Finally the most awaited concert of my life came last evening when the GOD of Indian music performed live in Pune as part of Jai Ho live in concert. I attended the same with my friend and it was total paisa vasool. Had spend one grand to grab the ticket. I didn’t mind spending the amount, though I knew it would be chaos all around the venue. I was right. The arrangements by the hosts were pathetic. The visitors had to park their 4 and 2 wheelers amidst great difficulty in a barren uneven land and then walk a km to the venue to be seated on the uncomfortable chairs lined up so close to each other that left no space to move n walk away. The security check was in place and to promote in-house food and beverage vendors, the eatables and drinks got in from outside were dumped. There was no seating arrangement with numbers. It was just like come and find a place, sit. Period.
But the anticipation to see the maestro perform was so huge that people forgot this misadventures and troubles. By 7 PM, everybody was seated in the seats and standing in the arena for 450 bucks stands, the wait began for the KING of music to descend. Unfortunately it was a dampener. RJs of Radio Mirchi – Aditi and Shrikhand (Shrikant) began the proceedings in Marathi and people booed them. You cannot speak in a regional language when people from different backgrounds are in the stadia to watch a musical program which is devoid of any boundary or free to be tied down to the regional parlances. It followed by an irritating presentation on a school / educational foundation MIT’s activities in cleaning up 2 religious towns close to Pune. Well, nobody had paid 1000 bucks to watch this crap or listen to the anchors who just made a mess of the presentation. Shrikhand kept saying “stay tuned”. His radio mannerisms didn’t go.
Finally AR Rehman began his magic with a song from Guru “Jaage he der tak, hume kuch der sone do”. People went mad on listening the pitch of his voice. The troupe consisted of HariHaran, Niti Mohan, the gorgeous singer who sung Mayya Mayya from Guru later, Rashid Ali and Raja Hassan (Arziya from Delhi-6 and Khwajaji from Jodha Akbar). Hari enchanted the crowd with his “Tu hi Raay”, “ Roja janeman” and “Sarfaroshi ki tammana” coupled with eternal “Bharat humko jaan se pyara hai”. Sadhna Sargam sang Saathiya song and Rashid Ali sang the Aditi number for all Aditis of the world. Needless to say the Adus of the crowd were blushed.
There was a superb jugalbandi between Rehman, Hari Haran in the mid way stage and then it was turn of some heavy duty songs which pulled the crowd a bit back, but the real lovers of Rehman’s music were enthralled. There were dance numbers, there were soft songs, there were melodious numbers. All packaged in one. When Rehman sung “Dil Se” or “Humma Humma” and “Rukmani Rukmani”, we went mad. He also came up with a huge Tamil hit “Macha macha”, lyrics of which I didn’t understand. Delhi-6 and Slumdog millionare were the most sung movies. The notable absentees were Rangeela, Jeans, Hum se hai muqable, Lagan, Yaadein, Taal and Kisna.
I have lack of words to describe my feelings. I was shifted to the different world altogether. Watching Rehman was fabulous. He was so humble. No over the top moves, no self marketing, just acknowledgment of all the honor bestowed on him. That’s what makes his achievements even greater. The concert song – Jai Ho came at the fag end of the concert followed by Vande Mataram and Maa tujhe salam. Finally good to see the tri-color flashing on the video screen rather than saffron MH flag.
The exit arrangements were chaotic and chaos ruled all over. It took me 50 mins to find my bike in the parking area. And I was almost panicked when I didn’t find my bike for too long. All said and done, an amazing evening spent in listening to a legend.
