BENGALURU:  When hula hoop artiste Supriya Srivastav and football freestyler Sai Tejas V R got together to collaborate on a trick shot, little did they know that their video would get recognition from the FIFA World Cup’s official Instagram account itself. “We just wanted to create something killer,” said the 32-year-old founder of Purple Filter, a social media branding and consultancy company. 

The two connected with each other on Instagram and found many similarities in what they do with their skill, the main difference being their instrument of choice. While Srivastav uses a hula hoop (or multiple), Tejas, a football freestyler, uses footballs to creatively express himself. 

The 49-second video – which was first shared on Srivastav’s account (@hoopwithsupriya) – has her balancing three hula hoops (one on each arm and one around her waist) and a spinning football on her head. Tejas then aims another football towards the spinning one and sends it flying off to the side. The stunt left many stunned, including the FIFA World Cup officials, who shared the video on their Instagram platform, and said, “We are seriously impressed! How is that even possible?”. The video has been viewed over 3 lakh times on their page. 

For Tejas, watching his video being shared by FIFA was a dream-come-true moment. The 23-year-old football fan said, “So many big football stars, like Cristiano Ronaldo for example, follow the page too. So to think that they might have seen our video too is an incredible feeling.” Agreed Srivastav, who “jumped with joy” when she found out about the news. “I then scrolled through their feed endlessly to see if they had shared any other Indian’s video and didn’t find any,” she said with a proud beam. 

One of the most remarkable things in the video, however, is the unflinching reaction Srivastav has towards the ball hurtling towards her, not moving an inch even from the impact of the stunt. “Many people asked me how I did that or how I could trust someone to hit something this close to my face but the thought just never occurred to me,” she explained. 

It took Srivastav and Tejas two days of practice and 15 attempts to nail the feat with a plastic bottle on the former’s head. For Tejas, aiming with precision was the biggest challenge and trying the same feat with a spinning football took them 20 attempts.

“Finding a space to shoot the video was also a challenge since we needed a big space and had to wake up at 5am to get the best of the weather,” recalled Srivastav, adding that they shot the video at the basketball court in BTM. Though the two are still donning a glow on their faces from the response the video has received, they don’t plan on stopping here. “We’re planning to do something cool and will hopefully come out with it soon,” said Tejas.