Actor Dev greets the audience. (Shubham Paul)

“Last year, I had a talk with Pritam and asked him if he would perform for us,” mayor Sabyasachi Dutta, who is the president of Maitri Sangha, told the audience. “He agreed immediately and we are delighted to have him with us.”

As a surprise guest came Tollywood actor Dev. “Pritamda’s success is our pride, but here’s hoping he composes soon for a Bengali film too,” he said.

The audience was charged up by all the action, although some were cross at not getting seats. “We have passes to sit and watch the show but all the chairs are taken! What option do we have but to stand,” a lady shouted at a bouncer when he asked her to move out so as not to block the view for those seated behind her.

“There are very few such big shows that take place in the city and their tickets are beyond our reach. So every year, we wait to find out who would come to perform at Maitri Sangha for Kali puja and come over,” said Monalisa Sengupta of BJ Block.

Ae dil hai mushkil, Tum mile, Tu jaane na…. Thousands gathered at BF Park on Saturday for the gala musical night of Salt Lake Maitri Sangha Kali puja where Bollywood composer Pritam and six singers belted out one hit after another.

Mamata Shankar’s ballet dance troupe set the mood early in the evening, while students of their dance school Udayaan Kala Kendra performed to film songs. “Thank you for inviting us,” said Shankar. “We are trying to set up a dance school here in Salt Lake to keep the art thriving here.”

At around 9pm, the lights went out, the screen on stage showcased Pritam’s journey in the industry as the singers took stage and introduced the man himself.

And then there was no looking back. Shalmali Kholgade sang Dhoom machale, Antara Mitra belted out Crazy kia re, Sreerama Chandra presented Hai junoon…Also on stage were Nakash Aziz, Mohammed Irfan and Amit Mishra and they were all joined by Pritam in singing Illahi.

“Twenty-five years ago, I was at a similar park in Salt Lake, performing for the first time with Bangla band Chandrabindu but the ground was near-empty. I was having to ask my friends to come over. And today, 25 years later here I am again in Salt Lake and so many people have gathered to watch me. This is an emotional moment,” said Pritam.