KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 — In recent months, popular musicians from South India have made Kuala Lumpur their go-to destination to kick start their concert tours.
The latest to follow suit is Indian rockstar Anirudh Ravichander who wowed around 8,500 fans in his ‘Glow in the dark’ themed concert held at the Axiata Arena Bukit Jalil on Saturday.
Later yesterday, he was introduced as brand ambassador for the latest Tamil over-the-top (OTT) streaming service, Aha.
Prior to Anirudh’s event, local Indian music fans got to see playback singer Sid Sriram mesmerise them with his soulful performance, then fans got a chance to witness Thaikuddam Bridge’s headbanging performances.
Anirudh’s show however was a full-on party concert from the start to the end.
Energetic, stunning visuals and plain crazy is the best way to describe the 31-year-old’s Saturday night’s party concert.
This was the first time the award-winning Indian music composer, playback singer, producer and instrumentalist executed his long-planned idea of having a ‘glow in the dark’ concert.
He sought inspiration from British rock band Coldplay who are known for such themed performances.
The concert was organised by MC Entertainment. The company's Creative Director, Edwin Anand Raj and Chief Executive Officer, Dineshwaran T Rajagopalu deserves to be applauded as this was the first ever concert organised by them.
Fans who were at the standing zones were not just jumping or screaming, but the whole space turned into a dance floor with everyone dancing the night away to Anirudh’s hits numbers such as Vaathi Coming, Kolaveri, Don’u Don’u Don’u, Selfie Pulla, and Dippam Dappam.
Anirudh belted out a total of 43 songs for his fans and concluded the concert with the crowd’s favourite Arabic Koothu.
Local fans proved why Indian performers set Kuala Lumpur as the location for their concerts, as fans vibed with full energy for five hours straight.
The LED programmable Xyloband planned by MC Entertainment illuminated the entire venue, creating a stunning light show throughout the concert.
The stadium changed ”colours” each time according to the mood of every song that Anirudh performed creating an amazing light show simultaneously.
Local opening act Balan Kashmir also got the crowd to stand up for a rendition of Malaysia’s national anthem before kick-starting the concert.
Fans showed patriotism as they stood up proudly and sang as Balan led the Negaraku song while waving the Jalur Gemilang.
Meanwhile, DJ Jay known for his talent of hyping up the crowd did not fail to do it again.
Alongside him was DJ Ruckes, a certified instructor at Pioneer DJ Showroom who further elevated the evening as he played some fan favourite classic Tamil hits.
The ‘Coldplay’ surprise
During his third set, Anirudh created a magical moment with fans when his keyboard was placed on a head ramp in the middle of the arena and he started serenading fans with his melody hit songs such as Po Nee Po and Kanave Kanave.
This act of his was similar to performances by Coldplay, which Anirudh idolises, and has said before the concert that he takes inspiration from the international band.
Fans were thrilled when Anirudh started playing the keyboard and left the singing most of the time to the crowd who just synced perfectly following his notes to his slow hits such Yennai Maatrum Kadhale and Oh Penne.
This part of the act went on for half an hour as the stadium went into a calmer state where everyone was soulfully singing his songs while swaying their phone lights.
Anirudh’s concert was made even more exciting as the rockstar brought along Jonita Gandhi, a Canadian singer of Indian descent.
Jonita is the voice behind chartbuster tracks like The Breakup Song (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil) and Sau Tarah Ke (Dishoom), Chellama (Doctor).
She also ruled fans’ hearts with her latest Arabic Kuthu song with Anirudh.
What made Anirudh’s concert more unique is his backup singers who stood out uniquely having their own individual fans at the show.
Playback singer Yogi Sekar, Super Singer 8 fame RK Adithya, guitarist Sajith Satya’s and Keba Jeremiah, and Gowtham Raam, a famous Indian DJ from Tamilnadu also lit up the whole stadium.
Launch of Aha app
Anirudh attended the Aha app launch as brand ambassador of the streaming service.
The award-winning music composer sang Aaha Kalyanam from the movie Petta to the crowd just so that audiences would be reminded of the word ‘Aha’ and associate it with the latest streaming service.
The Aha app offers a variety of Tamil blockbuster films such as Vikram and Viruman and was launched by Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Saravanan Murugan.
Saravanan, in his speech said that he was excited with Aha being rolled out in Malaysia as it means more exposure given to the Tamil entertainment industry with its talented artists.
Among the notable guests of honours present include Aha’s chief executive officer Ajit Thakur and Aha’s Tamil business head Chidambaram Natesan.
Speaking to Malay Mail, Ajit said the app was important to give opportunities to the Malaysian Tamil content industry and getting local Tamil talents so that they would be more visible in the globally.
He added that a movie is in the pipelines with Chennai-born filmmaker Venkat Prabhu that involves settings in both Malaysia and India.
“We want a platform that can help foster partnerships between the local Tamil community and artists in India through training programmes and hope to amass at least a million subscribers first here in Malaysia.
“With the launch of Aha in Malaysia, we not only want to offer the best Tamil movies and originals to audiences but to also source and create content with local filmmakers and artists,” he said.
Among local Tamil artists who have hinted that they would be working with the local Aha app include Malaysian artiste Mugen Rao and director JK Wicky.
The original Aha app was launched in 2020 in India after a successful two-year run in the arket where it initially streamed Telugu films and has recorded great success across the world with its original programming of web series and movies.
