Tamil Nadu - Vellore   

Shankar Mahadevan, Dhamu big hits at Riviera-08

— Photo: D. Gopalakrishnan

In raptures: Students enjoying Shankar Mahadevan’s (right) performance at Riviera-08 at VIT University in Vellore on Friday.

VELLORE: The decibel level went up in the VIT University sports stadium in Vellore at 7.45 p.m. on Friday, when the much-awaited announcement was made. The news that excited the audience was that famous singer-cum-music director Shanker Mahadevan has arrived and that he was going to come on stage to entertain the nearly 3,000 students from 120 educational institutions in India who had congregated to participate in the four-day Riviera-08, the international-level sports and cultural fest organised by VIT from January 30 to February 2.

The roar from the students became louder when Mr. Shanker Mahadevan took the stage a few minutes later, with the question, “Hello VIT, are you going to rock?” “Yes,” the gathering chorused, and rock they did. The singer asked them if they wanted to listen to Hindi songs, to which the crowd screamed “Yes,” again, and “No,” they didn’t want any Tamil songs. After a few Hindi hits, including ‘Dil Chatha Hai’, Mr. Shanker Mahadevan did not fail to render his favourite Tamil song, ‘Varaha Nadhikkarai Oram’. After this, he reverted to rendering Hindi hits, much to the satisfaction of the audience. The youth gathered went into raptures when he came up with a hit song from ‘Taare Zamin Par’. Singer Anusha supported Mr. Shanker Mahadevan efforts in entertaining the students.

Later, the students and parents were treated to a brief yet remarkable mimicry performance by actor Dhamu. The audience was amazed by his imitation of the sound made by trains, including a goods train, and, of course, the famous ‘Jurassic Park’ scene. A special feature of his performance was that he explained how to mimic famous actors. He said that by repeatedly hearing the famous dialogues of their favourite actors, they could easily mimic them. He first started by rendering dialogues in his own voice, and gradually changed his voice to imitate that of actors Rajinikanth, Karthik, Vinu Chakravarthy and others. This is his 6,060th mimicry performance all over the world.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Shankar Mahadevan, Dhamu big hits at Riviera-08
Collector refutes NGO figures on bonded labour
Call to educate teachers, parents in tackling child sexual abuse

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu