When it comes to talking about who can bust the best dance moves, Mumbai electronica/hip-hop act ViceVersa’s vocalist Rohit Pereira stakes his claim. “It is definitely me. Manas (Ullas, producer) can't dance to save his life!” He forewarns that their show on July 22 at The Humming Tree in Indiranagar “will see all types of dance moves”.
Pereira is talking about just how much energy they can bring out to match with the video for their party-hard new single ‘Chal Hatt’, which features Manas, Rohit and vocalist Apeksha Dandekar challenging Mumbai-based dance troupe Freak n Stylz to a dance-off.
While there is some supreme b-boying skill on display by the dance troupe, ViceVersa and Dandekar step up with their own moves to outdo the best in the hilarious video shot by Mumbai filmmaker Jishnu Guha. Dandekar says it wasn’t too difficult keeping a straight face, “We didn’t have any rehearsals as such for the intricate dance moves we performed. I think myself, P-Man and Manas are all as cool as we are goofy so we really believed in our characters in order to keep a straight face while busting out the moves. I guess it was more comfortable for us than we thought!”
ViceVersa, which also comprises Bengaluru-based producer and rapper Manas Ullas and occasionally features a revolving door of musicians ranging from vocalist Sidd Coutto to producer Rishiraj Doss and singer Jonita Gandhi, have teamed up with vocalist Apeksha for their ‘Chal Hatt’.
Rohit says of the collaboration, “I had a melody and fleshed out the tune with our producer Abhishek Ghatak. He knew Apeksha and suggested we get her on the track. I asked her to incorporate the words ‘Chal Hatt’ in the song. She did the rest. And it fit perfectly in everything I hoped the track would sound like.” He adds that he always gives collaborators a free hand to do their own thing, very much the point of a collaboration, according to him.
So it is no surprise that Dandekar gets just as mean with her verses in Marathi and Hindi on the track. She says, “It was very different to mainstream film work but at the same time not out of my comfort zone since I have always composed and written songs. I have never really been able to express myself in Marathi in the Indie space so it was a little more fun and extra special on this track.”
Apart from promoting ‘Chal Hatt’, ViceVersa have at least three more singles coming up for the rest of the year. For a group that loves to get the crowd moving, numbers notwithstanding, Rohit says, “We have played to an audience of five people as well as packed clubs. We give it our all so that those people who gave us some of their time to check us out get their time’s worth.” Wild crowds aren’t a rare sighting at ViceVersa shows – whether in Coimbatore or converting the Bollywood/Bhangra-loving Gurgaon crowd into fans, which Rohit counts as one of their best shows to date. Looks like Bengaluru needs to up its game when ViceVersa are in town this weekend.
ViceVersa performs on July 22 at The Humming Tree’s Hum Hip Hop Project with Su.1 and Smokey the Ghost.
