Kerala medical students dance away to glory amid communal criticism

Michael Jackson, the man who revolutionised Pop dance and mesmerised audiences with his famous 'moonwalk', once said, "To live is to be musical, starting with the blood dancing in your veins. Everything living has a rhythm. Do you feel your music?”

To borrow the title of a famous Bollywood film, anybody can dance. Dance uplifts the mood of an individual gives her or him a sense of unbridled happiness, satisfaction and enlightens the thought process.

Recently, Naveen Razak and Janaki Omkumar, students of the Thrissur government medical college, made a 30-second video clip dancing to the tune of Boney M classic 'Rasputin'. The two were in scrubs and the video was shot in their hospital corridor. They posted the video on social media and it went viral and they became celebrities overnight.

Naveen said that he had posted some videos earlier also, but those did not receive this much viewership. What made this video different was that they were in scrubs and it was shot in the hospital corridor. And also, they can be seen enjoying the dance in a carefree manner, and that struck a chord with the viewers.

However, an ugly spat triggered over the video after one Krishna Raj, said to be a Sangh Parivar supporter and also a layer, made a post on Facebook, referring to the communities of the two students and cautioning Janaki's parents that he was smelling a rat. Raj also made a reference to Nimisha, a Kerala girl who reportedly joined ISIS along with her husband. He wrote, "There’s something fishy. It would be good if Janaki’s parents are careful. They won’t have to be sorry later as the case of Nimisha’s mother proves. Let us pray for Janaki’s father Omkumar and his wife.”

Read more: Sangh supporters attempt to give communal colour to Kerala medicos' viral dance

A large section had strongly flayed Krishna Raj for his comment, even as he received support from a section of like-minded Sangh Parivar supporters. Groups of medical students had also flayed the communal colour being given to the viral video clip.

As a mark of protests against the efforts to give communal colour to a dance video, student unions in colleges are organising similar dance competitions. The students’ unit of the Indian Medical Association has organised ‘Rasputin Challenge’, inviting video entries on Instagram, and Milma, Kerala’s biggest milk cooperative posted on Facebook a beautiful cartoon of Janaki and Naveen with the caption, “when you set hearts on fire”.

Speaking to Indian Express, Janaki said, "I read his (the lawyer’s) comments just when our exams had started and we didn’t take it seriously. Later, we realised that it had snowballed into a huge controversy. But right from the beginning, we were very cool about it and so were our families. The remarks show his (the lawyer’s) thinking.”

The students’ union at the Cochin University of Science and Technology in Kochi, led by the CPM’s Students’ Federation of India, announced a dance challenge with cash prizes in solidarity with Janaki and Naveen. A member of the union, Abhinav Krishna, said, “We also borrowed the term ‘Entho oru panthikedu (there’s something fishy)’ from the lawyer’s comments for our dance challenge. We want to register our protest at those making such hateful comments to show that these have no place in Kerala.”

Overcoming the obstacles, Janaki and Naveen have danced away to glory, and now, they are being joined by many with new moves.