What more can one ask for if there's company of good friends, delicious food and a beautiful setting!
There was all this and more when Mohini invited all her friends to the new Italian restaurant Mangiamo at Bandra.
The hostess held a special preview for her friends including Sonu Nigam and wife Madhurima, Alka Yagnik, brothers Rohit and Ronit Roy, Poonam Dhillon, Sheeba and Akashdeep, Ramesh Sippy and wife Kiran Juneja. Jeetendra, Rakesh Roshan and Prem Chopra were seen catching up with each other over some yummy starters. Bhagyashree bonded with the girl gang including Deepshikha, Lucky Morani, Punita Bhalla and Mansi Joshi Roy. With a variety of cuisines and beverages on the menu and an attractive ambience, this latest addition to the city certainly seems to be an ideal place for dining out!
Noted playback singer Sonu Nigam performing at
Maharaja's College grounds yesterday.
Mysore, Dec. 31- Music lovers revelled with gay abandon at the musical programme presented by renowned Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam at Maharaja's College in city last evening.
Thousands of citizens had gathered at the venue, unmindful of the biting chill and occasional drizzle, waiting for the singer who arrived three hours late. But the crowd eagerly waited for his arrival and was given a standing ovation when he finally appeared onstage at 9.45 pm.
During the hour-long programme, Sonu Nigam belted out numerous popular Bollywood numbers to which the youth danced in mirth. Sonu was joined by singer Gunjal and a team of dancers who enthralled the crowd with their enchanting performances.
The programme began with dance items presented by students of various schools in city.
Sonu’s songs Mera rang de Basanthi chola… and ajeeb ittefaq hai… had the audience on their feet, tapping and clapping to the beats while Gunjal's Monica… my darling… and Sheela ki jawaani… had the youth swaying in a trance.
Music is the main ingredient of a dish called life for singer Sonu Nigam
The warmth of his humility counters the biting winter cold. Diminutive he might be in appearance but the aura lends him a certain grandeur. The dazzling lighting at Spectra, the multi-cuisine restaurant at The Leela Kempinski, Gurgaon, helps the cause. Unassuming and candid as ever, Sonu Nigam, the singer par excellence, responding to a question says, like every musician, he too is a foodie. “All musicians love to eat, maybe because there is a lot of physical activity involved.” Recalling a funny incident, he says, “I was travelling for a show and I was feeling hungry so I asked the air-hostess for something to eat. The gentleman sitting next to me was quite amused. He immediately called somebody and said, ‘Kha raha hai'. So, yes we also eat. There is a lot of stress on the vocal chords and facial muscles get strained. But I am also careful so I work out a lot combining yoga, cardio and strength training. I indulge in non-vegetarian food occasionally, like today I had a chicken burger after a long time,” says Sonu tucking into the nutritious Greek salad.
His day packs in four to five meals in small portions and he is onto his fourth for today, much of which has been spent making music for an upcoming Hindi film Jal. For the project, Sonu is collaborating with Bickram Ghosh, a well-known percussionist and accompanist to many stalwarts in the field of Hindustani classical music. While the main compositions are nearly done, the duo is now concentrating on the background score. The artiste was in the city primarily for this purpose.
“Melody is going to be the mainstay of the album, something that stays with you for a long time,” explains the singer, who is working on another album, a world music one, and also composing music for yet another Hindi film, details of which he can't reveal just yet. Add to it the recently released album Icchapurti Gayatri Mantras and Sonu has his platter full. “The world music album should be out as soon as I finish recording all the songs. There has been no time,” says Sonu. This is the hectic concert season and Sonu has had no respite. Delhi, the city where he grew up and is still home to his grandparents, his best friends and cousins, has witnessed a string of concerts in the last one month. As for playback singing, his voice will be heard in two major films, Joker and Krrish 2, slated to release next year.
There is one more platter awaiting him but nothing that reminds him of all the pending work. On this one sit pretty the delicacies from his favourite Japanese cuisine. Sonu absolutely relishes the sashimi served to him with soy sauce and wasabi paste. It seems junior Nigam, all of three, is stepping into his father's shoes with his milk version of “Kolaveri Di” having become a rage, and even before this, having recorded a song with Lata Mangeshkar. Neevan like Sonu is turning out to be a child prodigy. “It would mean a lot of expectations from him which won't be fair. He is too small for all this, but he is a very intelligent child with good grasp over sur and taal. So, he was singing the song casually and we decided to record it, because like everybody I also document the activities of my child. My wife, Madhurima, who is a very good editor, edited it and I put it on Youtube. So, it was a very domestic effort,” chuckles Sonu.
Independent music is going through a rough patch and Sonu, who has to his credit many successful albums in this genre, feels that singers have to adapt themselves to the newer ways of the times. “We can't just keep complaining. The model has to change. You have to keep trying, be it a spiritual album, or a song…there are so many listeners, so many fans of yours, out there. Put everything that you have in the market and when you go to a concert, at least five people would have heard it. We have to use the Internet and new ways of reaching out to the people, and I always tell this to my colleagues in the industry.”
The desserts are given a miss as the singer had specified in the beginning that he not be served any. “I had made a vow that if a certain wish will be fulfilled, I will give up on desserts, but I eat things like gajak, rewri, etc.”
Singer Rahul Vaidya's sister Shruti tied the knot with Swanand Bhusari on Monday evening.
The sangeet ceremony that preceded it was a super-musical affair. Rahul was seen welcoming guests and attending to the relatives and friends. Suresh Wadkar sang Tumse Milke, specially for the happy couple. His wife Padma Wadkar was also present.
Sonu Nigam and Toshi Sabri entered together. And when Sonu sang Sooraj Hua Madham, everyone joined in. Rahul announced that Sonu had postponed his flight to Dubai, specially to attend the wedding. Looking beautiful in a black velvet outfit was Akriti Kakar. Politicos including Sanjay Patil, Krishna Hegde, Prakash Mehta and others too came to bless the couple. The sangeet went on till the wee hours of the night and early next morning, the couple tied the knot in a traditional Maharashtrian ceremony.
Cast: Atul Kulkarni, Kay Kay Menon, Naseeruddin Shah
Rajesh Sharma, Ravi Kishan
Director: Hriday Shetty
Song: Setting Saala
Singers: Sonu Nigam, Amit Kumar & Yashita
Music: Lalit Pandit, Vishal Rajan
Release Date: 13 January 2012
The Tees Maar Khan director is tweeting frantically about his upcoming film Joker, from the songs to the actors to the look. Shirish claims that a song sung by Sunidhi Chauhan in the film is going to be the ‘mother of all item songs’. But does his record let us believe it?
Sheila ki jawaani from Shirish Kunder’s Tees Maar Khan was a sensation like no other. Katrina Kaif set the screen ablaze with her sexy moves and paved the way for item songs by big stars to become a more regular feature in our films. Sadly, the film turned out to be a total stinker at the box office and critics loved thrashing it. Two years after the fiasco of Tees Maar Khan director Shirish Kunder is gearing up for his upcoming film Joker starring Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha. The film is supposed to be released in August 2012. But more than the story of the film or the performances by his lead actors in it, Shirish is going ga ga over the songs in Joker. Sample this: 'Sonu Nigam has sung the title Song of Joker. This ones gonna be the Anthem of 2012' boasts the 38-year-old director. He doesn’t stop there and goes hyper-ambitious about yet another song picturised on Chitrangda Singh: “Sunidhi has sung the Item Song featuring Chitrangda Singh in Joker. This ones gonna be the Mother of all Item Songs” tweeted Shirish
Dubai is fast becoming the hot-spot for stars to ring 2012 from Bollywood, Hollywood and the UK.
tabloid! has learnt that Salman Khan jetted into town with his family in tow on Tuesday night, while his frenemy Shah Rukh Khan will jet into town this week. Given their tumultuous friendship, their paths are unlikely to cross.
While the Don 2 star is planning to throw a lavish bash for his close friends at his villa in Palm Jumeirah, the Bodyguard star will get the fireworks started with his clan at another separate private bash.
Word has it that Farhan Akhtar and Hrithik Roshan will also head to Dubai to celebrate their successful 2011 innings with Shah Rukh Khan.
Roshan's wife Sussane and Shah Rukh's wife Gauri and their two kids are reportedly in the city making the most of their festive holidays.
While it may be all play and no work for actors this weekend, Shah Rukh Khan is likely to put in a cameo appearance at a grand wedding that will have singers such as Sonu Nigam and Sunidhi Chauhan
Apart from A-listers, Pakistani starlet Veena Malek and model-actress Sophie Chaudhry will be in Dubai on New Year's eve. While Malek is putting in an appearance at Fortune Plaza Hotel in Ghusais, Chaudhry is performing at a gig organised by the Country Club in Dubai.
Also expected are British TV stars Amy Childs (The Only Way Is Essex) and Denise Van Outen at Embassy, along with Peter Andre.
Sonu Nigam Rocks Delhi !!
A star-studded evening: A host of actors, politicians and naval officers graced the Navy Ball and the Navy Queen beauty pageant, which was hosted at the Naval Officers' Mess Varuna, in the capital recently.
Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma and his wife Madhulika were also present at the occasion, which started with a performance by Akriti Kakkar and Tanya Gupta. Pantaloons Femina Miss India World 2011 Kanishtha Dhankar was the showstopper for the Karukarya fashion show, an endeavour of the Naval Wives Welfare Association (NWWA), and conceived by Madhulika Verma.
Floored by their confidence: Another highlight of the evening was a performance by singer Sonu Nigam.The judges on the panel included Pantaloons Femina Miss India International 2011 Ankita Shorey, Chitrangada Singh, Tusshar Kapoor, Niraj Sharan, Kulraj Randhawa, Mudassar Aziz and Aamir Raza Husain. Aditi Gowatriker was a special guest at the event. Ankita told us, "It's remarkable to see all the contestants confidently walking the ramp despite the chill in the air."
Winner takes all: After the 14 finalists competed for a couple of hours, Swedha Singh was crowned the Navy Queen 2011. Asavari Bhardwaj and Shruti Sharma were adjudged this year's first and second runners-up, respectively.
Sonu Nigam is set to perform live on the 8th of January 2012 in Thane, West.
Having collaborated with Avicii recently, he e is often referred to as India’s best playback singer and as the Golden Voice of Indipop. He also recently released his new album Gayatri Mantra featuring 24 different versions of the Mantra which he sung with kids from Leh-Ladakh.
The concert will be taking place at Central Maidan, Thane from 6.30 pm onwards and passes are priced at Rs. 200, Rs. 300, Rs. 500, Rs. 1000 and Rs. 1500.
Born and brought up in Delh-Faridabad, singing sensation Sonu Nigam kindles a special feeling for the national capital in his heart. In a candid chat with 'Delhi Desire' he shares his childhood memories and Delhi days….
Memories of Delhi
The word ‘Delhi’ always reminds me of my childhood days. Whenever I think about my city, my lips curve into a smile reminiscing those fun-filled days.
My Delhi friends
I have a group of awesome foursome –myself, my childhood friends Kailash Chandni, Chintan Nigam and my first cousin Anurag Mohan. Whenever we sit together, we just have a blast sharing old childhood memories.
Emporio is special
My uncle, aunts and other relatives stay in Delhi. Whenever I visit Delhi, I have to take a day off from my busy schedule to spend time with them. Usually, I do not get much time for shopping in Delhi. But once I had purchased some good stuffs from Emporio mall at Vasant Kunj and I really liked them.
Delhiites are awesome
Delhi is truly ‘Dilwalon ki nagri’. People are good here. But personally I think they need to increase their level of patience as there is always a chance for improvement for everyone, be it humans or a city.
Dhaba cum restaurant
My family friends, Sandeep and Monia Yadav, are settled in Delhi for the past 17-18 years. Whenever I visit Delhi I go to their place. Instead of going to any dhaba or restaurants, I prefer to sit at their place and have a fun.
I get confused
Delhi has undergone huge changes. The mode of transportation and roads have changed, flyovers are coming up here and there. The metro-service has changed the look of Delhi. Though the city has become more organised, the changes confuse me.
Several well-known faces from the entertainment, fashion and film industry made their presence felt at this musical do recently.
Sonu Nigam was seen chatting with Iris Maity and Suzanna Mukherjee. Kshitij Chaudhary, Siddhant Kapur and Amit Khanna were also present for the occasion, and were spotted welcoming the guests.
Sushant Singh chatted with the shutterbugs, while Salim Merchant was seen congratulating the stars of the film. Rahul Vaidya and Akriti Kakkar exchanged notes about the music. Looking pretty in a white jumsuit was Shonal Rawat.
DJ Avicii has announced plans to collaborate with
Bollywood musician Sonu Nigam.
The 24-year-old DJ has said that he will record an Indian version of the track 'Levels' with the singer and X Factor judge, The Times of India reports.
"I'm just back from my first India tour and what a great time I've had. I've been hearing so much about Bollywood music that I just love the idea of merging the number one voice of Bollywood with high energy 'house' music," said Avicii.
The Swedish star added: "I think the results of this project will prove fantastic indeed. I can't wait to finish it."
Avicii recently settled a plagiarism case with Leona Lewis over her use of his instrumental track 'Fade Into Darkness' on the single 'Collide'.
Nigam has earlier worked with a number of international artists including Kylie Minogue, Jermaine Jackson and Britney Spears.
World-renowned percussionist and composer Bickram Ghosh has finished recording a new version of ‘Vande Mataram’ besides wrapping up the music of Bollywood film Jal with Sonu Niigaam. With his maiden project Rhythmscape celebrating its 10th year, the tabla maestro's moving into the experimental space and attempting to do things no one else has so far.
In an exclusive tete-a-tete, the new-age percussionist talks about the new version of 'Vande Mataram', the music of Jal, more albums with Sonu Niigaam, starting ‘Live In…’ series and more..
Let’s start on a patriotic note. You’ve recently recorded a new version of ‘Vande Mataram.’ Can we know more about that?
‘Vande Mataram’ is almost complete. We’re into the mixing stage right now. Only part left is the portion that Sonu Niigaam has to dub. We’ve recorded with about 25 musicians across the world. Yes, it’s been incredibly hectic as well as emotional. And the best part is that everyone who’s come on board has really liked the melody. They feel that it’s a very inspiring version of ‘Vande Mataram’.
What about the palette of singers? Did you already have artistes in mind?
I wanted a good balance between the classical singers, Bollywood singers and instrumentalists. The basic idea was that this needs to be for our generation. So the track and video has artistes from our generation.
On one hand we have Sonu Niigaam, Roopkumar Rathod, Shubha Mudgal, Sunidhi Chauhan, and on the other hand we have Kaushiki, Ajoyda and Rashid. As we went along, we suddenly wondered why we were just sticking to solo singers! Our generation saw the real uprising of the so-called rock bands. So, Indian Ocean and Euphoria came on board.
When you hear the track you’ll see that you’re moving from Ajoy Chakrabarty to Indian Ocean, but the transition is absolutely smooth and without any jerk. It’s a really strong number!
When do you plan on releasing the same?
Once I give in the mix, we will start ideating on the video. It is being directed by Girish Malik (who’s also directing Jal). We’re looking at a January 26, 2012 release
Moving on to Bollywood, how did Jal crystallize into an offer for you?
There’s an album I did with Pete Lockett called Kingdom of Rhythm and Girish was referencing its title track ‘Primal’ for Jal. While cutting Jal to ‘Primal’, it struck him that he wanted to work with me!
We hear that you’ve recorded the title track with Shubha Mudgal. What can we expect from the other tracks on the album?
There are three tracks in the album and what we’ve done with the music is absolutely crazy! Can you imagine we have a duet between Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan and Susanne? It’s an English song interspersed with Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan’s singing and is called ‘You fill my life’. The third one is called ‘Zaalima,’ a word that Sonu and I coined. It’s a zaalim (cruel) woman (laughs). When you see Jal, you’ll be amazed at how the song is connected to the film.
Your collaboration with Sonu Niigaam on Jal has been making headlines. How did that happen?
Right after Sonu sang for me for a film called Ghumshuda, we did an album called Heart and Beat together. We realized that Sonu-Bickram is an interesting combination. While I primarily write English lyrics, he writes the Hindi ones. But the album is still incomplete because suddenly we were dumped into the Bollywood film space! It’s both good and bad. While we are now venturing in a newer space, we had to put the album on the backburner because of the film’s deadlines.
Interestingly, while we were doing the album together Sonu thought that we should also do film music together. He had some film on his mind, which still hasn’t taken shape. In the meantime, Jal came along and I suggested we kick-start with it.
Anything else coming up from the Bickram-Sonu combination?
Sonu and I have got two more films coming along! Not signed on the dotted line yet but its happening. And we just nailed three songs a couple of days ago.
I think Sonu is incredibly talented. He’s very experimental
Your band Rhythmscape is in its tenth year. How do you think the band has progressed in the last decade?
Rhythmscape is my first love! It’s who I am. That’s the kind of music and sound I believe in. We improvise like crazy on stage. I’m a classical musician and my style is to improvise. But for some other members, who are not classical musicians, it really goes against their grain. So, for them impromptu improvising is a big thing.
We’re much tighter, willing to experiment and improvise, and we are moving into a different space. But the soul of Rhythmscape is absolutely Indian. No compromise there.
What about your music company Melting Pot Productions? How’s that coming along?
Its moving slow because I am very often out of the pot (laughs)! It was a one-man-army kind of scenario. I’ve set up a team of 4-5 people who will now run the company, and hopefully in the next two years we’ll make it much bigger.
Could you share your upcoming musical projects?
Rhythmscape Transformations is coming up in January next year. There’s also an album called Navarasa in the pipeline. I don’t think expressing the nine rasas through rhythm has ever been attempted before. It’s all just drums. Then we have Mortal.
Then there is Tabla Sphere for which I’ve done something that I doubt anyone else has. I’ve done a track called ‘Body drum’ which just includes ‘acapella’ kind of sounds produced from my body. I’ve layered it with my own body sounds. We’ve shot the video about a month ago, so it should be out by February.
Additionally, there’s another potent album called Dragon Fly with Greg Ellis. It’s based on our weird philosophy that everything in this world is about rhythm and not melody.
One of the biggest things I’m doing right now is’ Live In…’ series. I’m curetting 600 shows a year. We’ve already done around 100 fabulous shows in Kolkata and we’re going to Delhi and Mumbai. The idea is to give people the multiplex music experience.