Sachin Tendulkar made me start watching cricket : AR Rahman

He came, he performed, he conquered. AR Rahman showed Mumbai how to rock the night as he ramped up the amp and put up a spectacular musical pageant at the DY Patil Stadium on Saturday. The show, presented by The Times of India, had the crowd - a rough estimate pegged the headcount at 30,000 - chanting and swaying to the maestro's musical genius.

And if Rahman on stage wasn't enough, you had Sachin Tendulkar and wife Anjali sitting in the audience. There was a break midway through the show when Sachin was invited on stage. "AR Rahman has taken Indian music to a different level, has made it even bigger," said Sachin, as he was gifted a bouquet by Rahman.

"This is guy who made me start watching cricket," laughed the master from Chennai, as the crowd cheered the two icons.

And then there was the music - spectacular and soul-stirring. Rahman led the band of young musicians with his renditions of classics like Dil Se, Kun Faya Kun, Jai Ho and Rubaroo.

Also See : Photos : Sachin Tendulkar & AR Rahman @ DY Patil

The gang of girls - Natalie Di Luccio, Harshdeep Kaur, Neeti Mohan and Shweta Pandit - belted out one hit after another. Mohit Chauhan and Javed Ali set the stage on fire with their sufi and rock numbers from Rockstar.

And it wasn't just Rahman's new hits. Towards the end of the show, Rahman even had his troupe perform some of his classics from south films, like Chikku Bukku Raile from Gentleman.

As the evening drew to a close, and Rahman started singing Vande Mataram to a standing crowd, one could make out that no one's quite like Rahman - so global, yet so Indian.

© TOI