Ganesh Acharya joins his students on the Uttam Mancha stage on Friday. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Ganesh Acharya may make Bollywood dance to his tunes but the common man was seldom out of his mind. Strangely though, one of his three dance academies in the country is located in Calcutta, and it remains close to his heart.

“I have dance schools in Mumbai and Surat. But I wanted one in Calcutta as I had heard about the talent pool in the city. I want more and more people to pick up my style of dancing,” says the ace choreographer, in town to celebrate three years of his Calcutta school.

The 63 NSC Bose Road address has more than 200 learners, who are being trained in salsa, hip hop, cha cha cha and western moves. A dance extravaganza at Uttam Mancha on Friday evening saw the students grooving to Bollywood chartbusters while Acharya cheered them on.

“I come to Calcutta every two months to train my students. But this year is special as we have completed three years,” adds the 37-year-old who made Bipasha Basu groove to Bidi jalaile.

Weighing 170 kg, Acharya says his girth has never posed a problem to his dancing. “I am very flexible. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to do Bidi jalaile. But now I am thinking of slimming down as my daughter insists that I should lose weight.”

Acharya’s career as a choreographer started off very early — he was 19 when he clinched his first film assignment Anaam, starring Ayesha Julka and Armaan Kohli. “My father wanted me to be a choreographer. I began dancing when I was 13. At 17, I joined a dance group. I have been dancing for the past 23 years but I still have butterflies in my stomach before a stage show,” admits Acharya, whose last big work was with Kajol in U Me Aur Hum.

Though Bollywood keeps him busy, Acharya does keep an eye on Tollywood’s jhatkas and matkas. “Tollywood needs to learn a lot. Choreography is extremely neglected and technically too, Bengali films need to improve. Proper lighting and camera angles are very important to make song and dance in a film stand out. Costume is the other important factor.... Though I get calls from Tollywood producers, most of them back off after hearing my rate. But I am open to working here,” he smiles.

Right now, the choreographer is busy steering films on his own. The year 2007 saw him turning director with the Juhi Chawla-Manoj Bajpai-starrer Swami. Though the film bombed at the box office, Acharya has moved on to his second film Money Hai To Honey Hai with great zest.

“It stars Govinda, Aftaab Shivdasani and Celina Jaitley, and releases on July 25. It’s a typical masala film and my brother-in-law Vishnu Deva has choreographed six songs. But I will continue to choreograph for my friends. My next release as choreographer are Hal-e-Dil and Golmaal Returns, starring Ajay Devgan, Shreyas Talpade and Kareena Kapoor. In both films, hip hop rules,” he signs off.