“It is so good to be back to Boston! This is my first visit since I graduated from Tufts” said Amisha Patel as she greeted her numerous fans who have been mesmerized by her performances in several hit films. She was here as part of the “Adnan Sami” group that presented an entertaining evening of song and dance at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell, MA on Sunday April 8, 2005. The show sponsored by Aap Ka Manoranjan featured popular singers and actresses including Adnan Sami, Sunidhi Chauhan, Raghav and Shefali Jariwala. Putting up a show of this magnitude is not easy and Arsh Mehrotra of Aap Ka Manoranjan should be congratulated on pulling it together.

Though the show started nearly an hour and a half late, the starts delivered on their promise and gave a hit performance. Following the welcome by Arsh Mehrotra,  the Kanta Laga girl Shefali Jariwala set the stage ablaze with selections from her Kabhi aar kabhi par Sweet Honey Mix album.

Sunidhi Chauhan took the stage and  had the audience dancing to her tunes in no time. Her Dhoom Machale got everyone out of their seats and onto the dance floor. Boston has seen her since her days as a child artist and she continues to grow musically and amaze her audience with her talent and maturity.  The newcomer Raghav who has all the markings of a sensation in the making made the hearts of the teenage girls go pitter-patter with his music and his looks.

Raghav's music was followed by dance numbers starring Amisha Patel. There were many in audience who remembered her performance as a student at Tufts where she showed early signs of her Bollywood potential. She presented an interesting number that was a beautiful fusion of Indian classical and modern dance.

The star Adnan Sami was accorded a grand welcome by his fan club.  Adnan Sami is an accomplished concert Pianist and composer with a special command on all Western and Indian Classical and semi-classical notes. His career has ranged from the the classical to the Jazz to moderm Pop-Rock (Western and Indian). Adnan Sami has won many International Awards inlcuding the "Nigar Award", "Bolan Academy Award", "Graduate Award" etc. He was given a "Special Award of U.N.I.C.E.F." and a United Nations Peace Medal for a song he wrote and performed for Africa. He was invited as a member of the jury of the prestigious music festival "Voice of Asia" competition held annually at Almaty, Kazhakstan.

He was accompanied by a wonderful orchestra that included strings, different Indian Percussion instruments and guitar. Along with his creations like "Bheegi Bheegi Raton mein" and his superhit number “Lift Karadey” he delighted audiences with his creations on the keyboard. The improv presentations and the jugalbandhi with the percussion instruments was very entertaining.

At the end of the show, Amisha Patel met with members of the Tufts University staff and faculty who had come to see their famous alum. She expressed great joy at seeing them and reminisced of her time at Tufts. For those who knew her from her Tufts days, it was a pleasure to see that she had not let success go to her head and that despite being a famous star she was still very down to earth and not very different from the sweet young person we had met a long time ago. We wish our famous Tuftonian, the very best of luck .

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