He appeared on stage a tad late, but Indian singer Udit Narayan made up for that by belting out several Bollywood hits over a three-hour concert on Oct 23 at The Star Theatre – much to the delight of the 2,500 in attendance.
At 68, Udit is no spring chicken, but he displayed tremendous energy during the show, which also featured his son Aditya, wife Deepa and upcoming singer Sana Arora.
This was Udit’s first concert in Singapore, and he was at ease with fans getting up close while he was on stage. He shook hands, posed for photos and even gave a few female fans kisses on the hand.
There were many Malay and Indonesian fans in attendance, a testament to the far-reaching impact of Udit’s songs – many of which were from popular Shah Rukh Khan movies.
Ms Haryati Ali, 38, who attended the show with two friends, said: “We grew up with Bollywood songs, especially those of Shah Rukh Khan.”
Udit himself felt the love from the audience. With a bow, he said: “I am thankful for all your blessings. I am your Udit Narayan.”
Before Udit hit the stage, his son Aditya thrilled the audience with several up-tempo numbers, transforming the theatre venue into a dance floor.
By popular request, Udit sang a few lines in Tamil from ‘Sahana’, a song from the Rajinikanth movie Sivaji, but it was a mere shade of the original. Concertgoer Rivesha Kalaichelvan said: “Two or three more Tamil songs would have been nice.”
Ms Kajol Vatwani, who paid a total of $1,600 for diamond category tickets for her family of four, felt she got her money’s worth: “We really enjoyed it, especially the Udit-Aditya duet and guest singers from Malaysia.”
The concert ended on a crescendo as the audience put their hands up and swayed to Om Shanti Om.
Udit will perform live in Malaysia at the Spice Arena in Penang on Nov 28.
