Nite to Reunite enlivens Valentine spirit

CHICAGO: Waterford Banquets in Elmhurst (a Chicago suburb) was sparkling with Chicagoland talents vying with each other to show off their dancing and singing skills on Valentine Day recently.

It was a 'Nite to Reunite' sponsored by  RahulSinghGill.com headed by Rahul Singh, an artist in his own right in Chicagoland. It was a mixture of dancing, singing; comedy and fashion while leaving doors open to any talent out there.

As the audience built to a cozy group of Chicagoans, Dr. Mita Gupta and her sister Vanita Gupta opened the night with "Ambika Jhankaar," a dazzling light romantic dance that captured the hearts of many. The 2 idiots, Keyur Parikh and Alpesh Chaudhari rocked the stage with their creative comedy that imitated characters and events of the recent Bollywood blockbuster "3 Idiots". 

Just as the laughter was at its peak, Sensational 6 (Viraj Shah, Flora Thakkar, Dharti Patel, Shruti Thakkar, Rinku Kapadia and Nilofur Khan) switched the mood to excitement with their fun-jumpy footwork in "Money Money."  Desi Divas (Mahnaaz Syed and Nishma Patel) did likewise with a blast from the past that moved to more recent in their dance titled "Bollywood Sizzle." 

No one could forget the breathtaking, Raahul Singh Gill himself, who thrilled the crowd as he sang his most recent song, "Janjhar" and made everyone smile as a very fun MC for the night.

Alongside him was the "original" Ajay Randhawa with his live dhol beats that got a pack of people bopping.  Epikz Crew (Aman Choudhury, David Unciano, Dheeraj Charles, Parnell Tesoro and Steven Han) was also there once again showing off their spectacular hip hop moves. 

"Afreen" was a medley of songs to which SPA Inc.'s female group members (Soniya Sheth and Sirvangi Patel) performed an amazing dance. 

Jodi # 1 (Stuti Parikh and Chirag Soni) were nothing less than a celebrity couple right out of a Bollywood dance competition.  Their acts "Pyaar with Passion" and "Thoda Pyaar Thoda Takrar" were the complete romance package and certainly brought love in the air right in time for Valentine's Day. 

Later we got to hear some very astonishing singers with their own style of spreading love and a mix of East and West. "Samosa's Valentine" was a couple of romantic, well-known tracks sung by Shahvar "Samosa" Hussain.  Then we had "Lift Karade"; Harris Sahi jammed to his own tracks "Right Where We Started" and "She Want that Money". 

Just about midway through the show, Raahul Singh Gill announced a Youth Award, which was given to Iftekhar Naseem for his great work in the community.  Amongst these youthful and talented local stars were some little stars.

There was a children's fashion show (Ekjot Kaur, Gurleen Kaur, Laisha Singh, Jesse Singh, Nayaly Robledo, Navroop Kaur, Saihaj Kular, Surleen Saini, Yarely Robledo, and Hemani Nayi) and a dance by Hemani Nayi to a famous track from the Bollywood film "Hum Saath Saath Hain." 

There were four other fashion shows  showcasing various types of Indian and Pakistani outfits locally available for purchase at Regal and Tabarruj of Chicago.  These fashion shows were coordinated and choreographed by Diya Khan, Viraj Shah, and Raahul Singh Gill. 

The models (Amit Mangat, Aqsa Bawany, Chirag Soni, Dharti Patel, Emil Shah, Fatima Hussain, Flora Thakkar, Hassan Saddiq, Irfan Ahmad, Kiran Shaikh, Krystell Barraza, Mahnaz Syed, Nadeen Patwa, Nilofur Khan, Nishma Patel, Preet Sandhu, Priya Kapil, Rinku Kapadia, Saloni Sharma, Shahbaz Lateef, Sonali Patel, Usman Chaudhary, Vidhi Joshi, Viraj Shah, Vishal Shah & Zainab Saddiq) were also local and part of RaahulSinghGill.com's agency called Desi Models. 

The evening ended with a super-energy-filled dance by SPA, Inc. (Soniya Sheth Sirvangi Patel, Usman Malik, Hassan Bhatti, and Aaron Saballo) that totally rocked the stage and moved the audience.  In short, 'Nite to Reunite' was to many local guests a magnificent way to get charged up for Valentine's Day!

India Post News Service