When Mithu showed interest in attending this show "The Incredibles ..Live in Concert by Asha Bhosle, Sonu Nigam and two Ks (Kunal Ganjawala & Kailash Kher)", I thought she is kidding...after all to attend a concert with a 2 and 1/2 year old who can't sit in a place for more than 10 mins and for music refuses anything but Himesh Reshamiya, really needs brave heart! But bowing before "woman" rather "wife" power...I didn’t have much choice.
Luckily we were able to get some good discounted tickets through a friend at work, and a group of 50 or so persons related to Fujitsu (in one way or another) were all set to occupy the auditorium's entire row number 112 (having a good view of the stage) . Then half of them even decided to go for a pre show PotLuck, Socializing etc. and being the Gregarious Gangulys, I found myself buying huge quantities of "Chholey" and cans of Tomato Puree from the grocery store on Friday night!
So after one Beer (optional), few Ragda Pattis, Chholey, Rice,Kheer and some Halwa...we started our march towards the auditorium on Saturday around 7 PM. The walk was 10 mins from the friend's place where we had parked our cars. While in the street traffic was slowing down with curious drivers to see these Marching Human Beings..quite an unusual scene. The fun had just started.
Next experience of 90 mins or so was certainly not expected....but so usual whenever the "deshi" crowd exceeds a certain threshold. This was no exception. There was no line...free for all, everyone trying to plunge towards the gate simultaneously, and an utter confusion.Very very poor management there. Reminded of me Air India checkin where even though one has reserved seats (like here) but everyone acts as it is First Come First Serve. Ritwik got his first experience of "Suffocation" and I had to put him up on shoulders for a while and also considered whether to go out and check back later. The events center with capacity of around 7000 people was already jam packed.
Once in..it was much better. Show was already late by an hour...and audience just booed everything that came in between them and the "Incredible Stars" (like organizers trying to thanks the sponsors, or some local talents display). Anyway, exactly at 9PM the show began.
Well..to our surprise it was another female singer called Gunjan with a "knack" of dancing and who it seems has done some recent bollywood stuff, and she starts the night with Crazy Kiya Rey (dhoom 2). One gentleman sitting in back row was too confident it is her original song (well she sang excellent) but just for records he was WRONG..this was by Sunidhi Chauhan. Music was awfully loud. She did next song Beedi (Omkara) and she was doing it great..but by that time audience cant tolerate her any more. The organizer and the anchor (some TV star from Bombay called Mansi Verma) realized it soon and without any further delay presented one of the Real Incredible star next....
9PM: It was Kunal Ganjawala..in cowboy hat and a very "phoren accent" introduced himself. Some one later told me that he was raised here in USA...so maybe he was feeling home! He was quite energetic..involved the audinece thoroughly, and people did like him. He performed many "unknown to me" songs...but some which I knew like Tere Bin, Chaana Vey, his item from "Kaal" , O Hum Dum (Saathiya..I never knew it was by him..always thought it was A R Rahman). He ended his innings with... you can guess...."Bhhegey Honth" and the young gen crowd just went mad over it.
10pm: Ritwik was deep in sleep when next performer Kailash Kher entered the stage. He immediately won over the audience with his utter simplicity, humbleness, down to earth approach and of course his powerful voice. I had an absolute different image of him..blame it on his powerful sufism voice and the preachy lyrics many of which he writes himself. But unlike he was not at all serious rather too simple and naive. He performed quite a number of songs from his hit records including Chak De Phatte, Tauba Tauba, Allah kay bandey and others.
11PM: Now crowd was getting impatient for the real stars of the night when finally Asha Jee arrived. Unlike the previous two stars "dramatized" choreographed entry it was a plain simple one (she does not need any gimmick like that, right?). She immediately gets a standing ovation. Wont lie a bit ...somehow I found myself in tears...dont know why...but I can vouch..at that particular moment I was not the only one with tears in eyes. She entered the stage with Dum Maro Dum. I simply cant explain it in words what I was feeling.I mean it was THE EXPERIENCE to see the legend in live. It was a very strange feeling of respect, awe, all together. I was so mesmerized looking at her up there in front, all the while realizing how we all have grown up listening to her in radio/tv or reading about her..and now there she is just few meters away... "in person". Indeed I found myself so fortunate. She is 74 years old now and still has such a great and sweet voice. She starts the musical journey of the night in a very lively and interesting way from 40s and 50s (Chanda Maama Door key), then moves to 60s (Aaaiye Meherban ), 70s (Jhumka Gira rey), 80s (Don..yeh mera dil, Umrao Jaan) etc. Then she does something beyond expectation...asks the audience if they want "ekdam" new song...we thought maybe some new album or some upcoming movie. Wrong...she wears a Cap and does a Himesh Reshamiya by performing "Jhalak Dikhla Ja". I couldn’t stop myself from trying to awake Ritwik to let him experience his favorite number too. I think he did it for a while but fell asleep soon. In between all these songs, she was also sharing lots about her childhood, growing up with 4 sisters, 1 brother. Her father's influence in their lives...Her relationship with Didi and shared some rare photographs. She addressed the audience in Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Nepalese....shared few experiences with Pancham Da, Made fun of today's remixes and even scolded the person who shouted "Monika...kahan hai?"..but she never disappointed that fan of hers and finally left the stage after doing "Pia too ab to Aa jaa". The audience and crowd simply respected her, loved her and gave her too big and too long an applause.....
12 PM: The applause also continued in anticipation of the next big star Sonu Nigam, who entered the stage in a very "stylishly choregraphed" way while performing "Kal Ho Na Ho". Certainly he was not very happy entering the stage at 12 midnight and he tried his best to keep the audience in a high spirit. He looked very different (than the Saregama image I used to had of him) but was full of energy and the I think the best stage appearance. He danced extremely well and involved the audience throughout his performances. He is indeed a great performer. He performed mainly "Rang De basanto Chola", "shalam-e-sihq" some mix medley of old Kishore Rafi hits, his hits from "Main Hoon naa" ,other SRK films and his hit item "Bijuriya". He also surprised many by playing the duet of Aaaj Kee Raat (Don)...and yes he could sing well in tune with a "female" voice too..what a performer! Going by other posted reviews of "Incredibles" I was thinking we too will get some "real" duets of him and Asha Jee..but maybe it was too late and people started leaving, so it did not happen....show ended finally around 1am with a banner showing "Sonu Rules". Probably unfair to the other stars of the night...but Sonu Nigam is known for this, isnt it.
2AM: We come back home after having another round of dinner. With a fully "awake by now" and charged up Ritwik cant do anything other than discussing each and every songs we heard that evening, what we liked, dowloaded some on ipod, and replayed them again before finally calling it a day around 4 in the morning. It was definitely an INCREDIBLE show....and I am still saying thanks to Mithu to make it happen by taking that initiative and waiting for the day when I can tell Ritwik that "You have seen and heard the Legendary Asha Bhosley.... In Live!"
Luckily we were able to get some good discounted tickets through a friend at work, and a group of 50 or so persons related to Fujitsu (in one way or another) were all set to occupy the auditorium's entire row number 112 (having a good view of the stage) . Then half of them even decided to go for a pre show PotLuck, Socializing etc. and being the Gregarious Gangulys, I found myself buying huge quantities of "Chholey" and cans of Tomato Puree from the grocery store on Friday night!
So after one Beer (optional), few Ragda Pattis, Chholey, Rice,Kheer and some Halwa...we started our march towards the auditorium on Saturday around 7 PM. The walk was 10 mins from the friend's place where we had parked our cars. While in the street traffic was slowing down with curious drivers to see these Marching Human Beings..quite an unusual scene. The fun had just started.
Next experience of 90 mins or so was certainly not expected....but so usual whenever the "deshi" crowd exceeds a certain threshold. This was no exception. There was no line...free for all, everyone trying to plunge towards the gate simultaneously, and an utter confusion.Very very poor management there. Reminded of me Air India checkin where even though one has reserved seats (like here) but everyone acts as it is First Come First Serve. Ritwik got his first experience of "Suffocation" and I had to put him up on shoulders for a while and also considered whether to go out and check back later. The events center with capacity of around 7000 people was already jam packed.
Once in..it was much better. Show was already late by an hour...and audience just booed everything that came in between them and the "Incredible Stars" (like organizers trying to thanks the sponsors, or some local talents display). Anyway, exactly at 9PM the show began.
Well..to our surprise it was another female singer called Gunjan with a "knack" of dancing and who it seems has done some recent bollywood stuff, and she starts the night with Crazy Kiya Rey (dhoom 2). One gentleman sitting in back row was too confident it is her original song (well she sang excellent) but just for records he was WRONG..this was by Sunidhi Chauhan. Music was awfully loud. She did next song Beedi (Omkara) and she was doing it great..but by that time audience cant tolerate her any more. The organizer and the anchor (some TV star from Bombay called Mansi Verma) realized it soon and without any further delay presented one of the Real Incredible star next....
9PM: It was Kunal Ganjawala..in cowboy hat and a very "phoren accent" introduced himself. Some one later told me that he was raised here in USA...so maybe he was feeling home! He was quite energetic..involved the audinece thoroughly, and people did like him. He performed many "unknown to me" songs...but some which I knew like Tere Bin, Chaana Vey, his item from "Kaal" , O Hum Dum (Saathiya..I never knew it was by him..always thought it was A R Rahman). He ended his innings with... you can guess...."Bhhegey Honth" and the young gen crowd just went mad over it.
10pm: Ritwik was deep in sleep when next performer Kailash Kher entered the stage. He immediately won over the audience with his utter simplicity, humbleness, down to earth approach and of course his powerful voice. I had an absolute different image of him..blame it on his powerful sufism voice and the preachy lyrics many of which he writes himself. But unlike he was not at all serious rather too simple and naive. He performed quite a number of songs from his hit records including Chak De Phatte, Tauba Tauba, Allah kay bandey and others.
11PM: Now crowd was getting impatient for the real stars of the night when finally Asha Jee arrived. Unlike the previous two stars "dramatized" choreographed entry it was a plain simple one (she does not need any gimmick like that, right?). She immediately gets a standing ovation. Wont lie a bit ...somehow I found myself in tears...dont know why...but I can vouch..at that particular moment I was not the only one with tears in eyes. She entered the stage with Dum Maro Dum. I simply cant explain it in words what I was feeling.I mean it was THE EXPERIENCE to see the legend in live. It was a very strange feeling of respect, awe, all together. I was so mesmerized looking at her up there in front, all the while realizing how we all have grown up listening to her in radio/tv or reading about her..and now there she is just few meters away... "in person". Indeed I found myself so fortunate. She is 74 years old now and still has such a great and sweet voice. She starts the musical journey of the night in a very lively and interesting way from 40s and 50s (Chanda Maama Door key), then moves to 60s (Aaaiye Meherban ), 70s (Jhumka Gira rey), 80s (Don..yeh mera dil, Umrao Jaan) etc. Then she does something beyond expectation...asks the audience if they want "ekdam" new song...we thought maybe some new album or some upcoming movie. Wrong...she wears a Cap and does a Himesh Reshamiya by performing "Jhalak Dikhla Ja". I couldn’t stop myself from trying to awake Ritwik to let him experience his favorite number too. I think he did it for a while but fell asleep soon. In between all these songs, she was also sharing lots about her childhood, growing up with 4 sisters, 1 brother. Her father's influence in their lives...Her relationship with Didi and shared some rare photographs. She addressed the audience in Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Nepalese....shared few experiences with Pancham Da, Made fun of today's remixes and even scolded the person who shouted "Monika...kahan hai?"..but she never disappointed that fan of hers and finally left the stage after doing "Pia too ab to Aa jaa". The audience and crowd simply respected her, loved her and gave her too big and too long an applause.....
12 PM: The applause also continued in anticipation of the next big star Sonu Nigam, who entered the stage in a very "stylishly choregraphed" way while performing "Kal Ho Na Ho". Certainly he was not very happy entering the stage at 12 midnight and he tried his best to keep the audience in a high spirit. He looked very different (than the Saregama image I used to had of him) but was full of energy and the I think the best stage appearance. He danced extremely well and involved the audience throughout his performances. He is indeed a great performer. He performed mainly "Rang De basanto Chola", "shalam-e-sihq" some mix medley of old Kishore Rafi hits, his hits from "Main Hoon naa" ,other SRK films and his hit item "Bijuriya". He also surprised many by playing the duet of Aaaj Kee Raat (Don)...and yes he could sing well in tune with a "female" voice too..what a performer! Going by other posted reviews of "Incredibles" I was thinking we too will get some "real" duets of him and Asha Jee..but maybe it was too late and people started leaving, so it did not happen....show ended finally around 1am with a banner showing "Sonu Rules". Probably unfair to the other stars of the night...but Sonu Nigam is known for this, isnt it.
2AM: We come back home after having another round of dinner. With a fully "awake by now" and charged up Ritwik cant do anything other than discussing each and every songs we heard that evening, what we liked, dowloaded some on ipod, and replayed them again before finally calling it a day around 4 in the morning. It was definitely an INCREDIBLE show....and I am still saying thanks to Mithu to make it happen by taking that initiative and waiting for the day when I can tell Ritwik that "You have seen and heard the Legendary Asha Bhosley.... In Live!"
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