A truly 'hatke' music launch

By: Taran Adarsh, IndiaFM

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

The music launch of Nikhil Advani's Salaam-E-Ishq can be best described in one word: Spectacular. It wasn't merely a music launch, with the guest of honor releasing the CD amidst loud cheers. This mega event was truly hatke. How, did you ask? Okay, let's give you a lowdown...

Katrina Kaif, wearing a pale yellow sari, walked on stage, kick-starting the event with finesse. "When I learnt that Nikhil Advani was making a film, I approached him for a role in it. But he assured me that we'd work some day. Nikhil did approach me, but to host this show," she joked.

It was now the turn of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, the music composers of Salaam-E-Ishq, to perform first. The trio regaled the audiences with a couple of tracks from the film. The party had begun to gather momentum and what followed took the breath away: The six pairs of the film walked on the ramp.

There were six sequences in all [the models were sporting the outfits from the film] and after each sequence, a pair walked on stage. It started with John Abraham-Vidya Balan, followed by Sohail Khan-Isha Koppikar, Govinda [solo act], Akshaye Khanna-Ayesha Takia, Anil Kapoor-Juhi Chawla, Anjana Sukhani [solo act] and of course, Salman Khan-Priyanka Chopra. While most of them may have walked the ramp earlier, it was a [pleasant] surprise to watch Govinda take to the stage without inhibitions. In fact, the scene stealers were Salman, Akshaye and Govinda.

Nikhil Advani took centerstage and showed the elite gathering a glimpse of his soon-to-be-released biggie [an impressive trailer, no doubt]. "If you felt that the fashion show was lengthy, wait till you watch my film," he joked. Producers Mukesh Talreja and Sunil Manchanda and presenter Gautam Kumar also joined Nikhil later.

The music launch evening was dedicated to Aangan Trust.

The guest-list was a mix of the crème de la crème of the entertainment industry [Jaya Bachchan, Salma Khan, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani, Rohan Sippy] and the Page 3 crowd.