Whether it’s actor Nora Fatehi’s flexible moves on Naach Meri Rani (2020) or fast-paced footwork by NTR and Ram Charan in Naatu Naatu (RRR; 2022), this mother-son duo can ace it all! Hyderabad-based Lohitha Ravikiran, 40, and Kishan Samayamantry, 18, have therefore been garnering much love on social media, with their dance on popular songs captured in Instagram reels, which have reached millions of viewers.
The creator duo, who took to creating reels in the second Covid-induced lockdown in 2021, say that in addition to strengthening their bond, dance also came as a breather for both themselves and their virtual audience.
“I’ve been dancing for as long as I can remember. My mom taught me how to dance although I never had any formal training,” says Samayamantry, a first year BTech student at a private college of engineering in Hyderabad. He not only makes a solid half of this viral creator duo, but is also a tough competitor at the national level K-Pop dance contest; where he participates with his crew. He shares, “I like dancing on Bollywood songs and Telugu songs. I’m part of the dance club in college, and even in high school I was. I was asked by my teachers to choreograph on different occasions, and I happily did it.”
At home, however, dance for him is all about taking to the terrace to make reels with his pyari ma. Recalling the time of first lockdown, he says, “All of us were stuck at home, it was getting very boring. And that’s what made us create short dance videos for social media. We had been dancing together for a very long time. We even used to perform at our family gatherings and celebrations like the New Year’s. But it was during the lockdown that we started making videos for TikTok. And our first reel that went viral was on Take It Off by Kesha. And when we went a little viral, TikTok was banned around the same time. That’s why in the second lockdown we thought why not post on Instagram!”
Ravikiran, an avid dancer who grew up in Visakhapatnam while watching Madhuri Dixit’s choreographies and learned many steps from TV and cinema. She still remembers how “lighting was always an issue” when the duo started recording their dance videos inside the house. “We tried on the terrace and it was like a good luck charm. So we decided to stick with it. Sometimes even the neighbours’ kids stop and watch us. It’s adorable!”
Today, her Insta following (around 180K) is significantly higher than that of her son (about 22K), and she feels, “It’s because of the combination. People like to see that.” Just like how most mothers are humble, she credits her teamwork with her son as the force behind their rising popularity. But one would find the son leading the act in some videos and the mother in others because of the difference in their dance styles. Calling his mom a more graceful dancer and himself a high-energy one, Samayamantry adds: “In the lockdown there was a lot of stress, and I saw how my mum would be in her happiest form while dancing. She had a knee surgery a year before the lockdown happened, and she was in fact advised to not dance. But I saw how dancing even for a little bit would light up her eyes!”
Not just being in front of the camera, but also behind the lens, they even enjoy the process of finding a song to match steps on. Samayamantry shares, “My mom will find something on Instagram and send it to me on social media from the kitchen, and I would check it out while sitting in my bedroom (laughs). If we both like the song, we practice it for about 30-40 minutes before shooting, and then do a lot of impromptu. It takes us 15-20 attempts before a solid video is ready to post.”
Messages from other mums saying how she is an inspiration are quite common. And Ravikiran says: “I feel happy when moms tell me that seeing my reels brightens their day, and makes them want to try it with their kids, too.”
What’s next for them? “Probably a trio performance involving my younger brother,” chuckles the teenager!
Author tweets @siddhijainn
All Sources/Images/Credit By:- Hindustan Times.com
