The Biggest Letdown was the artist or event that we expected much of but were disappointed because of. The nominees for Biggest Letdown are

Blue Frog increasing weekend gate charge

It’s no secret that if you’re lower-middle class, perhaps spending twelve nights a month watching gigs at Blue Frog is not the right financial plan. The previous gate charge plan was simple – gigs start at 9:30pm (not) so get to the venue by 9pm or earlier to avoid a Rs 300 entry charge. They then changed this to a gig start timing of 10:30pm while the entry charge on Fridays and Saturdays jumped to Rs 500. Not cool.

Pascal of Bollywood at NCPA

Pascal of Bollywood – French singer of Hindi songs – promised much energy, multi-coloured costumes and a whole lot of fun. What we got was what looked like a piece of budget karaoke. The accent amused, but only for a bit. The gregarious Parisian was unsure about whether he was a novelty act or a serious crooner with a penchant for strange outfits, and as a result we got a bland performance that made us leave at the interval.

Hit â??Moreâ?? for the rest of the nominees and the Biggest Letdown â??08.

Radius at Hard Rock Cafe

Delhi band Radius promised much – the dude from (the erstwhile) Metakix on guitar, a vocalist who has a Hindi music album to his credit, and a rapper. Indiecision said of their set, â??Mostly, the band sounded like â??90s alternative, with frequent and noticeable errors.â? The band battled sound problems and lost in a mess of mistimed notes and an MC who could only be heard saying â??Mumbai!â? and â??Yeah! Yeah!â? every few minutes.

Gandhi’s Cookbook at Blue Frog

Thanks in part to a name that hit right home, Dubai’s Gandhi’s Cookbook were hyped as the most exciting young band to emerge out of the Emirates. Apparently, the punk act sounded a lot better on paper than they did live. Something Relevant was slated to open for the group, but after what was obviously a shockingly bad soundcheck the management of Blue Frog decided to flip the order. The idea: since they were committed to a gig by GB, they decided to get it over and done with way before most people would arrive. These were the days when 10pm gigs would regularly start at 11pm – if you arrived at that hour, like we did, you ended up shelling out Rs 500 for (as nice as they are) the STR boys, who you’ve seen many, many times before.

Rock On!!

The release of the film Rock On!! was bound to create a stir in the Indian rock scene. With all its double exclamation mark nomenclature and no-bassist-but-whatâ??s-that-low-note-I-hear goofs, the film affected plenty of sensibilities. Notwithstanding the fact that this was, of course, a Bollywood product, we wished there was a little more authenticity when it came to producing a film with Indian actors and the word ‘rock’ in the title.

And the Biggest Letdown â??08 was

Gandhi’s Cookbook, for a hyped gig that nobody watched.

Head to the Indiecision â??08 homepage for all the details and the awards.

The Worst Co-op was the poorest Bollywood-’rock’ combo we were subjected to in ’08. The nominees for Worst Co-op are

Rock On!! hailed as the first authentic Hindi film about Indian rock
Rock On!! had an above average soundtrack – an above average Bollywood soundtrack. If Bollywood equals pop in India, it was an above average pop soundtrack. Rock it was not. In any event, the soundtrack was better than the film. The film was as authentic as a rock band without a bass player, in which the sound of the bass “magic”ally emerges out of the keyboard.

Hit â??Moreâ?? for the rest of the nominees and the Worst Co-op â??08.

Himesh Reshammiya heads the rock gharana on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa

While most of the gharanas or houses on the immensely popular reality show are given names one can clearly relate with their mentors -Shankar Mahadevan heads up the Laksya gharana (he scored the soundtrack of the 2004 film called Lakshya), Pritam presides over the Dhoom gharana (he scored the soundtrack of the 2004 film called Dhoom) – for some inexplicable reason, Reshammiya is the head of the rock gharana. He might want to be India’s answer to Michael Jackson or Bryan Adams but the nasal-voiced singer, composer and actor is about as rock as Britney Spears’s lost wedding ring.

Saif Ali Khan plays the guitar, with Parikrama

The moment Saif Ali Khan was featured in that paints commercial, his career took a radical turn. Suddenly, he became the go-to guy for producers who wanted actors who could hold guitars and not look like total buffoons. The result, somewhat understandably, was a gig with Parikrama. And then another one. And another one, till his fingers apparently bled on stage and the audience was left to wonder what exactly he was doing there in the first place.

And the Worst Co-op ’08 was

Himesh Reshammiya.

Head to the Indiecision â??08 homepage for all the details and the awards.

Yesterday’s Bombay Times had this (pictured above) little advertisement hidden away beside pictures of Xtina and Hugh Jackman.

Freedom was a rock act that had its heyday in the early ’00s. With guitarist Chandresh Kudwa (now Dream Out Loud) and a tight set of original music, the band were biggies in the Mumbai scene.

Vidyadhar Bhave was the lead singer of Freedom. According to his MySpace

The band split. Due to pressure at home where Music was not seen as a full time profession Vidya had to take a job in a Call centre, and life was as it is for anyone else, he got married to the love of his life and did his corporate job regularly. He currently is working with a Leading Broking house and on the other hand is doing every bit to make a successful album with the intent of not just reaching the masses, but reaching the masses with the Music that they can relate too. Now he is ready with his first album and ready to enthrall the audiences with more and more rocking performances and compositions.

Said first album is Away From Love, which is bring pimped Sital Banerjee style.

To be honest, Saif Ali Khan can play the guitar. Maybe not too well, and maybe not too flashy. But he can play the guitar.

Which puts him in an enviable position. Bollywood producers looking to cash in on the Rock On!! phenomenon can look to Khan to provide them that real rock look. Which is what Imtiaz Ali intends to do in a new feature film called Rock Star.

Khan said

It’s a film called Rock Star. I don’t know if I’m equipped to handle it. Rock music is about a lot of attitude. More than just playing with an attitude, it’s the way of thinking. I need to be more true to the music. It’s easy to call any star a rock star. But I think it’s more than your lifestyle. It’s about being able to live your life the way you want.

Sure.

Khan will also be playing with more Indian bands in the near future. He told Mumbai Mirror

I want to play with a group of friends, jamming and enjoying myself without any care in the world. On Friday night I spoke to the other rock musicians and we’ve decided to play at some smaller gatherings, colleges, etc, on a regular basis.

This probably means that Parikrama will soon be out of business.

At one point during the Rock On For Humanity gig, Sophie (pictured above) announced on stage, “We have raised rupees one crore ninety one lakhs!” *crowd roars* About an hour later she appeared again and announced, “We have raised rupees one crore ninety one lakhs!”

What made it awesome-er was the huge sign on the big screen that said “1,91,00,000″. Both times.

The numbers have been tallied folks and the (heavily PR driven) results are in. Rock On For Humanity generated Rs 32,000,000.

Prior to the event, Farhan Akhtar promised

If the concert works, we will do some more concerts for other causes in India. And the money raised will be used for charity.

If Rs 32,000,000 qualifies as ‘works’, then expect Rock On For The Stock Market soon, before it bounces back up, please bounce back up.