Boston Sargam’s annual Bollywood Music and Dance Competition will be held on October 12th, 2013 at Keefe Tech. in Framingham, MA. Boston Sargam is a volunteer-based organization celebrating art, music, dance and exceptional talent expressions of the South Asian community from the New England area.

Event organizers Anil Chawla and Tej Singh, along with a dedicated team of enthusiastic volunteers look forward to hosting this annual dance and music extravaganza that will showcase talent from the New England area. The auditions for solo songs and solo dances were held on Sept. 28th, at the Sheraton Hotel in Framingham. Effective management and assignment of work to small specialized groups were the two outstanding features that made the auditions successful. Participants cherished the experience and found it to be encouraging. It was also a learning experience for many of them. Parents strongly felt that their children gained a lot of confidence from the auditions and live camera interviews. Participants from as far as New Jersey and Connecticut came in for the auditions at the Sheraton hotel. A group from overseas had also expressed interest in the Boston Sargam auditions. Finalists will be competing with other performers from their respective categories on the 12th of October.

This year’s annual event will be graced by distinguished guests Dr. Manju Sheth (2011 INE Woman of the Year), Ranjani Saigal (2012 INE Woman of the Year) and Poonam Ahluwalia (2013 INE Woman of the Year). Boston Sargam appreciates their dedication and immense contribution to the South Asian community.

Dr. Manju Sheth strongly believes in giving back to society and has worked with organizations such as Saheli and the Asian task force for women. She has also been honored to be the President-Elect of the Indian Medical Association of New England. Lokvani co-founder Ranjani Saigal was recently honored with an Award for Excellence in Education and Community Service. She works with various non-profit organizations including VisionAID, Saheli, Udavum Karangal and The Boston Pledge and is currently the executive director of EkalVidyalaya Foundation, USA. Poonam Ahluwalia was named the 2013 India New England Woman of the Year.  She is a staunch advocate of global youth employment and entrepreneurship. She is the founder the Youth Employment Summit (YES), which is currently operating in 55 countries around the world.

This year, the organizers plan to bring in new ideas and surprises to entertain the audience. Three new talent categories – Comedy, Shayari and MC’s got talent will be featured during the annual event. Prior to the musical extravaganza, there will be a MELA where vendors will be exhibiting their items. The Primetime Celebrity segment for October 12th will feature vibrant singers Mohan Subramaniam and Sharanya Sarkar along with past Boston Sargam winners, the very promising and talented Valentino Almeida and Debaleena Bandopadhyay. Great Shayari will be performed by Shekhar Sastry, Sunayana kachru and Sharda Jha, which has been coordinated by Praveen Misra.

Boston Sargam will continue working with participants as well as with choreographers, dance instructors and music teachers who train and motivate their students. In the future, plays and dance dramas will also be included in the event. Over the next few years, Boston Sargam is determined to bring in high quality programs by including state-of-the-art technology and audio-visual equipment. Special light & sound system include: AUDIO: AEI QRX Single stack with 2 double 18" subwoofers and 2 1200watt top boxes, 4 monitors 4 mixes, 2 delay stacks. LIGHTING: 32' truss, L16 crank lifts, Mac 101's moving head fixtures, Mac 2K 360 degree moving head fixtures, RGB LED color changing spotlights, DMX controller for all lighting and Hazer.  VIDEO: 2 Fastfold 7.5' X 10' projection screens, 2 projectors, 5000 lumen (for live footage).

Monica Gill, Nikita Rao and Pavit Arora will be hosts of the event along with other talented MCs.  Monica was the Miss INDIA New England first runner-up as well as one of the top 20 WOY (Woman of the year) nominees. Pavit Arora is one of youngest MCs to have received the Harvard SSP leadership award. She has been modeling since the age of seven. She was also the first runner-up at the Miss Teen India USA. Nikita Rao Punjabi, a Bollywood dancer, has worked in India with ZEE TV and Wizcraft productions for their various music shows and award ceremonies. Nikita is also a trained classical dancer with a unique approach to dancing; she blends together Indian and Western dance styles. The Boston Sargam event on the 12th of October will also feature two large screens for video projection (live and recorded). Anil Chawla, Tej Singh and Nikhil Gokhale will be in-charge of this audio-visual set-up. Stage managers Jaya Asthana and Bela Kaul also plan to make this event successful through their skillful management and vast experience.     

In collaboration with Milan USA’s Suresh Sharma, Boston Sargam also plans to organize a grand Holi celebration in 2014. This would probably be the biggest festival of colors in the New England/Connecticut area. Readers are requested to visit the respective websites for further updates.

Boston Sargam would like to thank their media partners INDIA New England (Mr. Upendra Misra), Lokvani (Mr. Anoop and Mr. Anil Saigal), Gunjan Radio (Mr. Bipin Parekh) and Sounds of India Radio (Mr. Harish Dang).  We are also thankful to our core team members who are working selflessly and passionately in uplifting local talent.  Our core team consists of - Dance Auditions: Nikita Rao Punjabi, Music Auditions: Tej Singh, Rajesh Bhutani & Anil Chawla, Comedy: Bibek Das, Shayari: Praveen Misra, Registration: Ashwini Mishra, MC's got Talent: Monica Gill. Boston Sargam is also thankful to Seema Arora (President of United India Association of New England) for providing help and cultural directions to Boston Sargam.  Our sincere thanks to supporters Praveen Misra, Bikash Verma, Sourav Srimal and Mirza Tanveer and team towards publicity for the event. Boston Sargam would also like to thank all volunteers, viz., Amit Singh, Anit Gupta, Ashwini Mishra, Avinash Agarwal, Bela Kaul, Bibek Das,   Bikash Verma, Geeta Singh, Gurbir Kalsi, Himani Chawla, Jaya Asthana, Kavita Katti, Kunal Chawla,  Kabir Kalsi,  Madhumita Das, Manish Chawla, Mihir Munshi, Navneet Sharma, Nikita Rao, Nikhil Gokhale, Pratibha Mishra, Praveen Misra, Rajesh Bhutani, Rajay Goel, Rakesh Singh, Rekha Singh, Rishi Kapoor, Sanjay Kaul, Shashank Mishra, Shristi Bhutani, Sudha Bhutani, Sujata Verma, Rajbir Kalsi for their relentless support and enthusiasm.  

Jasmine Shah will be one of judges for the dance competition. Anindita Nanda and Shalini Sharma (both from Connecticut) will also be serving as judges in the same category. Sameer Bhambhani, Arun Verma and Neelima Chaturvedi will be the judges for the song competition. Rajan, Madhumita Das and Anudha Gupta were the judges for the song auditions whereas Anu Surendran, Deepa Jacob and Nikita Punjabi Rao served as the judges for the dance auditions. Thanks to Rajay Goel who sponsored auditions, which were held at Sheraton Hotel.

The 2013 Boston Sargam Bollywood Music and Dance Competition will be held at Keefe Tech. in Framingham, MA. The MELA starts 2:30 p.m. onwards and readers are encouraged to visit the Boston Sargam website for further details. This year’s Bollywood extravaganza starts at 4:00 p.m.

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