Dubai: Bollywood hunk Shahid Kapoor chose to weave his way onto the stage through the crowd, while American R&B singer Kelly Rowland wanted to be closer to her fans as she sang – all the while asking the beefy guards to back off.
It’s not every day that the stars from East and West share a stage to entertain fans, but that’s what happened at the grand finale of Shoppiesta held at Meydan grounds on Sunday.
Drama
Agreed there was a bit of drama before the stars from the East and West were this in-sync, with tabloid! witnessing a drama of sorts when Kapoor seemingly over-stayed on stage earlier in the evening, rehearsing and thereby eating into the slot given to other singers.
But all that was forgotten when they all appeared to wow thousands who bore the sweltering heat to see their idols in action.
Jacqueline Fernandez, of Murder 2 fame, was the chosen one to get the Bollywood show on the road shortly after midnight. Shimmering her way into stage she danced energetically to the raunchy track Sheila Ki Jawani made popular by Katrina Kaif and her hit Apni To Jaise Taise.
Though her dance moves bore some resemblance to her previous gig in Dubai during the Gr8 Women Awards night, the Sri Lankan beauty still won the crowds over with her accented Hindi.
Go-to girl
Bollywood’s go-to girl for item songs Malaika Arora also added her two-cents worth with her Munni Badnaam track.
But it was Deepika Padukone’s entry that elicited the most catcalls and whistles from the Bollywood fans. She began her routine by emerging from swathes of glittering red chiffon and danced to her dreamy hit Khuda Jaane from Bachna Ae Haseeno.
But it was her racy Dum Maro Dum track that got the crowd on their feet (yes, even the sedate gentlemen seated on the VVIP row).
High-octane
But if you dig a high-octane entry and exit, then it was Shahid Kapur and Priyanka Chopra who won that round. Chopra chose to zoom onstage in a Ferrari convertible while Kapoor perched on the metal railings screaming his dialogue from Kaminey.
He did that only after his vociferous greeting: “Hello, Dubai – are you having fun?”.
If his dramatic entry didn’t have his fans edging closer to the stage, then his antics - like breaking a bottle on his head - did the trick (his character in Kaminey was slightly eccentric and violence-prone).
Energetic
Meanwhile Chopra showed that girls can do it even better. Her high-octane moves to Desi Girl and Anjaana Anjaani was given a unanimous nod, while the music from Don 2 put her show on the road.
As far as energetic performances go, it was Shahid Kapoor that stole the show – even if it meant waiting till 2am in the sweltering heat.
