Mumbai Hindi rock act Ankur & The Ghalat Family played High Spirits, Pune as the closing act for Symbiosis Institute Of Media and Communication (UG)’s annual cultural festival Maadhyam on Saturday, October 15. In the first edition of the festival, Maadhyam had Mumbai alt rockers Tough On Tobacco play as their closing act, in January earlier this year.
In true college festival style, the equipment came in late, resulting in a rushed soundcheck. A bunch of excited college kids (sadly not equipped with walkie talkies) hurriedly put things in order and eventually built up a relatively good atmosphere for the gig. The unseasonal torrential rain did little to dampen the excitement of the college kids, who flocked to the venue in large numbers with pink wristbands (to signify that alcohol couldn’t be served to them) and identical t-shirts.
Jasleen Royal opened the gig for the Ghalat Family, and the band walked in during a vanilla cover of John Mayer’s ‘Who Says’; during which Ms Royal had two girls from the college accompanying here on stage. The band took the stage later than scheduled but played a tight set, featuring setlist regulars like ‘Chand Chahiye’, ‘Mohabbat Zindabad’ and ‘Zalim Alien’.
Despite requests to get off stage once the time limit was up, the band hung around for a bit; frontman Ankur Tewari hummed some tunes while still on stage. After the PA system was cut off, Tewari and Sidd Coutto took to doing acoustic tracks. This led to a quick formation of a huddle around the stage, as Tewari and Coutto (both featured on the film Soundtrack) played ‘Banao’ from the film’s OST, composed by Midival Punditz and Karsh Kale, sung by Papon (of Papon & The East India Company). Read more about more indie scene links within Bollywood here.
Setlist
‘Dhoond’
‘Aa Jao’
‘Manwa Re’
‘Mohabbat Zindabad’
‘Love In C Major’
‘Chand Chahiye’
‘Sabse Peeche Hum Khade’
‘Zalim Alien’
‘Ding Dong A Ding’
Photos by Naman Saraiya. Stay tuned for a full gallery of photos.
Sidenote: I traveled with the band to Pune; heard a lot of stories, experienced quite a few of them and captured some off-stage moments on camera as well. Coming soon, in a new feature titled On The Road. As always, stay tuned.
Ankur Tewari of Ankur & The Ghalat Family @ High Spirits, Pune
Gaurav Gupta of Ankur & The Ghalat Family @ High Spirits, Pune
Johan Pais of Ankur & The Ghalat Family @ High Spirits, Pune
Ankur Tewari of Ankur & The Ghalat Family @ High Spirits, Pune
Sidd Coutto of Ankur & The Ghalat Family @ High Spirits, Pune
Post gig: Johan Pais of Ankur & The Ghalat Family @ High Spirits, Pune
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