Bengaluru: Dancing professors go viral, win hearts

A video of a female teacher grooving energetically to Prabhu Deva’s iconic ‘Muqabala’ is going viral on social media. Some reports suggest it was shot at a college function in Kerala. In recent months, two college professors from Bengaluru have also won praise online for their dancing talent. Metrolife speaks to them. 

Classical twist to ‘Apsara aali’

It was an ordinary day at work when Shiva Kumar N, an arts lecturer at Acharya School of Design, Soladevanahalli, was approached by the college’s video team to feature in a dance reel. Neither had he heard ‘Apsara aali’, the popular Lavani song, nor did he know its dance steps. In five minutes, he put together a choreography inspired by Indian classical dance and joined a group of female students for the reel.

Shot a month ago, the 30-second video has since gone viral, earning the 45-year-old the affectionate titles of ‘Cool Professor’ and ‘Dancing Professor’. “Some even thought it was an AI-generated video!” he says.

Though not formally trained, Kumar is known on campus for never missing a chance to dance. “My body just starts moving when I hear music,” he says. 

He has danced on buses, at weddings, in competitions, and once even on the roadside outside the college to draw attention to a design week his team was hosting. He is especially drawn to Indian classical dance for its “mudras and bhavas”, and insists he can dance to any song, “even a sad one”.

Kumar was passionate about dancing and singing since childhood. And in a faculty talent competition in 2023, he won first place in both singing and dancing. However, he never pursued them professionally because he did not know “they were real careers”. Apart from a few relatives who feel embarrassed about “the old man dancing”, Kumar has received a great deal of encouragement. “I dance because it makes me feel alive,” he says.

‘Moves like Prabhu Deva’

Pushparaj H, assistant professor of electrical and electronics engineering at Global Academy of Technology, R R Nagar, also found fame after an impromptu performance.

During a cultural fest at his college last August, chief guests, faculty members and students urged him to dance to ‘Muqabala’. He recreated Prabhu Deva’s signature hook steps (think punching down and sliding footwork) amid loud cheers. The video has since clocked 15 million views.

However, he says it wasn’t his first viral moment. His earlier performances of ‘Naatu Naatu’ and ‘Dangerous’ had garnered 25 million and 39.8 million views, respectively.

A native of Ballari, Pushparaj is largely self-taught and had a brief stint teaching at a dance academy in Mysuru. “While teaching there, I also picked up hip-hop styles like krumping,” he recalls.

He was six when his teachers selected him for a dance show at school. “I had to dance to ‘Tu cheez badi hai mast mast’. I played the girl’s part. It was a boys’ school,” he says with a laugh. In the years that followed, he would mimic the moves of Michael Jackson, Prabhu Deva, Hrithik Roshan and NTR Jr at home. 

The 37-year-old is glad students are now seeing a different side of their professors. Earlier, faculty members often held themselves back in the name of decorum, he says. Today, he is known as the “Prabhu Deva of the college”.

Pushparaj H often dances to popular numbers by Prabhu Deva and Michael Jackson.