Oscar winner, Mozart of Madras, A.R. Rahman was on a world tour with his “Jai Ho” concert. He  rocked the auditorium with his fantastic musical extravaganza   at the DCU Center, Worcester, MA. on September 22nd, 2010

The setup was grand. Big screen TVs a marvelous stage and  beautiful flashing high definition screens in the background that were used to advantage to set the right mood for the event. Half of the auditorium was filled right at 7:00pm and fans were inpatient to see the maestro. Finally, Rahman with his highly talented team started with his Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire tune .

The whole audience was rocking with his songs.  Fans in the center of the auditorium could not stop  themselves from dancing to the tunes. It was a high energy performance fully packed with music and hardly any chatter.  Rahman thanked the promoter Bharat Patel and organizing team for putting together the event, but the audience must have been more thankful for such a treat.   The show was organized under the banner of Jai Ho Boston along with Aap ka Manoranjan.

After Slumdog, he sang the patriotic song “Ye jo des hai mera” from Swades which was very touching and made us think for a minute of going back to India. Then a couple of songs from his all time hits from Guru , Bombay, Dil se, Rangila, and Sathiya. He pleased the Tamil audience by singing couple of Tamil songs.

The audience had a pleasant surprise when a holographic image of Lata Mangeshkar was presented on the screen as he sang  the duet with " Lata Mangeshke"r on “Looka chupi”  from Ran De Basanti. Lata Mangeshker was projected on a large curtain at the front of the stage  and Rahman  sang the duet  live on stage.  A very creative and mindboggling piece, it was the highlight of the program.

Yet another treat for the audience came in the form of wonderful presentations by the great ghazal and classical musician Hariharan.  “Bharat  Ham Ko Jaan Se” in the classical voice of  Hariharan was a treat as was  the thumari “Yaad peeya ki”.

The energy picked up when he stared “Khwaja Mere Khwaja” from Jodha Akbar. He ended the program with a flashy performance on the song “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire.

The program will go down as one of the finest that Boston has had for its professionalism and the sheer brilliance of the musicians. The precision in pitch and rhythm made a delightful music tribute.

We hope to see more of the great man in Boston.

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