2007 -The Year of Raja Hasan’s Life
Everyone has a year that he or she would remember for a long time. For some, it would have been a path breaking year - a year when a crucial turnaround would have taken place. Or a year when their life’s biggest joy would have arrived. (For me, it was 2002, when I received a full-fledged degree in nappy changing).
For Raja Hasan, 2007 would be an unforgettable year. And perhaps for many of us too.
It was in 2007, that Raja’s life took an unexpected, but a well-deserved turnaround. From days as a struggling singer in Mumbai, it was in this year that all his perseverance finally paid off. Till the middle of 2007, he still was doing his small-time gigs and Ghazal performances in outskirts Mumbai. Till he walked into the Saregamapa auditions and sang a too-often repeated song - Kal ho na ho - in front of Vishal and Shekhar. The judges were impressed - yet still not impressed enough to select him for the main draw.
But Raja was used to struggles. He was drafted into the Eklavya team, and this round saw extremely serious competition. And then we spotted him on television. His first appearance with ‘Meri Zindagi Ek Khwaab’ drew him praise, and got him a step closer to the main draw. And then came the famed yellow-kurta-blue-jeans performance of Allah ke Bande. And suddenly people were asking - who is this guy? It was an in-and-out sequence from then. He was shown the door in the Brahmastra round and was voted back in soon after.
And then, there was no stopping Raja. Round after round his performances were magical. He continued to top voting results. Till Zee found the results too predictable for their liking. And then came the biggest moment of his year - When Shankar Ehsaan Loy, impressed by Raja, called him over for recording a song.
Raja continued his magic. There were rude interruptions in between thanks to Himesh and Zee’s manipulative ways - but that only helped in building his fan base even further. And then came the only big moment of disappointment - when he didn’t go on to win the Saregamapa title. Zee had swindled millions of their money - but Raja simply shrugged it off.
He got down to business. Suddenly Raja was everywhere. He was doing shows all over the country, recording songs for big banners as well as regional films. By now, he had a massive fan following. And that is what mattered.
Finally, he took of for the world-tour - where he simply dominated. He pulled ticket sales, brought in crowds and gave them their money’s worth. He clearly was a star. But the best part - he never behaved like one. He remained the same simple, humble guy he always was. No tantrums, no arrogance. He still was the Raja of 2006.
Quite clearly, this year was Raja’s year of his life. But then he could go to further heights next year. Hopefully, with his song releases next year, we’ll be saying the same thing next year - that 2008 is Raja’s year of his life.
Now, I think we need to bug Raffu to give us our prizes. Raffu, are you there????...
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Not only for Raja, 2007 would also be an unforgettable year for all raja-fans.They saw a star to born before their eyes. They fell in love with someone special, whom they will love forever.They heard one singer, whom they will like to hear rest of their life.
Absolutely…….
RHB it was a different year altogether…people like me who never believed in fanhood suddenly started calling themselves as Hard Core Fans.
It was indeed a musical year - especially the second half - with all those sand dunes dancing to the tunes of King Hasan.
Though SRGMP had mixed reactions we are definitely at a winning end for having Raja with us. The precious Gem worth preserving for the years to come.
Beautifully and aptly written as usual Manish.
Ditto as DoReMiFaSo for me: this year saw me doing the most uncharacteristic of things because just like her, never had I either believed in or practised fanhood, fanhood bordering on mania, making me as close as ever possible to a possessed spirit, voting through days and nights, spending days and nights without an iota of sleep, promoting a man that I had never met and have yet to meet all over the place, be it through e-mails to friends, in my classrooms, at dhabas, crossroads (literally, not a word of this is exaggerated), on the saregama rediffmail blog (my first ever entry into the blogging world) trying to win over fence-sitters for my object of worship, the losing of very very important clients and goodwill all around, the adject misery, dejection and refusal to accept the unfair verdict, the wanting-to-fight-it-out mood that carried on for eons, discovering a whole new family of choice right here thanks to you dear manish and so on and so forth… And the madness continues.
So as you see, for so many of us, such a landmark year.
Sometimes I wonder, what has Raja done to me??? The sane albeit workaholic person that I was, the rational being that I prided myself to be first and foremost.
Anyway I am most joyous and reassured thanks to this site for having discovered that I had not gone completely and irrevocably INSANE because there were out here many many sane and most wonderful individuals behaving just like me.
Once again THANKS my most deepfelt and heartfelt THANKS for everything to you Manish, to Jugal and to all of you, my fellow driven-to-madness by raja friends.
hehe I wrote adject instead of abject!!!
A hangover from Ishaan the dyslexic mirror image plagued child of the Taree Zameen par fame????
and sorry for such a long post guys. Pardon me. You see from time to time one feels the need to pour it all out I guess.
padma I really enjoyed your post you write well too.
I have never been part of a forum before and this is my first experience and I am throughly enjoying it.
I will never be able to forget 2007 as we have just witnessed the birth of a star that is our Raja:)
thanks Sudha.
Take care.
padma
Thats absolutely right RHB….every1 has a year to remember for the whole life….and every1 sees ups and downs…
For us all Raja Fan this year will be something special as we got a star and a “Raja” of hearts…
Raja we all wish u a happy, prosperous and a very sucessful year ahead….
raja is very bellesed for what happened to him it all because of his hard work and his big heart. raja this was your year . and it was big . raja this is been a good year for me to cause i got to watch my favorite singer week after week . raja 2007 has been a good year for you , and for us was that we found a good singer which is you. happy new year
thats right .2007 is the year which not only RAJA but we all rajafans can never forget .cuz this year we met the cutest,humblest,innocent,handsome magician.etc.etc.(the list will never come to an end.),(farishta) named the king all the way RAJA HASAN.
hi raja u r the good singer mujhie ko ap ka song ALLAH KA BANDA bhoot acha lag tha ha west of luck in life ……
ap ka aur songs be acha ha aur ap ka hair styli bhoot acha ha ok bye…..