Sonu Nigam escapes blast but continues concert
Singer Sonu Nigam, who escaped a car bomb blast outside his concert venue in Karachi, continued with his show but felt the incident would be a huge setback for the India-Pakistan peace process.
"God has given me and my family another chance to live!" Nigam told IANS from Karachi.
He described Saturday night's blast -- in which one person was killed and six others were injured -- as a huge setback to the India-Pakistan peace process and one that would have far-reaching repercussions on cultural relations between the two countries.
A car bomb exploded outside a golf club that was the venue of a concert by the Bollywood singer and Pakistani artists. The bomb went off close to the bus transporting Nigam and his troupe to the venue.
For the singer, the bomb attack in Karachi, where he had gone to perform at a peace concert, has been a shattering experience on many levels.
"My entire family -- my parents, wife and sister could have been wiped out in one split second," Nigam said. "It's such a scary thought, I haven't allowed it to sink in as yet. We're all in a state of shock."
He said his first thought was to fly back home to Mumbai right away. But the singer did not cancel the concert.
"I went on stage and performed for four hours. Can you imagine, I gave a blast of a time to the Pakistani fans after escaping a blast," Sonu laughed at the pun.
On a serious note, he said: "It was a question of my reputation as an artiste and my faith in humanity. I couldn't let the expectant audience down just because of a handful of fanatical spoilsports."
Recounting the attack, Nigam said: "It was meant to be the biggest live performance ever with a crowd of 7,000-8,000 people, so I guess the fanatics couldn't have chosen better.
"At 10.15 in the night when the car in front of our bus blew up just 10 feet away, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. My family and singer Soumya Rao rushed out of the bus thinking it could blow up in our face any moment."
Nigam, however, felt the show's organisers should have made more stringent security arrangements.
Nigam felt this terrorist attack would be a huge setback to the peace process and cultural exchanges.
"Who would want to come here (Pakistan) to perform at the cost of one's life? It's truly sad," he asked. "In India we've extended a red carpet welcome to artistes like Adnan Sami and Azmat Ali. Just yesterday there was the announcement of a Bollywood film with a Pakistani actor.
"Would I ever want to come back to Pakistan? Right now I just want to return home safe with my family."
source : http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/hindi/article/9042.html
comment:
p_commentcount