America
Canada's biggest South Asian festival, draws record crowds
By
Gurmukh Singh Toronto, Aug 11
The Bollywood Monster Mashup,
Canada’s biggest South Asian festival, drew record crowds of thousands
of people for two days of dance, music, yoga, fun, food, shopping and
laser blasts at the Celebration Square in Mississauga here.
Mississauga,
which is the sixth largest city in Canada and neighbours Toronto, is
home to the second biggest concentration of Indians in the country.
The
brainchild of famous Indian-Canadian composer Vikas Kohli, the festival
reflects the multicultural character of the city by serving Bollywood
music and dance in fusion with various genres from around the world.
The
highlights of the festival which ended last week were Indian-Canadian
singer Jonita Gandhi, who has worked with A.R. Rahman and Shreya Ghoshal
and sung the title song of "Chennai Express", and Indian-British singer
Ash King, who is known for hit Bollywood songs such as "Te amo", "Aunty
ji", "I love you" and "Meherbaan".
Crowds at the fully packed
Mississauga Celebration Square went berserk with joy as the two singers
belted out their hit numbers.
"It’s an absolutely fantastic
turnout...We do not have official estimates yet. However, we have heard
people saying that we might have beaten (the record of) Canada Day
celebrations at the Celebration Square which gets approximately 100,000
people," said Kohli, the event's executive director.
Mississauga
Mayor Bonnie Crombie was on hand to soak in the Bollywood spirit.
Shaking a leg to the song "Balam Pichkari" from the film "Yeh Jawaani
Hai Deewani", she had the crowds in splits.
For the first time,
the festival included lasers which lit up the venue, with beautiful
laser logos creating patterns on the walls of the City Hall.
True
to its mash-up character, the biggest Bollywood festival in Canada was
not just about Bollywood films and music, but also included yoga, dance
classes, and tastiest delicacies. Reminding visitors of Dilli Haat, its
Bollywood Monster Marketplace offers a unique shopping experience for
visitors.
In fact, the festival has been created with the fusion
of Bollywood and other genres to reflect the multicultural character of
Mississauga city where immigrant people from over a hundred countries
have settled.
Summing it up, Kohli said: "Everything about this
Bollywood festival is a fusion act - cultural fusion, genre
fusion...orchestra, laser show... hug acts on state. Actually, we are
throwing a huge party (for people of all cultures in the city).
"Five
years ago, Mississauga city asked me to fill the gap because we didn’t a
have a high-quality festival. Immediately, Bollywood Monster Mashup was
a hit because Bollywood is so popular everywhere. In just five years,
we have become the largest south Asian film festival in Canada. We get
our locals artistes to mingle with international artistes. In fact, many
artistes come for their premiere Canadian performances here."
Notable international performances at this year’s festival included Mexican Trumpets and Brazilian Percussion.