Protima Bedi Biography 
Protima Bedi was an Indian model who later became a famous Odissi dancer. In 1990, she established "Nrityagram", a dance village near Bangalore. She met actor Kabir Bedi during her modeling days and moved to live with him. They married in 1969 and famous model Pooja Bedi is their daughter. However they parted when Kabir had a relationship with glamorous actress, Parveen Babi.
Protima’s birth name is Protima Gupta. She was born in Delhi to Laxmichand Gupta and Bengali mother, Reba in 1948. Her father had to leave home, because of opposition to his marriage. The family moved to Delhi and finally to Goa. She completed her schooling at Kimmins High School, Panchgani and college studies at St. Xavier's College, Bombay (1965–67). During late 60’s she became India’s one of the top models. She came to limelight for streaking during the daytime for the launch of the Bollywood magazine, Cineblitz at Juhu Beach in Mumbai.
In August 1975, at the age of 26, an Odissi dance recital completely changed her life. She gave up her modelling career and completely dedicated her time to Odissi. She became a student of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and did restless practice for 12-14 hours a day. Though she faced hardship at the beginning, slowly she conquered this traditional art form. It was something like travelling from one pole to its other extreme. She even changed her costumes and appearance from a fashion model to a dancing teacher!
Later she learnt abhinaya from Guru Kalanidhi Narayan of Madras. She began to travel throughout the country with her dance concerts and started her own dance school at Prithvi Theatre in Juhu, Mumbai which later became an Odissi school. Nrityagram, situated on the outskirts of Bangalore, became India's first free dance gurukul and she revived guru-shishya parampara through her Gurukul system. Protima's son Siddarth who was suffering from schizophrenia committed suicide in July 1997. After this incident, she retired and changed her name to Protima Gauri. The following year, she set for a pilgrimage to Manasarovar. Her remains and belongings were later recovered after several days along with seven other bodies as remains of a landslide in Malpa. She was only 49 then.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 16, 2014
