Shaan - Live in Concert!

Date: 4 Nov, 2011

Occasion: Kala Utsavam
Venue: Esplanade, Singapore

Singapore witnessed one of the most renowned, versatile Indipop singer from Bollywood, live in concert in memory of Kishore da.What a night! Filled with melodies that touch your heart and soul!

Shaan came in with" Behti Hawa sa tha woh" (3 Idiots), to merge it soon into Kishore Kumar melodies making the atmosphere very nostalgic.Shaan’s band started things off, an ensemble of rock instruments complemented by a host of Indian instruments. The Guitarist was exceptionally good! Shaans voice seemed invincible – he just refused to get tired through out his performance! My heart went fluttering when he sang the "Main hoon Don" while he imitated Shah rukhs dance stances opening his arms wide open.

I could probably go on about each song. The pure melodic beauty of Kya yahi Pyar hai( Rocky); Shaan’s remarkable vocal agility in “Dil Kya kare"from Julie; the action-packed “Oh humdum suniyo re” , "Hum jo chalne lage hain from Jab We Met.

He was joined by June Bannerji (dont ask me who) for some duets that included a not-so-beautiful Hey Shona and a few more songs (that I dont remember). June also broke into a exceptionally well sung Beedi jalyale and Desi girl.

Few songs that  require any criticism – perhaps “One Love” was nothing like the one I heard from the movie.. Shaan's first Medley climaxed with a song that has brought him a shed-load of awards – “Chand sifarish” (Fanaa). 

He ended the concert with Tanha Dil and Wheres the party tonight. Amazingly, despite the goof ups , Shaa'ns sense of humor saved the day. Of all the concerts I have been to, I feel Shaan speaks more than he sings! :) 

Although, I must confess some of the songs were disappointingly, badly sung, with some mixed-up lyrics and less-than-perfect-for-the-song band.I was also quite disappointed that he did not sing any song from his album Q-funk . 

A lot of good old songs from Kishore da's collections were missing. All in all it was a concert worth every cent spent and am glad I tagged along my BFF Ms Pavin Kaur and her entire clan! Thanks Pavin and family . 

Idols in Concert!

Date: 4 June 2011
Venue: Esplanade, Singapore
A sensational musical extravaganza! With Sriram - Indian Idol 5 , and the runner up Bhoomi Trivedi entertained around 1000 Singapore fans and admirers. They won the  hearts of dazzling audiences with their high energy and versatile voices!


The evening itself started with a pleasant surprise. We were asked to be interviewed by Sony Television reps to speak about the show and the singers! A few lines ,yet I liked facing the camera for a change! 


The mesmerising show started at around 7:45 pm starting with Bhoomi singing tracks from oldies to the new rap songs. She also sang "If you wanna be my lover" from the Spice girls. Her array of songs consisted of Mayya Mayya, paheli zindagani, lambi judai, dum maro dum etc


After about 15 minutes, the star of the day Sriram, came on stage making the crowd go wild  with his entrance! Sriram is not just a versatile singer but also a complete stage performer! He sang Kwaja mere kwaja,rock on etc. Upon audiences request he sang Peelon and breathless which was defintely a breath taking performance. 


The duo later sang songs together , sort of a medley which were peppy dance numbers .The instrumentalists behind drums, guitar , keyboard were full of life and were in synchrony with the singers. Sriram sang  Telugu songs, and Bhoomi sang Guajrati and Marathi tracks. Srirams last performance for the night was "the breathless" song which left the audience asking for more. Among the audience were indians , chinese and Foreigners. Music irrespective of language barriers brought all races together. Such is the power of Music!


To summarise, it was an enchanting, captivating night. A special thanks to Sony Entertainment and Team Works for getting these music artists onboard and giving us an opportunity to listen to them live!

Zee Cine Awards 2011

Its 3:20 am ,early morn and I am typing this out while everything is still fresh in my memory. Yet another magical night in Singapore. It was a starry night, stars on the sky and Bollywood stars in the enchanting Marina Bay Sands Hotel. MBS in itself is a building I can write about for hours(next time ).For now just take a look at the wonderful edifice.

Beautiful Marina Bay Sands

 The tickets were a gift from my hubby. A new year gift. $700 per person!! Made me feel special ;)Although I was not excited initially, when we entered the ballroom I could feel the excitement in the air. The atmosphere was all charged up .

5,000 odd fans awaiting for one glimpse of their favourite stars. Just to look at crowd itself was overwhelming!The Who's Who of the Indian Film Industry just to name a few- Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Arjun Rampal,Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Hrithik Roshan , Karan Johar, Subhjash Ghai and many more assembled for the event.

Akshay Kumar and Sajid Khan hosted the event and proved to be a  comedic extravaganza. Sajids funny tauts, Akshays sense of humor were to die for.A I must say Akshay is a hearthrob! At his 40's , and yet it seems time has been on his side..Zee Awards  revealed a whole new facet of Akshays personality to me: An amazing anchorperson. Priyanka Chopra was the prominant star in the whole event , making appearances every 20 min for Best Movie Nominees dancing for every song from the nominated movies. The dashing hunk Arjun Rampal just stole my heart tonight!

The lights , the music system was mind blowing! The backgrounds used during different dance/award ceromony were so colorful . The effort made by the Zee team hosting a majestic show so successfully is remarkable.  I have no words to decribe the experience I just had few hours ago.So I will just post few videos of Shah-rukh, Rishi Kapoor, and other distinguished actors whose voice you can hear as the videos are not very clear.

Another lovely moment was Shah-rukh teaching Hrithik how to treat his wife on stage! Suzanne Khan was called upon the stage. Shah-rukh made hrithik dance to the tunes of Sajda song for Suzanne . Hritik also showered his wife  with flowers and bowed down to her proclaiming his love to her in front of the whole world!!! SO romantic. And vice versa, it was Suzannes turn to say those 3 magic words...    sigh! How cute is that!( I am trying to upload 2 more lovely videos but blogger is having uploading problems and am off to India in a few hours. )

Aishwarya Rai, Deepika Padukone Shahrukh all danced to the tune of Bollywood music and the crowd went berserk!

One thing changed in me tonight. I have disliked Shahrukh for reasons still unknown to me, and that has changed. I think I like him now :) and once again for reasons unknown hahaha I guess its the persona. Maybe its the aura he eminates when you see him upclose...

Being a proud ex-employee of Zee I am so glad Zee chose this small beautiful island to host the event this year. Looking forward to many more.

Award Winners:

Best Actor (Male) Jury Choice

Hrithik Roshan (Guzaarish)

Best Actor (Female) Jury Choice

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (Guzaarish)

Best Film Jury Choice

Udaan

Best Director Jury Choice

Vikramaditya Motwane (Udaan)

Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Male)

Arjun Rampal - Raajneeti

Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Female)

Prachi Desai - Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai

Best Actor In A Comic Role (Male/Female)

Boman Irani - Well Done Abba

Best Actor In A Negative Role (Male/Female)

Ronit Roy - Udaan

Most Promising Debut Director

Abhinav Kashyap - Dabangg

Most Promising Debut (Male)

Ranvir Singh - Band Baaja Baaraat

Most Promising Debut (Female)

Sonakshi Sinha - Dabangg

Best Playback Singer (Male)

Mohit Chauhan - Pee Loon (Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai)

Best Playback Singer (Female)

Richa Sharma - Sajda (My Name Is Khan)

Best Story

Karan Johar - Shibani Bathija (My Name Is khan)

Best Music

Sajid-Wajid - Dabangg

Best Lyrics

Gulzar - Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji (Ishqiya)

Best Dialogue

Rajat Arora - Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai

Best Choreographer

Farah Khan - Sheila Ki Jawani (Tees Maar Khan)

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa - Song of the Year

Munni Badnaam - Dabangg

Best Screenplay

Abhinav Kashyap - Dabangg

Best Background Music

Sandeep Shirodkar - Dabangg

Best Action

Vijayan Master - Dabangg

Best Editing

Pranav V Dhiwar - Dabangg

Best Cinematography

Ayananka Bose - Kites

Best Art Director

Guzaarish

Best Sound Design

Dileep Subramaniam - My Name Is Khan

International Male Icon

Ranbir Kapoor

International Female Icon

Deepika Padukone

Best Lifetime Jodi

Rishi Kapoor - Neetu Singh

Lifetime Achievement Award

Shatrughan Sinha

Best Marketed Film

My Name Is Khan

Popular choice awards:

Best Actor (Male) Popular Choice

Shah Rukh Khan - My Name Is Khan

Best Actor (Female) Popular Choice

Vidya Balan - Ishqiya

Best Film Popular Choice

Dabangg

Best Director Popular Choice

Karan Johar - My Name Is Khan

Khano Ka Khan?? Tees Maar Khan!

     "Silent night, Holy night....."  the Christmas song in the background,yet its not a silent night! Whole of Singapore buzzing with activity. Hubby and I joined the crowd in Orchard Road on a Shopping Spree. Orchard, the epicentre for shopping . Series of Malls cramped with beautiful , expensive designer wear, electronic goods, and god knows what more..

Sipping on the hot 'TehTarik',in a local joint, "Coffee and Toast" we watched the crowd shop their way to madness! TehTarik means pulled tea, refers to the way its made.Tea is poured back and forth repeatedly between two vessels from a height, to thoroughly mix the tea with the condensed milk. It is also done to give the tea a better flavour. Teh= Tea, Tarik=Pull, Although Teh is a Mandarin word, Tarik is Malaysian..Then again, Singapore is multi-cultural so no surprise there..We walked around some more in the busy streets of orchard hunting for scented candles and window shopping.

Heres a glimpse of busy streets..

After a quiet dinner at Komalas, We headed to the theatres.. Tees Maar Khan.A movie gone wrong, thats what I would call it..I wont tell you the story of the movie, thats for you to watch. 

 I give you 3 words...Absurd, Wacky,Trashy... Except for the 'Sheila Ki Jawani' theres nothing much engaging in the movie. The movie is a series of meaningless, lousy jokes and painful one liners. 

"Copy karte student ko fail karna aur Tees Maar Khan ke dimag mein se chori ka plan mita na namunkin hai!"

"Kutte ke muh mein se haddi aur Tees Maar Khan ke hath se noto ki gaddi, dono cheenna bekar hai!"

and so on..Akshay Kumar the Con man  looks amazing, Katrina, the bimbo in the movie looks hot as usual, no acting skills needed in the movie. Akshaye Khanna, with his straight haired wig is a sight to see! 

Whats good about the movie? Cant think of any. The movie is a one time entertainer. The silliness of the movie would make it unbearable to watch it all over again.Overall a 2.5 out of 5.. (am I being generous there? )

Another Christmas gone by. Time to look forward to the new years!! More fun, more dreams, more to accomplish... 

Sunidhi Chauhan Live in Concert !

Singapore rocked to the Bollywood beat Saturday night(Nov 20th).The phenomenal Sunidhi chauhan live in concert!The venue was Esplanade, beautiful Art Performing Centre.

ESPLANADE

The  concert began with the proclamation from the MC that we have legend in the house – “Kuch  Kalaakar ,stage ke liye bante hain, aur kuch stage, Kalaakar ke  liye !”Any music lover would need no introduction to this singing Diva...!

A Glimpse of the stage before the concert

 Sunidhi sang her array of hits like Chaliyya Chaliyya, Beedi.By the time she hit Crazy Kiya Re the audience went crazy.The Desi girl looked ravishing, gorgeous, sensational!! The audience just couldnt get enough of her!Her energetic performance, the ambience, the lights, the crowd literally gave me the goosebumps..Just listening to her sing the fast-paced songs made the audience go bonkers  ...Particularly the slow numbers made me nostalgic .Its not just her voice that created magic, but her dance moves too.... A complete stage performer!

She really worked up the stage and got the crowd going.What caught my eye in this concert was not all were Indians! Many seemed like Malaysians ,also there were a  few Firangis...  shaking  their heads to the rhythm..I wont go  much into the intricasies of the concert. All in all ,the best one till date.Even Sonu Nigam Concert doesnot come up to the mark!Next in my list?? An Opera and French Theatre!

This is the best we could do.Clicking pics are not allowed inside . 

COURTESY I-PHONE  :)

Shanker Mahadevan -The musical maestro..

            This weekend was an amazing one. Last night was a funfilled, lively musical night!We went to the music-concert after work so we had no camera. I-phone was the only means to click few pics ..

            Accompanying Mr.Mahadevan were Mahalaxmi Iyer and Karthik, an upcoming artist...The crowd was overwhelming..Indians in immense number.. Felt like I was back in India for a moment..5,000 Indians in a huge hall!
            An awesome experience being up-close to such a personality...I danced away to glory like theres no tomorrow, clapped till my  hands were swollen (no exagerration there)....Had a great time! All said and done I would say it was a great show ....BUT.. not as good as Sonu Nigam concert (Jan 3,2010) ..

           Now a little bit about the man himself.. Started the concert with a Ganpati mantra..!! An ordinary personality, no air of arrogance,so down to earth.. The only thing that makes him stand out is the silky ,sultry voice! The first few minutes of the concert I was in a trance..He was with hs family, his wife Sangeetha ,and his son Siddharth sitting with the audience on the third row..Later Sidharth sang 'The Earth Song', by Late Michael Jacskson(May his soul rest in peace). A tall young teenager with long curls and an accent suggesting he must be studying abroad.Very much unlike his dad who has typical Tamilian looks...
           The band was amazing, particularly the guitarist.. I was overjoyed and fascinated at the same time.The crowd just went wild when Mr.Mahadevan started his jugalbandi with the band..
           The concert ended with his trade-mark song 'Breathless' and Sabse aage honge hindustani. The after effect of this music concert ???Am still humming his songs...Just cant get it outta my head..