Saturday May 15, 2004 saw local youths with a raging ambition for stardom showcasing their considerable talents at the Bollywood Talent show, giving life and soul to scintillating performances. The show was co-sponsored by Zee TV.

This show proved that Boston is teeming with untapped talent and offered them an opportunity to perform at a sophisticated arena to an appreciative and educated audience.

The ambience reeked of style and culture, when we walked in strains of Kandisa (a song by one of our favorite bands Indian Ocean) was playing on the speakers and folks milled around anticipation writ large on their faces.

Despite a 30-minute delay in the starting of the event, complaints were muted and half hearted. Once the charming Emcee announced the evening’s opening performance, the crowd broke into applause. The invocatory dance by a tiny tot in Bharathanatyam style fetched her a standing ovation from some in the audience. The evening comprised of a series of talent contests, awards were given out to Talented Miss India, the two best solo dancers, Group dance for juniors and seniors. Six young lades, all talent powerhouses strutted their stuff, dazzling the audience and the judges with their graceful beauty and dancing talents.

Stunning models showed off local boutique Aalok’s creative and stylish designs lending the evening proceedings more glamour and glitz.
Bharathanatyam, Bollywood dances and foot tapping Bhangra completed the evening.

When popular bollywood background singer Sonu Nigam came on stage, the audience went wild with excitement. Sonu Nigam has been called the most promising young male playback singer to hit the Hindi film industry in recent times. His versatility and musical maturity belie his age and his many years of experience have played a large role in shaping him, as a singer and performer. Legend has it that his first performance on stage at the ripe old age of three. Born to a popular singer Agam Kumar Nigam, Sonu grew up in a home filled with musical notes.

Moving to the world of Mumbai films at 17, he was discovered by the late music producer and founder of T-series, Mr. Gulshan Kumar. Sonu started out singing popular Rafi songs and some Manna Dey and Mukesh. The young singer was quickly noticed by the public as well as discerning critics.
Sonu’s arrival at the auditorium was met with gasps of admiration from the audience and the welcome extended to him was warm and inviting. After crooning a couple of popular songs (Kal ho naho included) Sonu invited members of the audience to join him on stage and shake a leg. Several enthusiastic folks did not miss the chance to boogie with their favorite performer and the night culminated on that high note.

We caught up with Ravi Choudhary of Bollywood talent a couple of days after the show. “ It has been wonderful,” he gushed, “ people are still coming up to me to tell me what a great show it was. We are premier event organizers dedicated to helping Indian youth develop and promote their artistic abilities. Our goal is to provide opportunities for performers to reach a professional level of competition where they can interact with established and successful artists. This show has shown the people of Boston what a great pool of talent is present in our community. One thing I can tell you, this show will get better every year and we will strive to be the best every year.”

Geeta Singhani and Ruchi Bhatia of Jashn Events Planners, Inc (www.jashneventplanners.com)) who helped co-ordinate the event were equally enthusiastic about the evening. “ We enjoyed working with Bollywood Talent show, our interest in promoting Indian culture and being a part of the show was a pleasure indeed.”

To do our part well, we then proceeded to talk with some young participants to glean their opinion of the program. While the talent present was amazing, indicated many participants we spoke to (who preferred to remain anonymous), some elements of the show were disturbing to them. Each group had paid a fee to participate in the show but was given only two passes to the show. Some groups had over five participants and the rest were asked to buy tickets to watch the show they were going to be a part of. That rankled with most participants. Another issue they raised was that of the dance form Bhangra being allowed to compete with traditional ones like Odissi and Bharathantyam. Since audience appreciation was taken into account for winning, it put the classical dancers at a disadvantage. It is common knowledge that it is impossible for classical dances to generate the kind of boisterous enthusiasm that Bhangra almost always does. It would have been wiser to have Bhangra dances as a separate contest category.

We do hope that Bollywood Talent irons out these kinks and presents an even better show next year.

List of Winners
SOLO DANCE:
1. Hariqbal Basi
2. Mohamad Ali
TALENTED MISS INDIA:
1. Ami Dalal
2. Abha Varma
GROUP DANCE JUNIOR:
1. M&M Group
2. Pushpanjali by Ranjani Saigal’s students
GROUP DANCE SENIOR:
1. Boston Bhangra
2. MIT Group

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