Protima Bedi

Protima was born in Delhi on 12 October 1948,Time Pass: The Memoirs of Protima Bedi, Introduction, pp. 1–2. Biographical info: "Early Years" the second of four children, three daughters, and a son. Her father, Laxmichand Gupta, was a trader from a business family in Karnal district, Haryana, and her mother, Reba, was of Bengali origin.

In 1953, her family moved to Goa. In 1957, they relocated to Mumbai. At the age of nine, she was sent to live with her aunt in a village in Karnal district, where she briefly attended a local school. Upon returning, she was enrolled at Kimmins High School in Panchgani, where she completed her early education. She later attended St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, from 1965 to 1967.

By the late 1960s, she had started working as a model.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} In 1974, she streaked during the daytime at Juhu Beach in Mumbai for the launch of the Bollywood magazine Cineblitz.[http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/proj_tabloid/photofeature181202a.shtml# Protima's interview on naked run] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060306110821/http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/proj_tabloid/photofeature181202a.shtml |date=2006-03-06 }} Hindustan Times.

{{Rquote|right|You have only to ready yourself to allow things to happen as they should. The greatest favour you can do yourself is to 'get out of your own way'.
- Protima Bedi, Timepass: Memoirs of Protima Bedi}}

In August 1975, at the age of 26, her viewing of an Odissi dance recital[http://www.rediff.com/news/1998/aug/22bedi.htm Protima Guari Interview] Rediff.com, 22 August 1998. inspired her to become a student of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. Under the Guru's tutelage, she learned to dance.[http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19980922/26551474.html Bina Ramani Mourns...] Indian Express, 22 September 1998.

To improve her dancing skills, she started studying abhinaya from Guru Kalanidhi Narayanan of Madras.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} From then on, she began giving performances around the country.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} Around the same time, Protima started her dance school at Prithvi Theatre in Juhu, Mumbai.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} It later became the Odissi Dance Centre.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

{{main|Nrityagram}}

File:Nrityagram Dance Community.jpg at Nrityagram Dance Community, near Bangalore, established by Protima Bedi.]]

In 1989, Protima started building Nrityagram, situated on the outskirts of Bangalore. It became India's first free dance gurukul village for various Indian classical dances,[http://www.indoindians.com/nrityagram.htm Nityagram profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516081314/http://www.indoindians.com/nrityagram.htm |date=16 May 2008 }} indoindians.com. consisting of seven gurukuls for the seven classical dance styles and two martial arts forms, Chhau and Kalaripayattu.[http://odissi.itgo.com/views/pratima.html Odissi Kala Kendra] Contemporaries in Odissi. Nrityagram was inaugurated on 11 May 1990 by the then-Prime Minister, V.P. Singh.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} The dance school has a small community of Indian students learning Indian classical dance. Meanwhile, in 1992, Protima appeared in Pamela Rooks's English film, Miss Beatty's Children.{{IMDb name|0066071|Protima Bedi}}

Nrityagram was designed by architect Gerard da Cunha. It won the Best Rural Architecture award in 1991. To raise funds to run Nrityagram, a tourist resort, Kuteeram was built in 1992. Nrityagram is also the venue of the annual dance festival Vasanta Habba, which first began in 1994 and attracted 40,000 visitors when it was last held in 2004.{{Cn|date=March 2025}} It was not held from 2005 to 2007 due to the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami and a shortage of funds.{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/mp/2007/03/05/stories/2007030500920300.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108051607/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2007/03/05/stories/2007030500920300.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 November 2012|work=The Hindu|title=Waiting for spring|date=5 March 2007}}

Protima's son, Siddarth, suffered from schizophrenia and committed suicide in July 1997 while he was studying in North Carolina.[http://downloads.movies.indiatimes.com/site/oct2001/ivw8.html Interview Kabir Bedi] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090626133335/http://downloads.movies.indiatimes.com/site/oct2001/ivw8.html |date=2009-06-26 }} Filmfare October, 2001. This caused her to announce her retirement and change her name to Protima Gauri. Soon, she started traveling in the Himalayan region.[http://www.india-today.com/itoday/27041998/arts2.html Bowing Out] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101007051601/http://india-today.com/itoday/27041998/arts2.html |date=7 October 2010 }} India Today, 27 April 1998. In a newspaper interview given in April 1998, while camping at Rishikesh during the Kumbh Mela, she stated that she had decided to surrender herself to the Himalayas, expressing that it was the call of the mountains that had drawn her in and she also speculated about the outcome of this journey, believing that whatever lay ahead was certain to be something positive.{{cite news|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19980820/23250424.html|title=Will a pilgrim's tale remain untold?|last=Dutt|first=Nirupama|date=20 August 1998|work=The Indian Express}} Subsequently, in August 1998, Protima Gauri set off on her pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar. She died in the Malpa landslide, near Pithoragarh.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02EFDC1F3CF933A0575BC0A96E958260 Obituary] The New York Times, 30 August 1998. Her remains and belongings were recovered after several days, along with seven other bodies found in the landslide.

The book Timepass is derived from Protima's journals and letters, compiled and published by her daughter, Pooja Bedi, in 1999. It gives an account of Protima's relationships and lifestyle, the birth of her dream project, Nrityagram, and her eventual transition into a sanyasin towards the end of her life, when she retired from public life and wanted to explore the Himalayas.[http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/proj_tabloid/familyfriends.shtml To Family and friends] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081022045911/http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/proj_tabloid/familyfriends.shtml |date=2008-10-22 }} Hindustan Times.

Protima met Kabir Bedi during her modelling career. After a few months, she left her parents' house to live with him. She married Kabir and had two children, including Pooja Bedi. They separated in 1974.{{Cite news |last= |first= |date=12 April 2021 |title=Kabir Bedi reveals how he ended the open marriage with Protima Gupta to be with Parveen Babi: 'She burst out crying' |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/kabir-bedi-reveals-how-he-ended-open-marriage-with-protima-gupta-to-be-with-parveen-babi-she-burst-out-crying-101618199289087.html |access-date=10 Feb 2024 |work=Hindustan Times}}

• Indian women in dance

{{reflist}}

• Time Pass: The Memoirs of Protima Bedi, with Pooja Bedi Ebrahim. New Delhi, Penguin, 2000. {{ISBN|0-14-028880-5}}.

{{commons category}}

• {{IMDb name|0066071}}
• [http://www.rediff.com/news/1998/aug/22bedi.htm An Interview with Protima Gauri]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140730182407/http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/proj_tabloid/protimastory.shtml Special feature on Protima Bedi]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedi, Protima}}

Category:1948 births

Category:1998 deaths

Bedi Protima

Category:Deaths in landslides

Category:St. Xavier's College, Mumbai alumni

Category:Odissi exponents

Category:Indian female classical dancers

Category:Bengali models

Category:Indian Hindus

Category:Dancers from Delhi

Category:20th-century Indian dancers

Category:Women artists from Delhi

Category:20th-century Indian women artists

Category:Natural disaster deaths in India