Mumbai:
On his last visit to India, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper surprised himself when choreographer Shiamak Davar convinced him to shake a leg on stage.
It was November 2009, and Harper and wife Laureen, were introduced to Davar on the set of Dance Premier League.
He had flown down Canadian dancers of Indian origin for the show.
Harper loved the dancing Natraj that Davar gifted him, but was more impressed with the Indo-Canadian choreographer's repertoire of dance studios in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Calgery.
But Davar didn't know the extent of the Canadian Prime Minister's admiration for him until he received his invitation for a high-powered dinner in Toronto.
Davar joined Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and wife Gursharan, Akshay and Twinkle Khanna and more than 200 foreign dignitaries at Westin Harbour Towers and Convention Centre on June 27.
"Akshay gave a fine speech before everyone tucked into dinner. He was the only other entertainer at the massive do," says Davar.
The actor drew more cheers when he announced that he will be shooting Singh is Kinng 2 on Canadian land.
He was in for a bigger surprise when he saw himself with Mr and Mrs Harper in an audio-visual depicting their visit to India.
"It was wonderful to have been invited," says Davar. "The beautiful part was that I was there as a representative of the dance community in India."