The evening had a slow start due heavy downpour but Imaad, who was seen setting the stage and arranging the instruments on his own, seemed undeterred.
His curly, tangled hair was a mild reminder of the legendary John Lennon.[break]
Imaad was in town to promote his upcoming film ‘404’. The music for the film is composed by his band ‘The Pulp Society’ and he has lent his voice to all the songs.
The fuss resulted by the delay due to the rain was silenced the moment the band took to the stage as the audience swayed and grooved forgetting everything.
Imaad began with “Kiss,” a 1986 single by Prince and The Revolution and closed with the same song. While the opening was a solo the last song was a duet with Rachel Varghese, a model and singer who was accompanying him.
Rachel, who stood quietly in the audience recording the whole act, has also performed a duo alongside Imaad for the movie 404. “I love to sing,” she said. The winner of ‘V Get Gorgeous (fourth edition)’-- a model hunt reality show aired on channel V, she spoke about her desire to visit Pokhara and go boating.
“I have always wanted to perform in Nepal,” she said. Swaying to Imaad’s performance, she said his songs and music are laced with “subtle sarcasm”.
Rachel later took stage and performed a solo and duets. The song “It’s all in the mind” from the movie ‘404’ has been recorded in her and Imaad’s voice.
While the audiences grooved throughout the band’s performance, the evening’s highlight were two songs “Psycho Baba” and “Kya Dekhraha Hai,” both part of the movie’s soundtrack.
Because the gig was for the promotion of the movie, also present at the event were Prawaal Raman, the movie’s director, Kapil Mattoo, a co-producer, and the lead actor Rajvvir Aroraa.
The cast and crew, who took to the stage for introducing themselves, said their film ‘404’ is a ‘psychological thriller.’ The plot circles around ‘Abhimanyu’, a medical student who moves into a forbidden room despite all others in his college urging him against it. Soon he finds himself caught up in the wave of illusion and reality.
“The music by Pulp Society is very young and it suits the movie,” said Prawaal adding “I even made a few changes in the movie to incorporate the bands songs.”
The band categorizes its music as ‘skanky funk with disco style bass and groovy pockets’ and has members from varied backgrounds.
The band expressed gratitude to the audience at the end terming it as ‘a great one.’ “They were really happy to see the spectators enjoying the evening in spite of the rain,” said Robin Sitoula, event director for the gig. In the audience, was Imaad’s father and veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah, who maintained a low profile throughout the evening.
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