'If it is Coldplay, I don't think Bollywood needed to be there.'
'If you put Bollywood everywhere, I don't think other bands will come to India.'
Rediff.com's Jahnavi Patel listens to voices from the Global Citizen India festival.
"Coldplay is the purest form of love!" exclaims Rishabh Vaid.
A sound designer and aspiring filmmaker, Rishabh was one of the lucky youngsters who featured in an AV at the Global Citizen India festival in Mumbai last weekend. He came on right before Coldplay, the British rock band, came on stage.
Rishabh, like the rest of the crowd, had waited for hours to see Chris Martin and mates perform. The waiting was no picnic.
Standing in the hot November sun, with no water or food for hours, along with about 80,000 other people, was tough, but he was totally okay with it.
So how did he feature in the AV?
"My friend and I were waiting in the queue when two guys walked up to us because they saw our colourful t-shirts. They asked us if we could given them a byte," he explains.
They were more than happy to do so.
"We learnt that one of them was a Coldplay crew member. He asked us to say something in Hindi and said it would be seen by Chris Martin personally, that it would be used to introduce Coldplay on stage," he adds.
A few hours later, they lived the moment of our lives.
"When the AV played, I couldn't stop screaming! I couldn't control the emotion flowing inside me. Tears just came streaming down my face," Rishabh recalls.
He paid Rs 10,000 for his spot in the Silver Zone.
Was it worth it?
"It was a dream I lived," he says happily. "Watching Chris Martin singing Vande Mataram was the highlight of the night. When he showed his love for India, I loved him even more!"
Janam Muni, a sales executive, bought a Rs 10,000 ticket as well.
"It was one of the most magical nights ever. I had goosebumps seeing Coldplay live. One thing off my bucket list," he says.
Bollywood, however, didn't impress Janam as much.
"I wanted to see Shah Rukh Khan perform and expected a performance by Arijit Singh. Ranveer Singh was the best Bollywood performer of the night," he says.
College students Nikita and Sunni went with Nikita's cousin Saloni. "We were waiting since 11 am to enter the show," says Nikita.
They paid Rs 6,000 each for the concert tickets.
Coldplay wasn't the reason for their excitement.
"We were waiting for Farhan Akhtar!" they chime. "And Coldplay," they add as an afterthought.
Law students Nishi, Megha and Priyanka were very excited about Coldplay, but not about Bollywood.
"I could moderately get excited about Shah Rukh Khan, but that's about it," Megha says.
They didn't want to sit through four hours of Bollywood, as that's "not their scene."
"Honestly, if they had Indian Ocean or Parikrama or any other music line-up, it would be better," she adds.
Gagan Chaudhary traveled from Delhi for the concert, just to watch Coldplay perform.
"If it is Coldplay, I don't think Bollywood needed to be there. If you put Bollywood everywhere, I don't think other bands will come to India," he says.
Payal, a housewife, accompanied her college-going daughter Supra to the concert.
"I am crazy about them!" Payal exclaims about Coldplay.
Her daughter gives us the real picture. "She loves Coldplay, but my mom has come for the Bollywood line-up. She enjoys Hindi songs."
