Media Release
Dubai, Dec 15: History was created on December 10 at the Emirates Theatre as the very first Konkani mega event was successfully held after a long gap of two years witnessed by a house full audience. Ivory Grand Real Estate presented the Konkani mega event of the evening and it became the first event in the Arabian Gulf after the Covid 19 pandemic, which overwhelmed the hearts of the audience. It succeeded in bringing the Konkani crowd of UAE together after a long time. As promised by Dony Correa, this event succeeded in giving the audience a time of fun, frolic and complete non-stop entertainment with ‘Retro Manjari’ and ‘Sikeram Driver’. Dony Correa took the initiative to resume programs in the hope of inspiring teams and artists to have a platform who yearned for the stage. More than 25 multi-lingual local artistes were a part of this successful show.
Dony Correa, the main organizer of the show along with his able team contributed Rs 3.25 lac for charity from the collection of the show. He assured the audience that this amount was the excess amount after the expenses were met. Dony Correa and the team wanted to contribute to the society in their own little way. This was appreciated by all the sponsors and audience.
Retro Manjari
The event began with the entertainment program. Retro Manjari presented by TRU SUPPLY was an innovative and creative concept where entertainment was based on the Retro theme. It was a mind-blowing unique concept which was one of its kind and very first time to be seen on the stage. The enthralling emcee, Asha Correa, took the audience back to the retro era portraying as news anchor. She did not leave a stone unturned in rewinding the nostalgic moments. The session included old songs, dances, memorable ads from the Doordarshan era and was a complete success when presented combined and was a masterpiece. The session started with a multi religious prayer song to depict that God is one and he lives within us. Deona Correa, Sheryl Crasta and Delisha Correa beautifully portrayed this prayer dance. Dony Correa and Preema D’Souza transformed into a retro couple took the audience back to the 70’s with beautiful singing of ‘Mujya Gharkara’ and ‘Pavlina’ the very popular old songs of Wilfy Rebimbus. Joseph Mathias rendered Sophia’ beautiful song of Melwin Peris in his unique and creative retro style. They ushered a wave of Nostalgia with their songs. The energy and the roar of the audience continued as ‘Girish Narayan’ presented himself as Dr Rajkumar and sang ‘Jenina Holeyo’ just like Dr Raj. He was successful in mimicking the artist successfully. Malcon Rego enthralled the audience as a journalist. Gautham Bangera and team presented their dazzling dance medley of nostalgic songs. Gautam Bangera was the choreographer for the evening for all the dances. Lighting up the mood to end the ‘Retro Manjari’ were a group of modern oldies who astound the crowd putting them to fits of laughter. Lucy Lobo Aranha, Veena Mendonca, Preethi D’Souza, Ramesh Suvarna, Henry D’Almeida and Baptist D’Almeida were dressed as the perfect Modern Oldies. They presented three decades of development in songs and dances in their 5 minutes dance session. The crowd cheered them loudly with a once more scream and this brought a perfect end to ‘Retro Manjari’ amidst the cheer, laughter and claps of the crowd.
Asha Correa then conducted a brief felicitation to the sponsors of the event.
Sikeram Driver
Delmon Group of companies presented Sikeram Driver an acclaimed Konkani drama by the late Mick Max. The storyline of the drama glued the audience to their seats. Following the two houseful shows held in Dubai and Bahrain the third show illustrated the artist’s emotions perfectly. Sunil Suvarna as a lorry cleaner, Robert Mendonca as mentally challenged son and Cleevan Mendonca as angry young man surprised the audience with their inbuilt acting skills. Vincy Lobo and Cynthia Mendonca did full justification to their roles. Proven actress Asha Correa was delightful to watch. Dony Correa who not only directed the drama but portrayed Sikeram’s role lived the character and added an additional charm to the whole drama. Dony’s superb dialogue delivery and apt acting captivated the hearts of the audience. All the characters fit perfectly into their roles and looked like they were the real characters and not just actors. The drama was perfectly supported by the technical team with awesome lighting arrangement and perfect music. Melwin Kalakul handled the lights to perfection and Rohan Kalakul sprinkled the magic music to the drama. The technical team enhanced the beauty and added zest to the drama and took it to a next level. Veena Mendonca, Ashok Dalmeida and Malcon Rego were a great support as they handled the stage. Beautiful make up was done by Kishor Ghatti, a well-known Yakshagana artist of the region.
Brilliant stage was set by Streamline Middle East LLC, for Retro Manjari and Sikeram Driver. There was a freshness and new beauty in the stage setting and the audience was of all praise for the beautiful stage setting done by Streamline Middle East.
Brilliant light and sound setting by Broadway Event Management contributed to the success of the drama.
The organizers also arranged for free water and refreshments to take away after the programme. The full house audience applauded the organizers for being thoughtful during this Covid time and for providing them food and water. On the whole this show was a highly successful one, as it enthralled the audience to the fullest, took care of the food and refreshments and at the end contributed a part to charity which gave the complete satisfaction to the sponsors and the audience.
Daijiworld was the exclusive media partner of the event. Emcee Asha Correa thanked Daijiworld media and Walter Nandalike for his continuous support towards to the organizers.