Mount Rushmore of Bhangra Captains?

[sahab]

Often in sports, people try to create a Mount Rushmore for a certain sport.[font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif] What if we made one for Bhangra team captains? Criteria to look out for are comps won, improvement of the team under the particular captain, and impact at a big picture scale (i.e. impact on community/bhangra overall). This is a chance for people to give a shoutout to their captains or other team captains who they believe have made a big impact to their team or to the circuit. [/font] ;D

 

[Pendu]

Sid Pandit and Ram Mahalingam as Washington and Lincoln, respectively.

 

[R_Sharma]

Sid Pandit and Ram Mahalingam as Washington and Lincoln, respectively.

Without a doubt. Even with a lot of turnover in the past year, they inspired all the newer guys to step up to the plate and keep the fire burning for FCB. They lead by example, and as a dancer, you can't ask for much more than that.

 

[Howie Magz]

Ankush Vermani of AEG (2011-2014 winning streak was badass)
Gursimran "Gsimz" Singh of Furteelay (2012-2014 putting Michigan on the map)
Cherag Selhi of FAUJ (2012-2015)
Anik Saha of Cornell (2012-2014 two WBBC titles)
Sid Pandit and Ram Mahalingam (2013-present this was another amazing winning streak)
Reeda of SMD (2014-present placed at every comp they went to)

There are a bunch of others, but these are definitely the ones that stood out to me the most.

 

[angeblah]

SMD captains of years past for proving that female dancers can hold their own.

 

[vaibhav]

Danny Singh - APD

 

[hardeep_singh]

why limit it to captains?

plastic saaps, because they freed brown wooden saaps from the hands of oppression

gtv, because gtv created bhangra,!!!! then 4kUHD!!!!!!!!

sukhbir singh(rangla punjab academy), who despite all the criticism and hate created the best bhangra set known to man....ever!!!! (rangla punjab acadey at big apple bhangra)

bhangra empire, who showed that with enough arrogance you can commercialize and kill the spirit of a folk dance....in every performance!!!!

sarina jain, because whoever has the guts to bastardize a cultural dance and profit off of it, call it masala, and complain about negative comments on btf must have ridiculously big balls.

 

[Sue Sylvester]

Gurbir (AEG), Faizan (AEG), Ankush (AEG), Abhi (FAUJ), & Cherag (FAUJ)

These were the captains of AEG and FAUJ. In addition to being critical components of the success of their teams during their respective years as captains, they most definitely deserve a monolithic monument etched in their likeness for having dealt with me, my antics, and my stubbornness at times. Actually, a lot of times lol

Can't really give a shoutout to captains of other teams because unlike something like dancing or other talents which can be evaluated and seen by anyone publicly, I don't see how you can actually gauge effectiveness of a captain and what they have actually done for their team if you weren't on their team in the first place.

 

[Arjun Barua]

Shahrukh Khan (Joshiley Jawan)

Megha Bagai (VCU Bhangra)


Vic Sehdev (SGPD)

 

[prabbhatti]

Gursimran Singh aka Gsimz (Furteelay Shokeen), Sumit Hira (BK), Kabeer Panesar (VanCity)

 

[nikhil95]

Ankush Vermani of AEG (2011-2014 streak was badass)
Cherag Selhi of FAUJ (2012-2015)
Anik Saha of Cornell (2012-2014 two WBBC titles)
Sid Pandit and Ram Mahalingam (2013-present this was another amazing winning streak)
Reeda of SMD (2014-present placed at every comp they went to)

There are a bunch of others, but these are definitely the ones that stood out to me the most.

What a solid list, spanning the past couple years. As someone who is relatively new to the circuit (2013-present) I have to say that I have a lot of respect for Sid and Ram for creating the incredible team that FCB has become

 

[Basim]

A lot of great individuals mentioned for recent times.


As a spectator of the bhangra scene for too many years to count, I would have to say:

Vic Sehdev - founder & coach of SGPD. Probably the most dominant all-male team in the circuit at their peak.
Kiran Mander & Mandeep Patrola - cofounders & coaches of UBC Girlz. The first all-female team in all of NA to have dominated the circuit for years.
Sheel Mehta, Marshal Singh, Benny Sujlana - laid the foundation for VCU Bhangra to form a top tier collegiate, co-ed team.

I have only had the pleasure to speak to these a few of these individuals briefly, but I would have loved to have been passed down knowledge from any/all of them!

~ Basim


P.S. - Great topic Sahab.

 

[smehta313]

[SIZE=large]Sheel Mehta (VCU/JJ)
Sumit Hira (BK)[/SIZE]
Benny Sujlana (VCU/PPA)
Bhavneet Singh Grewal (Furteelay)
Vishal Dholakia (RU/AEG/JJ)

 

[sumeetj]

Lavesh Pritmani - not only brought and instilled alot of knowledge about traditional/folk/yall know what i mean/etc bhangra to NC but the academy he started continues to flourish today and he runs a bhangra teaching app - not much more to say

Raj Shah (UNC) - not many coed teams reached this level of cleanliness and well executed ideas - VPD 2011-Blowout 2012 them and Fauj were def cleanest on circuit

Sid/Ram/Harman/Pankaj/Rohan - These FCB captains over the years have not only kept bhangra alive in the Burgh, but have instilled a desire in dancers that is hard to really replicate. The fact that the dancer turnover on FCB is immense yet they continue to put on great performances with new dancers is no fluke - there is a system behind it.

All of these are self-pumps as I've danced alongside each of these gentlemenz and benefited from their amazingness

 

[Robby Benipal]

Gurbir Singh - (AEG Founder, Nishani Captain, Ik Taara Coach)

 

[Bajwa99]

Lavesh Pritmani - Founder/Captain of Natya Academy's Gajjde Gabroo & Gajjdi Jawani. He is the man who has stuck to his word, of dancing folk no matter what anyone says. Not only has he taught all of us, on the Topic of "Bhangra". But many values have been passed on in our lives, that with a guarantee will forever stay with us. Respect. Discipline. Confidence. Much love homie!

 

[Sukh_]

Danny Singh - APD

This, and Sid/RAM -FCB

 

[Mitra]

Siddharthpaaji Pantities and Rameshwaram Fudhulingam. Oh. Ma. Gawd. You guys are goalzzzz.

 

[Gsimz]

Mine would include:

Sumit (BK)
Ankush (AEG)

I could list everyone captain of a team who had a winning streak, but these two guys really knew how to run a team. Very effective at what they did and were fearless leaders that had the respect of their team.

 

[pavbhaji91]

Brennan Chu of Cornell Bhangra, to me, redefined Bhangra and deserves all four faces of Mount Rushmore.