Pratibha’s Diwali Party brings down the house

S Bodiwala

CHICAGO: The Diwali Party presented by Pratibha Jairath (of Bollywood Sargam) in association with Altaf Bukhari at Ashyana Banquets on November 16     turned out to be  once again, a roaring success with over 500 guests and invitees  attending the event enjoying  the  Bollywood music and dance theme.

The evening started with warm Diwali greetings by the host Pratibha Jairath. She invited Chief Guest Anil Loomba for Lamp lighting. She proceeded to invite other Guests of Honor, sponsors and supporters including Sunil Shah,  Mayur Ganger, Brij Sharma, Altaf Bhukhari and Surrender Jain of Ashyana.

The musical concert started with sit down session by Pratibha Jairath. She presented a variety of songs, including “Suno Sajna Papihene” a song with a slight classical touch. Her rendition of the haunting melody ‘Yaara silisili’ brought a big round of applause. She enthralled folks with interesting numbers like Diwani mastani, Piya Tose and Morni Baga ma and people started to dance by their tables. By the time Ms Jairath started ‘Do Lafzon ki hai’ and ‘Chura Liya’ everyone was on the dance floor.

Another surge of excitement was seen when popular singer Bhupendra Singh came to stage with his popular numbers like ‘Do Dil’ and ‘Inteha ho gayee’. His fans were just entranced. Raju Bankapur entered the stage with a big bang number, Jumma Chumma and continued with his fast dancing medley ending with ‘Ye dosti’.

Fusion Qawali was a total hit with audience. It was a mix of Qawalies from different decades. Starting with Salam e Ishq meri jaan  including Na toh Karvan ki talash, Rashqe Kamar , Haal kya hai (Hari Mehta), Teri mehfil mein kismat, Allah ye ada and final piece Jhoom baraber Jhoom (Raju Bankapur).

Ms Jairath thanked a number of people who had brought their friend groups, Vandana Bankapur & Raju Bankapur, Kafi Khan and Richard Christian for awesome music and Abhi Trivedi for doing the DJ bit in the last hour that kept people on the dance floor. The ambience and arrangement of food was exceptional.