SARATOGA, CA: Tanya Gupta was holding her breath. The names of winners had been announced and they were all standing on stage waiting to know who had taken the top spot. Tanya was in deep thought, after all she had gotten rave reviews from everyone.
The 4th Annual ‘Silicon Valley’s got Bollywood’ competition was conducted in Saratoga on Saturday March 24 at Joan Pisani Community Center, organized by Saratoga Hindu Temple and Community Center. It was a sold out event with many sponsors supporting it. Silicon Valley’s got Bollywood (www.SiliconValleyBollywood.com) is part of Saratoga’s 6th annual Hindu New Year celebration – that seeks to integrate all the spring celebrations of India.
Bollywood truly brings everyone under one umbrella and it is ubiquitous across the country as we celebrate Cheti Chand/ Gudi Padava/ Holi/ Nabo Barsho/ Puthandu/ Ugadi/ Vaisakhi. Bollywood competition is organized as an annual fundraiser to run the weekly Sunday programs such as Entrepreneurship bootcamp, Robotics, Coders Club, Hindi, Yoga, Bollywood fitness, that are offered for no charge to the larger Silicon Valley community.
Saratoga’s charismatic council member Rishi Kumar hosted the event with lot of enthusiasm. Rishi along with the organizing team, the contestants kept the audiences entertained. A few local kids were given the opportunity to anchor certain parts of the event. Food was catered by The Mynt Indian Restaurant in San Jose, and guests enjoyed delicious appetizers and dinner.
Tanya’s name was announced. Hers was the last name that was almost forgotten. On stage she jumped with joy when she realized she had won the top solo spot. “Winning first place was a great surprise, specially since everyone’s performance always great. I was delighted to see the great energy and enthusiasm, and that gave me a great push to do my best. And the cash prize was definitely an icing on cake. Thank you to the Saratoga community for providing this platform and hosting a fun event!” said Tanya Gupta a bit flustered after this win.
The winners this year were the following: In the solo category, first place went to Tanya Gupta, who sang “Muskaan Jhooti hai”, a slow jazz number from the movie Talaash. Second Place went to Roma Bedekar, who sang “Aao Hazoor Tumko” from the Hindi classic Kismat. Third place went to Mala Mehrotra, whose dance was so amazing that even the judges started to dance with her, on the song “Kajrare Kajrare” from the movie Bunty and Bubli.
These winners had emerged as the contestants after audition rounds that unfolded the weeks prior. In the group category, first place went to a dance group named BDC Pre-teen who danced to Badrinath Ki Dulhania’s title track, and Bareilly Ki Barfi’s “Sweety Tera Drama”.
Second place went to Cupertino Kathak who performed a tukda from Indian classical dance form Kathak. Third place went to BDC Hip-Hop for their performance to a medley of songs including “Blue Eyes” from Honey Singh.
The event provides a platform to people of all ages and race to showcase their talent. Although the theme was Bollywood, contestants were allowed to showcase any talents they have, like motivational speeches, live bands a majority being songs and dances. The performances included English songs, hip hop, Indian classical, and of course, Bollywood. Over years this event has gained much popularity with participation from the larger Bay Area as a total of $1,800 were handed out as prize money amongst the winners, along with trophies, medals and plaques.
Sixteen solo and ten group performances took place in the competition. All the contestants were selected through pre-screening audition. All the performances were extraordinary and it was a tough call for the judges to select the best from the best.
Among the judges were many of the well-known famous faces of Bay area including AltuFaltu (Radio De Hotties); Shweta Singh Kirti sister of Bollywood star; Bhavini Joshi host of many Bollywood stars; Dr Ranu Sinha, a recent director of the biopic “Doctor by Heart”; Founder of Jhankaar Beats, Apeksha Anand and Founder of Geetanjali Musical group, Minnie & Rama Shukla.
Tinny Juneja, Founder/Director of Bollywood Dance Connections (BDC) whose team won the top place in the group category for the 2nd year running, was all smiles. “‘Silicon Valley’s Got Bollywood’ lends healthy, fulfilling, and unique experience to the individuals who want to prove their talent. It was such an ecstatic feeling for our team, when we were called upon the stage and announced as First Place winners. BDC would like to thank Rishiji, for giving us such a memorable experience, the platform to showcase our talent. We are also grateful to the judges, the volunteer team and the audience who showed loads of excitement.”
The finale of the evening was a Bollywood Star Couples dance that was performed by ten rocking couples of Saratoga that included Councilmember Rishi Kumar and his wife Seema. This was the segment that had the crowd going, swaying to the high energy music and the dance moves, judges sportingly awarding it 10 points.
Following the awards distribution, Rishi kept audiences dancing as he sang a series of the top Bollywood Remix numbers, popular retro tunes from the past that have lately been a feature of the latest Bollywood hits. The event was a fabulous community gathering and that was made possible with great efforts from many community heroes of the Saratoga Community.
Nilay Gupta
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