It was close to 4 p.m on friday when i was filling up my timesheets just when i received a call from my friend only to be surprised by him "Are you aware that ARR is performing tomorrow at Chennai and whether i was going?"!He gave me the website link where i filled up the form with no hope of getting into the concert,but i wanted to be there desperately. Even if i did get a pass i had to leave bangalore early on Saturday morning.I called up the telephone number on Marg's website only to be told by the lady that she couldn't be of much help in getting me a pass.But she did give me another contact which was helpful.I called up Mr.Sanath trying to convince him to get me an entry to the concert but he rejected until i broke a deal with him saying "Can u get me IN if i catch the first flight and reach Chennai" only to be ridiculed by him "Are you joking,karthik!".I said "I had done it before for the Unity concert in 2000".Once i had an assurance from him i decided to leave by the morning train.With no reservations all i could was manage some standing space at the pantry car of the crowded Chennai express.The Journey:
Train journey's are fascinating in simple words:-)I decided to leave at the last minute,went standing in the steaming pantry car of the chennai express,stood amidst the loo,sat on rice sacks(not good for smone looking out for 6 packs!),sat on "Klass water bottle crates",and huge TUMMIES hitting on me,some scrathing their arm pits just over my eyes MY GAAADDDDDD....and finally got some seating at a station....IT WAS JUST GREAT with lots of people starring at my PONY & goatie as if i'd come down from my first MARS expedition.Even when i spoke to the people at bus stand in tamil they'd try and speak to me in English!People starred at me in the bus on the way to Nandanam(18k).Man was i getting great attention.I even over heard a couple of guys saying "must be from bangalore"!.
On reaching YMCA,Nandanam in the evening,Mr.Sanath(incidentally he was the GM,MARG) as promised picked me up and I WAS IN! Overall the concert was great sans the "CROWD" despite ARR saying it was a special evening since it was the first concert of the year in his hometown.It lacked intensity,moreso i thought because it was a free invitation for the corporates,business group who at some time might or would be part of MARG.And am sure many ARR hardcore fans would have missed it because of lack of promotion,publicity.When i asked the GM of Marg he said it was intentional not to have a tie-up with sponsors as they wanted this 3.5 crore event to be a "SOLO" show to commemorate the SEZ acquisition.
The show kicked off with Guitar Prasanna, along with A.K.Pazhanivel (Tavil), S.Karthik (Ghatam), B.S.Purushottaman (Khanjira), R.Raman (Morsing) and Keith Peters (Bass Guitar), performed Taaye tirupurasundari, Alaipayuthey,Peaceful and 31(both Prasanna’s composition).I must say Prasanna was great with his team but not many were appreciative of that to be honest.One instance of it was a section of people starting to clap in between in desperation,probably due to the delay in start.To add to it the speech by the MARG chairman and his counterpart was a great means of causing "restlessness" to the already somber crowd.Am sure none of them wanted to listen to the speech which talked about "developementspirituality,growth,infrastructure,IT,real estate" etc...,except for the fireworks which was worth watching.
With Percept Mark handling event management i would say they could have made a better choice instead of "MC-Rakshanda Khan".The crowd needed an entertainer of sorts who could lift their spirits(say a javed jaffrey or a local guy with good humour & wisecracks),rather than someone making an announcement on stage.The reason i wanted to elaborate on the crowd and organising was with such a BIG BUDGET things could have been better.In contrast the Bangalore concert in 2005 even with stage disasters and "not good" organising had great intensity amongst the crowd inspite of the rains,the audience listening to the songs with chairs on top of their heads!
Back to the concert:-(Shall keep it short as the Nafeez's blog details about this)
Must say the choice of songs were great,amazing quality with lots to choose from "Guru".Khalbali was one hell of a kick-ass number and you couldn't help but get out of the seats and jump around."Maiya Maiya" was exceptional by Neeti.Not only was she apt in singing the right way(neeti wasn't the original singer)but her dance,the sync with music and costumes were spot-on.I caught up with her backstage and congratulated for this when she said she had practised and that having sung before at couple of concerts(guess one in USA) helped her sing well. As we know the legacy goes on - Hariharan & Chitra did just that and everytime they repeat a ROJA or BOMBAY it gives the feel as if it were a new song,one which is unsullied.That's the MAGIC OF LEGEND's AND ARR's music.However i thought quite a few songs were cut short(Dil Se,bits of Tere Bina-Guru),am not sure why?The medley of Azeem-o-shan(Jodha Akbar),Rukkumani(Roja) and veerapandi kotaiyle(Thiruda Thiruda)was "TOP NOTCH".The unplugged by Hariharan,Chitra and Chinmayee included songs like Uyire(Bombay),one of my peronsonal best "Anjali anjali(Duet)",Sahana(Sivaji) were riveting.Personally I thought atleast the performance by Benny & Chinmayee(Maduraikku Pogathadee from Azhagiya Tamilmagan)(was smashing!) should have lifted the spirits....but wasn't the case until when ARR asked the crowd "ARE U ALL SLEEPY?","DO YOU WANT SOMEMORE?".Blazee and ARR provided a magical one as always with "hama hama" and crowd was on its feet.
What i found missing this time around was the Instrumentals by Naveen(Bombay Theme) and Shivamani's solo show. Finally it ended with Vande Mataram(of which i have a pretty good video).Later i went backstage and caught up with Prasanna,Neeti,Chinmayee,Benny and Naresh Iyer.I spoke to Naresh and Benny for a good 10mins and the first thing they told me was "Man... it was a disappointing crowd.. what do u think?" and that the troop were disappointed too.Well i said my views were no different!
A great show by the great MAN again.ARR Rules as always and proves time and again why he's the BEST!. In the end it was all worth the SWEAT and a satisfying experience .
Thanks to ARR and his troop again,for the performance was invigorating.
About Guitar Prasanna:http://www.guitarprasanna.com/mainindex.html
Very few pics @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/stumpersinn
Videos i've uploaded:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1966042354317940968 (medley) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4395505985980062913 (azhagiya tamil..) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=267022962764392088 (Khalbali) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2414828841433187284 (Roobaroo) http://rapidshare.com/files/90913365/Vandemataram_video.MPG.html (VandeMataram Video) --The video is good after a while when i stood on the chairs!
http://rapidshare.com/files/91115311/guru_jagehain1.MPG.html
Related articles:(By Nafeez-arrahmanfans.com)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arrahmanfans/message/89705
Cheers,
Karthik.
