Tripura boy dances his way to people’s hearts

Saurabh Tankha

Surajit Tripura is the latest internet sensation whose video showing his dance moves has gone viral. Just five when he got fascinated by his uncle’s dance moves and developed interested in the artform, Surajit watched hundreds of YouTube dance videos on borrowed phones – sometimes from his father and at times from his neighbours over the next few years to learn dance. When he started earning, the first thing Surajit bought for himself was a phone, not to communicate with his family who stay hundreds of miles away from where he works now, but to watch YouTube dance videos. So passionate is this 19-year-old about dance.

Born to a farmer father and a homemaker mother in Sabroom village in the state of Tripura from where he completed his higher secondary from Brajendra Nagar Higher Secondary School. He now works as a guest service associate at Guwahati’s Absolute Barbecues (AB’s) Restaurant. It was here that his dancing talent came to limelight. When the management at AB’s got to know of Surajit’s dancing talent, they encouraged him to dance at staff parties and also in front of guests at the restaurant. Soon, his dance became so famous around the city that guests visited AB’s just to watch Surajit’s eye-catching dance moves. It was one of the guests who made a dance video which went viral. Overwhelmed by all the attention this guest service associate has been garnering lately, Surajit says, “It all seems a dream. Some guests ask me to dance with them, others want to take selfies.”

The self-taught dancer has had no formal training in dance as there was no dance school around. “Whatever I have learnt is from YouTube videos,” he says. Surajit idolises dancer-anchor Raghav Juyal. “I like him a lot. His dancing skills are completely different than others, especially his slow motion act,” he puts in, adding that he was the happiest person on earth the day Raghav shared his video on his Instagram status. “I never thought I would ever get recognition from my idol. This gesture has encouraged me even more to take my passion seriously so that one day I am able to share the stage with Raghav sir,” Surajit adds.

Hoping to become a professional dancer one day, Surajit has been getting requests to participate in dance reality shows, with the management at AB’s is keeping track of the right opportunity so that Surajit gets the best exposure and stage.