EXCLUSIVE: Bad Salsa's Sumanth & Sonali hope America's Got Talent's Simon Cowell dances to a Bollywood song

The internet was in shock when they watched Bad Salsa, a group from India comprising of 20-year-old Sumanth Maroju and 15-year-old Sonali Majumder step on America's Got Talent stage and set it on fire! The duo was anything but bad as they had the audience going wow with their high-octane performance to Dhating Naach. The duo received a standing ovation from AGT's judges Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, and Sofia Vergara. While they were all smiles on the stage, Sumanth and Sonali talk to Pinkvilla and reveal all that happened off-camera. 

The duo revealed after their jaw-dropping performance, Simon chatted with the two for at least fifteen minutes where he appreciated them for their dedication and performance while wishing them luck. They also said that Simon identified the duo from Britain's Got Talent. Apart from their interaction with Simon, Sumanth and Sonali spoke about the reactions to the duo's AGT performance, their wish to teach Simon some Bollywood moves, and more. 

Check out an excerpt from our chat: 

1. Your Dhating Naach performance has impressed not only Americans but the viewers from all over the world. How does it feel to be one of the viral sensations this summer? 

Sonali and Sumanth: It feels very lucky to be the viral sensation and subsequently honoured for what we dreamt of all these years of our dancing turning into reality. We never thought the video would go viral at this rate. We feel blessed for representing India on that grand stage of AGT and proving ourselves perfect in front of our audiences. 

2. What was going on in your mind when you stood on the stage? 

Sonali and Sumanth: It was a dream of eight years to be able to perform in front of a global audience and share our art form with millions. Standing on that stage and performing in front of those judges was a real honour for us and for our whole team. We felt the heat of the situation right there and all we wanted is to turn that heat into the fire. Our hard work made it possible on that stage. 

3. Did you interact with any of the judges off-stage? 

Sonali and Sumanth: After the performance, Simon sir came to meet us in the backstage. He had a sweet 15 minutes conversation with us. He wished us luck for the rest of the journey and appreciated us immensely for our dedication and performance. He was very generous and made us feel blessed.

4. If you had a chance to watch one of these judges perform on a Bollywood number, who would it be? 

Sonali and Sumanth: No doubt we would really like to see Simon sir and Howie sir performing on a Bollywood number. They are very cheerful and fun-loving people. Any Bollywood song with full masala beat and high pitch music. 

5. What was your families' reaction to the standing ovation? 

Sonali and Sumanth: Our families got emotional seeing us perform on that grand stage. They have been very supportive from the start and always encouraged us for everything we did. They really did whatever they had to get us here.

6. How many hours of practice do you put in every day? 

Sonali and Sumanth: We are rehearsing for 8 to 10 hours a day which includes 1.5 to 2 hours’ workout, yoga, meditation and exercise with intense training. Our diet has changed and resting hours also been scheduled. We are working very hard to get the best out of us and to be at the top of the show. We always try to keep the bar high and a raising graph of our performances. The thing that we focus on is to make our today’s performance better than yesterday’s. Competing with self makes us more confident and our performances more worth watching. 

Stay tuned to Pinkvilla for more updates. 

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