Bollyrobics' producer and director, Timm-Hendrik Hogerzeil, grew up surrounded by friends born and raised in India. In 1995, he took his first trip to India to work in the film industry in Mumbai. Having fallen in love with Bollywood movies, he knew he wanted to do something that involved these powerful, fun and sexy films.
Using songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Bombay Dreams" and one of Bollywood's biggest hits, "Kal Ho Naa Ho," the exercise video Bollyrobics features dance routines each with increasing levels of difficulty and a variety of styles. Routines are taught step-by-step with a warm-up and cool-down period. The video invites exercisers to dance barefoot, incorporate a silky veil for effect and add in a personal seductive flair.
"Mostly women go to aerobics classes (in Europe) so I thought it is such a pity that most workouts seem to be so militant and not really sexy; not catering to women.
"Once I had the dances more or less all together, I found (dancer) Julia Casper...It was immediately clear that she was the most perfect cast dancer. We finalized the choreography together and shot Bollyrobics in just two days. We have been working on other projects since then," Hogerzeil told indianlifeandstyle.com.
One of the biggest television networks in Europe, RTL TV, said that "After Jane Fonda and Billy Blanks, Bollyrobics is now the big new trend." With over 40,000 copies sold already in Germany, German dancer Julie Casper is enjoying the impact it's made in her own country as well as around the globe.
"It is easy to learn the choreographies even if you don't have any dance experience. Each step is split up in its plain movements. While creating the dances I sometimes asked my less talented friends, people that have never done dancing before, to follow along with me just so I can see how easy or hard it is on them. We laughed a lot and they loved it," explains Casper, who admits she has a strong passion for Indian cuisine, not just dance.
Truly an international workout video, Bollyrobics is produced in English, Spanish, French, Japanese and, of course, Hindi. With 104 minutes of dance, it's packed with fun, healthy choices and sexy moves. An unexpected bonus is that the Hindi voice-over is done by none other than former Indian pop singer Swetta Shetyy, who now resides in Germany.
According to Hogerzeil, there is a significant interest in a follow-up Bollyrobics DVD already and so they've begun working on more dance routines to put into the next video, which will hopefully be completed by the end of 2007.
For more information on Bollyrobics, visit their Web site at www.bollyrobics.com.

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