He may have become the hottest young name on Indian television, jet-setting to Mumbai and Los Angeles, but Shantanu Maheshwari has always remained a Calcutta boy. After dancing his way to the prestigious World of Dance Championship trophy in LA last month, the  24-year-old Kumartuli boy was back in his home town on Friday, Team Desi Hoppers from the  dance show Bindass Naach in tow. “It’s a special feeling to come home after winning such a big title,” smiled Shantanu, eager to show his friends his five favourite Calcutta haunts. 

With t2 for company, of course. 

STOP 1:  ST PAUL’S CATHEDRAL 

He may not have been a regular visitor during his growing-up years, but St. Paul’s Cathedral holds a special place in Shantanu’s heart. “I discovered this place on my last few city trips and it has quickly become one of my favourite places in Calcutta. It’s a very peaceful place and I love the ambience here,” said Shantanu, even as Team Desi Hoppers (L-R) Subhash Naidu, Jack Lama, Nimit Kotian, Macedon D’mello, Viraj Pandya and Rohan Vyas showed off their moves against the picturesque backdrop. As the group of seven stepped out of the Cathedral after offering prayers, they were ambushed by two groups of girls, all Shantanu fans and ardent viewers of Bindass Naach. “We were shocked to see Shantanu up close. I have been following him since his first show Dil Dostii Dance. I love his innocent smile and his hairstyle,” said Kavita Mishra (in purple shirt), a first-year student of Asutosh College, who had come visiting with her cousins. “Not only me, many fans also recognised the other Desi Hoppers!” an elated Shantanu later told t2. 

STOP 4:  BABA BHOOTNATH DHAM

STOP 5:  KUMARTULI 

Shantanu rewinds to LA and fast forwards to the digital

The World of Dance Championship was your first time in LA. What did you do there?  

Yeah, we all went to the US for the first time. In between rehearsals, we played tennis. We also did a bit of shopping. We walked around a lot. Everything was so clean that each and every place was a tourist spot for us! (Laughs) We went to Hollywood Boulevard. Before the finale, we didn’t get much time as we were busy and after we won, we just had one day in hand. Once, we had crossed the road like we do in India the police came and asked for a hefty fine, but we had gone out for a walk without any money! After many requests, the cops let us go. 

Did you try out any dish for the first time?

Chipotle! But after the first day, we ate only Indian food. We were back to dal, chawal, roti and sabzi. We had become more Indian there. While travelling in the car, we only used to listen to old Hindi songs. We used to eat at a restaurant where they tuned in to B4U Music! We couldn’t stop ourselves from dancing to Salman Khan numbers. We wouldn’t have done all this here in India. 

How did you celebrate the win? 

We were very tired that night, so we came back and just relaxed for a while. The feeling wasn’t sinking in... so we just stared at each other’s faces.

Will we see a sequel to Bindass Naach? 

It’s not a regular reality show. The channel and the production house (BBC) might give us the opportunity depending on the response. We want to do shows and workshops across India. But there are various kinds of shows which we don’t want to do. We want to promote dance as a culture. People are watching TV shows on digital platforms. It is becoming really big, so we might do something in the digital space. Most of the dance stars are from YouTube only.

Pictures: Anindya Shankar Ray
Given a choice, which Calcutta spot would you take Shantanu to? Tell t2@abp.in