Hanif Hilal....Pune boy

Page

Hard Rock

@Hard Rock

Voyager

Posted: 18 years ago

Making all the right moves

Preeti Devnani

Posted online: Thursday , October 11, 2007 at 12:00:00
Updated: Thursday , October 11, 2007 at 12:43:58

Actor, performer, dance teacher, model, choreographer…phew! Ask Hanif Hilal about his profession and this multi-talented lad will babble off a long list. At 25, Pune boy Hilal is sure moving full steam ahead in the glamour world. And now with the much-watched Nach Baliye also under his belt, things certainly never seemed better.

"I have seen struggle and sacrifice very early in life. I was in Kuwait for nine years during which the Gulf war broke out. We suffered a lot because of it, financially as well as emotionally. We relocated ourselves to India. And so that's how I landed up in Pune and have been a true Puneite ever since." Hilal took up modeling on the side during his college years, as the extra bucks were great along with the real time exposure. "I was the president of the commerce association in my college. That meant being involved in a lot of extracurricular activities like hosting shows, organizing events and so on. I used to even participate in a lot of talent shows. Basically I was quite an extrovert who was always up to something." Hilal, with a never-ending thirst to do try his hands at something new, took up Latin American Dancing. "I wanted to do something more substantial as I thought modeling was not enough. Thus I turned to dancing." This perfectionist even went to Cambridge, UK to master his dancing techniques. Upon his return, he conducted some dance classes in the city to share all the proffesional dance knowledge he had acquired. What followed next was Grasim Mr India where he bagged the runner- up title. More modeling offers poured in and then came the dance show. ''One fine day the reality dance show Jhalak Dikhlaja came my way and I immediately took up the challenge. That's where I met my current love and dance partner Pooja Bedi." Even though Hilal and Bedi walked through the exit door quite early in that show, they surely plan to make a big bang at the current celebrity couple dance show they are a part of- Nach Baliye.

Ask him about his love interest and he can't stop grinning. "Pooja has been one of the best things to have happened to me. She is ever smiling and so full of life. There is never a dull moment when she is by my side," says Hilal. And when do we expect to hear the wedding bells? "At the moment I want to concentrate on my career, so haven't made any decisions as yet. For the moment marriage is not on the cards for me." signs off Hilal in a hurry to get back to his dance rehearsals.