On an unbeatable odyssey

Sudhir, a student of MCom at Al-Ameen College, always wanted to make a name for himself. That is why he decided to pursue beatboxing while doing his degree at the CMR Institute of Management Studies.

In a unique style, he beatboxed to Bollywood songs like ‘Balam Pichkari’ and ‘Lat Lag Gayi’ so that he could easily connect to the college crowd.

Though he picked up the basics on YouTube, he developed his own style and slowly went on to bag the first prize in many beatboxing competitions at fests held in colleges like Presidency College, Bishop Cotton Women’s Christian College etc.
 Soon, he chanced upon a video on fluteboxing and realised that though it was popular internationally, it hadn’t picked up in India. 

This motivated him to learn the art and he started adding beats while playing the flute to different Indian songs; from Bollywood to ‘dapankoothu’ and ‘bhangra’.
 “I initially started practising with a Carnatic bamboo flute as I couldn’t afford a metal flute. I got a lot of things wrong as I didn’t know how to close the holes properly. I learnt flute only by trial and error and figured out the mistakes I made myself,” he says proudly.

 He has won many fluteboxing competitions as well. Sudhir performed his first professional gig in fluteboxing at Jain College. Terming it as his best moment, he ad

Apart from corporate events, college fests and live performances, he has opened for many artistes like Arjith Singh, Kishore Soudha, Shalmali Kholgade and Zubeen Garg.
 He believes that small steps lead to big achievements as he says, “At first, I was not allowed to perform at fests because people hadn’t heard of fluteboxing but now, people want to see it.” He will be performing next at ‘Saarang’, which is the cultural fest of IIT-Madras.

On being asked how he manages his time with a hectic syllabus, he laughs, “My friends give me their notes at 10 pm – one day before the exam. But I have never got anything less than a first class.”

He dreams of beatboxing in Bollywood some day, and hopes that fluteboxing picks up in the City too.

 “There should be more events and competitions organised to improve the music scene. There are event managers who are ready to invest in events but don’t know how to reach out to young artistes. An artiste’s talent is recognised till he is in college but after graduation, it’s very difficult for him to make a name. ”