Pauper Prince conquers India to become King

Prince's glory: Silk City dances with joy

Saturday, 9 pm. Residents in the Silk city sit glued in front of giant TV screens. Midnight. Palpable tension now replaces expectation. Thousands cross their fingers in silent prayers Then a voice booms."And the winner is... Prince Dance Group." When actor Rani Mukherjee made this announcement marking the culmination of TV reality show India's Got Talent an entire state waiting with bated breath erupted in joy. Not just because a dance troupe from Berhampur city of Orissa had won a hotly-contested national competition, but also because it had to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds poverty, lack of professional training and even polio, from which two of its members suffered. ..."
In Berhampur the rest was drowned in lusty cheering, wild dances and bursting crackers as the City erupted to celebrate the victory of its home-bred sensations in the reality show. The cheering and crackers were, however, the loudest at Ambapua on the outskirts of Silk city Berhampur. After all, this nondescript village was the proud home of 24 daily labourers and two physically-challenged boys, who had danced their way to grab the Rs 50 lakh award and a Maruti car.
The 24 dancers, who come from Berhampur City and different parts of Ganjam district, displayed a perfect mix of determination and talent to outperform groups from across the country including 10 in the grand finale to pocket the champions' prize. The winning act was a performance based on the theme, Dashavatar.
"We had hoped to win the competition. Now that we have achieved our mission, it is a wonderful feeling. We are very thrilled," troupe leader Krishna Mohan Reddy said over phone from Mumbai. The 26-year-old self-taught dancer-choreographer told, "The prize money has come as a boon as most of the team members are in dire need of it. Some need to build houses in their villages while others have to marry off their sisters." Krishna, a native of the Berhampur City in southern Orissa, said he planned to open a dance academy soon. "We will use part of the prize money to run our proposed institute," he added.
The Berhampur-based troupe, whose story may remind many of the rags-to-riches story of Jamal Malik from Slumdog Millionaire, has become the talking point in entire Orissa ever since its members started demonstrating their skills on the TV show. Such has been the impact of Prince's performances that even chief minister Naveen Patnaik had announced last week that he would vote for the group. "I'm delighted. Their performance has been magical and they have made Orissa proud," Naveen said soon after congratulating Krishna and his boys over telephone. The all-conquering members of Prince can expect a reception fit for a king when they arrive in Berhampur. Ganjam district cultural council headed by the revenue divisional commissioner (Southern division) Satyabrata Sahu is planning to accord a grand reception to the group members after their return home. "We will give a grand reception," Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahi said.

Courtesy:The Times of India