Her time to shine

“This is my third performance to date and I have just another one before returning to full-time studies,” reveals the Jamnabai Narsee School student. Having given her first performance in Mumbai just three months ago, followed by another one at the Governor’s bungalow, the show at the Commune is the first time Esha shares the stage with her mother. “It’s a new and nice feeling,” she adds.

“Actually, she began learning dance just two years ago, showing little interest in it earlier,” adds Hema, sitting besides her. “This move was apparently prompted by frequent queries by people about why she was not learning dance like me. However, she insisted on doing Odissi, not Bharatnatyam. I was so relieved that she actually wanted to learn classical dance that I readily agreed!”

Movies, however, seem a remote possibility, with Hema not keen on Esha committing herself to a career that would take up all her time and energy, leaving her little opportunity to enjoy other aspects of life. “Like it happened to me,” she points out. And, of course, papa Dharmendra is absolutely opposed to the idea of his daughters joining the film line. But talk of Dharmendra and the teenager is all praise for the doting father. “He is a little strict but his love for us is immeasurable. And beneath all that toughness, he has a real soft heart. Some years ago, all of us had gone abroad and I wanted to go shopping alone with Mama, just to tease my younger sister. She created quite a scene and Papa lost his temper. He gave me a long lecture on family values and sibling love. But in the end, he quietly slipped me the money I needed for shopping.”

No wonder then that Esha feels little need to rebel against Papa’s diktats. “I have had a very normal upbringing, sans any filmi trappings. My school has enough celebrity children so I was never made to feel special. Most of my friends are from outside the industry. I am friends with Luv and Kush (Shatrughan Sinha’s sons) but that’s about it.”

In fact, rather than movies and dance, it’s sports and painting that Esha is most enthused about. “I play football and handball and have won a whole lot of medals as a sportsperson. Another passion is painting, and alongwith dance, this is what I intend to pursue in life. It would especially come in use for the career I ultimately intend to take up – interior designing,” reveals the determined and confident Scorpio, whose motto in life reads: “Face your fears and live your dreams.” And she has every intention of doing this. A dream girl with a difference, this.