Twinkle Toes -- //Invitees only// - Page 20

A page from the personal diary of Salman Yusuff Khan

Hello fans… I am Salman Yusuff Khan whom you last saw as Isha Sharvani's choreographer-partner in Colors' Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa season 5.

Born and brought up in Bangalore, I finished my schooling from South Arabia School and later completed my engineering from a Bangalore-based college. While my parents and four siblings stay in Bangalore, I stay with my elder brother in Mumbai.

With this, I want to share some of my fondest memories with you guys. But from where do I start? Lemme think…

Now that I want to start from somewhere, then let me start by talking about dancing. From the time when I was born, my feet used to shake like 'Happy Feet'. So you can imagine that from my childhood, I wanted to be a dancer. I always knew that I can dance well, but since I wanted to become a professional, I wanted to learn different dance forms. So, I used to spend on dance workshops and watch all international dance shows with whatever pocket money I used to get.

From my childhood, I was very angry and aggressive by nature. And to calm my anger, I used to dance because I found peace and a sense of freeness in dancing. Though I belong from a typical conservative Muslim family, my mom was always fine with me pursuing the art form. She was of the view that I should excel in whatever I do.

But my dad was a bit skeptical about it and wanted me to take up a 9 to 5 job in engineering and quit dancing. He was also pissed because my grades were going down during my engineering studies. So, I decided to quit dance and for three months thereafter I didn't dance. You won't believe that those three months were the most difficult phase for me. But all along, my feet automatically used to start moving if anyone played music. But thinking about my first preference (studies), I controlled myself and desisted from dancing.

After three months, a close cousin of mine Oman told me about the Dance India Dance show and asked me to go for an audition and give it a try. So, I went for the Bangalore lap of the audition process and to my good luck, got selected. Later, for the final selection, we had to go to Mumbai. Now, a hundred things came into my mind. The first was how to convince mom and dad and from where would I get the money to travel to Mumbai.

Most important was I had an exam to appear in. Though I was sad but I wanted to go Mumbai and give a try. I didn't want that after a few years I should sit back and regret. So after thinking a lot, I approached my mom and convinced her to give me money to give my last audition round in Mumbai. She gave one look and got convinced.

I still remember I had the audition rounds during exam days. By God's grace and blessings, I cleared my exam and also my audition. Later, as you would know that I was honoured as the winner of the show. After Dance India Dance, I was a part of another dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa in which I was the choreographer-partner of Yana Gupta and Isha Sharvani (season 4 and 5 respectively).

On the personal front, I like horse riding, playing soccer, riding bikes other than dancing. Most importantly, I like to spend time with my family.

Today, I remember very vividly that when I was young, my mom used to say that whatever you want, pray and cry in front of Allah and he will fulfill it. And I used to always pray to the Almighty, that by the age of 23, I should get famous. And believe me, when I turned 23, I had only fifty rupees in my pocket; that night I must have cried bucket full of tears. But now, I am glad that I have achieved whatever I wanted in life.

Recalling the best moment of my life, I would say that it was when I was standing on the platform of Dance India Dance finale and more than twenty five thousand people shouting my name. I think one can't ask for more than this. In fact whenever I think about that moment, I get goose bumps.

So this was my journey till now. With this, I would want to thank my parents for keeping trust in me.