DANCE OF A THOUSAND STEPS

A rebellious, tattooed teen from London loves skateboarding and rock music. When forced to move to South India with her newly divorced Mother, she learns that Dance Lessons are Life Lessons through Bharatanatyam, the “Dance of the Gods”.

Genre: Drama
Location: South India (Coimbatore & Chennai, Tamil Nadu); and London
Schedule: 1Q 2021
Director: Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri (30 festival awards worldwide) www.indrani.com
Writer: Ria Nalavade
Production Company: Lotus Entertainment Group, www.lotusentgroup.com
Producers: Peter Ziebert, G.K. Reid
Executive Producers: Girish Wankhede
Cast: Ria Nalavade (Reva)
Story Synopsis: Reva is a 17-year-old girl of Indian origin who lives with her mother, Rashmi, an attorney in London. Reva is impulsive, outrageous and stubborn and certainly looks the part with her Goth-like appearance. She sports several tattoos, piercings, a shock of green hair and loves the youthful, rock culture of London which she is totally consumed by. After a heart-breaking divorce and a job opportunity in India, the mother/daughter duo are forced to move back to their home country. This turns Reva’s life upside down. She initially rebels against the idea but ultimately gives in. She now has to adjust living in an orthodox society which is constantly judging her for her appearance and mannerisms. Out of boredom, frustration and curiosity, she begins going for Bharatanatyam classes, a dance form that her deceased and dearly loved grandmother had taught her as a child. This is her only connection to India and in memory of her grandmother, she decides to give it a shot. Reva manages to shock everyone at the class not just in terms of her appearance, but also in terms of her dancing skills.

Reva then makes friends, understands this new culture and tries to make it her own. In the process she faces criticisms, competition, bigotry and pressure, and starts looking at life from a new perspective, with the help of her friends who are very different from her. Rashmi has her own set of struggles, being judged as a single mother to an outrageous daughter. Slowly but steadily this mother daughter relationship mends after a surprise return of Reva’s father Tony. At the heart it’s a mother daughter story of acceptance, and discovery.