HYDERABAD: Aata Sandeep, known for his enticing movies and high-voltage energy dances, has been busier than ever before during the lockdown. From giving online classes for his US students over Skype to becoming the most-watched celebrity with five lakh views within a few hours for a fund raiser during Covid-19, he seems to be on the top of the dance game
Very time a wedding is fixed in Hyderabad, one of the first things that the marriage party does is to Google Aata Sandeep’s contact. The first question is, can he perform? If he is busy, can he teach the moves? If a physical class is not possible, would he consider doing a Skype class? Then of course, his Tik- Tok videos are the next thing that one shows to parents to convince them that Sandeep is the right man. This Kakinada movie buff who runs his own studio called Sandeep Steps dance academy in Motinagar, Erragadda, says that he never imagined his talent will take him to such heights. As a big fan of Megastar Chiranjeevi, it was natural for Tamrapalli Sandeep to imitate his moves.
He used to dance to the actor’s hit songs and before he knew it, he was performing in school annual days and college fest. “Dance is my addiction. I cannot stay away from it. When I listen to a peppy beat, I just start dancing,” he says. Which is why when he moved with his parents to Hyderabad 15 years ago and he had to choose between doing a BCA course or a professional dance course, he chose the latter. After having learned dance professionally under Swarna master, he blossomed into an expert dancer himself. He then moved to Chennai to become an assistant choreographer for movies while also assisting Swarna at her dance school. Even today, he is learning classical dance from Dharmaraju master.
“My big break came when I took part in Aata reality show on Zee Telugu nine years ago. I was the title winner and since then, people have been addressing me as ‘Aata’ Sandeep. Since Aata also means dance, I could not have asked for anything else. That is the ultimate compliment for a dancer,” he says. What about parents who often tell their children to stop the ‘nonsense’ called dance, and turn to their academics instead? “Today, I think I am successful as a dancer and by God’s grace, there is no dearth of work. Parents should definitely encourage their wards to pursue whatever they want to, if not to earn money or turn it into a profession but as a good way to divert their extra energy. Never say no to the art your child wants to pursue,’ says the father of seven-year-old Lekhan, who also seems to be a budding dancer.
“Thanks to the lockdown, I have started growing and styling my beard like the Megastar and that is adding to the authenticity of the dance,” he says. Perhaps that is reason why @ AataSandeep in Tiktok has 1.5 million followers for his 925 videos and his mostviewed has been his duets with his wife of seven years, Jyothi Raj, also a professional dancer from Warangal. Naturally, numbers like Abba Nee Teeyani Debba and Shubalekha Rasukunna are among the most-viewed videos with lakhs of likes and shares. He recently performed virtual/ online co-ordinated duets with a few of his fans, some of whom are differently-abled but immensely talented dancers. “Once I trained a deaf and mute girl to dance for a title finale and the way she danced, based on how she practiced, gave us all goose bumps and tears. She cannot hear, but when you tell her the tempo and the pitch using sign language, she remembers it and dances to the song. In fact, I learned sign language to teach her dance. Best moment of my life,” he says .
Even as he is busy with six movies, one of which is Super Machi with actor Kalyandev and one more with actor Vijay Devarakonda’s production house, he is busy taking classes for 25 students abroad on a oneon- one basis. At other times, he is busy helping the bride and the groom’s side rehearse for specially choreographed dance scripts or teaching students at his academy or performing at audio launches. He has performed in 300 Telugu movie audio launches so far.
His step-bystep dance tutorials too are cat ching up with his followers. During the lockdown, he took part in a Tiktok campaign to raise funds for Covid-19 relief work. “There were top artistes such as Remo D’Souza, but it was great to know that I got over 5 lakh views that day,” he says. His bucket list has two entries. One to choreograph Shiva Tandam for actor NTR and to do a jugalbandi with drummer Shivamani’s beats for an hour live on stage.
— kalanidhi@newindianexpress.com @mkalanidhi