Strictly Come Dancing’s says last week’s Bollywood number, which made judge cry tears of pure joy, was the best thing that’s ever happened to her.
The Glasgow-born GP and TV doctor says the reaction has been huge, with viewers this week sending her pictures of their kids dressing up in Indian clothes, while others have been listening to the song, watching the film and immersing themselves in Bollywood. “It was the most special moment, I think, of my life, and I don't say that lightly.
"I think that it just was a moment that was very layered deep for me in many ways. I've been just blown away by the love and support from the public. It’s made press across the ., in India all the major papers reported it,” she marvels. “I never expected the response that it's had but it's been overwhelmingly amazing.”
She and her Spanish pro partner, , brought the house down with their dance to Bole Chudiyan from hit 2001 film Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, which is the Love Actually of Bollywood. “When you have grown up as an ethnic minority, finding yourself in your own shoes, it doesn't come easy and representation really does matter,” she says.
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“I know that, as a four-year-old girl, when I would watch mainstream television, I just wouldn't see an Indian girl doing what I did there. And therefore, you just always felt like you didn't belong. It creates things like imposter syndrome, it creates a sense of disbelief in yourself. And in that moment, I didn't feel any of that.”
Punam, 41, says the moment also felt “healing” because it was all about her, rather than her roles as a mother, a doctor, a wife and a daughter. “I feel like all my life I've tried to fit in, so I've either been my Scottish self or my Indian self. But actually, in this moment, I was just unapologetically Punam, the Indian Scot, dancing her Bollywood heart out."
Hearteningly, the joyous number, which was a first for Strictly, brought only positivity, with no backlash as she soared up the leaderboard with a whopping 33 points - a big improvement on the 18 she’d got for her foxtrot and 19 for the Cha Cha.
She has experienced racism in the past - once tweeting about a patient who complained they didn’t want to see “an Asian doctor” but who’d backed down when the receptionist pointed out Punam was Scottish. Punam’s parents came to Glasgow from the Punjab in the late 1970s and her mother always worried that her two British-born daughters would be disconnected with their Indian heritage. “This is a moment that we'll never forget,” Punam says now. “It'll be one I know that I will speak to my grandchildren about.”
As well as having a family, Punam is a working GP from Monday to Thursday and also the resident doctor on BBC1’s daytime show Morning Live - so how on earth is she fitting in the training with everything else? “I don't sleep very much,” she laughs. “I'm not going to lie, the juggle is real and the weeks are really fast-paced and quite intense. But I find that each of my roles lends itself to the other. Everybody knows the pressures of the NHS are real, and as a GP, our sessions are jam-packed and busy. But when I finish, feeling a bit frazzled, there's nothing like going and learning a completely new skill. It's been so much fun. It really helps with the whole offloading of the day.”
Married to another NHS doctor, Sandesh Gulhane, they have two children Aarish, 11, and four-year-old Ellora. She doesn’t resent that she’s checking her kids’ homework at 11pm at night and says she is still driven by adrenaline. “You make it work because I'm so excited. This is an opportunity of a lifetime and it's going to be over before I know it so I'm just making the most of it. My kids are loving it, my patients are loving it. My practice team are huge fans of Strictly.”
Shortly after having her son she decided to stop being a partner at her practice, suffering burn-out caused by the unrelenting nature of the work. Unable to switch off, even while on holiday, she feared it was taking its toll on her ability to be a good mother. "I loved my job as a doctor, but I detested the bureaucracy of it all,” she has explained since. "I wasn't being an effective mother because my work was always coming home with me. I was always torn between work guilt and parent guilt, wanting to do the right thing by everyone but failing to find ways to sustain myself against the unsustainable."
These days Punam takes her work as a doctor very seriously and has absolutely no plans to quit for a life in showbiz. “Gosh, no. I love my job. I love being a GP and the particularly, ever since I was little, it was there for my family. I work in a fantastic practice and I'm really grateful for my team and I have no plans at all to leave. I love community medicine - it’s what makes me who I am.”
She says that when cracked a gag in the so-called Clauditorium about being thrilled to find himself in the same room as a doctor it was just “a wee joke”, but she knows there is a serious point behind it.
“I think sometimes GPs, particularly, get a lot of criticism and it's just important really for everyone to know that every single one of us is trying our best. We're all turning up every day. I'm massively passionate about the NHS and the work that we all do.”
While her husband is also Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Punam has high hopes that the new Labour government will make improvements for her profession.
“It's a no-brainer that the NHS and health services across the country need a lot more support, need a lot more funding, we need more doctors. There's no denying it. The pressure is there and primary care particularly is struggling. So I’m hopeful that we find ourselves in a position where there is more investment being put into the healthcare service and more support is available for those of us working in it.”
One of the things she has found being on Strictly has helped with, is in reminding people that GPs are only human. “I think we're often put on a big pedestal or we're thought to be these very serious people. I think people forget sometimes that we also have lives and we also have interests and passions and hobbies.
She’s now reached week four and has so far managed to avoid the dreaded dance off. One of the reasons fans are backing Punam is perhaps because she feels and behaves like an excited competition winner - although is trying to find “a little bit more self belief” as the weeks go on. “I’m just really surprised and grateful,” she says.
With all the noise about last year’s bullying complaints still lurking in the background Gorka, she says, has been an absolute dream. “I very much lucked out with the best partner. For me, who doesn't come from this entertainment world, it was very nerve wracking, but I’ve very much had my hand held throughout it all. Gorka is amazing, really, really supportive and lovely.”
This week they will dance a jive and Punam will agree to whatever “incredible” costume they choose for her, having felt “really awkward” about the yellow dress she wore for the first group dance.
“It was just a Bridget Jones moment going, ‘I think it's a little bit short. Can we add something to this?’ They added a little panel of feathers and at that point I was like, ‘Oh, maybe it was nice shorter.’ I live in scrubs or leggings, that's my uniform,” she explains. “Now I'm just reconnecting with 19-year-old Punam, who wouldn't have batted an eyelid. I've decided I'm just going to be that yes person. I'm literally surrendering.”
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