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{{Peacock|date=September 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Protima Bedi
| image = Protima Bedi.gif
| image_size = 200px
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date |1948|10|12|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Delhi]], India
| birth_name = Protima Gupta<ref name=tri>[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20000205/windows/above.htm This Above All - She had a lust for life] [[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]], 5 February 2000.</ref>
| death_date = {{death date and age|1998|8|18|1948|10|12|df=y}}
| death_place = Malpa, [[Pithoragarh]], India
|nationality = [[India]]n
| occupation = {{hlist|[[Indian classical dance|Indian classical dancer]]|[[Model (person)|Model]]}}
| website = {{URL|http://www.nrityagram.org}}
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Kabir Bedi]]|1969|1974|end=divorce}}
| children = 2, including [[Pooja Bedi]]
}}
'''Protima Gauri Bedi'''<ref>[http://www.india-today.com/itoday/07091998/obit.html Obituary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090802094557/http://www.india-today.com/itoday/07091998/obit.html |date=2 August 2009 }} India Today, 7 September 1998.</ref><ref>[http://www.nrityagram.org/artists/protima/protima.htm Protima Gauri Bedi] nrityagram.org.</ref>
(12 October 1948 – 18 August 1998)<ref>[http://www.nrityagram.org/soul/dream/dream.htm Dream] [[Nrityagram]].</ref> was an [[India]]n model turned [[Odissi|Odissi exponent]]. In 1990, she established [[Nrityagram]], a dance village near [[Bangalore]].

== Early life ==
Protima was born in [[Delhi]],<ref name=birth>''Time Pass: The Memoirs of Protima Bedi'', Introduction, pp. 1–2. Biographical info: "Early Years"</ref> the second of four siblings, three daughters and a son. Her father was Laxmichand Gupta, a trader belonging to a business family from [[Karnal district]], [[Haryana]], and her mother Reba, a [[Bengali people|Bengali]]. Her father had to leave home because of opposition to his marriage,<ref name=tri /> Thereafter, he started working in Delhi.

In 1953, her family moved to [[Goa]], and in 1957, to Bombay. At age nine, she was sent to stay at her aunt's, in a village in the Karnal district for a while, where she studied in a local school. On her return, she was sent to [[Kimmins High School]], [[Panchgani]], where she received her early education. She graduated from [[St. Xavier's College, Mumbai|St. Xavier's College]], Bombay (1965–67).<ref name=birth />

== Career ==

=== Modeling career ===
By the late 1960s, she was a prominent model. In 1974, she came into the news for [[streaking]] during the daytime for the launch of the Bollywood magazine ''[[Cineblitz]]'' at [[Juhu Beach]] in [[Bombay]].<ref>[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]].</ref>

=== Dance career ===
{{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'.<br />- <small>Protima Bedi, ''Timepass: Memoirs of Protima Bedi''<ref name=birth /></small>}}

In August 1975, at the age of 26, an [[Odissi dance]] recital <ref>[http://www.rediff.com/news/1998/aug/22bedi.htm Protima Guari Interview] [[Rediff.com]], 22 August 1998.</ref> completely changed her life when she ran into the Bhulabhai Memorial Institute by chance, and saw two young dancers giving an Odissi performance. It filled her with a kind of passion she had never known before, in spite of its extremely complex rhythms, patterns, and sophisticated hand-and-eye gestures. She became a student of Guru [[Kelucharan Mohapatra]], from whom she learnt the art of dancing for 12 to 14 hours a day and faced a lot of hardship as a beginner. She transformed herself from being the tight trouser, halter neck, off-shoulder girl with gold-streaked hair to Protima Gauri, later as Gauri Amma or Gauri Maa, as she was affectionately known amongst her students.<ref>[http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19980922/26551474.html Bina Ramani Mourns...] [[Indian Express]], 22 September 1998.</ref>

To her, dance was a way of life. She proved to be an excellent learner. To perfect her dance, she started studying abhinaya from Guru Kalanidhi Narayan of Madras. From then on, she started giving performances all over the country. Around the same time, Protima started her own dance school at [[Prithvi Theatre]] in Juhu, Mumbai. It later became the Odissi Dance Centre. After her separation from Kabir Bedi in 1978, she was looking for an anchor and she found it in her dance.

=== Nrityagram ===
{{main|Nrityagram}}

[[File:Nrityagram Dance Community.jpg|left|130px|thumb|A temple dedicated to [[Kelucharan Mohapatra]] at [[Nrityagram]] Dance Community, near [[Bangalore]], established by Protima Bedi.]]
[[Nrityagram]], situated on the outskirts of Bangalore, became India's first free dance [[gurukul]],<ref>[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.</ref> village for various Indian classical dances, consisting of seven gurukuls for the seven classical dance styles and two martial arts forms, [[Chhau dance|Chhau]] and [[Kalaripayattu]].<ref>[http://odissi.itgo.com/views/pratima.html Odissi Kala Kendra] Contemporaries in Odissi.</ref> She wanted to revive the guru-shishya parampara in the right kind of environment. Nrityagram was inaugurated on 11 May 1990, by the then-Prime Minister, [[Vishwanath Pratap Singh|V.P. Singh]]. The dance school has a small community of students from all parts of India, but with a common aim of dance. The Nrityagram ensemble was soon performing all over the world.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C00E6DB1539F931A15755C0A960958260 Dance in Review] [[New York Times]], 22 June 1996.</ref> Meanwhile, in 1992, Protima appeared in [[Pamela Rooks]]'s English film, ''[[Miss Beatty's Children]]''.<ref>{{IMDb name|0066071|Protima Bedi}}</ref>

Nrityagram, created as a model dance village, was constructed by master architect, Gerard da Cunha. It had even 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 was first started in 1994 and had 40,000 visitors when it was last held in 2004. It was not held from 2005–2007, due to the advent of the [[2004 tsunami]] and a shortage of funds.<ref name="hit">{{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 Mar 2007}}</ref>

=== Final years ===
Protima's son Siddarth, who was suffering from [[schizophrenia]], committed suicide in July 1997, while he was studying in [[North Carolina]].<ref>[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.</ref> This changed the course of her life irrevocably, as in early 1998, she announced her retirement and changed her name to Protima Gauri.<ref name=tri /> Soon she started travelling in the Himalayan region, starting with [[Leh]].<ref>[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.</ref> In a newspaper interview given in April 1997, camping at [[Rishikesh]] during the [[Kumbh Mela]], she said, "I have decided to give myself up to the Himalayas. It is the call of the mountains which has beckoned me to them. And who knows what may come out of it? It is bound to be something good," <ref name="nr">{{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=Indian Express}}</ref> Subsequently, in August, Protima Gauri set off on her pilgrimage to [[Kailash Mansarovar]], and it was there that she disappeared after the [[Malpa landslide]], near [[Pithoragarh]],<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02EFDC1F3CF933A0575BC0A96E958260 Obituary] ''[[New York Times]]'', 30 August 1998.</ref> in the [[Himalaya]]s, leaving behind her most lasting achievement — a flourishing dance village, [[Nrityagram]], where students continue to learn the classical dance styles of India. Her remains and belongings were recovered after several days, along with seven other bodies found in the landslide in Malpa, a village near the India-Nepal border.{{fact|date=September 2018}}

In her autobiography, ''Timepass'', based on her journals and letters, collated and published by her daughter, [[Pooja Bedi]] in 2000, she gave a candid account of all her relationships, her rebellious lifestyle, her family life, the birth of her dream project, [[Nrityagram]], and her eventual transition into a [[Sannyasa|sanyasin]] towards the end of her life, when she retired from public life and wanted to explore the Himalayas.<ref>[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]].</ref>

== Personal life ==
Protima Bedi, during her modelling days, met [[Kabir Bedi]]. After a few months, she walked out of her parents' house to live with him. It was another indication of her expression of individuality, which continued throughout her life. She married Kabir and had two children - [[Pooja Bedi]] and Siddharth Bedi.{{fact|date=September 2018}}

== See also ==
* [[Indian women in dance]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

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

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
* {{IMDb name|0066071}}
* [http://www.nrityagram.org Official website of Nrityagram]
* [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]]
[[Category:Female models from Delhi|Bedi Protima]]
[[Category:Deaths in landslides]]
[[Category:St. Xavier's College, Mumbai alumni]]
[[Category:Odissi dancers]]
[[Category:Indian female classical dancers]]
[[Category:Performers of Indian classical dance]]
[[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]]

Protima Bedi - Revision history

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