On the beat street

Harmonica beatboxer and fluteboxer Sudhir R has been making people dance to his beats. He is the only Bengalurean to reach the semi-final of the TV reality show, ‘India’s Got Talent’. After rigorous qualifying rounds and many sleepless nights, he says that the win is a huge motivator and will fuel his dreams further.

“It has been a learning experience since September 2014,” he recalls. “I auditioned in an online round and had to go through five qualifying rounds. Things were a little slow till then as I would never get updates on my performances immediately. I then went to Mumbai and Hyderabad and performed on stage. At this point, things picked up and the excitement started.”
Be it fluteboxing to ‘Humma Humma’, which received a standing ovation from the show judge Kirron Kher or beatboxing to Remo Fernandez’s theme song, he feels that he steered through the competition because of his path-breaking tunes. He chose Bollywood songs as he felt that the audience would relate to them and enjoy his performance better.

 After his quarter-final round, he was adjudged the ‘Talent of the Week’. He then soared into the semi-finals, without going through the knockouts. Though he was quite disappointed that he couldn’t qualify to the final rounds, he was overwhelmed by the number of warm messages he received. However, more than his performance in front of the camera, he was excited to meet young and dedicated talents from across the country and speak to ‘Guinness World Record’ holders. “I was quite humbled by a few talented people who had left home and participated in the show as they hoped that the contest would be a step forward to pursue their passion and lead a better life.” 

Sudhir, who quit his Masters course, to steer in to this off-beat path, says that though the brave move did raise many questions among his family members initially. But his parents are extremely proud to see him on television. “I’m happy that my parents were proud of my achievement. They were my biggest support system,” he says.

Though it’s his first big on-screen appearance on camera, he feels that it’s a giant leap for the City when it comes to beatboxing. He says it has a massive number of takers here. “It’s now time to innovate and get school children interested in beatboxing. One can always reach higher if one continues to innovate.”

Sudhir doesn’t want to stop here. He has been getting opportunities from different channels but he is waiting for a good one. As for his next move, he wants to win other talent contests and also conduct beatboxing classes and tutorials.