Indonesians sway to Indian music

Indonesians swayed to Indian tunes as a 13-member band from India, led by Bollywood singer Shibani Kashyap, performed at a packed auditorium here.

The Balairung Soesilo Soedirman auditorium in Indonesia's capital throbbed with a variety of spellbinding Bollywood, Sufi, Qawali, Rajasthani folk and contemporary songs. The musical group is visiting Indonesia as part of the "Sahabat India -- The Festival of India in Indonesia".

The audience was regaled by more than a dozen Bollywood fan clubs of Jakarta coming together and performing "Lenong Bollywood", a programme based on popular Bollywood and Indonesian themes and songs. The function, for the first time, brought several Bollywood fan clubs of Jakarta on the stage of "Sahabat India".

The Bollywood fan clubs electrified the atmosphere with their brilliant performances and colourful costumes on Bollywood themes.

The fans danced to popular songs from the movies of their favourite stars such as Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif and Rani Mukherjee.

The young fans displayed great zeal in clicking selfies and photographs against the backdrop of Sahabat India.

The Shibani Kashyap-led concert, which started later, enthralled the audience with renditions of popular songs of variety of genres.

Among the numbers played were "Mai Tainu Samjhawa Ki", "Sona Ri", "Kali Teri gut", "Har ghadi pukarti hai", "Tum paas aaye", "Tujhe dekha to ye Jaana Sanam", "Zinda hoon mai", and a medley of the evergreen R.D. Burman's songs.

Indian Ambassador Gurjit Singh, diplomats, senior Indonesian dignitaries and prominent Indian businessmen and a large number of Indonesian and Indian Bollywood fans watched the performance, the Indian embassy said.