Features
Bollywood stars… gyrating to go viral!
In my mail box, there was an interesting letter, from a reader, inquiring whether I’ve checked out some of the ‘dancing scenes,’ on social media –YouTube, in particular – that have gone viral, notching up thousands of ‘views.’
Yes, I did, on a couple of occasions, but not anymore – for the simple reason that, to me, they all look crazy…some even stupid!
I guess these ‘dancers’ must be under the impression that they are mesmerising viewers with their moves!
These dance scenes are generally done to some of the tracks that are immensely popular, at present.
Take for instance Yohani’s cover of ‘Manike Mage Hithe.’ (By the way, Yohani has a new single out, called ‘Moving On,’ and this track took my mind back to the days when Diana Ross had a hit with ‘My Old Piano.’ Yohani will also be performing live, with her band Lunu, at the Dubai World Trade Centre, on December 2nd.)
Practically, the whole of the Bollywood industry seems to be in the mood to gyrate, in front of a camera (or their smartphones) to Yohani’s mega hit.
On my reader’s instructions, I decided to check things out and, lo and behold, the big names, in Bollywood, doing the ‘Manike Mage Hithe’ scene, include Madhuri Dixit, Shilpa Shetty, Kriti Sanon, Tiger Shroff, Poonam Pandey, and even our very own Jacqueline Fernandez.
To be honest, I didn’t find anything special in what they were doing – perhaps, they were simply trying to rake up the ‘views’ and make their contributions go viral. And, that is what’s happening. Everyone now seems to be ‘dancing’ on social media – the viral infection!
Example: Social media was loaded with the news that over 450,000 people, including Bollywood celebrities and business tycoons, turned up at the Delhi airport to welcome a Sri Lankan performer and that the artiste concerned received cash gifts, amounting to USD 500,000 even before she hit the stage. And, there was a photo, too, giving the impression that it was the crowd at Delhi airport.
It’s obvious that no country in the world, in this pandemic situation, would allow such a large crowd to come together, especially at an airport. And the photo shown was actually of the chaos at Narita airport, in Japan, because of Typhoon Faxal, and not Delhi.
For the record, India first got to know about our music capabilities when the Jetliners, with Mignonne and Loretta, and later with Alston Koch, performed at the Taj Mahal Hotel, in Bombay, for, initially, about six months.
They were featured at the ‘Blow Up’ and there were long queues, daily, to enter this prestigious nightclub.
And, Mignonne’s version of Uma Pocha’s ‘Bombay Meri Hai’ turned out to be a massive hit in India, and in Sri Lanka, as well.
Remember, all this was achieved with no social media, no smartphone, no YouTube, no private radio stations, TV stations, etc.
So, come to think of it, it was the Jetliners, with Mignonne at the helm, who broke the barriers and introduced our music scene to the Indians.
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Check next Tuesday’s The Island Star Track – ‘Jetliners…first to roar into India’)