When Indian superstar Priyanka Chopra performed as a special guest at 2014’s IIFA Awards, the audience didn’t expect her to pluck the musical movie legend John Travolta from his front row seat and lead him onto the stage for an epic Bollywood dance-off!
After a dazzling, high-energy routine to “Tune Maari Entriyan” with a supersized troupe, Priyanka pushed her male dancer and “Gunday” co-star Ranveer Singh aside to scout the audience for a worthy dance partner. By the time she’d taken John Travolta by the hand, the crowd were visibly amazed, clapping and laughing nervously as John escorted a shimmying Priyanka back to centre-stage.
John, in his black-on-black suit and tie, and Priyanka, in her bejewelled blue and beige gown, commenced a simple hair-swiping and arm-sweeping routine, backed by a rainbow of backing dancers. But somehow, the “Grease” dance legend managed to forget his moves, starting on the wrong beat yet pulling off his mistakes with such hilarious casuality it almost looks intentional to us here at The Music Man.
With over 2.7 million views on YouTube to date, viewers have commented how this routine is no match for the legendary John Travolta, who broke into the musical world back in 1977, starring in the movie sensation, “Saturday Night Fever,” before dancing his way through 1978’s “Grease,” 1991’s “Shout,” 1994’s “Pulp Fiction,” and 2007’s “Hairspray.”
Born in Englewood, New Jersey, John, aged 60, was attending the IIFA (International Indian Film Academy awards) to pick up the Outstanding Achievement in International Cinema award, but tackled the surprise performance so naturally that Priyanka crowned him “a true dancer” by the end of their duet.
Priyanka, born in Bihar, India, first moved to the US when she was 13, immersing herself in the musical theatre world before returning to her homeland to finish high school. Before leaving school, she won the title of Miss India 2000 and the prestigious Miss World 2000, before making her screen debut two years later in “Thamizhan.”
Her Bollywood debut came the following year, taking a lead role in “The Hero: Love Story of a Spy,” and after 21 years of film work, philanthropy, and even releasing a dance-pop single with Pitbull, she has become one of India’s highest-paid celebs.
If you’ve heard Priyanka’s name but can’t place where from, Music Man predicts it was Priyanka’s celebrity marriage in 2018 to Jonas Brothers star Nick Jonas, cementing her fame amongst Western audiences despite already breaking the US with films including “A Kid Like Jake” with Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons, and “Isn’t It Romantic” alongside Rebel Wilson.
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