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EXCLUSIVE: Sushant Singh Rajput’s Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 4 partner Shampa remembers late actor: I really miss him
Sushant Singh Rajput and Shampa had first met on the sets of Dance India Dance 2.
Today it's been a year since Sushant Singh Rajput’s unfortunate demise. The late actor’s Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 4 choreographer Shampa Gopikrishna shares her fond memories of SSR. She says she had first met Sushant when she was a part of Terence Lewis’ choreography team for Dance India Dance 2 (DID 2). “At that point, Pavitra Rishta was a number one show on television, and DID contestants were getting an opportunity to perform with popular actors from television. Shakti Mohan was a contestant and she had to do an act with Sushant for an episode of DID 2. My partner Bertwin (D'souza) and I were choreographing that act, and that’s how we met Sushant for the first time,” recalls Shampa.
She further adds, “I thought he was a really good dancer, and picked things up really fast. He had to be a very supportive partner in the act, because he had to help Shakti change her costume quickly. Since he was already trained as a dancer and was used to performing in stage shows, it really helped and showed how intelligent a dancer and a performer he was.” 
Soon after DID 2, Sushant and Shampa met on the sets of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 4. “I was very nervous because this was the first time that I was going to appear on television, and wondered who my celebrity partner would be for the show. Then at one point, I was put in a room with my eyes shut and soon Sushant walked in with flowers and chocolates. I was so shocked. Not in my dreams I had imagined that Sushant would be my partner on the show - I already knew him and was aware that he is a good dancer - I felt so blessed. Sushant asked me if I remembered that we had worked together, and I was like ‘of course’. He was so humble. That’s how our journey began from there, and we bonded really well,” informs Shampa.
The choreographer informs that SSR wanted to lose some weight during this show, and wanted Shampa to help him. “So everyday before we began rehearsing, we did some kind of stretching and by the end of the show Sushant wanted to do a split - that was one of his goals. Most of our performances got really good scores from the judges. And whenever the act didn’t go as planned, I would get a bit disappointed but he would always cheer me up saying ‘we will kill in the next week’,” reminisces Shampa.
Sometimes Ankita would come to our rehearsals after completing hers with Nishant (choreographer) and jokingly tell Sushant, ‘Kitna nachega? Let's go now…’, and he would be like ‘just one last time please’
Shampa
Shampa informs that during their breaks from rehearsals, Sushant would share stories with her from the time when he was a part of Shiamak Davar's troupe. “When he was there, they performed at some game where Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was performing. During this act, there was a sequence where two boys had to lift her up, one of which was Sushant. He said that he was so nervous because he was so close to Aishwarya. Ankita (Lokhande) was a part of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 4 too, and most of the times Sushant and Ankita would rehearse in the nights because during the day they were busy with Pavitra Rishta. So sometimes Ankita would come to our rehearsals after completing hers with Nishant (choreographer) and jokingly tell Sushant, ‘Kitna nachega? Let's go now…’, and he would be like ‘just one last time please’. Till the time Sushant wouldn’t perfect something, he wouldn’t leave. He was so self-driven and always wanted to do a good job,” add Shampa.
They kept in touch on and off after the show too, and had met once on the sets of MS Dhoni: The Untold Story. “In fact, I was even offered to choreograph for an Indian-Amercian film for which Sushant was approached too. But at that time, he had just signed Dhoni, so he couldn’t take that up. But when he found out from the producer that I was doing the film he messaged saying that he wished we could have worked again, and that we should do something in the future though. That was very sweet of him,” Shampa says.
Then in September 2019, Sushant’s manager had got in touch with Shampa as SSR wanted to start dancing again. “He wanted to take a few classes and since he was travelling in October, we decided to touch base again in November that year. But unfortunately none of us followed up and it didn’t happen. Everything that Sushant did in his career is inspiring, and he knew exactly what he wanted. I really miss him,” Shampa says.
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