Dancing to her own beat

Self-taught dancer Ruhee Dosani has 2.3 millions fans on Instagram while also working a job in IT. So, which one is the job and which one is the side hustle?

- Riddhi Doshi

For someone with 2.3 million followers on Instagram, Ruhee Dosani (@ruheedosani), doesn't follow the usual algorithm favourites. She's typically in oversized menswear. Her face, devoid of makeup; her eyes, usually hidden behind sunglasses; her hair in a long braid more suited to high school.

Dosani, 26, doesn't even set her Reels to trending music. Instead, the self-taught dancer performs to old ad jingles ("Washing powder, Nirma", "Badshah Masala") and grooves to classic Navratri songs. A-listers regularly make appearances on her feed: She danced with Aamir Khan to the popular Punjabi number Dhol Jageeroon Da on Baisakhi last year. (The clip has close to 9,25,000 views). She's played cricket with Sachin Tendulkar, oiled her hair with Priyanka Chopra and munched on popcorn with Sonakshi Sinha. Last week, she was at Cannes, walking the red carpet at the film festival.

And this is a woman who only started out two years ago. "I wasn't even familiar with the word content at the time," Dosani says. "I have always loved dancing and performing." In Kandivli, Mumbai, where she grew up, neighbourhood aunties would eagerly wait for her to perform at Ganesh Chaturthi or Navratri community events. "I loved that they loved my performance and that I could bring a smile to their faces," says Dosani.

So, when she made her first videos, Dosani was living in the US, by herself. Her father had passed away eight years ago. Her mother, Mohinder Kaur, an older brother, and those aunties were a long way away. What Dosani was really doing, as she danced with friends to '90s Bollywood songs, was merely trying not to feel homesick.