Sunday, February 12, 2006

Shaan meri jaan

So this guy-I-kinda-like is supposed to take me to a concert of another guy I like, when he has to cancel the date because of a game. To play a game, not watch one. I didn't mind. In fact, I found it kinda sexy and manly and all that blah which we girls like in guys but rarely admit lest it go to their heads which have a lot of empty space anyway.

Yeah, so dateless on Sunday night, my friend Clueless and I clutched the two concert tickets and set off on a journey to go see the man from my past. I had already warned her that he was all mine, but she wasn't gonna give up without a fight. 'May the best girl win' was our motto.

At first, whatever could go wrong went wrong. Instead of Kallang theatre, Clueless and I landed at Kallang Indoor Stadium. Thankfully, the lack of the usual crowd of a thousand millionaire Indians dressed up in funky finery and ghastly gold made me suspicious, and we asked around. Finally we found the right place. We had some time before the show started, and Clueless and I proceeded to copy-edit the concert programme they were distributing outside the theatre.

The unprofessionally done programme had many many errors, and it was obvious that no one had bothered to copy-edit it before it went to press. I wanted to scream "Argh! 'Churaliya' is not one word! Why are there no spaces after the commas? And there's no song called 'Just walking to my life'! And there's no Shaan album called 'Orja'! Argh! Argh! Argh!"

The lack of professionalism spilled over into the actual concert as well, when random guy in red kurta wandered on to stage and mumbled something like "Adarniya sajjanon, ab aapke saamne aa rahi hain... Bombay ki mashoor gaayika Moon... (pause)... Moon... (pause)..." And just as he had wandered into stage, he wandered off. There was a general buzz. I guess it was because 'Bombay ki mashoor gaayika' sounds like such a seedy term. "Who the heck is Moon-pause-Moon?" I turned to ask Clueless. "And if she's so mashoor, how come I haven't heard of her??"


"I know! If it wasn't for the banner behind with Shaan's pic, I wouldn't even know where I am!" She said.

Anyway, Moon-pause-Moon (MPM) appeared on stage. I gave her one of my famous 'looks' as if she really could see me in my 'First there's the 500-dollar seats, then the 300-dollar seats, then the 100-dollar seats and then mine' seat.

"Who is she??? Why is she here??? What if Shaan doesn't turn up at all? They'd better refund us man!" I fumed.

Anyway, I decided to be fair and give MPM a chance. Maybe hers was just the opening act while Shaan was getting ready. She started with the opening lines of 'Baahon mein chale aao' and I was pleasantly surprised because she sounded good. And then the band started playing the dhikchik beats. Dammit! Even live performances are remixes now?? I was pissed as hell.

That was just the beginning! She proceeded to sing two more songs, really testing the patience of the patrons. At the end of her third song, people had started chanting "We want Sha-aan! We want Sha-aan!" But like Clueless commented, his name isn't very 'chant-able' and so the chant did not really pick up.

But finally he appeared on stage! In white pants, a white T-shirt, an orange jacket(!) and (Kini you're gonna love this part!) red shoes! Big contrast from the all-black attire I had imagined him to be in, but what the hell. I was in the same room with Shaan. Ok fine, agreed the room was very very very big and had thousands of random people in it, but what the hell. I was in the same room with Shaan. I quickly sent an sms to my Dad to tell him of my utter good fortune. Mom must have been so jealous, she's a big fan of his 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa' show.

Anyway, I sank back in my chair, looked at him and sighed.

The guy looks cute. Can sing like wow. Can dance like wow. Is funny. Writes his own songs which are like wow. What else do you need to fall hopelessly in love?


Yeah yeah, I know you're thinking "But he's married!" Well, one of my theories takes care of that small technical detail.

According to me, celebrities are not 'single' or 'married'. Celebrities are celebrities. They belong to everyone. And perhaps that's why even when a dude-type celebrity dedicates a full song to his wife, and looks at her now and then especially when singing meaningful songs, single girls (at least the non-duh ones) don't feel jealous. He just rises higher in their esteem. That's what makes a real celebrity. You look at him without anything else clouding your judgement, and you celebrate his talent. His personal life does not matter. He really does belong to everyone. Even though everyone thinks "He's all mine."

Anyway, Shaan started singing and then stopped abruptly and asked for volume adjustment. The sound guys just could not get it right. Sheesh, that was sad. Finally they did it and he started singing again. Lots of technical glitches almost ruined the show.

When he started off the song 'Tuney mujhey pehchana nahin' with 'Singapore, tuney mujhe pehchana nahin..." I was highly suspicious that it really wasn't Shaan we were looking at, but some imposter they'd decided to substitute to avoid getting MPM murdered by the pissed-off crowd!

The audience comprised of all kinds of people. Very different from the A. R. Rahman concert I'd attended last year, where I'd looked around to discover that I knew 60% of the people in the audience. This time, I did not see a single familiar face. And there were sooo many kids! Many of them were holding A5-sized sheets of paper with words written for him! It was so funny to watch them believe that Shaan could really see them. I wished I had a piece of paper, I'd have written '4' on one side and '6' on the other in big bold letters, held it up for Shaan to see and then said, "Ooops, sorry, wrong place!"

Shaan was really cheeky at times! During 'O humdum suniyo re' from 'Saathiya', he actually sang the 'shaam ko khidki pe chori chori nange paaun chand aayega' as 'shaam ko khidki pe chori chori nange paaun Shaan aayega'.

Then later when he invited people to go on to the stage to dance with him, at one point in time, I counted 80 people. As more and more people rushed up, and we kinda lost view of him, we heard his voice "Hmmm... Lagta hai stage par zyada log hain, neeche kam!" Later, he was feeling rather hot in his jacket, so he tossed it off with a "Now you guys know whose song is next!" It was a Salman Khan number.

Parents were sending their kids to run to him and shake his hand. At one point, he was saying something when this itty-bitty kid who barely reached Shaan's knee had grabbed his hand. It took Shaan a full five seconds to notice the kid, by which time the tiny tot had run off.

MPM sang the duets with Shaan. She was okay, but sometimes too high-pitched, and sometimes inaudible. I really wished Shreya Ghoshal had been there. (But she's coming here in April, and I shall be there for her concert! Maybe I will take guy-I-kinda-like, on a date!) MPM tried to complement Shaan's sponatenity but was rather unsuccessful. And she made an ass of herself when Shaan asked "Kuch toh hua hai, kya ho gaya hai?" She replied, "Sab ladkiyan aap par fida ho gayi hain, yehi hua hai!" Shaan retorted, "Kyun, aap chahti hain ki ladke bhi fida ho jaayein mujh par?" Everyone went hahaha but MPM said, "Ladke ladkon par fida hote hain kya?" Sheesh, reminded me of my days of naivety.

Another annoying factor was the bunch of dancers in the background whom Shaan named 'R and rangers'. Well, R wasn't too bad, but his rangers?? The less said, the better! They were just a bunch of teenagers dressed in black and strips of silver, dancing on stage as if it was someone's baaraat! No coordination (not even in the costumes! One of the guys who had probably tried to look like Usher ended up looking like one of the researchers in a microcontamination research lab.) at all! They would turn up now and then and do some random steps, then they would send in two sexy chicks who would also do their own thing, and then they would go off. Really really annoying stuff.

Shaan tried to encourage them by saying things like "Come back, guys! Wonderful performance!" but they were boo'ed off every single time. I wanted to join in the boo-ing but I have four presentations in Manila next week, and I can't afford to lose my voice the way I did after the ShahRukh show last year. So Clueless, if you thought I was jumpy, let me tell you it was the very mellow side of me.

Shaan sang pretty much all of my favourite songs (Tanha Dil, Aksar, Gumsum Ho Kyun, Woh Pehli Baar, My Dil Goes Hmmm, Ladki Kyun Na Jaane Kyun, Bhool Ja), except 'Yeh hawaein' which he said was his wife's favourite song. That song was terrible, in spite of Shaan singing it. All I'd like to say is -- wifey, you picked the perfect husband, but your taste in music sucks man! Shaan even sang the Lagaan song 'Ghanan ghanan' in spite of having, in his own words, "sirf saadhe teen lines" in the song! He also popped in two numbers from his latest album 'Tishnagi'. And when he sang 'Take me to your heart', I almost swooned, I did.

Actually he sang an incredible number of songs, as he wasn't wasting much time talking in between. But now and then he'd say something in between (and sometimes in the middle of) songs.

I liked what he said when he paused in the middle of 'Bhool ja'. "Life is too precious to cry over someone who's not worth it." So true.

Finally, he ended the show with a medley of songs, and you could see how boundless his energy was, the way he was jumping and dancing. And we, just sitting in our chairs, felt so exhausted.

Clueless and I trudged back home, tired, sleepy, but incredibly happy nonetheless. We'd seen Shaan after all. In 3-D, no less! To my utter relief, she mentioned that she really liked the guitarist. So I gave her the guitarist and asked her to stay off Shaan. I love you, baby girl, but I'm sorry I can't give you Shaan.

He's all mine, you see.



37 comments:

Dhananjay Shettigar said...

Well written!!!

Macho Girl said...

First!

Macho Girl said...

Sorry about that again. Couldn't resist! :P

I had been to a shaan concert long time back. I think it was one of his first concerts. There were no dancers. Judging from ur post, i am beginning to think that was a good thing! But Shaan himself has so much of energy when he is performing. He is more than enough to catch ur attention with his dance and his GOLDEN VOICE! *swooon*
The guy is incredible. I love amost all his songs. The favourite one.... tanha dil! (thats such a DUH thing now!!)

Been to a Shankar Mahadevan concert? That guy has an equally awesome voice and is a good stage performer. And has an equally awesome collection of songs . I like him :)

Anusha said...

Nooooooooooooo!!!!! I'm part of the whole damn story and I'm still not first!!!! Life is so unfair sometimes!!! Aaaargh!! Damn it!!!

*end of bitter rant*
*deep breath*

Yay!!!!! We saw Shaan!! Live!! Granted, I only knew it was him because it sounded like him and looked over-all like him, and I couldn't really make out his face from where we were sitting, but I'm not complaining. I've never been to a concert before, and going to my first one with you, and being able to listen to every amazing song Shaan has ever sung? Priceless. :D

MPM was sooooo funny!! And so were the horrible horrible dancers!! Is it wrong that I had such a great time complaining about them?? ;)

Ah, it was a great day. Not exactly the best concert ever (but who am I to judge, eh?), but Shaan is amazing. He sang every song to perfection today...and I'm just hopelessly in love with him. Him and Sonu Nigam have the most amazing voices ever. *sigh*

And awww!! I wuv you too, Sash!! U can have Shaan...I'll take the guitarist, and one day the four of us will sit and sing songs till our voices are hoarse. Man, I can just see it happening :D

Great day! Awesome time!! Thanks for making it so special for me!! :D

Macho Girl said...

Btw, for a while after i went to Shaan's concert, i was really mad at him coz he didn't sign my CD! I took my shaan cd and a marker with me. the guy just acknowledged the CD and smiled but didn't sign it :( Would have understood if there were many people around him bugging for autographs, but i was the only one!

Now i have forgiven him. He is irresistable ;) Watch out! u have competition! :P

Anonymous said...

Woww Shaan came to S'pore! Good for u! Great account :-). If you were sitting close to the stage, would you have gone on stage to dance with Shaan.....:-) and what's the number 4 and 6?? (samajh nahi aa raha...am scratching my head) :-)

PS: Goodluck for your presentations Sash! How far is Manila? Sorry, too many q's for you. :-)

dots said...

hey great post..
i had quite a few laughs reading thru it..and i really really like shaan too
:)

Eclectic Blogger said...

seems like u ad fun.. else u wud not have written a 80-page-notebook-post on him and his concert :)

Anonymous said...

//The unprofessionally done programme had many many errors, and it was obvious that no one had bothered to copy-edit it before it went to press.

Editor ki bacchi! Kabhi tu spelling mistakes ki photo kheench ke hotchpotch pe chipka deti hai, kabhi yahan chaap deti hai. Kab sudhregi tu?

Shaan is good. He sings well, looks our generation'ish and his humility never looks forced.

@Harshi - watch cricket aye! :p

Tinku

Rays Of Sun said...

Baby..thode chote posts likh na:( but u know..I was just listening to the song Kaash from Aksar..man..our telepathy rocks!!

Suds said...

Nice post. U are lucky there are so many bollywood shows in Singapore. In US the problem is there are many shows but where we stay there are none and if u want to attend one u need to take a flight and go which is next to immpossible... Enjoy...

Sayesha said...

#Dhananjay,
Thanks! :)

#Macho Girl,
Not so fast, Macho! :D

//The guy is incredible. I love amost all his songs. The favourite one.... tanha dil! (thats such a DUH thing now!!)

Hahahaha! Yeah, Clueless and I were discussing that if doesn't sing Tanha Dil, the crowd would probably mob him! :D

//Been to a Shankar Mahadevan concert?
Missed it man! He didn't come back for Rahman's show either.

//I'm part of the whole damn story and I'm still not first!!!!

Hahahaha! Bacha, sometimes we're there in other people's lives without even knowing it! :D

//Him and Sonu Nigam have the most amazing voices ever.

Hear hear! :)

//U can have Shaan...I'll take the guitarist, and one day the four of us will sit and sing songs till our voices are hoarse.

Whoala! Cool! :D

#Macho Girl,
Forgive my Shaan na... He's too cool to hold a grudge against... besides, it's not easy being an celebrity yaar... bechara :)

#Harshi,
//If you were sitting close to the stage, would you have gone on stage to dance with Shaan

Haha! No way was I gonna become part of R and his rangers ki baaraat! :D

//and what's the number 4 and 6?? (samajh nahi aa raha...am scratching my head)

Think cricket matches :)

//Goodluck for your presentations Sash! How far is Manila?

Thanks, dear! Manila's about 2400 km from S'pore.

#Nivindya,
Thanks! :) Shaan rocks! :)

#Eclectic,
Hahahaha! Can you imagine my enthu to have come back and written this at 1 am, in spite of knowing that I have to wake up at 6 am and trudge my way to work? :(
ps: It had been a while since I wrote an 80-page-notebook-post. Feels GOOOOOOD! :D

#Tinku,
Arre yaar! Even I make hazaar typos lekin if something is going to print, check karna chahiye na? Mere Shaan ke concert ki value kam kar di programme booklet ne :(

//Shaan is good. He sings well, looks our generation'ish and his humility never looks forced.

Kabhi kabhi tu sahi baat bhi bol deta hai, shaabaash! :)

#ROS,
Hehehe... waapas aakar padh lena kabhi... and oh, you should listen to Aksar and Chand Akela Hai. Chand Akela Hai will make you cry... ufff... I just LOVE that song!

Sayesha said...

#Suds,
Yeah, Bollywood shows are getting more and more popular in Singapore. Good for me! :)

Rays Of Sun said...

I read the post baby..sirf 3rd march tak jara control:P
I have Aksar ka songs, BTW;)

L said...

Wow...!!
Sounds a great evening..!!

Me to his concert in Dec when he performed live at the insti...

Strange that his dress was the same combi..(white pants and white T-shirt)

Well and the MPM ... I guess she is Varsha who precedes her on concerts, in our case filling the gap for his traffic-induced-lateness..

And there was his son Soham.. trying out his cute antics..

Have a snap here..!!

Mary said...

/I can't afford to lose my voice the way I did after the ShahRukh show last year/

You've see Shahruk LIVE?!!!! :D :D WOW oh WOW I wish he would travel to Aus one day.. :)

Mary said...

eek! a spelling error :P *Shahrukh!

Anonymous said...

I can't believe they didn't do enough publicity for this concert... Good thing you got to go :)

When is Shreya coming? I wanna go for her concert!

Btw, whatever happened to Sagarika?

Anonymous said...

woooheee!
seems like sayesha had a pretty good time......

[{many of ur posts end in an italicised punchline(is it because you are an edditor?)}]

Shriedhar said...

Hi sayesha,

missed out last few posts.

that was a nice descript.

hope u get DREAM date wid shaan :)

Shobana said...

looks like u had loads of fun! now why dont these artist perform more in india. i missed a show by euphoria :( i am not sure whether i cud hv gone for it. but they really rock! they performed in my college once n my frds n i was in right in front of the stage.
shaan performed once in my college show. sang two songs and ran off. guess we didnt pay him much:)

Pujya said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Pujya said...

"Shaan is all mine".me too ..i love shaan.
and this show reminds of a show i went to, at IIT,B where shaan was performing..and we spent like 3 hrs waiting for him and then finally he turned up..and no, not in the kinda attrire u mentioned but in pretty decent, blue jeans white t-shirt and black shoes running, panting he came on stage and he said sorry for being late(coz he was stuck in traffic)...and that made me go wow..and the show was superb but ya even there we had some MPM..
his son also sang some song..
amazing show...

Raj said...

Shaan is sexy?

Really?

MPM ha ha :D

Good to know you had fun.

Phoenix said...

i have attended one shaan concert, recently at iitb, and found it so thanda, that i cdnt even read this entire post.sorry

Lalit Singh said...

yaar Seenghapur mein bade conert hote hain...

R said...

Shaan is one of my fave artists! I have been to his performances, thrice :P He rocks.

But I dint like his most recent album, did you hear it?

Shekhar said...

Shaan is a great performer. But I somehow prefer the live performances of Kay Kay more. Have you had a chance of attending them? You must. They're AWESOME.

Btw, Happy Valentine's Day. :D

Sayesha said...

#ROS,
:)

#L,
White pants and white T-shirt are okay yaar, it's the orange jacket that took me by surprise! :P

He didn't bring Soham! :(
ps: Awesome pic! The kid looks very cute, although I can't see his face! :)

#Mary,
Yes, I saw SRK live, and shouted myself hoarse. Lost my voice for two full days! :P

#Viv,
Shreya's coming on 24th April! Esplanade!!! :D
ps: Sagarika tried to host Antakshari but was kicked out I think.

#Anat,
Hahaha! No yaar, nothing to do with being an editor, the ital stuff kinda stands for the entire post. People like ROS who faint at the length of my posts can just read the ital stuff! ;)
ps: Kidding! :P

#Shreedhar,
Thanks! :)
ps: Date with Shaan? Nahin re! Dates should be romantic, and I don't romance married guys! :D

#Jade,
//sang two songs and ran off.

Hahahaha! :D

#Aethyr,
//he said sorry for being late(coz he was stuck in traffic)...and that made me go wow

Hahahaha! Aakhir Shaan bhi toh insaan hai! :P

#Raj,
Anyone who can sing like that is sexy to me! :)

#Phoenix,
Well, this one was super-hot! :) Except for MPM and the baraat dancers! :O

#Lalit,
Haan yaar! Touchwood! :D

#Rohit,
Thrice??? :O :O :O
You talking about Tishnagi? I like the title song a bit and his version of Take me to your heart. Others are ok ok chalega types.

#Shekhar,
If Kay Kay comes to Singapore, I'll be the first to queue up to buy tickets! :) Le chale le chale.... awesome! :)
ps: HVD yaar! :D

Surya Ragunaathan said...

Hey Sayesha, Me too a Shaan fan...No!No! dont worry, I wont compete with you, u can have him...I just love the way he sings...Me have met him twice - once at a recording studio where I was recording my first song and second time, he was one of the judges at a competition...he's a great guy to talk to and is very sweet to one and all, very humble too
cheers!!

Thanu said...

Arre yaar I went to sleep after reading ur post and I dreamt abt u and shaan..



U & ur friend were returning after the concert and u guys saw shaan walking. U yelled out his name and ran towards him. U were wearing a knee high skirt and so u made him autograph on ur calf.



I woke up after that and sat in my bed and laughed for few mins and went back to sleep...



Now I think I'm officially addicted to ur blog.

Unknown said...

Sheeesh...whats with the shoddy PR? This is what happens when celebs never go to high school. ;)

Shriedhar said...

happy v-day sayesha!!

ritzkini said...

back !
:)
looks like you had fun...good for you !
:)
/*(Kini you're gonna love this part!) red shoes!*/
hahahahahaha...a man following the master,eh ?
:P
And no..this didnt make me go *yaaawwwwnnnnn*...it was just *yawn* this time !
=))

starbreez said...

I wanna go for Shreya Goshal's concert too!

Sayesha said...

#Surya,
Welcome to Sayeshaz! :)
Wow, you recorded your own song! Congrats! :)
ps: Stay away from Shaan ok? He's mine you see. :)

#Thanu,
Hahahahahahahaha! Awesome dream man! Simply awesome!

Here's a poem that came to mind when I read that:

Shaan autographs my calf
Shaan's wife tears me in half! :O


//Now I think I'm officially addicted to ur blog.

Thanks, girl! :P

#DOJ,
The event management sucked so bad! :(
Shaan ki shaan kam ho gayi! :(

#Gangadhar,
Hahaha! Yeah, his hair rocks too! :)

#Kini honey,
//a man following the master,eh?

Errr... more like bad fashion is contagious among guys? :D

//And no..this didnt make me go *yaaawwwwnnnnn*...it was just *yawn* this time !

Wow. So I'm getting better eh? ;)

#Starbreez,
Yeah baby! We'll all go!
Remember your Piyu Bole days?? :D

Pallavi said...

i tooooooooooo lovvvvvvvve SHAAN

he just rockssssss