The Kings is an Indian hip-hop dance group from

Vasai Vasai (Konkani and Marathi pronunciation: �əsəi formerly and alternatively Mahratti; ''Bajipur'', English: Bassein; Portuguese: Baçaim), is a historical place and City near Mumbai (Bombay)'s western suburbs, located in Palghar district ...

, a city in Maharashtra. They won NBC'S ''World of Dance'' and came third at

World Hip Hop Dance Championship The World Hip Hop Dance Championship is an international hip-hop dance competition created in 2002 by Hip Hop International. Countries that have participated in the past include Dominican Republic, India, Greece, Cyprus, Chile, Italy, Mexico, Franc ...

. Emmy awards nominee Suresh Mukund (born on December 24, 1987), is the choreographer and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

of the group.

Kings United

In 2015, they became the first Indian group to win a medal at the

held in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

. They gained worldwide fame after they won Season 3 of NBC's ''World of Dance'' in 2019 in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

History

In 2009, Suresh Mukund and Vernon Monterio formed a hip hop dance group by the name of 'Fictitious Dance Group' which participated in various Indian dance shows and competitions. In 2009, the group won the popular dance show ''Boogie Woogie''. The group went on to win ''Entertainment Ke liye Kuch Bhi Karega'' in 2010 and later the same year they were ranked third in Season 2 of '' India's Got Talent''. Choosing to re-enter the competition the following year, the group changed its name to the SNV Group named after members Suresh Mukund and Vernon Monteiro and this time won Season 3 of ''India's Got Talent'' in 2011. In 2012, the SNV Group travelled to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

and entered the

where they made it to the finals and finished in 8th place, a first for an Indian group. Their hardships in funding their trip and their remarkable achievement in the competition were documented in the 2015

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film ''

ABCD 2 ''Disney's ABCD 2'', also known as ''Any Body Can Dance 2'', is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language dance film directed and choreographed by Remo D'Souza and produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur under Walt Disney Pictures. A stand-alone sequel to the 201 ...

'' which was directed by choreographer

Remo D'Souza Remo D'Souza (born Ramesh Gopi Nair; 2 April 1974), is an Indian choreographer, actor, film director and producer, based in Mumbai. He is best known for his works in ''Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani'' (2014) and ''Bajirao Mastani'' (2016). In a career ...

and starred prominent actors like

Varun Dhawan Varun Dhawan (; born 24 April 1987) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. One of India's highest-paid actors, he has been featured in '' Forbes India'' Celebrity 100 list since 2014. He has starred in 11 consecutive box-office successes ...

Prabhu Deva Prabhu Deva (born 3 April 1973) is an Indian dance choreographer, film director, producer and actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada language films. In a career spanning 32 years, he has performed and designed a ...

and Shraddha Kapoor in lead roles. Suresh is played by

and Vernon is played by Sushant Pujari. After the release of the film, Mukund and Vernon parted ways due to creative differences and the group split with Vernon starting his own dance crew called "V Company" who subsequently won Season-1 of Dance Plus. Mukund then founded "Kings United India" with some of his old team members and a few new additions.

2015: World Hip Hop Dance Championship

In 2015, Mukund made a last minute decision to put together a dance crew to re-enter the World Hip Hop Dance Championship in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

. Actor Varun Dhawan arranged for

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to partially fund the group and pitched in with his own money to help out. Kings United came in third and won the Bronze medal.

2016: Dance Academy

On January 3, 2016, they opened their own dance academy, "Kings United: Kingdom Of Art" in Vasai, Mumbai. The academy was inaugurated by choreographer

and actor

. In 2017, Kings United competed in the Indian dance reality show ''

Dance Champions ''Dance Champions'' is a dance competition reality television series that was telecasted on 30 September 2017, on Star Plus. This show is produced by Urban Brew. This dance show divides the contestants into few teams which are mentored by a p ...

'' aired on Star Plus.

2019: ''World of Dance'' & Upcoming Projects

On May 6, 2019, Kings United won the American dance reality show ''World of Dance Season 3'' with a perfect score of 100 in the grand finale, thus winning a prize money of

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1 million. In a recent interview with a

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel, Mukund said that 80% of the winnings would be shared among the team members. Mukund has been nominated for an Emmy Award in the Outstanding Choreography for Variety or Reality Program category for the Kings' performances. The crew is planning a world tour and conducting international dance workshops. After their win, Mukund also mentioned that the Kings United would no longer participate in competitions. There have been reports of a possible show with Jennifer Lopez. Mukund and his team will be judging India's first online dance competition by imd1. The competition is called ''Dance Is Life - DIL2019''.

Kings United

History

2015: World Hip Hop Dance Championship

2016: Dance Academy

2019: ''World of Dance'' & Upcoming Projects

Achievements & Appearances

External links

References