After the double whammy at Oscars, brand Rahman has suddendly swelled to magnanimous proportions. The man, known for his humbleness and reticency, never misses to score a point when it comes to charity. His series of concerts coined 'Jai Ho' are another gigantic step towards the same. After the hugely successful first concert post his Oscars at Kochi, Rahman announced that he shall follow it up with a concert at Pune the proceeds of which shall go to mangeshkar Foundation and Alandi Dehu Vikas Kendra. It was enough for me to start feeling butterflies in my stomach since I'm currently redundant at Pune. The date was 31st May and the venue Balewadi Athletic Stadium. The venue was a shrewd choice considering Rahman's mammoth following as it is a vast expanse. I planned that I will witness the extravaganza with as many friends as possible and finally the list of concert goers read: Aslam, Prabha, Pooja, Kshama and Varsha, all colleagues from the firm I work for. Finally, the much awaited day( D-day for many) arrived and Aslam and I started early( 3 pm to be precise as I did not wanted to be late.. as Im usually late for everything) and we got a call from 'the girls' that they are still busy with their make-ups( girls.. you see). We( boys) reached by bus with a coupla connecting flights( lol) and girls preferred Auto( again.. girls you see !! ). We thought we can save a coupla moolah for smoke roles and Aslam ensured he bought a pack. Finally, entry time and I was desperate trying to contact our girls who inspite of having the luxury of Autorickshaw, werent at the entry queue. I never imagined the turn-out would be such a whopping. Forget the inside, the outside itself was like a massive concert with people nudging and pushing each other( Incredible India !!). Then there were frequently irritating security checks where people with sweaty hands and killer eyes frisk you like you are a public property. Aslam was caught with a cigarette pack and it got confiscated. No protests coz there were no arrests. All this turmoil ended when we finally found ourself fresh breath of air inside the open theatre with the crowd swelling every moment. And lo !! Finally, the girls arrived. It was 6.15 and the environment was already getting tuned.
I have no idea how the next one and half hour passed by as everyone was desperate as to how and when the maestro, also known as The Mozart of Asia will arrive. The eagerness transformed into frustration and suddenly, an aircraft in an airport in Vimannagar could not find a strip to land and it was told to circum-ambulate Pune. It flew, made a 45 degree left cut exactly above Balewadi Stadium and everyone down there felt rahman would para-jump onto the stage, as the 20,000 odd crowd raised its hands towards the plane, yelling Rahman Rahman Rahman !!
The plane proceeded away from the stadium and the obvious was understood as the crowd's euphoria died down. Then came the moment, with Ali G coming on stage, in his typical Jamaican accent yelling " Hey you peepul, aa yoo rready?? Wen Aay say Jay.. yo say Ho.. wen Aay say jay.. Yo say ho.." and the crowd madly followed as if he was their mentor. Next, he asked, how desperate are you for Rahman? to which the crowd showed their desperation by breaking all decibel records. Man O Man !! Pune is mad about Rahman. Fo sho. Ali G took his cell phone and played a recorded message by Rahman and the crowd went tossing. Then the lights were turned off and the speakers on, with the crescendo of the master's sensational tune hitting the ears, it was a feeling, an experience, a sense that is seldom felt as the Maestro made his appearance on stage amidst a deafening noise. The assembly went berserk and so did the speakers with Jaage Hain.. from Guru, an anthem of sorts.
After this, song after song, hit after hit, beat after beat, it was music music and music. After all, a man who has redefined contemporary music and created new sounds was here to enthrall everyone. The concert was characteristically devided into 6 segments:
Rahman with his hair-raising adrenaline pumping chartbusters.
Rahman, Hariharan, Roopkumar Rathod and Rashid Ali in a jugalbandi with the maestro on a piano.
A techno, mindblowing DJ remix of Rahman's popular songs.
Felicitaion of Rahman by Lata Mangeshkar, Dr. Karad, Suresh Kalmadi.
Devotional piece where Rahman and Raja Hassan sang qawwalis.
And finally, patriotic punch where he rounded off the event with Jai ho and Vandemataram.
It was an audio-visual treat for all rahmaniacs with splendid laser stuff and spot-on choreography. Ofcourse, I would like to add that some artistes were dearly missed including udit Narayan, Sukhwinder Singh, Alka Yagnik, SPB and kavita krishnamoorthy however, all said and done, it was once in a life time experience.
