Indian Idols rock Kathmandu

Six participants of Indian Idol — Emon Chatterjee, Mayang Chang, Parleen Gill, Ankita Mishra, Charu Semwal and Deepali Kishore performed for the first time after their elimination from the show, in Nepal. The concert dubbed "Icons and Idols" was organized by Spice Nepal, at the Football Ground of Pulchowk Engineering College, Lalitpur on Saturday.

The six participants performed songs from Bollywood as well as by bands like Jal. They included Aadat, Bhige hoth tere, Don, Mitwaa, Dus bahane and ended their performance with Pal. According to the organizers the turnout of the audiences was between 23 to 25 thousands, ranging from 5 to 65-year-olds.

Coincidentally, the day also happened to be Parleen's birthday, and after the crowd wished him "Happy Birthday", he was moved. He informed everyone that it was the best moment of his life for he never had birthday wishes from so many ever before.

However, the crowd did not suit well with the performers, for the performers were constantly asking the crowd to sing along. The audience at the front was the most enthusiastic, and they were the soul of the show. The rest who had taken shelter under shaded parts, were there just to listen.

The performances by all the singers was good, however, they did not live up to the expectation of the crowd. Pradip Khadka, a music enthusiast expressed, "Their performance did not live up to my expectations, and I feel that the hype was too great."

After the six performers bade goodbye, it was the turn of Nima Rumba to entertain the crowd. Although the spectators were already melting away, the best performance of the day, by large, was that of Nima. He started with his hit number Miss Catwalk. Three songs followed this with the last one being Preeti basyo, which gripped everyone. The gig finally ended and everyone left muttering Preeti basyo.

The Indian Idol finalists perform at a concert in Pulchowk Engineering Campus at Pulchowk, Lalitpur Saturday afternoon. Darjeeling-born Prashant Tamang of Nepali-origin and Amit Paul are vying for this year's Indian Idol, a popular Indian