A.R.Rahman special Hits concert - Dubai

I was as excited as ever to be a part of 'A.R.Rahman Special hits concert' that happened at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium last evening. Her divine voice just gets one spell bound every time she would strike a note. This was a show organized by Rahmanji's sister, Israth didi without the involvement of sir. As much as I longed for his presence the experience of working with Sivakumar sir (sound engineer) and Murthy sir (conductor) was incredible. To work with a man like him who is empowered with knowledge and experience, it was interesting to see his extreme sides. Hariharan, Sadhna Sargam and Benny were planning to rehearse only in Dubai.

Preparations for this show had begun ages ago and the wait just seemed forever. There were few funny moments during this journey such as Stephen Devassy being mistaken as M.S.Dhoni by a fan! Apparently a lot of people ask him for autographs in the name of MSD and now he's quite used to it!! Aaah.. The plight of being a famous musician only to have a striking resemblance to another ace cricketer! Another one is Vijay Prakash who seems to be an exact clone of singer Shaan only a little taller. Dr. Narayan has these amazing techniques of knowing how to make a happy happy song sound sober by changing a note or phrase. But the best one was Naresh's whole idea of starting a website called 'unwanted sangathis.com' when any of us would think too much out of the box. It happens when we sing those kind of songs where one is tempted to attempt it differently and ends up slipping down on its failure :) One more similarity that was discovered by me was Naresh's hairdo. Ditto Malinga!! Reminds me of CB's comment on how Malinga should endorse Maggie noodles :) Mummy bhook lagi hai .. Chetan Bhagat, are you listening ??

There was absolutely no time to shop or travel with hectic rehearsal schedules but thanks to Keba, the guitarist, I got to taste some amazing cheese cake! I just love to hear Keith anna's base interludes when everyone is busy taking a tea break .He's just fab and so is the flautist!

Dubai is amazing as ever. Was there after a gap of 6 years not to forget that 6 years back it was a mere road trip and this time I was there as a performer.


The show went pretty good and was blessed in the presence of Rahmanji's mother. It had drizzled a little during sound check and in between the show but thankfully that didn't encourage the outflow of crowd. Surprisingly I even met two fans of Outcast Vocals who claimed to have 6 videos of the show in their mobiles! Great to see the power of YouTube! A big hug to my pal , Phani Kalyan, because of I got to debut in Telugu with 'Pappu', who always encouraged and believed in my talent and to Faizji for playing a vital role in getting me this opportunity.

Chetan Bhagat should be given the credits

Feeling really bad for Chetan Bhagat cos of the whole '3 idiots' issue. Definitely the makers should be given credits for original 'screenplay/ script' and not for original 'story'.Infact I find the story modified and not recreated. Like Chetan highlighted at a live News talk , how can a film be given the credits of original story when it has been based on a hit seller book? Irrespective of Chetan being given his dues as per agreement it certainly is not ethical to be forward enough to take up the credits themself. Clearly 3 idiots is a lot different from Five.someone but the basic things like Raju moving over to Chatur's room, they splitting up, they stealing the papers, Raju trying to commit suicide, Raju's family conditions are interpreted in the movie just like in the book. This is the soul of the movie . I totally agree with Bhagat to fight for his moral rights and also he's being reasonable by asking for genuine compromise in terms of giving him the 3rd place in credits for the adaptation and not in terms of money. Sad is the state of writers who spend years for making a book like five.someone. Whether the credits are given or not I am still going to remain a big fan of his books and hope that the humour nevers dies out from his future works.


P.S.Got to watch 3 idiots 2 days back and one great work I say. Truly enjoyable though they included a lot of cliches.