It’s 6 pm sharp. The suave ‘punctual’ superstar Amitabh Bachchan wearing his glasses, stepped out into his Janak Studio office bungalow courtyard. Only to be greeted by loud percussion stick-rapping of junk barrels, plastic buckets and containers, wooden crates used as ‘make-shift drums’, played by the ‘Dharavi Rocks’ band of 16 young boys who reside in the Dharavi locality. The Big B occupied a chair and with rapt attention heard them ‘bajaate raho’ in chorus some of his chartbusting numbers (‘Chumma Chumma De De’) for nearly 30 minutes.
The dream-wish of these underprivileged (some of them ‘rag-pickers’) Dharavi boys came true, thanks to the exuberant Red FM RJ Malishka, whose initiative got them the coveted rendezvous with Amitabh. “Both the boys and I and their mentor Abhijit Jejurikar were 'maha' delighted that benevolent Bachchan sir instantly agreed to check out their talents after I mailed him a snappy video of them performing,” enthuses the ‘radioactive’ Malishka.
The already ecstatic boys were overwhelmed when the unassuming Bachchan freely mingled with them. Reacted the ‘Piku’ mega star, “All you guys are incredible, your hard work and innovative talents are evident. In fact, I wish you should be touring pan India as well as foreign countries,” he advised them.
Later, they shared some of the street-side tapori lingo (phrases like “wantaas”) that they often use while conversing, which highly amused the superstar. One of them even invited Amitabh to savour the famous ‘samosas’ of a certain food joint in Dharavi. “Mera favourite hai samosa. Kissi din samosa khaane Dharavi aajaunga”, assured Amitabh, as he waved them a fond goodbye.