How about stopping the traffic by putting on your dancing shoes? Siblings Santhosh Kumar, a.k.a Babu Footloosers, 58, and Sajeesh Kumar, 53, did just that on Manaveeyam Veedhi on a Saturday evening. As the dynamic duo broke into some killer moves, those who passed by halted for a while. Giving them company were their two students, Sajith Viswanathan and Vipin Raveendran.
Think breakdance and Thiruvananthapuram had one address in the late ‘80s — Footloosers. Even though the dance academy has adapted to the changing times, Babu and Sajeesh, the founders are happy to be under the spotlight again. Thanks to Moonwalk, a film, currently streaming on OTT, which breezes through the lives of a few youngsters in Thiruvananthapuram who were passionate about breakdance. The storyline is inspired by several real-life people and incidents.

“Vinod [Vinod AK, director of Moonwalk] had planned to make a documentary on breakdancers in Kerala initially. Thanks to the work that went into the project, there was a rejuvenation in the community. The current generation has no clue about how we learnt the style and went on to become popular at a time when there was no social media. It felt good to be in the limelight again,” says Babu.

Initial members of Footloosers
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Among the early members of his group was his friends from Government Arts College — Padmakumar BS, Praveen Sadasivan Pillai, Ajith Kumar and Riyas Hussain. Sajeesh, then a school student, Sreekumar and Anil Bose joined later. “We got a video cassette on the street dance groups in the US and that was a treasure for us. Since we couldn’t afford a VCR, we were at the mercy of those who had one. We would watch it on repeat mode to learn the steps,” Babu remembers.
They used to practice in a space behind the college. Sajeesh, who joined a private college, used to join them during intervals. “We had a tape recorder, and the battery would die off within an hour. We would pool in money to buy new ones!” says Sajeesh.
Thanks to a non-teaching staff at Arts College they got their first show at Peringamala. “We were known as Crimmers then. The crowd was surprised to see the style and they loved it,” Babu recalls. As interest grew he started dance classes at his home, “charging ₹80 as admission fee and ₹60 as a monthly fee”.
Babu Footloosers a.k.a Santosh Kumar (left) with Sajeesh Kumar
| Photo Credit:
Nirmal Harindran
They also set new trends in fashion. “While my hair was thin and long, Babu chettan’s was curly,” says Sajeesh. Babu adds, “We styled our hair at this salon at Manacaud. I followed cricketer Raman Lamba’s hairstyle. Acid-wash jeans, baggy pants etc were in vogue then. We would flock to Melody at Spencer Junction, the one-off place from where we could buy these and also wore bright, colourful T-shirts with loud designs. In fact, we all loved flaunting our style. Of course, we had so many female fans. Fashion became a passion for us!” says Babu. Both of them dropped out of college to focus on dance and dance classes.
Kochi also had a vibrant breakdance community then but their styles were different. “While they wore flashy, glittery costumes and a lot of accessories, we opted for the ‘gentlemen’ look — black pants, white shirt, gloves etc. We bought steel studs from Chala market, fixed them on rexin sheets and tied them on our waist and wrists,” Babu says.
Their popularity shot up after a programme at Chengannur. By then the group was named Footloosers, inspired by an English song, and they registered it in 1988. “Since my dream was to become a stunt guy in cinema, I knew acrobatics and martial arts. We incorporated those in our dance routines and that gave us an edge over others,” Babu says.
He jokingly adds that since they did not know the name of the steps they used codenames. “It was much later that we learnt terms such as mule kick, worm, windmill, crabwalk, swipe, knee spin, neck roll, back flip, air cartwheel etc,” Babu adds. While locking, popping and isolation moves were Babu’s speciality, Sajeesh excelled in slides, moonwalk, windmill, waves etc.
Sajeesh even won first place at the all-Kerala breakdance competition held at Kochi. “My father didn’t want me to go because he thought I had no chance in front of experienced dancers. But chettan encouraged me, and asked me to take his bike and go to Kochi,” says Sajeesh. He also went on a four-month tour to the UK with the dance group, Attakkalari, in 1997-98. Although Babu fractured his thigh bone while trying a new move in mid-90s, he was back on stage after a year and continued to dance till 2000. Sajeesh was active till 2010.
Now they or their students take classes at their studio at Vanchiyoor (currently being renovated) and various schools in the city. “We kept getting students who went on to become solid dancers. It is now the fifth and sixth generation that is taking classes. As our work is being discussed now, many of our old students are getting in touch with us,” say the brothers. Among their disciples is Sreejith P Dazzlers who used to come on his bike from Kochi on weekends for the classes. Footloosers has branches in Kerala and West Asia.

Some of the earlier members of Footloosers
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Babu remembers how he used to walk around seeking opportunities to perform. “We just wanted a stage to show what we learnt,” he says. Besides being a choreographer or assistant in over 65 movies, Babu also acted in small roles. He has also turned producer and is awaiting the release of his first film. He mentions that “there were a few other breakdance troupes during that time such as Spindles by Tom Antony and Boomers by Ajith Nath and Aneesh Nath. Then there was Padmakumar who made a name with his Michael Jackson moves.”
Reflecting on other dancers of the time, he mentions Johnson master, who pioneered the scene in Kochi. “I taught at Kalabhavan [in Kochi] upon his invite. Then there is Shelton from Thrissur, who was superlative when it came to robotic acts,” he adds. Nizar master from Kottayam was also popular then, adds Sajeesh.
In 2023, Babu and Johnson went viral on social media when they performed at an event to felicitate them organised by KL7Gary, a YouTube channel. “We were thrilled with the response. Among those who commented was some of the current popular choreographers and dancers in Bollywood and Hindi reality shows,” Babu remembers.
The duo stresses that the current generation does not want to learn pure breakdance. “There is little interest in the style. The focus is now on steps and the rhythm,” Sajeesh says, adding, “Our dream is to organise a programme in Thiruvananthapuram specifically for breakdance. We have been planning it for sometime.”
Published – July 09, 2025 06:55 pm IST
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