Dancing his way to success

Thirty-year-old Chandran’s tryst with B’boying was destined. As a child, he’d watch his father, a fisherman, practise gymnastics. The gravity-defying stunts intrigued him and he went on to pursue it professionally. He even participated in various state-level competitions. It was during one of these competitions, someone mentioned to him about a new kind of dance form called B’boying. It is a style of street dancing that involves many gymnastic moves.

He watched some videos online and was fascinated by the energy and glamour of it. “Ten years ago, not many people knew about hip-hop and related dance forms. After watching some international videos, a few friends and myself started practicing on the beach,” says Chandran, who formed the ‘Big Bounce’ dance group. These boys, most of them belonging to fishermen community, practised regularly on the shore.

But destiny had more for them. “One day an event manager saw me performing at the beach. He took my number and a few days later, asked me to perform at a live show,” says Chandran. Many live events followed. The next obvious step was movies. “It was a gradual transition but the experience was overwhelming. I had idolised several stars, watching them on TV and now, suddenly, I am asked to perform with them. I sometimes wonder, how I didn’t freeze in front of them,” he says. He is now working with all top names in the industry, be it actors, directors or choreographers. But he still feels like a teenager when he is around actor Vijay. 

“I am his die-hard fan and have grown up idolising him. He is a terrific dancer and after working with him, I realised that he is an equally incredible human being. For that last movie, where I was one of the background dancers, he took one-on-one photographs with all fifty of us,” recalls Chandran.

He is no less than a star in the Triplicane area where he resides. He teaches at his dance studio in Tiruvottiyur and also conducts special weekend classes for underprivileged kids at Marina beach. This is his way of giving back to society by teaching what he knows the best. “My dad did two jobs and we lived a hand-to-mouth existence. Growing up was tough, but dance changed our lives. Not many people encouraged me when I began working in the movie business, but I proved them wrong. It is only because of B’boying that I got my younger sister married, paid all my loans and my father lives a stress-free life.”