Kolkata-based dance duo Bad Salsa has been making a name for itself on international platforms. The duo – Sonali Majumdar and Maraju Sumanth – has not only won India’s Got Talent but has reached the finale of one of the most popular talent shows in the world, America’s Got Talent.
But reaching where they have, has not been an easy journey, especially for Sonali a 16 year-old who is a farmer’s daughter from rural West Bengal.
In a video shared by Bad Salsa’s official Instagram page, Sonali revealed that her father would earn a mere dollar per day to feed his family She continued by saying that her family faces challenges every day due to the lack of money and that some days they can’t even afford food to eat.
I come from a distant village near the Bangladesh border where there was no electricity. My father is a farmer who used to earn approximately Rs 80 per day and had a tough time raising the family. After ‘India’s Got Talent’, the village came into limelight and eventually electricity supply was made available. Now we own some land, and have built a house for our family.
However, she explained that Bollywood films and regular dance practices kept her going through all these years.
She told The Better India,
I started dancing when I was only three-years-old. I would often dance on the stage at melas and the events in my village. Everyone would appreciate me and tell my father that he should encourage me to dance.
Although her father struggled to make ends meet, he did everything to fulfill his daughter’s dreams. After receiving her choreographer’s number, Sonali’s father did everything admit her in his classes just at the age of 7.
Now both Sonali and Maraju practice for 8-10 hours a day to make their dreams come true. Slowly and steadily they are reaching there.