MUSBA HASHMI catches up with HYDROMAN aka JAYDEEP GOHIL, India’s first underwater dancer, who is setting the stage on water with his dance moves and is all set to feature in &flix’s music video Awesome In Disguise
Superheroes are, at all times, expected to have super powers that can help them go on a rescue trail and protect the world from the eye of the evil. However, not all superheroes are born with magical powers, some develop it over time.
The latest edition to your list of favourite superheroes can be Hydroman. Who is he, you ask? A Marvel or a Bollywood character? None of these. Jaydeep Gohil, a 26-year-old Rajkot-based mechanical engineer, has taken the Internet by storm through his underwater stunts and dance moves. To cut it short, he rules water. Hence, the name.
For Gohil, it started with a passion for swimming. At five, he was introduced to bathing at river banks. Since then, water became his friend. However, the passion took a backseat when dance came on his cards.
It was only one fine day, when his father, on a lighter vein, asked him to couple his dance with water. No matter how vague an idea it was, it got Gohil thinking.
“That’s when I thought why not dance underwater. I began researching on the art form. I wanted to seek inspiration from some international artists as well. However, to my surprise, I realised that there was no one who was doing it,” Gohil tells you.
This left Gohil with no option but to take to trial and error. He decided to reach out to a local swimming pool and implement his thoughts.
“Initially, it was difficult to understand where to begin from. Gradually, I started choreographing songs and practice them underwater. I continued doing it until I realised the need of a mirror to keep a watch on my moves,” he says.
Without having to guess, what happened next — Gohil had his practice tank set-up in his home. This gave him more time to practice while also helping him to see his moves.
The another problem in the pipeline was that it was only him who knew what he was doing down the water. The task was to showcase the art to the world.
“I decided to buy a camera. The next thing that I needed was a tripod. To not put too much of financial pressure on my family, I decided to make one myself and my father’s workshop,” Gohil explains.
However, even the camera didn’t help much, because Gohil was unable to shoot himself properly — sometimes he went out of frame, while the other he was cropped.
The next thing that Gohil could think of was a glass tank. As easy it may sound to have one, Gohil had to take no for an answer from my architects, until one, finally, agreed.
“Many people told us that it wasn’t possible and that it will break into pieces if I went there. But I didn’t stop trying. Finally, my father’s friend said that he can help. With instructions from designer’s in Dubai we were finally able to have one. Made from 24 mm glass, it was like a dream for me,” he says.
Now, the glass tank travels everywhere with Gohil. It needs a crane for its placements.
While this was all about Gohil’s journey, what one may be excited to read about is how he manages to pull it off. There is no rocket science behind it.
“I am one of the few people who, at ease, can pull this off. My forelimbs are larger than my body. It helps me to maintain my balance while swimming. Not to mention, water is my comfort zone. When people find it impossible, I often think to myself ‘why do they feel like that? It’s easy’,” he tells you.
Most of Gohil’s performances are five-minute long. He can manage to stay in water for three-and-a-half minutes without much motion. But during his performance, he makes sure to take frequent breaks for oxygen. “These breaks can’t be obvious. We can’t let the audience know that I am going up the tank to breathe. This will make them lose attention. I modify the steps to make it look natural. Take for example, if I am taking a flip, I will go up breathe and then come down. This is all in sync,” he explains.
Gohil’s art was sufficient to take him to India’s Got Talent, while also giving him a chance to share his watery stage with Akshay Kumar on the show. This followed by all the name and fame. However, it was short lived.
“There was a time when I had no work for six months. People started forgetting me. It made me question my survival in the field. I was dishearten and asked my father if I could join him at his workshop. He told me to focus on my craft,” he says.
This did affect Gohil, but not for long. He utilised the time to amp up his craft and come up with better concepts.
If you think this is the end of the twists and turns in his life. There is more.
“In 2016, I was called for an show in Chennai for the India’s first and largest walk-through aquarium. It may sound beautiful to you. But, here’s a catch. I had to perform with 10 sharks in the aquarium. This, at first, sounded unreal. But then, they explained that I have to wear a wet suit, the one that their staff wears when they go to feed them and it will go well,” Gohil tells you.
During the practice sessions in that aquarium with 10 not-so-friendly companions, Gohil had a narrow escape.
“The basic thing that we should know is to not touch the sharks at all. If you did, it will, for sure, bite you and it it got to taste your blood, you should be prepared to say goodbye. I didn’t realise, and while dancing, my hand was about to touch a shark. My cameraperson who was shooting this from outside the aquarium had a mini heartattack. He immediately signalled me to stop and come out. When I did, he showed me the footage of the blunder that I was about to do,” Gohil recalls.
That definitely left Gohil with a strong urge to leave the show and go back, but he knew it wasn’t a professional thing to do. “I completed it and gradually my fear too went away. I did four 15-minute shows in a day, for six days,” Gohil, who is featuring in &flix’s music video Awesome In Disguise in collaboration with the leading multilingual pop-folk band ‘When Chai Met Toast’, tells you.
Gohil is nothing but happy and excited to be a part of the video and to see his work getting more recognition.
