New Yorkers work out to Jai Ho!

Say they love the energy of the song

New Yorkers work out to Jai Ho!

Say they love the energy of the song

Jai ho! A Bollywood-style workout lets New Yorkers shake it like the Slumdog Millionaire stars. With a little more sweat and a lot less glamour, gym goers helped recreate the final scene of the Oscar winning rags-to-riches tale.

Jhatkas: Sarina Jain leads her class in a Jai Ho workout, just like Jamal and Latika in Slumdog Millionaireu00a0

They waved their arms in the air, stepping and clapping and then turning to the Bollywood beat in Sarina Jain's Masala Bhangra Workout class. "Every week, it's like a party in here," Jain said. A party that burns 500 calories.

Bollywood dance workouts are getting a boost from Slumdog's success. Jain said her class sizes doubled as the movie took off. "This is what we grew up on. It works the whole body," she added.

'Like a movie star'

"It's great," said Rebecca Packer (56), an NYU literature professor who has been coming to Jain's class for about a month and loves moving like a movie star. "One can have fantasies and delusions of grandeur."
"The music of Slumdog lifts you up," Packer said.

"It makes you just want to move."

Her long black hair swinging, Jain led the group forward, getting us to roll our shoulders in unison. "Pretend we're at a wedding!" she shouted.

"I sweat more doing this than running on the treadmill," said Liesl Eigenberger (24). "I love the music. I'm not really that coordinated, but after three classes I was getting to know the moves."

Added Amy Hundley (35). "I love Indian music and I love Bollywood. [Jain] is a very intense teacher. My week isn't really complete without it."

From Jaipur

Hundley has been taking Jain's class for three years and watched its popularity grow. Originally from Jaipur, Jain moved to New York in 2000, teaches classes at gyms across the city.

And she's proud of Slumdog Millionaire.

"It was very emotional, I am going to start crying talking about it!" she said of the film's eight Oscar wins. "I'm just really excited for the country. Finally Bollywood is being recognised."u00a0
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Jai Ho! mania in Melbourne

Jai Ho has also created a boom for Melbourne's Bollywood dance schools. Marshie Perera Rajakumar, from the Jhoom-Bollywood Dance Company, last week recorded her biggest class numbers since opening in 2005.

"I had close to 35 in my beginner class and about 80 people altogether for the week, which is huge," she says. "Slumdog Millionaire has definitely created more awareness of Bollywood dancing even though it's not actually a Bollywood movie. The end sequence is just a great advertisement for Bollywood dancing."

The dance style, which incorporates energetic, tongue-in-cheek moves of Bollywood sequences, emerged as a fun alternative to traditional exercise in Melbourne about five years ago.

Since then, Bollywood has moved mainstream to the point where some places now regularly screen Hindi films. "A few years ago it was 'Bolly what?' but now awareness is growing and catching up with America and Britain, where it's been popular for years," says Sheila Gawthorne, who runs the Bollywood Dance School.

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