After a brief frenzy to find seats, the much-awaited Shreya Ghoshal Live-in Concert kick-started with the crowds cheering the singing sensation while she crooned ‘Sun raha hai na tu’ from Aashiqui 2 . At the start of the show, Shreya confessed to being nervous about performing in Chennai even while praising the city for its love for the arts, “People in this city are so knowledgeable when it comes to music so I am always scared to perform here,” she quipped.
She also dazzled the audience with her soulful rendition of ‘Chalo tumko lekar’ from Jism . She dedicated her next number to all her body-builder friends, hinting at Salman Khan and his movie Bodyguard . What amazes when watching her live is not just her music but her personality as well. She patiently takes you through every song she performs, and it instantly becomes clear that connecting with the audience is very important to her. She recalled listening to Lata Mangeshkar and Geeta Dutt while growing up and then discovering A. R. Rahman through movies such as Roja and Bombay . “I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work with Rahman sir, he is truly a genius and it is a great experience to record at Panchathan (Rahman’s recording studio).” He has given her some of her greatest hits.
She next sang ‘Saans’ from Jab Tak Hai Jaan and keeping in mind the audience, she also performed ‘Munbe Vaa’ and ‘Mannipaaya’ , both of which were composed by Rahman and shot her to instant fame in the region.
After the break, she upped the tempo up with tracks such as ‘Barso re’, ‘Zoobi doobi’, ‘Radha’ and ‘Ooh la la’.
Shreya entered the industry with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus Devdas and her fresh voice brought alive Paro’s character. She performed ‘Thode badmash ho tum’ from Bhansali’s Saawariya which was composed by the director himself. “That people still request for this song shows that purity of music lasts a lifetime,” she said.
The fans shouted out requests throughout the concert and the placards some of them were holding up showed how much the city loves the singer. One of them even read, ‘God is in your voice’ and she was moved by it. “Not often do I get to see so much love from my fans, it feels great, I am truly blessed,” admitted Shreya. Obliging them she belted out an unplugged version of her latest track with Kailash Kher titled ‘Naina Chaar’.
Towards the close of the show, she performed the soulful ‘Bairi Piya’ from Devdas that left the audience breathless and as a special gift to her Bengali fans she sang a few lines of the iconic ‘Ekla cholo re’. The night ended on a heart-warming note as she opted to sing ‘Lag ja gale’ by Lata Mangheshkar, as opposed to one of her upbeat tracks. “I end most of my shows with ‘Chikni chameli’ but I want to gift you all something special, something more close to my heart. This is a beautiful love song by my favourite singer, thank you Chennai, hope to see you soon,” she signed off.
The show was organised by The Hinduand co-sponsored by RmKV, Ultra and Sathya.
