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Joshinder Chaggar
 All the right moves She came, she danced, she conquered. Instep traces the story of Joshinder Chaggar, the woman who made it all fall into place for herself…
Joshinder Chaggar. It's become a familiar name over time. A woman doing modern dance in Pakistan and introducing the sensibility of it to our videos, commercials and stage. In a culture for which the dance tradition has long been Eastern classical, the mujras of Lahore and hip swiveling, pelvic thrusting movements that got dance banned in theatres, what Joshinder Chaggar does is an anomaly. If the striking Zeb and Haniya 'Aitebar' video got her noticed, then the recent stage dance performance Conversations drove home exactly what she could do.
Conversations was a magnificent display of free body movements which can only be achieved by completely losing all fear and inhibition, and moving according to your emotions, and by responding to the music. Joshinder is the first woman in Pakistan to introduce this genre and style of dance, and has also executed this experiment with an incredible amount of grace and poise.
A style that might not be understood or appreciated by everyone, Joshinder herself describes it as 'something different from the usual commercial jhatka matka stuff' that is so widely seen everywhere. Conversations saw Joshinder, the only woman in the show along with 6 other male actors and dancers, take one giant leap after another, with arms swaying as she pirouettes across the stage, maintaining balance and composure. Her fierce presence on stage makes one believe that only an aggressive, intimidating woman could make herself stand up in our society when daring to do something different. However when you get to know Joshinder, she seems to surprise you even more.
When you first see this bright, vivacious young woman, it will definitely be difficult to believe that she has managed to accomplish so much for herself in a short span of three years in this industry. As she walks around her apartment, she literally has a bounce in every step, and a huge smile on her face, bringing optimism and positivity into the airy living room which has a beautiful view of the sea from the large spacey windows. Her graceful demeanor and incredible posture speak volumes about her capability as a fantastic dancer, and when Joshinder talks, she proves that she is a woman of action, who has made up her mind that there is a lot more that still needs to be accomplished.
She may have been in Pakistan for three short years, yet she has penetrated her way into the industry with ease. So what ever brought this unconventional dancer to Pakistan, out of all the places in the world she could have been?
Love and marriage,
horse and carriage
Joshinder belongs to a Sikh family, which is originally from India. However, she herself was born in Nigeria, and later moved to Australia, where she has lived most of her life. There she met her Prince Charming, Khalid Malik, who is another actor in Pakistani theatre and television industry who at that point was living and working in Australia, who should be given the credit for bringing her to Pakistan.
"I met Khalid when I was in Melbourne, working for a short film, and we both connected right away. We were both actors living abroad, and had the passion and drive to do more. Eventually we fell in love and got married."
The bubbly and perky Joshinder has another side to her: she is brave and romantic, bedhadak and bindaas as we would say, full of unconventional verve. She laughs as she speaks about how she proposed to her husband.
 "I was the one who asked him to marry me. I even went down on one knee. Luckily, Khalid said yes."
Eventually the two ended up in Pakistan, as they first came for a vacation, and then heard about how the entertainment industry was booming and developing rapidly here.
"Honestly, I had never imagined that I would ever visit Pakistan, let alone live here. Unfortunately, my perception of Pakistan had been tainted by what I saw on television. So when we first came here, we decided to first try it out in Pakistan for a year and see how it works out for us," she recalls.
"Initially it took time for everything to settle, even though it was incredible the amount of work that came my way immediately. Literally, on my second day in Karachi, I managed to get on board the Indus Style Awards that happened in Bhurban as a choreographer, and by the third day I had captured my own TV show to host! So there was definitely a lot of work here for me, since there weren't many choreographers and trained dancers in the country.
"However, it was definitely a huge cultural shock for me, as things were so different here as compared to back home. For instance, things never started on time, and everyone worked odd hours, whereas in Sydney, everything was punctual, and started, for example, at 9'o'clock in the morning. But here starting that early in the morning did not seem to be the norm.
"So for the first year and a half, work simply came to me by itself, I did not have to try so hard. It was incredible how many opportunities there were here as compared to back home. Also, we decided that a year was simply not enough time to decide whether we wanted to live here or not. So we stuck around for some more, and we are still here, very happy and content with our lives in Pakistan."
Take your passion
and make it happen
Luckily for us, Joshinder never left, and in that span of three years, she bagged some major projects, such as a music video with Zeb and Haniya, 'Aitebar', which was an artistic piece by director Saqib Malik, showing Joshinder gracefully moving around a house with that other fantastic New York based choreographer Omar Rahim. She also choreographed the prominent Telenor sponsored video of 'Kohram', the title song of Amanat Ali's debut album.
Also, she worked her charm on the memorable Tarang chai commercial, with Saima, Moammar Rana and Sana in it, which gained a lot of attention due to the fantastic choreography. It all added to Joshinder Chaggar's credentials in a country where dance has finally come out of the closet after years thanks to the media boom.
"Apart from choreography, I was teaching Bollywood dancing at ActOne lounge, to students and people who either came to learn dance, or to lose weight. I was even teaching at NAPA. It became physically exhausting - at one point I was actually teaching dance for 16 hours each week. Also, even though I was getting the chance to do what I love, I realized that I needed to do something more. Becoming a choreographer wasn't my ambition. I'm an actor, and a performer, and I needed something else to enhance my talents."
And so Joshinder ended up with Katha Theatre, and managed to get the chance to work with some very notable names in the industry, such as Sania Saeed, for Mohabbat Bhi, Qayamat Bhi.
"The entire experience was fantastic. It's amazing how we all connected. We all just had so much in common. For instance, something that connected us all together was the fact that we owned the same phone, the Nokia 1202. It was symbolic because it went to prove how these people, despite being rich and important, weren't fake or artificial. We all used to hang out looking our worst, and nobody would care what the other one was wearing or what phone they were using.
"That's one thing I love about my profession, that you meet so many people along the way, and you get the chance to experience the company of so many different kinds of people. The Katha crew clicked right away and we are all still really good friends."
Finally, Joshinder then stumbled upon the idea to create Conversations now that she had a feel of how things were done in Pakistan.
"Initially, the thought was to create a small show, which would be presented to a small audience at PACC. We started building up the show and rehearsing for it in 2009, but when a sponsor backed out at the last minute, we were forced to postpone the show. That extra time was perhaps a blessing for us, because we got more time to prepare for everything.
"I feel that I was blessed with a dream team of these extremely talented individuals. Seven people worked very hard to create Conversations. I wanted more women to be a part of the project, but unfortunately there were many permission issues, and the social barrier prevented that from happening. Also I've noticed how women here are extremely conscious of their bodies, so it was even more difficult to bring them out from their shell, and get them to move freely.
"I used to conduct all sorts of strange exercises to be able to make them move. Once I told everyone to lie down on the floor, and roll around. That was a challenge for most of them, as it's a vulnerable position where your entire body and its movements are exposed, and not everyone was comfortable with that."
Doing her own thing, her way
Joshinder and her dream team then faced the challenge of bringing Conversations to the stage, as it was their first effort. Initially they faced many obstacles, such as not having a sponsor till two weeks before the actual show, and simple tasks such as printing were such a hassle.
"I owe it all mostly to Khalid. He was my backbone throughout the entire show; he was the one who got us a sponsor at the last minute. Also, the Katha crew and theActOne group all came together to help us out. The Katha people did the set for us, and the ActOne group brought volunteers to help for the show. Fayez Agariah also stepped in and designed our costumes, Beenish Pervez helped out with the make-up: therefore the entire effort was a collaboration of many creative minds put together.
"There was a lot of fear involved, as we weren't sure whether we would have an audience to fill up the massive auditorium at the Arts Council. But I am so pleased that our opening show such a massive crowd, and the rest of the nights also bore the same results."
Conversations was an interpretive dance show, therefore everyone had deciphered their own meanings and opinions about the story. Joshinder smiles as she remembers an incident where an art student watched her show and told her what he thought it meant.
"He was extremely confident about it, and when he saw the first scene, he thought the two birds were actually one person talked to his spirit or his conscience, whereas those two characters were just two birds, depicting ordinary citizens in society. Also, in one scene where the two earthworms come out to argue over life and death, everyone thought the other earthworm was death, whereas in fact, he was just a friend, or 'the good citizen', trying to cheer up the depressed earthworm. But the most exciting part of the show, was the cat, where people loved him on stage but weren't sure of his role in the play. He was basically there to remind us all of the rock star within us, the fun side, where we all can disassociate ourselves from everything, and just dance and have fun."
This entire journey has been incredible for Joshinder, as she has gotten the chance to perform, to create, and to act, all within one sphere.
But what is Joshinder like if dancing and working are put away from her life?
"I love to walk. Once in Melbourne, I had to go to a friends place, and I decided to walk it. It took me 6 hours to reach her house, but it was worth it. I enjoyed every minute of that extremely long walk. Also I absolutely love food. I'm always eating all the time.
How is she in such great shape then?
"Well, it's probably because of my work, since it's very physical, and demands me to be on my toes all the time. If I wasn't into my work this much, then I would probably be a big chubby ball of cheese then," laughs Joshinder.
 It has been a long journey for Joshinder and she deserves a very loud round of applause for dancing so gracefully through it. It isn't easy leaving a comfortable and well settled life abroad and shifting to another country, specially ours if you are a dancer. Joshinder Chaggar is one example of how things are changing in Pakistan. If you are a dancer, you can make your life here and be inundated with work. We've come a very long way from Naheed Siddiqi and other dancers leaving the country to pursue their passion during the Zia regime.
"Oh, I love it here. What I love most about Karachi are the people I have met so far. They have been kind and welcoming, considering how I'm so different from all of them. My race, my religion, my career - everything sets me apart, but not once have I ever felt alienated in this amazing place. I have received tremendous support from my friends, as me and Khalid have no relatives here (they are all in Melbourne) but even then we have never felt alone."
Welcome home Joshinder! We do hope you're here to stay.
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