Punjabi antennA
Comedy of confusion
Randeep Wadehra

Satinder Satti: A bundle of spunk and talent

IT has become the most awaited media event in the region. Artistes and audiences alike look forward to the ceremonial anointment of winners in different segments of Punjabi music. The ETC music awards function, held at Kalagram and telecast live on March 18, had all the ingredients of a typical Punjabi do – lots of colour, backslapping bonhomie and razzmatazz mingled with the oh-so-Punjabi goof-ups. A rollercoaster of ups and downs.

On the upside, the anchoring was good. Although Gulshan Grover and Rajeshwari Sachdev took a few minutes to warm up, they did a slick, professional job even while injecting humour into the proceedings in small and suitable doses. It was nice to see Bollywood’s glam icons Juhi Chawla (flashing her famous oh-so-infectious smile) and Nagma (with her trademark half-reluctant-half-eager grin) among the audience.

Nooran Lal, the Pakistani artiste, belted out entertaining numbers. Gurdas Mann has reached that stage in his career when excellence has become a habit with him and he didn’t disappoint. Malkit Singh too sent the audience into raptures. But the surprise packet was Satinder Satti in an item girl’s avatar. She did a couple of numbers that resembled part folk, part ballet and part breakdance. Exciting stuff. One knew her as a popular anchor, model and actress. Now she has revealed her dancing skills too. The lady is proving to be a lively bundle of talent and spunk.

On the downside, it was like all Indian functions, starting two hours late. If you’re familiar with Punjabi weddings, you would’ve condoned the colossal delay. You must’ve come across situations where right at the time of jaimala ceremony, it was discovered that the garlands were mislaid, sending the person(s) in charge into a holy tizzy. But what if either the bride or the groom was missing? Somewhat similar was the condition of Ashwini Sharma, an ETC functionary, who had to play proxy and march up to the stage half a dozen times to collect trophies on behalf of assorted awardees. In fact, one of the presumed absentees, Gurpreet Ghuggi, was noticed among the audience frantically calling someone on his cellphone. And, on one occasion, Sharma had almost collected the award for the best music director too, when the actual winner, Jaydev, scrambled up the podium. A real comedy of confusion, this.

But not all gaffes were funny. For example the treatment meted out to Wadali brothers was avoidable. Where was the need to place them at par with other contestants in the best Sufi album category?

It would’ve been much more dignified to honour them with a special award/citation for their immense contribution to Punjabi music in general and Sufi music in particular. Their status is too exalted to be trifled with in this manner. Someone should’ve told the Delhi-Mumbai based organisers that our culture’s stalwarts ought to be shown due deference. Lack of coordination and sensibility remained the weak links of this show.