by Tanishka Juneja
India is a land of various unique talents, and one such talented individual who has made the country proud is Jaydeep Gohil aka Hydroman. Known as the country’s only underwater dancer, Jaydeep took dancing to a whole new level. Having impressed celebrities like Akshay Kumar, Varun Dhawan and Hrithik Roshan with his talent, there’s no stopping him.
In the most candid and heartfelt conversation, the artist opened up about the story behind his name ‘Hydroman’, getting his family’s support, difficulties of dancing underwater and much more…
If what I’ve heard is true, it was only after your family trip to Dwarka in 2011, which, funnily enough, you weren’t even interested to go on, that the idea of dancing underwater came up in your mind. It’s been a decade since then, and now you’re known as ‘Hydroman’ – country’s only underwater dancer. How would you describe your journey as an artist?
As a child, I was always fond of swimming. Ever since I was around 7 years old, we would visit our hometown during summer break and I would have fun in the lake. But when I was in 10th grade, I got inclined towards dancing. I would also participate in competitions and people would appreciate my dancing skills. So, around that time, swimming took a back seat and dance became my priority. When I was in 11th grade, we were about to go to Dwarka with some relatives, but I didn’t want to miss my dance class. So, when I refused to go on the trip, my dad jokingly said that you can dance under the water in Dwarka. And his idea struck a chord with me. So, that’s when I started working towards it. It hasn’t been easy but I was really passionate about combining both the things I was good at – swimming and dancing. After completing my 12th, I took a membership at a swimming facility because I wanted to see if I could actually dance under the water or not. For 3 months, I would visit the pool daily and practice dancing. At one point, my mom even questioned me if I was being so regular at the pool because I’ve found a girl there (laughs) because I would cancel other plans and never skip swimming.
Even though there were a lot of questions in my head as to how will people see me when I dance, holding my breath under the water, choreographing a routine, having no reference because no one has done this before and what not, but I took all of this positively and thought that this is my chance to do something new and unique. And so, I did.
When & how did you come up with the name ‘Hydroman’? What’s the story behind that?
So, initially, I would get offers to do live shows and I would carry my tank to give those performances. I also got a chance to be on a reality show, i.e., ‘India’s Got Talent’ and that gave me a platform to showcase my talent on a bigger scale. So, I started getting more offers from all across the country to do live shows. But slowly and gradually, the offers started decreasing because the transportation cost for the tank was a lot. So, around 2017-18, people started forgetting me and I had almost no work around that time. Even though people around me started telling me to find some real work and leave this art form behind, my focus was clear because according to me, I had just begun. So, I continued practicing and improving myself. I also started doing yoga and pranayama to increase my breath holding capacity.
Then, I realised that I should keep a stage name for myself which is easy to remember for everyone and that’s how ‘Hydroman’ came into existence in 2019. I started uploading content on social media and tried to present my art in a fun way, which luckily grabbed the audience’s attention. My videos started getting viral and my followers kept increasing. A lot of celebrities took notice of my videos and appreciated my skills. So, that’s how the image of ‘Hydroman’ was built.
Usually, convincing our parents when it comes to making a career in art forms like these is easier said than done, but when it comes to you, your parents loved the video you had recorded in the water tank at your house. Tell us something more about what they had to say when you decided to make a career out of it.
So, I took everything step by step instead of directly telling my parents that I want to make a career in this field. Firstly, I tried learning the skill so that I was sure that I was able to do it. Then, I asked my dad to build a concrete tank in our parking lot so that I could practice as much as I wanted to. At first, he thought this was just a temporary thing and I would eventually forget about it. But a few days later, when I refused to go on a trip to Goa and instead asked him to use that money to build a tank, he realised that I was serious about it. So, he agreed to build that tank and also asked me to come on the trip. So, in 2013, the concrete tank was built and later, I also asked him to buy an underwater camera so that I could record myself. So, I recorded myself doing whatever I had learnt till then and showed it to my dad. After looking at it, he realised that this is something he has never seen before and that more people should see it. So, when my relatives appreciated me and loved the performance, that’s when I told my dad that this is something I want to pursue further. And even he agreed that I had potential so, when I told him my plan of installing a glass tank in order for people to see me, he supported me and in 2014, we built it. Since no one had seen me perform live before that, all of them surrounded the tank to watch me dance and were shocked when I completed my act, in a good way of course. Then, a few local news reporters started to showcase my talent and that’s how people started recognising me.
This wouldn’t have been possible without my dad’s support because there were a lot of technicalities as well which needed to be kept in mind, especially while building the tank. He designed it for me because it was a risky job. A lot of technicians we had met during that time said that it wasn’t possible to build a tank like this and at one point, my dad asked me to give up this idea. But when he noticed that I was disappointed, he took the entire responsibility of building it himself. We took the risk and till today, I’m using that tank to make videos and practice. So, I’m truly grateful for the support I got from my family.
You participated in ‘India’s Got Talent’ in 2015 and ‘Entertainer No 1’ in 2020, securing second place in the latter, and also impressed celebrities like Varun Dhawan and Akshay Kumar with your performance. During the pandemic, when a lot of things had shifted online, do you think it came as a blessing in disguise for artists (whether it’s singers, dancers, etc.) to explore new mediums to showcase their talent?
When I went to audition for ‘India’s Got Talent’, Akshay Kumar sir had come to promote his film ‘Gabbar is Back’. He was so impressed by my performance that he wanted to try doing it himself. So, dancing with him and doing his signature steps under the water felt like a dream. Similarly, during ‘Entertainer No 1’, Varun Dhawan was impressed with my performance and also posted a video message of the same. So, those were some memorable moments for me.
Talking about the pandemic, everyone had to struggle in some way or the other. The good thing about it was that a lot of celebrities took notice of my videos, commented on them and also made videos for me. Hrithik Roshan, who I admire so much, appreciated my talent and I also had the honour of talking to him on text. The negative side of the pandemic was that if you got cold, the chances of getting COVID were higher. So, my family members would restrict me from entering the tank so that I don’t end up falling sick.
I’m sure that dancing under the water is a lot more difficult than dancing on the ground. So, can you elaborate on how you prepare a routine and what all things you need to keep in mind while doing that?
Water has higher density so, the moves that you can do so easily on land can’t be done the same way when underwater. One advantage of this is that the gravitational force under the water won’t be that much so, I can present the moves in a different way, something that I can’t even do on land. But in order to reach there, I need to overcome quite a few difficulties. Firstly, I must be able to hear the music under the water and dance to those exact same beats. Secondly, if I’m performing live somewhere, I need to come out at a particular beat to breathe and then continue with my performance. I hardly have 2-3 seconds to do that. So, to get that timing right is also important. But since I’ve been practicing for years now, it has become a bit easier. My maximum breath holding time as of now is 4 minutes. When I had initially started, I could hold my breath for a minute. So, over the years, I’ve worked on it and improved myself.
Out of all your performances, which one’s the closest to your heart and why?
If I talk about my favourite performance so far, there’s an aquarium in Chennai, which is the largest aquarium of India. I did live shows for 6 days in that aquarium which also had a variety of fishes. The risk factor of performing with those fishes was that during the performance, if I end up hitting a shark by mistake, I might get into trouble. And while dancing, there’s no fixed posture that I maintain so, it’s very difficult to realise if the shark is behind me or not. So, I asked someone to stand in front of the aquarium and signal me with a flashlight whenever a shark is passing behind me. This way, I’d be more careful and dance accordingly. So, this was how I completed the entire show and it’s always going to be a memorable experience.
What’s next on the cards for you?
So, we’ve recently built a swimming pool, which is 10 times bigger than my tank. It has glass on the front side which will help me shoot videos from outside too. I’m also trying to prepare a dance crew so that we can perform as a group too. And I want to do all those things under the water that we normally do, as part of our routine on land. I’m working on it and you’ll see those videos on my social media soon.
In the long run, I also wish to open an underwater studio where all those underwater sequences in films or shows can be shot. Let’s see what the future has in store for me.
