Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy gave a scintillating performance at St.Andrews Auditorium last Wednesday to celebrate over a decade and a half of togetherness.
When Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy, the Amar, Akbar Anthony of the music industry get together to make music, the world listens. As it did on Wednesday at the St.Andrew’s Auditorium and later at a party with Bollywood in full cry, at Bungalow 9.
The music stalwarts had got together to celebrate 15 years of working together with a sterling performance of their biggest hits that brought the audience to its feet several times. The place echoed to the sounds of ‘Don’, ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’, ‘Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna,’ ‘Mitwa,’ ‘Maa’, a playlist that turned the mood electric. And the excitement was palpable as S-E-L embarked on what would otherwise have been a sell-out show, thrilling the crowd with favourite chart busters, scintillating and versatile musical compositions, and a thoroughly professional presentation.
On hand for impromptu collaborations were their industry peers, including Shaan, Sonu Nigam, Taufiq Qureshi, Sunidhi, Mahlaxmi Iyer, Anusha Mani, Shrinivasan, Kailash Kher and Roopkumar Rathod.
The audience soon joined the action as it cheered on the trio, even acting as the "chorus" during some of their renditions! Amongst those attending the gala event were: Aamir Khan, Karan Johar, Subhash Ghai, Farhan Akhtar, Javed-Shabana, Salim Merchant, Anushka Manchanda, Gauri Khan, Bijal Meswani, Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra, Prasoon Joshi, Illa Arun, Amol Gupte, Nikhil Advani, Ritesh Sidhwani, Kunal Ganjawala, Hard Kaur, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Rakesh Jhunjunwala, Gaurav Kapoor, Nikhil Chinappa, Prahlad Kakkar, Piyush Pandey, Sanjay Kapoor, Sudhir Mishra, Ashvin Gidwani, Clinton Cerejo, Abhijeet Sawant, Ramesh Sippy and many others, a stalwart representation from film, music, entertainment and media industries with socialites adding to the heady mix. This wasn't just a celebration of the coming together of three immensely talented and passionate musicians who have captured the imagination of a nation...this was a regal celebration of music and the industry's support at its best!
S-E-L have come a long way since their beginning, 15 years ago, but they believe they have a longer way to go on their musical journey. On the whole, the night turned out to be more than just a celebration...it was also a harbinger of a new era that promises greater things to come from the musical maestros.