Rock On concert a big hit

"Pichle Saat Dino Me" to "Sindbad the Sailor" - the "Rock On" cast enthralled the audience with their unconventional and contemporary numbers, as they performed their first-ever concert in New Delhi.

A jam-packed open-air venue at the Select Citywalk mall at Saket in south Delhi was inundated by fans who came to attend the concert on Saturday evening, courtesy the nominal priced-passes worth Rs.500 for standing and Rs.1000 for seating respectively.

Then there was an equal crowd ratio that could not resist the "Rock On" charm and managed to mark their attendance by occupying every nook and corner available to fit in.

The show began with a "Ganesh Vandana" by music composers trio Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa. While Shankar recited the vandana, Ehsaan was on lead guitar and Loy was on keyboard.

"Delhi, are you ready?" screamed Mahadevan and crooned to the lyrics of their earlier movies like "Dil Chahta Hai", "Lakshya" and "Don - The Chase Begins", all directed by Farhan Akhtar, to warm up the mood of the people.

The trio has also given the music for "Rock On", the first Hindi movie on rock music.

The concert took an echoing start with the title track of "Dil Chahta Hai". New singer Raman joined Mahadevan on the vocals with "Main Aisa Kyun Hu" from "Lakshya" followed by the title track of "Don…" and another song "Aaj ki Raat" from the same movie.

The audiences clapped their hands high in the air in sync with the songs as they played the numbers.

Farhan, who was unwell before the concert as he had difficulty breathing due to the change of weather in the city, also performed at the show.

The show picked on the tempo with audiences jamming to the beats of "Pichle Saat Dino Me" as he took on the vocals with Arjun Rampal on the guitar.

Farhan, who is hugely enjoying his popularity in his latest avatar as an actor, has sung six of the nine songs in the film.

Co-stars Purab Kohli and Luke Kenny preferred encouraging the audiences without taking on the instruments unlike in the movie.

Also present on-stage were newcomer Shahana Goswami and producer Ritesh Sidhwani for the movie with director Abhishek Kapoor.

Kapoor was elated at the electrifying crowd and their reaction.

He shared: "I am loving every moment of the evening. When I was making the movie, I was told 'Rock On' won't work out but you all have made it work."

A last-minute surprise for the people was co-star Koel Puri's presence and Purab Kohli's English jig from the movie.

Though the concert melodiously ended with the film's song "Sindbad the Sailor", the audiences chanted for "more" and the cast had to take to the mike again wrapping up the hour long concert finally with the title number "Rock On".

Anshul Ojha, a freelance photographer could not stop singing the songs even after the event and said: "'Rock On' rocks. I drove all the way from Bikaner for the concert with my friends and the drive was worth it."

Another fan Pallavi Singh, a student of Lady Shri Ram College who was here with a group of her college mates said: "This is the best concert I've ever attended. This movie made us groove to our own (Indian) songs for the first time or else we would have been jamming to only western songs."

The rock concert, organised by Big 92.7 FM, is the cast's third after they performed in Mumbai and Pune last month.

Set in Mumbai, "Rock On" has an urban feel and revolves around a group of four aspiring musicians who form a hippie rock band called "Magik".

It is led by singer Aditya (Farhan) and also has temperamental guitarist Joe Mascarenhas (Rampal), talented keyboard player Rob (Kenny) and drummer Kedar Zaveri (Kohli).

Indo-Asian News Service

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