The 18th edition of the IIFA, celebrated 25 glorious years of music maestro A.R Rahman with the IIFA Rocks concert in New York City on July 14, 2017. Despite unpredictable rains, the spirit of the night could not be dampened as the Academy award winner absolutely enthralled the audience after the rain paved the way for the most happening show.
Riteish Deshmukh and Manish Paul played the perfect hosts of the show as they left the audience in splits with their jokes and one-liners. Rahman’s show started off with the popular song from Dil Se and he was further joined by few of the music industry’s biggest names including Benny Dayal, Jonita Gandhi, Neeti Mohan, Javed Ali and others on the show. Some of the blockbuster tracks like Dil Hai Chota Sa from Roja, Naadan Parindey from Rockstar, Enna Sona from OK Jaanu, Agar Tum Saath Ho from Tamasha and others were a part of the night’s playlist. His performance went on for a good 90 minutes.
An ecstatic Rahman, was recorded saying “I try my best, love how people have supported and loved me all these years.” Well, to the audience’s surprise, he did not just sing Hindi songs but also a few in his mother tongue. And they obviously started losing it when he started to sing Urvasi Urvasi. Looks like the audience sure got a fair treat to their ears.
He went on to add “I think it was kind of IIFA to invite me and celebrate my 25 years in the industry. I loved performing, even though it was raining. I love the way people received it against all the odds. I’m grateful to them.” Commenting on the rains that couldn’t bring down the audience’s and Rahman’s crew’s excitement, he said, “we were actually terrified, because it was raining and our equipment were all wet. The band was actually courageous and people were very supportive. We enjoyed the concert and that gave us the energy to perform.”
The audience also got to hear actress Aditi Rao Hydari, Hariharan and Kailash Kher as they joined Rahman for a special rendition.
Take a look at photos from the red carpet and live performances at IIFA Rocks 2017 –
