Techfest 2025 at IIT Bombay witnessed an unexpected star turn when a humanoid robot took centre stage and delivered a live dance performance to the hit track ‘Fa9la’. What began as a typical tech showcase quickly turned into a spectacle as the robot matched the Arabic song’s beats with fluid, confident movements. Within seconds, phones were in the air, capturing a moment that blurred the line between engineering and entertainment.
Instead of a standard demonstration, audiences gathered at one of Techfest’s main stages were surprised by a full-fledged performance. The robot’s timing, posture and rhythm felt uncannily human, leaving students, families and tech enthusiasts visibly impressed. The act served as a powerful reminder of how far robotics and artificial intelligence have progressed, especially when creativity meets code.
It didn’t take long for clips of the dance to explode online. Instagram reels and YouTube shorts featuring the robot spread rapidly, with viewers praising not just the technical execution but the expressiveness of the performance itself.
According to the post’s caption, the robot was developed by Bidyut Innovation. The comment section soon became a mix of humour, admiration and pop-culture references. One user joked, “Finally! Akshay Khanna isn’t the only one anymore, competition is here.” Another quipped, “This is what the decades of kicking boston dynamics bots has lead to.”
Not everyone was convinced, though. A commenter insisted, “No way, no amount of technology is as good as humans. Akshay Khanna is Akshay Khanna. No one and nothing can replace their aura.” Others leaned into the fun, with one person nicknaming the robot “Chitti Dakait.” Another user added a technical note, claiming, “The robot featured in the viral ‘Fa9la’ dance performance at IIT Bombay is the Unitree G1, a humanoid robot manufactured by Unitree Robotics, a company based in Hangzhou, China.”
Techfest, widely recognised as Asia’s largest science and technology festival, has always been about challenging expectations, and this performance fit right in.
‘Fa9la’, also known as ‘Sher-e-Baloch’, is composed by Bahrain-based rap artist Flipperachi and features in the recently released Bollywood blockbuster Dhurandhar. Directed by Aditya Dhar, the film stars R Madhavan, Ranveer Singh and Akshaye Khanna. The song shot to viral fame thanks to its infectious rhythm and Khanna’s distinctive dance moves — now joined, quite unexpectedly, by a humanoid robot.