The global citizen festival took place in Mumbai yesterday and thousands went to witness the mega vent from all over the country. Headlined by British band Coldplay and frontman cum curator of the festival, Chris Martin, the festival was described by fans as nothing short of out-of-this-world!
Enthusiastic festival began to que from 9 am in the morning outside MMRDA grounds and estimated figures were well beyond 100,000 after the gates were closed. The Prime Minister greeted the audience through a live webcast and appreciated the efforts of the organisers in making the festival happen. While being playfully humorous he spoke of the concerns of our nation and thanked the citizens of India for being with him during his recent ‘cleanliness drive’.
The line up for the day was Coldplay, Jay-Z, Demi Lovato, Arijit Singh, Aamir Khan, The Vamps, A.R. Rahman, Big B Amitabh Bachchan, Rock On star Farhan Akhtar, Shah Rukh Khan, Frieda Pinto, Ranveer Singh, Sonakshi Sinha, Shraddha Kapoor, Sachin Tendulkar, Vidya Balan and Shankar Eshaan Loy. The focus of the festival was on issues such as gender inequality, world poverty, world peace and sanitation.
Parineeti Chopra and Arjun Kapoor announced the opening of the festival. Arijit Singh went on stage to set the pace with ‘Ae Dil Hain Mushkil’ along with other favorites . Sonakshi Sinha delighted the audience next with her performance of ‘Har Kisi Ko Nahi Milta’. Shankar Eshaan Loy had them singing along ‘Breathless’ and their other hits.
Actor Alia Bhatt introduced the first international act of the day with pop icon Demi Lovato who thrilled the audience in her iconic golden get-up. Amitabh Bachchan collaborated with the Shillong Choir which constituted one of the highlights of the day.
Farhan Akhtar came on next to set rock the audience with songs from Rock On and Rock On 2.
The main highlights of the day were Jay-Z and of course, Coldplay. Shah Rukh Khan went on stage a second time to introduce the rap star legend. The audience grooved to track ‘Empire State of Mind’ which was the most loved among his line ups. The stars of the evening, Coldplay, collaborated with A.R.Rahman and Arijit Singh to sing Maa Tujhe Salaam and the crowd went nuts. They played for a good 1 hour and 45 minutes, a perfect showdown to such a grand event.
The charity event was not all fun and joy though. Midway through, the stalls had run out of food and water. The congress put up a last minute opposition to the festival claiming that the BJP was using the event to get political mileage. Moreover a PIL was filed by two activists in the Bombay High Court alleging the exemption of entertainment tax on the event to be reversed. A few hiccups nevertheless but the excited audience remained enthusiastic and unperturbed.
Image credits: hindustantimes.com and Global Citizen India at Twitter
With inputs from Arushi Pathak
Arindam Goswami