Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Mar 11: It was just as they had promised - unforgettable. As the large and energetic crowd crooned and grooved, Salim-Sulaiman, one of Bollywood's top music composers-singers, delivered a performance that Mangaluru would remember for a long time to come. The energy level at Nehru Maidan here on Friday March 10 seemed to have reached an unprecedented high as the electrying evening turned into one of the best concerts the city had ever witnessed.
The Mangaluru concert was the final show of the multi-city Imperial Blue Superhit Nights with Salim-Sulaiman and their team. During the course of the tour that began in November 2016, they performed in Lucknow, Indore, Faridabad, Guwahati and Bhubaneswar.
Salim Merchant and his brother Sulaiman Merchant, who have together given Bollywood some of its most popular songs like 'Aye Khuda', 'Shukran Allah', 'Chak De India' and many more, rocked the evening, taking the excited crowd along as they belted out numbers after numbers from the most contemporary to yesteryear hits.
The evening began on a soulful note with Salim rendering the song 'Aye Khuda', even as the crowd welcomed him with whistles and applause besides chanting his name. The melodious and meaningful 'Aashayein' from the movie 'Iqbal' followed next.
Sulaiman then made his entry, setting the stage on fire with a rocking rendition of the song 'Kurbaan hua'.
"It feels so good to be in Mangaluru. When we found out that this whole Imperial Blue Superhit Nights ends with a concert in Mangaluru, we were so happy. It is always such a pleasure to come here and perform superhit songs. This is really a big, big thing for us. Thank you so much all of you for coming here," said Salim.
"You guys are amazing. Look at the crowd tonight, it's amazing!" exclaimed Sulaiman, evoking loud cheers from the crowd.
They then invited the crowd to sing the chorus of 'Ishq wala love', after which the entire venue reverberated with these three words. Then on, the crowd joined in almost for every song, dancing and crooning along with the celebrities. 'Shukran Allah' was the next on the list, which got the crowds swaying to the mellifluous beat.
Salim and Sulaiman were joined by singers Raj Pandith, Bhoomi Trivedi and 2012 Indian Idol winner Vipul Mehta who gave magnificent performances with songs like 'Aadat se majboor' which Salim dedicated to all the ladies in the crowd, 'Bang bang', 'Haule haule', 'Ore piya' and the soul-stirring 'Yeh hosla'.
A special moment was when Salim and Sulaiman asked the audience to hold up their cell phones with flashlights on, even as the stage lights dimmed to a minimum. It was magical as the singers and the musicians performed 'Mar jaawan', with streams of light beaming in rows after rows from the audience.
Adding a touch of seriousness to the concert was the next song, dedicated to the soldiers at the border, especially those who were martyred in the Pathankot and Uri attacks. "We are so lucky to be in India. Think of the jawans who fearlessly lay down their lives for the country. Every day there is a jawan getting martyred, while we live our lives happily here. They die for us, you and me, so we can live our amazing lives. Today we want to remember them through our song, which is a prayer," Salim said, before breaking into the haunting melody of 'Ali Maula'.
The gear shifted with dance numbers coming up next. Starting with 'Dance pe chance' by Bhoomi Trivedi, the entire team of singers rendered non-stop peppy numbers, many of them from the yesteryears, like 'Piya tu', 'Laila o Laila', 'Bachna aye haseenon', 'Om Shanti Om' and many more, ending with contemporary hits like 'Ainvi ainvi' and 'Tauba tauba'.
For the final part of the show, the entire audience was up on its feet, clapping and dancing to the beat of the music. Young and old alike were entranced, as if nothing else existed except music. The show ended on a high note with the song 'Chak De India', during which the crowd joined in singing the chorus with a sort of patriotic fervour. It was truly magnificent as Salim-Sulaiman's music united one and all.