Celebrity Participants
Asha Bhosle
Sonu Nigam
Kailash Kher
Kunal Ganjawala
Gunjan
Mansi Verma
| Kher who said this was his first time to be on stage for a show of this grand level in the US so he didn’t know the nuances of how to work the stage, need not have worried. His humorous comments, anecdotes delivered in chaste Hindi, the mischievous twinkle in his eyes and just the joy and freedom with which he sings, had the crowd roaring through the segment. As he left, amidst a deafening applause, the next segment heralded the arrival of the woman who still remains the youthful legend of yesterday, today and tomorrow. At 74, with 60 years of entertaining several generations of music lovers, and ageless as ever, Asha Bhosle walked in, resplendent in a beautiful yellow sari, to catcalls and a standing ovation. You would not have known that she had not slept for hours, had barely managed to take a quick shower and shown up on stage without any fuss. Her magical spell was cast over an audience of all age groups as she regaled everyone with jokes, went down memory lane reminiscing about how she had entertained the grand parents, parents and now their children and grandchildren over 6 decades and how music and songs had changed over the years. She said she sang for the first time in 1943 when she was barely ten and a song was Chanda mama door ke. Then as she moved to more seductive numbers it created quite a buzz and people across state lines whispered in various Indian dialects-who are this Asha Bhosle? She is misleading our boys! Asha became the voice of Helen and sang songs like Aao Na gale lagao Na(Come on, come closer embrace me!) and when the youngsters decided to leave for foreign shores, her voice followed them with the soulful Jaiye aap kahan jayenge?( Go, how far will you go?)
Asha ji then went on to mesmerize the audience
with beautiful numbers like Chura Liya Hai Tumne, Dum Maro Dum,
a beautiful fresh touch to In Ankhon Ki Masti mein from Umrao Jaan,
and the sexy number Yeh mera dil yaar ka diwana. She sang Punjabi
tappe. Then Asha ji made fun of remixes and mentioned how beautifully
she had sung the song Chod do anchal zamana kya kahega(let go of
my long scarf(worn with Indian outfits) what will the world say?)
and then she sees a remix where the woman is wearing pants and a
shirt and singing the song. “There wasn’t any long scarf
to grab on to so how could she say let go of it?” quipped
Asha amidst laughter. Then she said “I have five year old
twin grandchildren and my grand daughter brought this cd to me and
said Grandma, please sing this song..So here I’m doing as
she said.” Donning a cap Asha ji went into a rendition of
the famous Himesh Reshamiyya number “ Jhalak Dikhla ja”
Imitating Reshamiyya to a T she brought the house down. She also
sang Piya Tu accompanied by Kunal Ganjawala, did the twist, and
came down escorted by him to mingle with the ecstatic audience,
some of whom touched her feet, others stood up to applaud a woman
who remains a show stopper for 60 years. |
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