So far, the hot sensations of Bollywood used to inspire millennials across India to remain in shape. However, if you’ll read about the business of these actors of tinsel town, you’ll understand how big India’s fitness industry could be in a couple of years. Take a look:
1. Madhuri Dixit Nene
Initiated with a desire to turn her passion for dance into a way to live healthier life, Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit-Nene has launched an online gamified dance initiative - Dance with Madhuri TM Version 2.0. It is an e-learning platform that allows people to easily learn to dance, stay fit and seamlessly unite, and connect with the world to create a marketplace for their skills.
“We are actually looking at capitalising and scaling this business. That’s why we have built up the new version and believe that we can take it to the whole planet. Our first source of finance was Angel funding and now we are moving to VCs and PEs,” said the Bollywood diva.
RnM Moving Pictures Ltd, a media and content company focusing on creating and disseminating superior content across all platforms and genres, has ventured into the online dance academy with the actress.
2. Rahul Dev
Known for playing impactful negative roles in Bollywood movies, Rahul Dev is the epitome of fitness for his sharp cuts and toned muscles. With an aim to donate the same level of fitness to the fitness enthusiasts and aspirants, Dev has launched his own gym chain - Breathe. With strong market presence in national capital and Faridabad city, Breathe gym offers functional training, Yoga, Zumba, kick boxing and much more.
"Breathe is not just a gym where you can work out and build muscles, but it’s a place where you can build your overall fitness and incorporate it in your lifestyle," noted Dev, at the launch of the gym chain in Park Plaza hotel in Faridabad last year.
Significantly, Breathe gym was jointly launched by Dev and model-turned-actor Milind Soman, who was last seen in the box-office hit Bajerao Mastani.
3. Sunil Shetty
Renowned as Anna of Bollywood, Sunil Shetty is one of the leading entrepreneurs of B-town. Being a fitness freak himself, he owns stakes in a couple of gyms across India. The actor has been aggressively promoting fitness ventures across Mumbai and nearby cities like Pune and Nagpur. Not available to comment over his venture, the Hera Pheri fame has also promoted fitness on a TV show.
4. Sushmita Sen
In the March 2014, Miss World Sushmita Sen had launched a new fitness concept Aerial Silk which was about to just train one’s mind and the body will follow. The actress has started a fitness studio named Inhale to encourage Aerial Silk. During the launch of the studio, the Bollywood Diva had informed mediapersons that it will offer no equipment workout and just 11 teachers and 12 students per batch will be given training with their own body weight so that there is no dependence on machines. Aerial Silk is a form a fitness activity with a fusion of aerial dancing, ballet, kalaripayattu etc.
5. Gul Panag
Known for her promising performances in the past, not only as a Bollywood actress, but as an AAP activist, politician and now fitness advocate, Gul Panag has partnered with a startup incubator Prototyze to launch a health and fitness mobile app MobieFit Technologies Pvt Ltd.
Panag, who is the co-founder and chief fitness officer at MobieFit, has launched its maiden app called FirstRun on Android Play Store. It lists a number of features including walking plus running programme, voice-guided running, GPS integration to track running distance in real time and a personal workout diary with stats and graphs to track the running progress.
The app will shortly have long-distance running programmes, options to map runs and an integrated music player.
Significantly, in the growth and expansion of fitness industry, celebs from Indian film Industry have always played an impactful role. With the growing interest of Bollywood celebs to invest in fitness business, there is open room to play for those masterminds who are still seeking funding.
