Kruti Mahesh

Born into a Tamil Brahmin family in Matunga, Mumbai, Kruti joined dance class as a 5-year-old and performed her Arangetram at the age of 14. She attended Mumbai University and, after graduation, travelled to London, where she attended London South Bank University, obtaining a Masters in Forensic Science, and then returned to Mumbai due to her father's health issues. Her father encouraged her to pursue her passion for dance, which inspired her to compete in dance contests. She also worked as an embryologist at a clinic.^[4]

She was a contestant on Dance India Dance Season 2 (2009), joining Terence Lewis and gaining her recognition. She continued to be part of dance shows, serving as a skipper in DID Li'l Master season 2^[5] under the team Kruti Ke Kracters and Om Chetri from her team, finishing as the runner-up of the show. She became part of Dance Ke Superkids,^[6] and was the choreographer along with Prince Gupta for Team Yahoo, which was led by Raghav Juyal, and the team won the competition with Faisal Khan, Soumya Rai, Rohan Parkale, Om Chetri, Jeet Das, Shalini Moitra, and Tanay Malhara as contestants in their team.^[7]

She assisted Remo D'Souza in the song "Balam Pichkari" from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. She continued assisting him in several films, among which were "Pinga" and "Deewani Mastani" in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Bajirao Mastani.^[8] The success of the songs led Bhansali to offer her independent choreography for his next film, Padmaavat.^[9] The song eventually became "Ghoomar", which was based on a traditional folk dance that originated in Rajasthan under the same name. Ghoomar, traditionally performed by the Bhil tribes was later adopted by the Rajputs. Jyothi D. Tomar, an exponent in ghoomar worked with her on the project. The song and its dance, where Deepika Padukone who featured as a Rajput princess, danced to it, received widespread critical acclaim. She received the National Film Award for Best Choreography at the 66th National Film Awards along with Tomar and won several awards for best choreography.^[10]

She choreographed all the songs from Race 3 along with Rahul Shetty and Remo D'Souza and also in Street Dancer 3D, where two of its songs, "Illegal Weapon" and "Nachi Nachi" received Filmfare nominations for Best Choreography. "Gharmi" was another dance from the film by her that featured Nora Fatehi.^[11] "Ghani Cool Chori", a garba from Rashmi Rocket'^[12] and the Punjabi dance "Jee Ni Karda" from Sardar Ka Grandson were among her other songs.^[13] She choreographed Sai Pallavi in the song "Pranavalaya" from Shyam Singha Roy. The dance which had elements of Bharatanatyam, Odissi and Mohiniyattam, became popular upon release.^[14]

She collaborated with Bhansali in Gangubai Kathiawadi'^[15] for the songs "Dholida" and "Jhume Re Go"^[16] based on Garba, danced by Alia Bhatt^[17] which met with critical acclaim.^[18][19] She received the award for the Best Choreography for "Dholida" at the 68th Filmfare Awards.^[20]

She collaborated with Madhuri Dixit in the film Maja Ma (2022)^[21] for the song "Boom Padi",^[22] a foot tapping Garba in a festive setting^[23] and worked on a Bhangra track for the Punjabi film, Godday Godday Chaa.^[24]