Dhvani - Part 3

Note :- If you have come directly to this page, please read the Part 1 and Part 2 of this story.


Unfortunately our band’s flute player Sri Ram (known as Fram) couldn’t join us as he was down with fever. The D-day arrived; judges were Vishal, Shekhar and Luke Kenny. We performed our O.C track and they appreciated it, then the cover was Naresh’s hot favorite “Breathless” and our first round was wrapped up with “Dhoom” from Euphoria.

We made it; we were selected for the final round along with 20 other bands.

Now the competition was tougher, we had to re-mix or rather re-compose a song and present it in our way. Brains started working and we finalized 2 songs. On the D-day, some goof-ups happened. Sri Ram was not allowed to join us for the second round and I was not allowed to play bongos for a stupid reason that I did not play it in the first round. Amidst such loud atmosphere created by metal and hard rock bands, Naresh forgot the tune and we lost it royally.

Yes, we were disappointed and we had every reason to feel unhappy. We lost our first chance to reach fame which was to be given by a prestigious television channel.

Time flew as always and Naresh got busy with Channel [V] Super singer competition. We were happy that his performance was quite well there.

On a Saturday night, Vikram called me up frantically and was the following was our conversation.


Vikram - Hello !
Me – Haa, bol
Vikram – Tujhe pata hai aaj kya hua ??
Me – Kya ??
Vikram – Mera Naresh se aabhi baat hua…
Me – aacha, good… kaisa hai wo ?
Vikram – Aabey who chod, tujhe pata hai, Chanel [V] super singer mein kaun Judge hai ??
Me – Haa, pata hai, Adnan Sami naa ??
Vikram – Nahi yaar, un log ne A R Rahman ko invite kiya hai as a special judge……

That was it!!

The world around me started spinning; I could imagine what Naresh might have felt when he saw Rahman for the first time. It would have been a wonderful moment to meet the maestro face to face. Since the band started, A R Rahman was in the list of gods in our diaries. The entire band was happy and cheering for Naresh’s success.

Somehow, he was not selected in the final round but Rahman told him that soon he would be flying to Chennai.

2 – 3 weeks later, Naresh called us that he was back from Chennai for a day or 2. The maestro had offered him a song from a tamil movie “Anbe Aaruyire”. Then there was no turning back for Naresh. His song was a huge hit and he was a household name in Chennai. Then came Rang De Basanti and Roobaroo, Khalbali, Paatshaala were in the charbusters list.

The rest is known to the world. As a mugshot, I present some photographs and videos of Dhvani from various concerts.

Enjoy

|| Beats for Dhvani ||

P.S – This is my official signature as a Drummer and Percussionist of Dhvani

This photograph was taken after Mysore Yuva Dussera Concert at Maharaja Palace Grounds.
From L - R :- Siddharth, Naresh, Vikram, Pankaj, Aniruddh, Ninad, Aparna, Sriram, Saurabh, Sabareesh

Breathless @ Mumbai Festivel in Powai

Rang De Basanti @ Mysore - Yuva Dussera

Dil Se Re

The good ol' Malgudi Days

An Impromptu Jam durning the sound check @ HOPE 2006