Bollywood @ The Bowl

Last Saturday as part of the Festival Melbourne2006 there was a free Bollywood concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl just behind Alexandra Gardens. This show was organised by the delegates from India who will be hosting the next Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Because this was the only show and because it was free we knew we had to get there quick if we wanted to get a good view of the stage or even just to get in! We arrived at 4 o'clock and there was already a queue forming!

On the entrance of the Bowl there was a list of all the things that are not allowed into the venue like alcohol, any kinds of drink bottles that are opened, weapons (huh?) chairs, skateboards...the list goes on.

The show doesn't start until 7.30 pm and they won't let people in until 5.30 pm so we had to wait in the stinking hot sun for an hour and a half! Meanwhile the queue was getting longer and longer until it reached St. Kilda road which was about 1 km away!

Finally came 5.30 pm and everyone had to go through bag checks to make sure none of the prohibited things were smuggled in. Terese decided to carry the bag leaving me with no bag for security check so I could go in first to secure good seats and it paid off! We were seated 6th row from the stage which was pretty good!

The late comers didn't even get a seat but they were able to sit on the lawn behind which was ok with some people but I don't think I like to sit all the way back here with or without a big screen.

Come 7.30 pm we still had to endure a speech from Mary Delahunty who is the Minister for Arts telling us what a wonderful job the government is doing spending our tax dollars for the Commonwealth Games! After her Indira Naidu a TV presenter from SBS was our announcer for the rest of the evening. By this time everyone was getting excited from the anticipation!

Finally the performers came out from the back, an entourage coming down the aisle amidst roaring cheers and applause! Most of the audience were of Indian descent and they were cheering their guts out!

I've never seen so many Indians in one place in Australia! This was the first time I've ever been to a Bollywood concert! Actually I can't remember the last time I went to a concert!

These are the Bollywood dancers, you can be forgiven if you think they're not very Indian that's because I believe they are local dancers! Can't bring everyone over from India!

And this is the star of the night, Indian's rising star Miss Sunidhi Chauhan who has sang in 100 Hindi movies so I heard! Sorry Yvy if you were expecting Aishwarya Rai I'm sorry to disappoint you. She's at the Closing Ceremony but not here tonight.

The show started with the joyous Jaipur Kawa Brass Band, all the way from Rajasthan and the Musafir Gypsies before they had to take 20 minute break to reset the stage for the main attraction.

This is the lady everyone came here to see tonight, Sunidhi Chauhan! The audience went ballistic! I felt so out of place. She actually has a really good voice!

All her songs were in Hindi but she did do 1 english song originally by Whitney Houston from The Bodyguard movie, I can't remember what its called!

Halfway through the concert the audience was getting more and more excited and they were starting to let their hair down! They were singing and dancing in the aisles from the very young to the very old! I've never thought Indians love to dance so much!

Sunidhi had a strong stamina, she didn't even take a break, only to swap costumes quickly and she's back on stage again rocking away much to everyone's delight. We were enjoying the show too though I couldn't shake my ass like them!

By the end of the show everyone was standing! No one was sitting, everyone was jumping up and down, singing and dancing with Sunidhi. Indians love to dance, why can't Chinese love to dance like them I wondered. Chinese are too stiff and boring!

When it was time to say goodbye, people were shouting encores begging Sunidhi to do 1 more song and 1 more song until she couldn't delay the inevitable anymore and had to call it the night.


There was fireworks outside to finish off the evening! I didn't get to capture any of it coz I couldn't get a nice view of it from inside. It was a night to be remembered. I've never knew Bollywood could be this much fun. I saw it in the movies but this was the first time I experienced it first hand!

Watch Sunidhi performs below;