Dance is her first love and taking the same love ahead, Aditi Bhagwat has represented India on an International platforms many times. This graceful and charming dancer a was part of the fellowship program Onebeat which was produced by Bang On, A Can’s Found Sound Nation (NY) and which was an initiative of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. As a dancer, she has enthralled audiences not only in India but also in countries like the USA, Australia, London, France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Poland, New Zealand, and Hungary.

Taking the love for Kathak and Lavani  to another level, she has now featured in a Short film which received a great applause in many International film festivals. My Indian Dream spoke to Aditi Bhagwat about this new venture. 

Talking about this short film Aditi informed, ”Aarsa" is short film, written and directed by the US based film maker Kawa Hatef and produced by Sanjay Mahale's HappyLucky Entertainment Company in association with Aditi Bhagwat as the co-producer and executive producer. After producing and directing his first independent passion project based on honor killing in Afghanistan, this is Kawa Hatef's second short film as the director that was filmed entirely in Mumbai, India. 

"Aarsa" is the story of Raju, an unnoticed dance studio caretaker whose love for a beautiful dance instructor ignites his journey of self identity. It is a short film addressing an LGBT issue and trying to explore the world of this central character, played by actor Manav Chouhan, through dance and music. We as film makers have tried using the traditional means of Indian Classical dance to speak about a more contemporary issue. It is an English short film and it premiered at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival. 

Aditi Bhagwat who also plays the role of Sitara, the dance instructor in the movie, is a renowned Kathak and Lavani exponent from India. Dance is an integral part of her life's journey and hence "Aarsa" is a short film very close to her heart. She has starred in several Marathi films before but this is the first time that she had the opportunity to portray a dancer in a film and that made this short film reflect her real life. 

Aditi has trained some male dancers before and while talking about one particular example of a student she said,  “You can never miss that gleam in his eyes when he would watch me wear make-up, dress up and do those twirls on stage!”

Talking about a dancer turned actor she said, “While dancing and portraying characters through dance, "abhinay" or acting is taught formally. "We as dancers study emotions, internal and external and rehearse reactions, expressions and the body stances related to these expressions. The facial gestures in dance are often exaggerated but as an actor who understands the technique of the camera and screen, where everything seems larger than life, I strike a balance between my stage act and my screen performance Hence acting becomes an integral part of dance and vice versa.”

 "Aarsa" premiered at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival in Feb 2017. It has been officially selected at the Phoenix Film festival, New York Indian Film Festival, 7th Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival, Cyberia Virtual Reality Film festival in San Francisco. Kawa Hatef won the jury award for the best screenplay at the Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival held in Delhi in April, 2017.

It will be screened for the first time in Mumbai at the 8th Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival on May 28. 2017 and in Canada at the Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival on June 3, 2017.

Renowned theatre and film personality Suhita Thatte, Partha Akerkar, Charudatta Bhagwat are the other supporting cast of the short film. Rangarajan Ramabadran is the cinematographer and the music is composed by Viveick Rajagopalan from Mumbai and Paul Heiman from LA, USA.