It comes from the boys he teaches at SK La Salle, Petaling Jaya – students who know him as their physical education teacher, the man who makes them run laps, stretch and pace themselves under the hot Malaysian sun.
They also know something else now. Their teacher is a DJ.
“I can see they are inspired,” he shared with FMT Lifestyle. “Some of them come and tell me, ‘Sir, I also want to be a DJ.’ I tell them, no problem – but you must go to class first. You have to learn properly. Music is an art.”
That belief – discipline first, passion always – sits at the heart of Kalidasshan’s story.
Also known as DJ Dasss, this belief is also what led the Batu Pahat-born to become the first Malaysian to achieve the Guinness World Record for the Longest Marathon Club DJ-ing on the internet, spinning continuously for a whopping 27 hours!
“I was overwhelmed once I received the email. I was like, ‘Did I really manage to do this?’,” the 37-year-old revealed.
“I was extremely happy and it meant the world to me because for a normal DJ like me to achieve something big like this is the biggest thing in my entire career. This is a passion-driven achievement.”
Kalidasshan was proud. Achieving the record took four attempts, plagued by technical issues, pressure and sheer physical strain.
Under Guinness rules, each hour of DJ-ing earned him only a five-minute break, meaning he had to carefully time every bathroom run and mouthful of food.
“There were moments I really wanted to go, but it was not time yet. I was like, ‘Oh my God, what’s happening?’” said the third of four siblings.
Above all, there was sleep – or the lack of it. “Twenty-seven hours of no sleep,” he said. “You try to sleep before, but how can you sleep peacefully when you know you’re going for a world record? It’s running in your mind.”
Kalidasshan’s path into DJ-ing was accidental. About 10 years ago, while working as an emcee for an event, he noticed a lack of energy when DJs took over at weddings.
“There was no continuity,” he said. “The DJ should hype the crowd, but I couldn’t see any of that. So I thought, why not learn DJ-ing myself?”
As a teacher, he approached music the only way he knew how. “Whatever skill you learn, you need a teacher,” he said. “You can learn from YouTube, but you need someone who can tell you, ‘This is wrong, this is right.’”
To that end, Kalidasshan trained at several academies, including MixCool Academy, Goldsound Academy, and DJ Playground, and slowly learnt how to emcee and DJ at the same time, shaping entire events rather than isolated moments. To him, DJ-ing is about storytelling.
“It’s like taking an aeroplane,” he explained. “There’s take-off, there’s flying, and then there’s landing. Slow songs first, then hype songs, then dance songs. I have to make sure everyone is happy when they are going back.”
That moment – when people begin to move – is what keeps him coming back. “You play a song, you mix it, and the crowd starts to nod their head, then dance,” Kalidasshan said. “You’re like a magician and a scientist at the same time. You test, you watch, you feel.”
Sometimes, it feels even deeper. “People may come sad or broken,” he said. “When they leave, they must be happy. I feel like I’m a therapist also.”
For Kalidasshan, the Guinness World Record now stands as more than a personal milestone. It is proof of something he tries to teach every day – that discipline and passion do not cancel each other out.
“When you stand in front of your kids, you have to be a role model and an inspiration.”
Next, he hopes to produce his own music. But for now, the whistle still blows on weekdays and the decks spin on weekends – both ways, he’s helping people find their rhythm, and see how far endurance can take them.
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