FREMONT: The biggest Bollywood party promoters in Bay Area, Instant Karma, who have consistently brought in the best Bollywood celebrities, presented the second annual Dhinchak Diwali Mela, 2012 in association with Avex Funding, Matrix Insurance agency, Peacock Restaurant, Sanjay Taxpro, The Royal Fashions, CIT and California Cricket Academy.
The event was held at MVP Arena in San Jose on November 11 and 12. The event witnessed about 2000 people and the extravaganza was spread over two days. The celebration had Rangoli contest and Des Rangeela Dance competition for teens, kids and groups. The kids competition was for tots aged 5 -12 and there were about 12 groups performing for foot tapping Bollywood numbers.
The teens and groups staged nine performances. Dance competition was judged by Manju, Sanjay and Dipa Thakur. Winners for the kid’s competition were Tania Makhija and Suhani Agarwal of age 5 and they danced to Rajasthani folk genre. Bhavana Prabhakar was awarded the second prize. Rangoli competition had about 20 entries and Sunita Chopra emerged as the winner.
Sabse Bada Khiladi contest witnessed budding cricketers, enthusiasts from all over Bay area. It was a quiz competition based on cricket. The event had a special attraction. Cricketer Sreesanth graced the occasion and enjoyed the fun with the crowd till midnight. He spoke at length about his association with cricket, injuries and comeback to Team India. He advised budding cricketers on bowling techniques and answered their queries on different pitches and players. He encouraged the youths to take up cricket as a profession and be dedicated to the sport and thereby serve the motherland. He took over to the dance floor to fast pace Bollywood numbers.
Special attraction of the event was the Indian market theme, Chandni Chowk and Mina Bazar, featuring Indian designer wear, jewelry, artifacts from different Indian regions sprawling from Kashmir to Kerala. There were about 25 vendor booths catering to the Diwali special dresses and sweets. Mumbai’s famous Chowpathi Khao Gali offered delicacies to the enthusiastic Bay area Desi community. Shalimar, Spice Hut, Temptations, Mehran, Chaat Bhavan, Biryani bowl were the food booths and they catered typical Desi food like chaat, paratha, biryani, mithai, tandoori.
The second day featured mehndi contest, art contest, Phuljadi fashion show and speech on Diwali. Nirmitee band concert started at about 4:30 pm and entertained the crowd with mesmerizing numbers. This group of four believes strongly in creating their own identity in the music field. Constant innovation and harmony has got Siddharth, Vian, Pranil and Ranjana this far in the competition.
They are students of Mumbai University and their sole aim was to make good music and make their families and college proud. They have continually triumphed in delivering show stopping performances, taking Bollywood music and making it their own. This fun, young zesty foursome propels every live show to another level leaving you wanting more every time with their cheeky choreography.
Bay Area Saregama paid rich tributes to late filmmaker Yash Chopra. They sang unforgettable melodies from Yashji’s work. Dhinchak Diwali came to an end by organizers thanking the sponsors and community at large who have supported them through the second year and made it a grand success.
Vidya Sethuraman
India Post News Service
