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BY VEENA RAO
Photos by Bytegraph.com Atlanta,
GA: Popular Bollywood playback singer Shreya Ghoshal mesmerized an
almost filled-to-capacity audience at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts
Center in Atlanta on September 30 with her abundant energy and
mellifluous voice; cruising from one chart buster to another, for over
three magical hours. Ghosal’s Atlanta concert was part of the American
Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) Charitable
Foundation’s nine-city educational and musical program to raise funds
for AAPI, local AAPI chapters and their initiatives. The concert was
brought to the US by Shri Balaji Entertainment.
Over
2500 people attended the sold out Atlanta concert, which raised funds
for AAPI’s local chapter, the Georgia Association of Physicians of
Indian Heritage’s (GAPI) volunteer clinic at the Global Mall and
medical clinics run by AAPI in India. The attendance exceeded the
expectations of the GAPI organizers, said Dr Sreeni Gangasani, concert
chair. “Sales picked up in the last one week. We were expecting about
2000 people,” he said.
Ghoshal was ably supported by her team-
singer Prithvi Gandharva, a disciple of Hariharan; host and singer
Jeffrey Iqbal, the US born winner of the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2008 (USA); and
a live band and troupe of dancers from Mumbai.
The
big winner of the evening was also the fired up audience that kept the
singers charged with its enthusiasm. Ghoshal kept the audience engaged,
singing one line, and making the audience sing the next. The audience
responded with some high octave cheering and in-sync singing, prompting
the singer to exclaim that “Atlanta has amazing energy!” and that, “80%
of the audience is in sync; the other 20% will be by the end of the
concert.”
Ghoshal began the concert with some of her popular
romantic hits, quipping that she has a Ph.D in romantic songs. The
talented singer opened with ‘Teri meri prem kahani’ from the movie
Bodyguard, then went on to sing progressively seductive numbers like
‘Chalo tumko lekar chale’ and ‘Jaadu hai nasha hai’ from Jism and hits
like , ‘Tujhme rab dikhta hai’ from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and ‘Piyu bole
piya bole’ from Parineeta.
Her
romantic duets with Prithvi Gandharva included hits like ‘Teri ore hai
rabba’ from Singh is King, ‘Tere mast mast do nain’ and ‘Chori kiya re
jiya’ from Dabangg.
As the evening progressed, Ghoshal had the
audience energized, dancing and clapping for more with foot tapping
chart busters like ‘Mashallah’ from Ek Tha Tiger, ‘Zoobi doobi’ from 3
Idiots, and plenty of item songs from the movies Welcome, Rowdy Rathore
and the recent hits ‘Ooh-la-la” from Dirty Picture and ‘Chikni chameli’
from Agneepath.
Ghoshal also sang some regional hits like the
Telugu song, ‘Hayyaa hayyaare’ from the movie Okkadu, a Malayalam song
and the original Bengali version of the melodious Lata Mangeshkar song,
‘Tasveer teri dil mein’, adding that she had to sing a Bengali song,
because she was from Bengal.
The young singer paid tribute to
Lata Mangeshkar, who recently celebrated her birthday, with the
timeless, ‘Lag ja gale ke phir yeh’ from Who Kaun Thi. She concluded
the concert with ‘Bairi piya’ from the movie Devdas, her first ever
recorded song that won her the Filmfare award and the National Film
Award.
“This has been one of the most memorable evenings of my life,” she said, before bowing to a happy audience.
Prithivi
Gandharva has a sufi touch and style in his voice but was versatile in
a range of songs with Ghoshal, and held his own with ease in all the
single songs he sang.
Jeffrey Iqbal was a delight, combining
song, dance and stand-up to make the audience fall in love with him
during a 10-minute segment. He regaled the audience with ‘Mitwa kahe
dhadkane tujhse kya’ from Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna, threw in a high
energy bhangra song and dance routine and ended with ‘Parda hai Parda’
from Amar Akbar Antony. His energy was infectious and won him several
fans in Atlanta.
Earlier in the evening, Consul General
Honorable Ajit Kumar recognized the local team comprising of Dr.
Sudhakar Jonnalagadda, convener, Dr. Sreeni Gangasani, chair, Prakash
Desai, co-chair, Dilip Patel treasurer and Dr. Indran Indrakrishnan,
editor of the GAPI silver jubilee program souvenir for the event. AAPI
President, Dr Narendra Kumar, treasurer, Dr Ajay Lodha, and
editor-in-chief of the AAPI journal, Dr Gautam Samadder also attended
the event.
The concert, which was part of GAPI’s silver jubilee
celebrations, was preceded Sunday afternoon with an educational CME
program that was attended by over 100 people despite the rain. Speakers
included Dr. P.K. Natrajan, Dr Samir Kapadia and Dr. Mahindra Shah.
Atlanta’s Bytegraph was responsible for the production of the show, including audio visuals, video, photography and lighting.
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