With blessings from iconic Bollywood legends, rock-star SONU NIGAM  turns 50 years ‘young’,  in the midst of  live jamming melodies -- by Chaitanya Padukone

‘Swag-sey-Swaagat’  were the vibes ! This was at  ‘ageless’ Sonu Nigam’s 50^th birthday (golden jubilee) exclusive celebrations!   That’s because the debonair birthday-boy iconic rock-star singer-actor-performer Sonu Nigam was ‘personally’  receiving each of his celeb guests as they entered the huge banquet hall. Even later the down-to-earth Sonu personally went up to each of the senior celebs seated at the round tables to meet and greet them. Dressed in a smart black tuxedo, the suave Sonu sporting designer glasses almost looked like one of the Oscar Academy Award winners.  Since I had known Sonu as a super-talented singer right from his movie ‘Aazmayish’ (1995) days, Sonu warmly welcomed me and checked on my health, as he knew I  was not keeping well.

The outspoken yet witty Sonu Nigam looked charismatic and radiant as he spoke of how he has always been blessed. “The universe has always been kind to me. Those who love me have done so much for me,” said an emotional Sonu Nigam as he spoke of how some of his close buddy friends ( like Akash Deep, Bhavesh Desai and Saira ) had actually got together to organize this spectacular birthday bash for him. And how Sonu who actually believes in the ‘Har-pal-yahaan-Jee-bhar Jiyo’ mantra, of his own super-popular song,  said he was more like an invited Guest at his own birthday party.

Almost the entire music industry's iconic legends had joined in to shower their blessings and make Sonu’s 50^th celebration a super-success night to remember for all time. There was a non-stop live band-orchestra playing songs with concert singer Sulabh (from Delhi) whose voice has a sharp similarity to Sonu’s voice  As the party progressed, most of the iconic Bollywood senior singers went up on stage to sing ‘live’ along with Sonu. It was a marathon of non-stop vocal-medley-jamming of both Sonu’s chartbusting songs and other iconic Hindi retro songs which resonated well past midnight, unto the wee hours. Even after the birthday cakes were cut. While Sonu Nigam’s 50th birthday ( July 30^th)  was brought in at midnight with a musical hungama, even Anup Jalota’s 70^th birthday ( July 29^th)  on the same stage was celebrated with revelry.

Music-savvy Jackie Shroff exclusively shared with me that “Sonu Nigam’s voice jab se aaya hai, that has been my bonding with him. At his B’day party, he specially sang a  song which I really liked and he said the song was for me. The song was ‘Yeh duniya usiki, zamana usika, mohabbat mein, jo ho, gaya ho kisi ka’.. God bless him always”., reacted Jackie.

Besides Sonu’s father Agam Kumar Nigam and sisters Teesha and Meenal, the well-orchestrated event at Hotel Sahara Star was graced by MNS Supremo Raj-saaheb Thackeray, evergreen Jeetendra, macho Jackie Shroff, Shabana Azmi,  Anandji-bhai, Anup Jalota, Talat Aziz, Amit Kumar, Nitin Mukesh with actor son Neil, Suresh Wadkar,  Hariharan, Shailendra Singh, Pritam-da, Amruta Fadnavis,  Akashdeep and Sheeba Sabir, Pratap Sarnaik, Raju Singh with wife Shirley, mentor-buddy evergreen Sachin Pilgaonkar with daughter Shriya, Papon, mentor Anu Malik, music baron Bhushan Kumar with mother Sudesh Kumari, celeb-chef music-savvy Sanjeev Kapoor, , Prachi Shah with husband Vishwas Pandya, ISRA-CEO-Director Sanjay Tandon, Saurabh Daftary, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shaan, Salim Merchant, Talat Aziz and wife Beena Aziz, Smita Thackeray with sons Rahul and Aaishwary, Roopkumar Rathod, Rohit Roy, film-maker Rajkumar Santoshi, Sudesh Bhosale with wife Hema and son Siddhant, Suresh and Padma Wadkar, Jeetu Shankar, Anusha Srinivasan, actor-singer Sudhanshu Pandey, Satish Shah with wife Madhu, mentor-composers Vinay and Nikhil Kamath, Rouble Nagi, mentors-Anand-Milind, Mayuresh Pai, Vipul Roy, Shruti Pathak,  Amit Wadhwani, Vicky Idnani, Sandeep Singh, Meet Bros-Harmeet and Manmeet, model-actress Karishma Modi, Navraj Hans, Samir Date, Ramesh Taurani, Mohomed and Lucky Morani, RJ Gaurav Sharma, Chaitanya Padukone, Ankit Tiwari and Rahul Vaidya among others.

Some of the invited celeb guests ( including Jeetendra, Raj-saaheb Thackeray and Sudesh Bhosle ) observed as a genuine compliment that  “Sonu Nigam looked too young to look 50 years.”.

Eminent actor and film-maker Akashdeep Sabir  (GurVinder of  Hindi OTT show ‘Night Manager’  fame)  who is a ‘jigri dost’ of Sonu Nigam since past so many years is emotionally charged, as he shares his bonding with the mega-star singer. “ Ever since  Sonu walked in to the recording of my directorial movie ‘Ghaath’( released in year 2000) and we were introduced by Anu Malik, I  instantly bonded with him. Ever since that day, we are so close and he calls me ‘Akash-bhai’ and I fondly call him ‘Papa’. Besides being a phenomenal singer, he is a great genuine ‘bhai-dost’. We have professionally collaborated on so many prestigious projects. Whenever I gone thru some crisis, Sonu has always been there for me, always dependable literally ‘main-hoon-na’’ living up to the song which he has sung,” shares Akashdeep. Coincidentally, Akash, his actress-wife  Sheeba and Sonu’s vibrant soulful voice (‘Rolen De’) have all prominently featured in the latest mega-hit Karan Johar movie ‘Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani’.