The ‘Light Up A Life’ charity concert happened on January 7, at the Open Air Theatre (OAT) in IIT Madras.
The concert started with a small briefing about whom the charity funds benefitted: orphans, kids with single parents, exploited women, helpless aged citizens, the poor, the sick and the disadvantaged in the society.
Aishu, the emcee, soon took over the stage responding to the restless crowd and called upon Hexachord right away. Benny Dayal and the band took over among loud cheers and started the evening with a lovely rendition of ‘Dil Se’ by ARR, dedicating the piece to the maestro himself. Suvi Suresh soon joined him for the heady number ‘KODana KODi’ which had the audience on its feet and swaying to its tune. Megha and Suchith Sureshan entertained the audience with popular tamil numbers.
This was followed by a dance performance by tiny school kids who mesmerized the people present with their agility and skills. Benny and Suvi came back soon after, with rocking numbers like ‘AdiyE kollathu’, ‘Masakali’ and ‘Omana peNNe’. After the energetic performance of ‘Munni Badnaam’, shouts of ‘Sheila! Sheila!’ from the audience reached the roof. In return, however, the audience was presented with another dance performance of the evening, this time by college-going guys. The troupe members, divided into two groups, shook their bodies to hip hop numbers. Matching moves to moves, the two groups managed to pull off breath-taking manoeuvres, drawing gasps of surprise and much appreciation from those present.
Megha came back with what the entire audience had been demanding for some time, ‘Sheila ki Jawani’, amidst much wolf-whistling and almost the entire OAT grooved to the number. A short break ensued which involved tamil movie director S. Ravi felicitating Miss South India, followed by talks by each of them and Praveen Mani, about the initiative at hand. They were promptly booed by the huge audience into keeping their speeches short.
Benny and his band returned to entertain students coming from different states of South India by performing Telugu and Kannada songs! His signature ‘Taxi taxi!’ song was greeted exuberantly and pulled the audience to its feet again. When the curtains came down a few minutes later, the general feeling among those walking out was that of a evening well spent and for a noble cause too.
The concert was organized by the IIT Madras Atma Charity Wing to generate funds essential for orphanages, old age homes and welfare foundations which need help and support.
