As many as 80,000 young 'global citizens' here witnessed the British band #Coldplay's frontman #Chris_Martin singing "Vande Mataram" with India's music maestro A.R. Rahman at the Global Citizen Festival India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi also encouraged youngsters to fight poverty.
The fest took place on Saturday at the MMRDA ground at Bandra-Kurla complex, which was filled by people who are committed to the cause to fight poverty, promote education, and more.
Opened by Bollywood's singing sensation Arijit Singh, the fest also saw some electrifying performances by international singers like Demi Lovato and The Vamps.
Superstar Shah Rukh Khan hit the stage to introduce key perfomers, including Rahman.
Rahman started off with an instrumental set and went on to sing his renowned tracks "Tu hi re" and "Humma humma". He said that poverty is our "common enemy", and urged everyone to contribute to end it.
The Bollywood star power continued to be seen on the stage with megastar Amitabh Bachchan and actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar singing "Atrangi yaari" from their film "Wazir".
Amidst the foot-tapping music, Modi made a brief appearance via video conferencing. He said: "You bring an energy and idealism that is unparalleled."
"I am convinced that we can and we will build a Swachh Bharat free of all forms of filth within one generation," he added.
There were other Bollywood names who lent their support to various causes.
Referring to his Project Devi, actor Vivek Oberoi said: "We rescue girls from the street, child prostitution, child labour, and give them a better life with food, clothes, lodging, and education. It is great to be part of this show."
Actress Vidya Balan, who is the national brand ambassador of sanitation, spoke highly of the festival.
As much as the attendees showed enthusiasm to support social causes, they also eagerly waited for Coldplay, fronted by Martin, the curator of the gala, to entertain them with the band's rock numbers.
The long wait and excitement amplified when Shah Rukh along with the cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and actress Freida Pinto invited Coldplay on stage.
Sporting casuals, Martin enthralled the crowds by singing the band's hit songs like "A head full of dreams", "The scientist", "Paradise", "A sky full of stars" and "Fix you", which got everyone singing too.
The instruments had a touch of Indian elements like their band name was written in Hindi on them.
The British rocker also sang a few lines of Arijit's popular song "Channa mereya".
While concluding their performance with "Up and up", Martin said: "We would like to come back to India as soon as we can."
Talking about the response and the Global Citizen Movement, the CEO of the movement Huge Evans said: "It is amazing to see how youngsters are cleaning the beaches of Mumbai as a part of Swachh Bharat campaign. We are going to work on this for the next 15 years."
The fest in India secured investment commitments worth $3.37 billion (Rs. 22,940 crores) which would benefit around 50 crore people.
cool
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure, it was just awesome, because I've been to their concert once and it left me in the greatest delight. Now I'm looking forward to check The Vamps tour dates up and go to one of the concerts. Hope, they'll come to my city. They have same to Coldplay spirit and I'm sure they'll burn everything up.
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