He was discovered as a break dancer in Mumbai. Now he’s trying to make it in NYC ballet.

Before ballet dancer Manish Chauhan moved to New York City from Mumbai, India, he’d never had coffee. Now he drinks it everyday.

The habit started because he couldn’t find any chai tea that met his standards, so one day he grabbed coffee instead.

“I don’t know if it wakes me up or not, but now it’s become a habit for me every day to drink it,” he said, over coffee at Unregular Bakery in Union Square, one of his new favorite spots.

His preferred place for coffee is Starbucks, though he said he can’t go there everyday.

“It’s very expensive!”

Starbucks’ coffee may be out of his budget, but Chauhan recently met the company CEO Laxman Narasimhan at a screening for a new documentary about Chauhan’s journey to make it as a professional dancer called “Call Me Dancer.”

The movie is out this week in New York City, and chronicles the last five years of Chauhan’s life as he’s had to convince his parents that he can make a career out of ballet and dance, instead of going to college and getting a regular job to support the family in India.

Chauhan grew up the son of a taxi cab driver in a working-class family in Mumbai and taught himself to breakdance.

After receiving a scholarship to a local dance school, Danceworx Academy, he was discovered by 70-year-old former Israeli dancer, Yehuda Maor, who took note of his talent and encouraged him to pursue ballet professionally.

Chauhan’s path, though promising, has been uncertain, partly because he started training in ballet later in life.

Just how late he started is unclear because neither Chauham nor the film’s PR team will divulge his age. He will only say that he’s in his “late 20s.”

While ballet is less-known and less-studied in India than it is in New York City, Chauhan is hopeful that under the guidance of Maor, he can still fulfill his dreams here.

Chauhan moved to New York City…