'I want to make Tiger Pop a brand'

Ajay Kumar aka Tiger Pop

The past few hours have been a blissful haze for Ajay Kumar aka Tiger Pop, who lifted the trophy of India's Best Dancer (IBD) on Sunday. Mention to him that his years of devotion to dance have got the storybook ending with the victory, and he asserts that this is only the beginning of his journey. "I want to make Tiger Pop a brand," he says jubilantly.

Tiger, 21, was introduced to popping and locking when he was 16. Five years later, he got the perfect platform in IBD to showcase his dancing prowess. "I have been preparing for IBD even before the auditions were announced. As the show progressed and the episodes were telecast, I began receiving appreciation from people. That boosted my confidence because people were getting emotionally connected to my performance."

One can't deny that he faced stiff competition on the reality show, especially from Mukul Gain and Shweta Warrier. Tiger admits he would often worry when he couldn't wow judges Terence Lewis, Geeta Kapoor and Malaika Arora with his acts. "I had done a Bhole Nath act, after which the judges remarked that it lacked my usual spark. That was probably the toughest week for me. It is not easy to keep reinventing yourself every week," he says. The go-getter that he is, he bagged a score of 30 on 30 the next week.

If Tiger wowed the audience with his unique style, he credits choreographers Vartika Jha and Hardik Rana for giving wings to his dance form with their concepts. Admitting that the win has yet to sink in, Tiger intends to rush back to hometown Gurugram to meet his mother. In fact, the dancer has dedicated his prize money of R15 lakh to her. "My mother worked in other people's homes so that she could take care of me and pay the rent of the room. I want to buy her a house with the prize money. I have never worked in my life so far, not even when we were surviving on R8000 a month, because all I ever wanted to do was dance."

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