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Author: Ranveer R
The drive to the coliseum was infuriating due to the heavy traffic caused by both minor accidents and drivers constantly switching lanes. I arrived at the location approximately 30 minutes late (8:30). However, providentially the show had not yet commenced. 5 minutes after my arrival, clips from the 2002 Heartthrobs concert was broadcasted, followed by a trailer for the upcoming Heartbeat Concert, and ending with a promo from the Vivek Oberoi and Aishwarya Rai upcoming film. After all of that was over, a semi-presenter, somewhere in the stadium, started talking about Vijay Taneja (CEO of Elite Entertainment) and Bharat Jotwani (Concert Sponsor) and their lines of business.
Subsequently, the “host and dost” for the evening was introduced - Sajid Khan came up on stage. He shared a couple of comical skits about the Film Industry, and then shortly introduced Celina.
Celina came and performed for literally 3 minutes to the violin song from Janasheen.
Sajid Khan was back again, and introduced Lara Dutta. She performed to some song from Khakee. I believe they repeated her performance from the Zee Cine Awards. Sajid Khan came back and shared a couple of more jokes. He then introduced Shaan. Shaan sang some hit songs from 2002-2003 which included numbers from Dil Chahta Hai and Kal Ho Naa Ho.
After Shaan’s number, Sajid Khan came around amidst the audience and asked them questions about Aishwarya Rai. Whoever gave the accurate answer was presented with an autographed unidentifiable item by Aishwarya. Then he went back up on stage and introduced the Queen of Hearts - Aishwarya Rai. Her spectacular performance was to a song from Devdas. After her performance, Sajid Khan went up and handed her the microphone. She waved at the audience, articulated her feelings for us and gave her thank you speech. She was undeniably beautiful.
Sajid Khan joined her up on stage once more and they both then introduced Fardeen Khan on stage. He came up and thanked Aishwarya and Sajid Khan, and then interacted with the audience.
After his piece was over, Sajid Khan came up and started describing the imminent performer. He said something like “When this man’s film releases at the theater, you can’t even see the title of the film, the only thing you can see is the ‘house-full’ board. Do you all know who I am talking about?” The audience, mostly girls, replied “Hrithik!” (The girl behind me almost knocked me over while doing so.) He said “New York, I did not know you all were that bright. As a reward to your right answer, I present you with the one and only Hrithik Roshan”
Instantaneously, the screaming and applause from the girls went to an earsplitting level. Luckily for us guys, the light went out and everything fell quiet. There were footsteps approaching on the stage, followed by the spotlight focusing on Hrithik. He danced to some beats and then took off his hat and jacket to perform to “It’s Magic”. This time, it was the kids who were clapping and cheering all the way through. He then walked around the stage followed by his next dance to the remix of Ek Pal Ka Jeena. Afterward, as a conclusion to the performance, he took off his shirt and threw it over to some girl in the audience. The attack of the screaming girls was on again.
After the highly entertaining and first-rate performance, Sajid Khan came back on stage and invited Shaan for the final time. He sang to some hit numbers from the 60’s and 70’s. After Shaan’s number, Fardeen Khan came back on stage to interact with the audience once more. He called on an uncle and a kid to come up and dance on stage with Celina and Lara. Followed by a performance to “Kambakht Ishq” by some guy in the audience.
Afterward, Ganesh Hedge was called up on stage where he introduced his dancers one at a time. I had to go out to get a drink at that time; therefore, I cannot provide you with the particulars of his act. I returned at the perfect time, as Ganesh was on his way off the stage. A friend of mine said that he sang to Kal Ho Naa Ho as the concluding piece.
Sajid Khan was back on stage. He shared a couple of more jokes, thanked the audience for attending the show and then introduced the first part of the “Grand Finale”. The first part assembled songs from the 50’s and 60’s, the second had songs from the 70’s and 80’s and the final had numbers from 90’s and present. Hrithik and Aishwarya took off with some song that I failed to recognize, followed by “Jo Waada Kiya” by Ganesh and Aishwarya. Then came “Pyaar Hua” performed by Hrithik and Lara, a Dev Anand number performed by Celina and Hrithik, and a couple of more songs from the two decades performed by Celina, Ganesh and Lara. Sajid Khan then introduced the following decades of the 70’s and 80’s, which were acknowledged as the decades of Rajesh Khanna and Rishi Kapoor. Hrithik and Aishwarya came and performed to another song that I failed to recognize. After that, Hrithik and Celina performed to some song from the film Bobby. Subsequently, “Roop Tera Mastaana” was performed by Ganesh and Aishwarya. Sajid introduced the final set of decades where Hrithik and Celina performed to one of Govinda’s numbers, Aishwarya’s eye-catching Ishq Samundar performance, Hrithik’s and Lara’s “You are my Soniya”, Hrithik and Celina’s “Kambakht Ishq”, Celina’s Janasheen song, Lara’s Khakee number and Hrithik’s “It’s Magic,” followed once more by another “Thank you” speech.
Thus, concluded the Breathless concert in New York. It was exactly 3 hrs long, which makes it slightly shorter than the previous Heartthrobs concert. I walked over to the parking lot in drenching rain/semi-thunderstorm, got into my car and as I was about to pull out, I received a call from one of Bharat Jotwani’s employees who was working backstage (and who is an acquaintance of mine). He said, “If you want to meet Mr. Jotwani in the coliseum, come quick”. I re-parked and went back in the stadium, entirely unaware that I left everything (including my camera and the letter) back in the car. The employee was waiting for me in front of the gate. He took me to Mr. Jotwani, who was near the entrance of the backstage. He said, “Hi. You want to talk to Hrithik, I presume? He is coming.” Hrithik came out from the backstage shortly after with securities and I was able to shake hands with him.
While we were shaking hands, I said “I am Ranveer, good to meet you.”
He replied by saying, “Yeah, same here. Did you attend the show?”
I said “Yeah, it was an agreeable one.”
He said “Thanks, I tried my best to make it good”.
As there was a backstage crowd forming, I had to break in by saying “I believe you have to head out, but before you do so, I’ll pass on a message from my friends. They want you to visit their website, HrithikRules.com. You may have heard of it, it is associated with a Yahoo! Group. The site is maintained by members of the group.”
He said “Yeah, I have heard of it and I think I visited it once or twice too. I just want to thank everyone for their hard work. It really means a lot to me. There was actually a little girl in the stadium with a board that said Hrithik Rules on it too.”
I said “Yeah, that was my niece. I’ll pass on your gratitude towards the site to my friends.”
He said “Yeah, and pass it on to your niece too. Anyway, thanks, I appreciate it.”
We shook hands again and I said “All right then, I’m out. Take it easy.”
He said “You too man, it was nice talking to you.”
As I was leaving, I saw Aishwarya with her securities near the entrance; she was looking for someone when I gave her a smile and a nod, she smiled back at me, and then I left.
When I got back to my car, I saw that I had left the camera and letter on the passenger’s seat. Nevertheless, I am appreciative that I did get to meet him backstage (pictures or no pictures), and that I was able to speak to him about the site (letter or no letters). Mamta and co., forgive me for my absent mindedness, but I literally jetted out in the rain when the employee called me. Even so, I uploaded the pictures that I did take during the concert under the following link:
http://www.pbase.com/ranveerr/breathless_04