Jai Ho, the series of events celebrating India’s 73rd Independence Day concluded in Abu Dhabi on Saturday with the classical night by Padma Shri Hariharan. The event which brought together India’s best talents for Comedy, Bollywood and Classical live-performances, was inaugurated by Mr. Navdeep Singh Suri, the ambassador of India to UAE. Furthermore, over 4,500 people attended the celebrations spanning over 3 days at the National Theatre in Abu Dhabi.
Organized by Front Row Events in association with Department of Culture and Tourism of Abu Dhabi, the top-class performances were held from 22nd -24th August.
“The idea was to create a big celebration for the Indian Diaspora in Abu Dhabi. A mix of Comedy, Bollywood and Classical was conceived to appeal to a variety of audiences and we are very pleased with the audience response for all the three events. A Big thank you to Department of Culture and Tourism of Abu Dhabi for their immense support, we hope to bring many more events in future specifically designed for the Abu Dhabi audience.” said Akanksha Bhat, Managing Partner, Front-Row Events.
The first event of the series was nothing short of a two-hour laughathon which had two of India’s leading stand-up comedians Amit Tandon and Biswa Kalyan Rath perform to a full house. The acts by both the artists were super hilarious with jokes packing in the right punch and keeping the audience in splits.
Day two was an electrifying live-concert by the Queen of Bollywood music – Sunidhi Chauhan. Known for her high voltage, energetic songs and her high-octane voice, Sunidhi belted out innumerable songs from her big list of chartbusters including Dhoom Macha le, Sajna Ji Vaari Vaari, Desi Girl, Kamali etc.,while also performing some of her adorable romantic numbers. Checking out with Sheila Ki Jawani and Bidi Jalaeile, she engaged, enthralled and entertained the audience throughout her 2.5 hours long performance.
The concluding event of the series, saw the mesmerizing performance by the man with the Golden Voice Hariharan. His mellifluous voice, his aura and his effortless and ad-hoc musical improvisations left audience wanting for more. Paying tribute to the diversity of India, the versatile playback singer delivered his popular numbers in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telegu. Giving a modern twist, the maestro teamed up with his son Akshay Hariharan to deliver newer versions of his popular hits including Roja, Dheemi Dheemi and many others.
Altering between Bollywood hits, ghazal, fusion and classical, Hari ji transported the audience to a musical land. Starting with the patriotic song “Bharat Humko Jan Se Pyara Hai”, he finished the concert with his breathtaking rendition of “Tu Hi Re”.
