendary Indian classical dancer, guru, and exponent of Odissi dance, who is credited with the revival and popularizing of this classical dance form in the 20th century. He is ...

, from whom she learnt the art of dancing for 12 to 14 hours a day and faced a lot of hardship as a beginner. To perfect her dance, she started studying abhinaya from Guru

Kalanidhi Narayanan Kalanidhi Narayanan (7 December 1928 – 21 February 2016) was an Indian dancer and teacher of Indian classical dance form of Bharatnatyam, who was the early non- devadasi girl to learn the dance form and perform it on stage in the 1930s and 19 ...

of Madras. From then on, she started giving performances around the country. Around the same time, Protima started her own dance school at

Prithvi Theatre Prithvi Theatre is one of Mumbai's best known theatres. It was built by Shashi Kapoor and his wife Jennifer Kapoor in memory of Prithviraj Kapoor, Shashi's father, who had dreamt of having a "home" for his repertory theatre company, Prithvi Th ...

in Juhu, Mumbai. It later became the Odissi Dance Centre.

Nrityagram

Nrityagram, situated on the outskirts of Bangalore, became India's first free dance

gurukul Education in India is primarily managed by state-run public education system, which fall under the command of the government at three levels: central, state and local. Under various articles of the Indian Constitution and the Right of Childre ...

, village for various Indian classical dances, consisting of seven gurukuls for the seven classical dance styles and two martial arts forms, Chhau and Kalaripayattu. She wanted to revive the guru-shishya parampara. Nrityagram was inaugurated on 11 May 1990, by the then-Prime Minister, V.P. Singh. The dance school has a small community of students from all parts of India, but with a common aim of dance. The Nrityagram ensemble was soon performing all over the world. Meanwhile, in 1992, Protima appeared in

Pamela Rooks Pamela Rooks (28 February 1958 – 1 October 2010) was an Indian film director and screenwriter, most known for the film, '' Train to Pakistan'' (1998) set in Partition of India and based on Khushwant Singh's novel; it was screened at severa ...

's English film, ''

Miss Beatty's Children ''Miss Beatty's Children'' is a 1992 English-language Indian drama film directed by Pamela Rooks in a directorial debut, with Jenny Seagrove, Faith Brook and Protima Bedi in lead roles. The film set in 1936 in South India, was based on Pamela ...

''. Nrityagram, created as a model dance village, was constructed by architect Gerard da Cunha. It won the Best Rural Architecture award in 1991. To raise funds to run Nrityagram, the tourist resort Kuteeram was built in 1992. Nrityagram is also the venue of the annual dance festival Vasanta Habba, which was first started in 1994 and had 40,000 visitors when it was last held in 2004. It was not held from 2005 to 2007, due to the advent of the

2004 tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time ( UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Su ...

and a shortage of funds.

Final years

Protima's son, Siddarth, suffered from

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...

and committed suicide in July 1997 while he was studying in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. This changed the course of her life irrevocably, as in early 1998, she announced her retirement and changed her name to Protima Gauri. Soon she started travelling in the Himalayan region, starting with

Leh Leh () ( lbj, ) is the joint capital and largest city of Ladakh, a union territory of India. Leh, located in the Leh district, was also the historical capital of the Kingdom of Ladakh, the seat of which was in the Leh Palace, the former res ...

. In a newspaper interview given in April 1998, camping at Rishikesh during the Kumbh Mela, she said, "I have decided to give myself up to the Himalayas. It is the call of the mountains which has beckoned me to them. And who knows what may come out of it? It is bound to be something good," Subsequently, in August, Protima Gauri set off on her pilgrimage to

Kailash Mansarovar Lake Manasarovar (Sanskrit: मानसरोवर), also called Mapam Yutso (;) locally, is a high altitude freshwater lake fed by the Kailash Glaciers near Mount Kailash in Burang County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The ...

, and it was there that she disappeared after the

Malpa landslide The Malpa landslide was one of the worst landslides in India. On 18 August 1998 at 3.00 a.m., massive landslide wiped away the entire village of Malpa in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand, then in Uttar Pradesh in Kali Valley of Higher Kumao ...

, near

Pithoragarh Pithoragarh ( Kumaoni: ''Pithor'garh'') is a Himalayan city with a Municipal Board in Pithoragarh district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the fourth largest city of Kumaon and the largest in Kumaon hills. It is an education hub of t ...

, in the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

s. Her remains and belongings were recovered after several days, along with seven other bodies found in the landslide in Malpa, a village near the India-Nepal border. In her autobiography, ''Timepass'', based on her journals and letters collated and published by her daughter,

Pooja Bedi Pooja Bedi (born 11 May 1970) is an Indian actress, television talk show host and newspaper columnist. She is the daughter of Indian actors Kabir Bedi and Protima Bedi. She participated in the reality television shows ''Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa'', '' ...

, in 2000, she gives an account of her relationships and lifestyle, the birth of her dream project, Nrityagram, and her eventual transition into a

sanyasin ''Sannyasa'' (Sanskrit: संन्यास; IAST: ), sometimes spelled Sanyasa (सन्न्यास) or Sanyasi (for the person), is life of renunciation and the fourth stage within the Hindu system of four life stages known as '' A ...

towards the end of her life, when she retired from public life and wanted to explore the Himalayas.To Family and friends

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...

Personal life

Protima Bedi met

Kabir Bedi Kabir Bedi ( pa, ਕਬੀਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਬੇਦੀ; born 16 January 1946) is an Indian actor. His career has spanned three continents covering India, the United States and especially Italy among other European countries in three media: f ...

during her modeling career. After a few months, she left her parents' house to live with him. She married Kabir and had two children - including

. They separated in 1974.

Notes

References

* ''Time Pass: The Memoirs of Protima Bedi'', with Pooja Bedi Ebrahim. New Delhi, Penguin, 2000. .

External links

*
An Interview with Protima Gauri

Special feature on Protima Bedi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedi, Protima 1948 births 1998 deaths Bedi Protima Deaths in landslides St. Xavier's College, Mumbai alumni Odissi exponents Indian female classical dancers Bengali models Indian Hindus Performers of Indian classical dance Dancers from Delhi 20th-century Indian dancers Women artists from Delhi 20th-century Indian women artists Natural disaster deaths in India