Actress Sandeepa Dhar's international Broadway musical 'The West Side Story' has completed more than 100 shows in 12 countries and she calls it a "great learning experience".
"It's a fun experience, we've done 100 plus shows in 12 countries. It's been a great learning experience. Of course, I've got to act on stage, dance and sing and I've been exposed to actors from across the world. I've got to visit some amazing countries because of this musical. Got to experience the culture and the different kinds of people in these countries," Sandeepa said in an interview.
'The West Side Story' is directed by Garry Stewart and Sandeepa is the only Indian, who plays the lead, amidst the international cast. Her character's name is Maria, and the musical is loosely inspired by Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'.
About how she bagged the musical, Sandeepa said, "I was already a professional dancer before I even got into films. I used to teach at Terence Lewis dance school. It's during that time that I got a scholarship from the Australian dance academy; they invited me to learn with them. I trained with them for two years. During the training, there were auditions for 'The West Side Story'; I auditioned and got it."
Sandeepa had debuted with Rajshri Productions' 'Isi Life Mein', but then followed up with smaller roles in 'Dabangg 2' and 'Heropanti' with close to two years' gap each between the three projects.
She explains: "I went (to Australia) right after the release of my first film and everyone said that it was a wrong move because I was appreciated in the film and I should stick around and do more films here. Whereas I felt that it was not an experience that I should let go off because I can always do films later on, but an international exposure of this kind was not something that comes to you every day.
Whenever I got the time I did films like 'Dabangg 2' and 'Heropanti' which required lesser amount of time as I couldn't afford to give the time required to play the lead."
After Sandeepa returned, she signed back-to-back films 'Gollu aur Pappu', 'Global Baba' and '7 Hours to Go', which is scheduled to release soon.