Another crowning glory for Kings United

After having Bollywood feed off their success in films such as ABCD 2 as well as the upcoming film Street Dancer 3D, popular Indian dance group Kings United India led by Suresh Mukund is also set to get a full-fledged biopic on themselves. In fact, ABCD 2 had Varun also being called Suresh Mukund in it, but not in Street Dancer 3D. “Films like ABCD 2 and Street Dancer 3D was about our dance. But this is a film that will show our story along with our dances. It is about how we started off as a group of 20 young people and the kind of difficulties we faced en route,” says Suresh.

Kings United India shot into the big league when they won the Season 3 of NBC World of Dance last year. Not only did they amaze the judges, but surprised themselves too by winning a million dollars as a cash prize. “When I started, there weren’t dance reality shows in India. So around 2007, I formed my first dance crew called Suresh and Group and then changed to Fictitious Group in 2009. Our first attempt at dance reality show was Boogie Woogie and it was the first break of our career. There, we introduced certain flips and tricks that were not very popular in India, which got us recognition in the dancing community,” recalls the 31-year-old spearheading a team of around 60 dancers.

From there, the group went on to show their magic moves at India’s Got Talent in 2011, securing the fourth place. Not someone to give up, the group resurfaced in the reality show on Season 3 and emerged winners.  “After that, we decided to try for international competitions as well. And in 2012, we represented our country at World Hip Hop championship for the first time,” shares Suresh who finished at eighth position in the championship defeating Philippine All-Stars from whom they had drawn their inspiration. But it was in their second attempt at the championship with just 20 days of preparation, that they brought back a bronze medal. As their videos went viral, inquiries and offers from abroad started to pour in. “We got offers from America’s Got Talent and World of Dance. WOD approached us after watching some of our videos,” he says.

Ask him if he will be keen to play himself in the film and he has a witty answer. “There are big people backing the film and I am sure that they have a good cast in mind to see who will play the roles. I have no personal choice on who will have to play the role. If I play myself, I am sure that the film won’t run,” he says rather cheekily, but humbly.

Four years earlier, the team known internationally as The Kings, the hip-hop group from the far-flung suburb of Vasai in Mumbai became the first Indian group to win a medal at the World Hip Hop dance championship in California.

Reliance Entertainment is the producing a film in collaboration with Shailendra Singh who has earlier produced films like Malamaal Weekly and the Akshay Kumar starrer Tasveer.
—With inputs from Nirtika Pandita and Sanskriti Media