Shaan charms the Dhaka audience

By Nazia Ahmed

"Musu musu hasi...deo malailai...msu musu hasi deo..." was the definitive pop anthem in '99 -- from little kids to mommies and daddies, and not to forget lovebirds in every nook and cranny! Who knew that the suave, disarming smile behind the song held so much promise and enthusiasm for decades to come! Shaan (aka Shantanu Mukherjee) has carved a niche for himself in the Bollywood music industry as well as international TVdom through hosting the mega-popular talent hunt "SaReGaMaPa."

On June 20 evening, the charming star enthralled Dhaka music lovers with his impeccable performance and incredible showmanship.

The evening started with a duet by Shopon Chowdhuri and Nasreen Chowdhuri of Antor Showbiz, the event management company who made it all happen. Next the band Shironamheen took the stage and performed its famed numbers "Poronto bikel cafeteria," "Eka pakhi boshe achhe," "Prithibita" (cover of the James song), and lastly "Tumi cheye achho tai."

Then came the lovely Manisha, the runner-up of "SaReGaMaPa 2009" with hit film numbers "Zara zara," "Chance mar ley" and "Urey.”

Then with a dramatic prelude came Shaan singing "Mai hu Don." To the audiences' amazement, the artiste hummed two lines from the ever-familiar Nazrul Sangeet "Amar apnar cheye apon jey jon." Shaan carried on with his hitlist: "Jabse tere naina," "Tuney mujhe pehchana nahi," "Woh pehli bar," and the famous "Musu musu hasi." After each medley he added an old Bengali classic like "ei poth jodi na shesh hoy," adding flair and diversity to his repertoire. The young artiste not only executed the songs with vocal accuracy but his act got the audience on their feet with "Main aisa kyu hoon," "Chanda mama," "Welcome" and "Chand sifarish."

With "Bumbum boley," Shaan once again proved that his popularity among children isn't just on screen. He got some children from the audience to come up the stage, and sing and dance with him. The persisting age-old sound management issues seemed to have ticked the singer off from time to time, but he was in control. His duets with Manisha were just as much lively: "Heshona," "Ghazab," "Khushi se khud khushi kar le," "Jigarse piya," and "Das bahana". After a 15-minute break the performance resumed with "Om shanti om," "Bindas," "Dil kya kare," "Tanha Dil," and "Bhulja." Shaan also sang parts of the Bryan Adams classic "Summer of 69." He finished off with his disco numbers "Its the time to disco" and "Lets go party tonight."

The show continued till 12 am, which was expected, as the talented musician captured every heart at the venue that night with each song. The band supporting him was Groove from Mumbai. The hall was jam-packed with hundreds of fans who were left craving for more even after almost 30 songs from Shaan! But Shaan assured them there would be more to come as he is intimately attached to this country and it's people.

Source: The Daily Star.