Posted:
March, 23 2006
| The Guitar Love with Masti |
The recent Parikrama gig featuring Saif Ali Khan and various other stars endorsing musical instruments has triggered off a new trend across the city. The Gen-X seems to idolise these stars and bands that make a statement with their music. Kareena Kapoor's guitar stint in Mein Prem ki Deewani Hoon is a major hit with the girls. Even though everyone is aware that most of these stars cannot play the instrument for real, the hero-worship continues. "I just love the song Kasam from MPKDH. Kareena looks good with the guitar and I was inspired to play the guitar after watching her,." says Shweta Tiwari, who plays the character of Prerna Bajaj of Kasautii Zindagi Kay. "Saif is amazing on the guitars. The first time I saw him play on stage on TV, it really shook me up. I bought a Givson guitar and am taking lessons now." says Cezzane Khan, who plays the character of Anuraag (Oooonuraag) Basu of Kasautii Zindagi Kay. The stores across the city are busy reaping benefits from this sudden boom. Right from Hrithik Roshan who started a trend with Kaho Na Pyaar Hain a while ago, to Keanu Reaves who played the bass for Dogstar, all of them have influenced the sale of guitars in the city. On an average, about five-six guitars are sold every week and they are priced at a minimum of Rs 2,500 each. "People ask for the acoustic guitars Hrithik played in Kaho Na and right now guitars are back with a bang with Saif Ali Khan's act," says Ram Deshpande who runs Devi Music in Colaba. What's more, songs rendered by Jal, Strings and also the Bollywood chartbusters that use guitars are climbing the popularity ladder. Alexander Dolce, who teaches music at the Dolce Music Institute agrees that movie stars largely influence trends amongst the city's youth "I've got students who've enrolled at my institute after being influenced by Bollywood music." Teens wanting to buy guitars have been inspired by Jack Black's performance in the flick School of Rock. The requests for customised guitars to match those used in the movies and by their favourite rock stars seem to be flooding the guitar stores in the city. While the Bollywood lovers stick to Saif and Shahrukh endorsed instruments, rock guitarists are ready to shell some extra bucks to get Dime Bag Darrell's signature guitars, after the recent assassination of Darell. Jaya Shankar, musician and owner of Music Cabin says, "Every movie where the star plays an instrument automatically increases the sales of that particular instrument. There are guitar players who have placed orders for Fly Vee and other customised shapes for their guitars. But currently Saif is the guitar idol for most of them." |
