Even before Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Rajinikanth-starrer Coolie was released last year, Soubin Shahir stole the show with his energetic moves in Pooja Hegde’s special number Monica. Recently, when Pooja attended an event at a cultural event at Sathyabama University in Chennai, a little boy joined her on stage. The internet says his dance was as good as Soubin’s.
Little boy’s steps to Monica overshadow Pooja Hegde’s
A paparazzo posted a video taken at the university’s cultural event. A little boy dressed in suspenders and shorts joined Pooja on stage as she danced to Monica. As Pooja danced along, she looked shocked at how well he was dancing, particularly when he recreated Soubin’s steps. She even followed his lead in recreating some of the steps as the audience cheered.
Numerous videos from the event have now surfaced on the internet with captions like ‘boy rocked, Pooja shocked’. Pooja can be seen pausing in between to let the boy shine. Actor and dancer Jaffer Sadiq, who is famous for his role in Kamal Haasan and Lokesh’s Vikram and seems to be the boy’s mentor, can also be seen dancing along.
Reacting to all the praise coming to the little boy, whose name is Hani, Jaffer wrote on his Instagram stories, “When you trust your skills, the universe finds its way. This boy was made for this and beyond. He restored my hope and reminded me that trusting the process truly is enough. So proud of you. My boy @dancer_hani.” He also added, “All credits only to him.”
“He literally ignored pooja,” joked one person commenting under the video. Another wrote, “In the video clip, we were shocked with Shoubin sir’s dance & here this boy!” One person even commented, “If you are goated you dominate pooja dance.” An Instagram user joked, “He stole Monika song from Pooja Hegde.” Numerous others commented with fire and heart eye emojis, praising Hani for his dance moves.
Recent work
In 2025, Pooja starred in the Hindi film Deva and the Tamil film Retro, as well as in the song in Coolie. Her film Jana Nayagan, co-starring Vijay, Mamitha Baiju, and Bobby Deol, was scheduled to release in theatres on January 9 but was stalled due to a delay in CBFC certification. The film has yet to be certified by the revising committee. Pooja will soon star in Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai in Hindi, Kanchana 4 in Tamil and the yet-to-be-titled DQ 41 in Telugu.
