With their finger on the pulse of what the youth of Calcutta are passionate about, Coca-Cola in their latest event tied in the twin loves that keep the city fuelled — food and music. Coca-Cola Kolkata Is Cooking, held on November 17 and 18 at the Aquatica Grounds, was a celebration of high-octane music and gastronomic delights. After Coca-Cola’s Lucknow and Delhi editions this year, the brand arrived at the City of Joy to celebrate Calcutta’s love for food and music. Over the two days, the venue was packed with foodies and music lovers from all over the city. The fest featured 40 popular food brands and rocking performances by eminent local and national singers. The face of this one-of-a-kind project by Coca-Cola was Calcutta’s ‘dada’, Sourav Ganguly.
Four food pavilions were set up at the venue, namely, Flavours of Bengal, Food e Fusion, Kolkata Street Eats and The Lost Kitchen, each headed by a celebrity — Abir Chatterjee, Monami Ghosh, Mir Afsar Ali and Sohini Sarkar. The eventwas emceed by RJ Agni.
The evening of Day One, November 17, featured performances by fusion band Shaktay, followed by Bengali band Lakkhichhara, Indie alt-rock band The Yellow Diary, Indian pop rock band Euphoria, and last but not the least, Bengali rock band Fossils and Friends, who were joined by different artistes to treat the audience with an electrifying jugalbandi. Actors Abir Chatterjee and Monami Ghosh dropped by the first day to support their respective food pavilions, where they interacted with fans, tasted some mouthwatering food and enjoyed the performances.
Day Two started with the Indian folk band Dindun, followed by performance of Antara Nandy, folk/pop band When Chai Met Toast, an eclectic showcase of music by Coke Studio Bangla and finally for whom the audience waited for two days — Amit Trivedi, who gave a spectacular closing performance of Coca-Cola Kolkata Is Cooking. Mir Afsar Ali and Sohini Sarkar dropped in to have some fun with the audience and support their food pavilions. t2 gets you all the details of the fest.
DAY 1
Fossils! Fossils! Fossils! As the crowd chanted the band’s name at 9.50pm, emerged the king of Bengali Rock — Rupam Islam — along with his band. The band started their performance with Keno korle erokom and continued with some hits like Ekla ghor, Hansnuhana, Nemesis, Acid and many more.
Day One’s line-up mentioned Fossils and Friends and hence Fossils was joined by rapper EPR, frontman of Euphoria Dr Palash Sen, drummer Sambit Chatterjee and Pandit Subhen Chatterjee to treat the audience with an astounding combo. “I’ve grown up listening to Fossils. Rupam Islam was a frontman I used to study, the way he performs on stage. I manifested this for a long time. In my journey, I never thought I’ll be performing with one of my favourite bands of all time but here I am performing with Rupam Da today. It’s an unbelievable moment,” said rapper EPR Iyer.
(l-r) When indie met rock! Palash Sen performed Hansnuhana without a rehearsal with Fossils. A Fossils concert is incomplete without headbangs and the audience banged their heads as Sambit Chatterjee joined Fossils on the drums as they performed Nemesis
Face of the Coca-Cola Kolkata Is Cooking campaign, Sourav Ganguly made a special appearance to make the night more exciting. The crowd cheered “Dada! Dada!” as he stepped in and said, “It’s been 12 years with Coco-Cola and I’m so glad that they have featured such amazing and my favourite food stalls here, as everyone knows I’m a big foodie! (laughs) I’m happy that Coca-Cola organised such a grand event with food and great music.”
DAY 2
The Many Moods of Amit Trivedi:
The most awaited final show of Coca-Cola Kolkata Is Cooking featured playback and indie-pop singer Amit Trivedi who wooed the audience with his passionate voice and music. He started with Namo Namo and continued dropping one hit after the other as the audience joined him.
Trivedi shook a leg to the Rajasthani beats when he perfomed Chaudhary from Coke Studio.
Amit Trivedi brought the ultimate vibes of Coke Studio to the stage as he played the piano when he and his team performed the soft and intense music of Yeh fitoor mera.
Coke Studio Bangla made the audience high-spirited with their eclectic music featuring multiple artistes like Arnob, Meghdhol, Emon Chowdhury, Runa Laila and many more who paid an ode to Bangladeshi music performing Indian classical, folk music and many more. They performed songs like Nasek nasek, Bonobibi, Bhober pagol, Deora, Kotha koiyo na and many more, which made the audience dance to the folk beats. Coke Studio Bangla also paid tribute to Bengali band Mohiner Ghoraguli as they performed Prithibi ta naki chhoto hote hote.
Pritom Hasan, Shayan Chowdhury Arnob, Sunidhi Nayak
FOOD, MOOD AND COCA-COLA!
The audience couldn’t resist grooving to the upbeat music. Sharanya Nath (in pink) and Sahana Mitra were spotted dancing. They said, “Nostalgic, eclectic and energetic are some of the many emotions we felt at the Coca-Cola concert. Exhilarating vocals of Amit Trivedi and Arnob struck a deep chord within us. Definitely, danced the night away and made unforgettable memories. We had delicious biryani from Oudh and a lot of Coca-cola!”