Watching the Desi Rock Stars...Up Close

When: June 03, 2006 scheduled at 8.30pm
Where: Dallas Convention Center
Who: Salman Khan, Zayed Khan, John Abraham, Kareena Kapoor, Mallika Sherawat, and Esha Deol
Choreography: Bosco Cesar

How was it? Well that is the main reason for writing this blog!

So on Friday evening I get a call from one of the editors of Diya Magazine in Dallas for whom I had written a couple of articles a couple of months ago. He offers me two VIP tickets for the Rock Stars Show. Of course, I accepted it and I was there with Girish and another friend to see the Rock Stars rock eight rows away from the stage. Yup...we got to shake hands with the stars, and a few close up shots...It was cool.

Ok, now lets see how the show started. It was scheduled to start at 8.30pm, I say scheduled because they followed the IST and started promptly at 10.00pm. Girish and I were mad because we had to miss the sixth basketball game where the MAVS kicked the Suns out of the Western Conference Basket Ball Finals thus for the first time moving into the National Finals. Go Mavs Go! Digressing...

So when the show did start there was no issue about any annoying host praising the actors. It was plain and simple. The big screen TV in the background just showed synopsis of each actor coming up on stage. Very simple and well done.

So the first to come on stage was Esha Deol: A very good dancer. Very graceful, beautiful smile, but absolutely no stage presence. She was lost among the dancers. Her costumes were also of poor choice. She is someone who can be your girl next door but an actress? I don't know. Her forehead is way too big.

The next to come on was Mallika Sherawat: Yup the sex bomb, the lady who almost bared her chest with Jackie on her arms...was all but bare...She was fully clothed disappointing many of her dude fans...But for me, She looked very ordinary. No star value. I do not think she has much to offer but for her skin. To me she looks a little better than being totally crass.

So Zayed Khan: came...Well he is the perfect Amul baby, fair, with flab, and pretty-dumb to look at. Good for him he can dance because he was the only male performer who could. He is an entertainer in training...If he can loose some baby fat and actually stop immitating Shah Rukh, he might have a chance...looking at his solid family backing.

The last actress on stage who made the best impression on me was Kareen Kapoor: Now that is what I call Star Power. Her looks, height, charm, clothes, everything stood out from both Esha and Mallika. When she was on the stage among twenty performers she stood out bright and beautiful. Her dance movements elegant and graceful, she was a natural. Unfortunately for her, when we looked up to see her on the big screen behind she looked Ghastly...someone so beautiful in person can look so ugly on the screen...not photogenic eh?! But among the lady performers she stole the show and rightfully so.


John A: The most cheered of all three dudes (Sorry Sallu) walked up from behind the audience in a long open jacket baring his chest, yup...that is a physique we were all waiting to see...But to me he looked much smaller in person than on screen. Dude can't dance to save his life. All he did while the dancers danced was to stand and pose. He also went to the extent of sitting on a stool with no lights and lip synching the Strings song (Zinda) while the dancers danced away...nice trick eh? Just one observation...why does John have his neck always craned? If you notice he does that even in the movies...bad posture.

Sallu: was welcomed with a big video showing how he was harrassed by the cops, what a nice person he is, how lucky he was to be here and constantly reminding us that he is the star of the night...unfortunately John had already stolen all the applause and all we could do was politely clap. But Sallu did not find that enough and he quickly brought the pace of the show to a new high. He did not do much dancing...but he had the audience follow him everywhere he went. He was cool and probably had the best stage presence...He did show to everyone who the show was really all about...Salman Khan...and he had everyone captivated for the rest of the show.

So after all the six stars were introduced, Sallu came back and gave the audience a chance to ask questions to which he answered very polietly. An aunty got to dance with him, a girl got a shake hand and he patiently answered some silly questions. It was fun though. Later he also sang a song (don't know if it was live or if it was pre-recorded).

When John came back the crowd went crazy. He invited a girl up and did some pretty hot live romance on the stage...the conservative Desi crowd went oooh and aahhh...And Zayed had a little girl on stage and sung the Main Hoon Na song to her...very cute...

I felt bad for Esha because when she came back to talk to the crowd on stage...nobody welcomed her...Anyway the show was fun. The late start was soon forgotten as the stars entertained almost for three hours for numerous songs with a big smile on their face. Sallu and Zayed seemed to be enjoying the show the most behind the stage...

Before I sign off, as a dancer and lover of dance I have to say that the choreography was way below my expectation. This is one thing I have noticed in Desi shows, there is absolutely no co-ordination among the dancers, which I strongly believe shows that the choreographers just do not care too much for the show/audience. A good choreographer will grind his team to perform to perfection and this was not seen in these dude and dames who danced brisk at times and tired at others...

One more suggestion would be to stop inviting the sponsors and expecting the audience to thank them for a great show they have put together. I believe it should be the other way around where the sponsors should thank the audience for paying and coming to the show. It was embarrassing for those sponsors who stood on the stage and the audience just ignored them.

On the whole, I would do it all over again because I love entertainment of any form and this was seriously worth it...Go Bollywood Go...er...that was for the Mavs...


PS: I tried to upload some photos here but Blogspot is behaving funny and not doing any uploading for me...I will try again and again...