Newark: On August 10, 2002 an explosion of modeling talent, color and fabric lit up the Chandni Restaurant in Newark, California (San Francisco Bay Area) as Desithrill, a premier South Asian clothing outlet of this area (www.desithrill.com) held its annual “Desi Hangama” fashion show accompanied by a dance party and dinner. And if one had misgivings about the community’s capability to stage such an event, I can testify that the gathering was one of the finest displays of business professionalism, taste and fashion sense thanks to the hard work and zest of a very delightful group of young people that I have witnessed for a while. Under the banner of “Live Fusion, breaking the boundaries” Desi Hangama 2002 featured a serious mix of Pakistani-Indian-Western attire provided by the Los Angeles area (Diamond Bar) based boutique XARPOSH (www.xarposh.com).
The Desithrill Boutique is conveniently located at 5758 Mowry School Road Newark CA 94560 and is literally sandwiched between two of the most successful Pakistani owned restaurants in this area Chandni (where this event was held) and Mehran. The boutique owners, Rizwan and Zilehuma Ellahie, promote not just fashions but a fashion sense. So it comes as no surprise that they teamed up with XARPOSH to market a line of clothing that all South Asians (including their very American youngsters) can very easily relate to. On this evening the very diverse audience enjoyed viewing very graceful ethnic dresses, wedding attire (the biggest hit) and what I can only term as the “New Fringe”. .
Desihangama 2002 included some mesmerizing on-stage performances, special effects, great lighting, an attractive catwalk aided by a large view screen, so that none in this full house would miss out on the action. And besides the several male and female models who performed superbly, the choreography of Zeeshan Karamat and the direction of Farah Ghatala were something to remember. This duo (Karamat and Ghatala) can compete with any professional fashion show executors in the business. Producer Rizwan Ellahie certainly had a winning team working on this project.
After the initial welcome by Producer Rizwan four fashion segments and a number of dance numbers were presented. Mistress of ceremony Preeta started off by saying, “It is going to get hot in here”. The first segment, “The X-Collection,” was well received. Amazing dance numbers to Cold Fusion music and songs by Imran Rehman were well done. But for us “old folks” (of which there were many) it was the second segment “Bridal Wear” that was the hot favorite. It was appealing both in attire and presentation. My wife said that the outfit modeled by Razia Shaikh was the best. But I don’t think that the rest of us could pick out our favorites both in the Bride and the Groom category.
It was a pleasure to meet the chief guest for the evening, actress Mehrunnisa (Mehr) Hassan. She has recently appeared in Lollywood’s film “Shararat” directed by Samina Peerzada. . Mehr handles herself well and we hope to see her in several more movies. One also hopes that the Pakistani film industry centered in Lahore will get a boost in the current environment. Mehr thanked the main sponsor of the event, Quick Solutions and Riwan “Rizzi”. And of course thanks were also extended to Chandni Restaurant for the nice meal they provided.
The third segment of the fashion show, “Club Mix” or “Western Funky Fusion was certainly clothing that the younger set found more interesting.” It was preceded by great dances to “Lajja Lajja” plus another song by Imran Rehman
Another couple of dances followed but the one “You are my Sohnya” got a tremendous response. And the final segment of the fashion show “Grand Finale” almost seemed to have come too soon. Noorullah Lodhi was rightly commended for his contribution to the DesiHangama 2002 soundtrack. Choreographer Zeeshan Karamat, Director Farah Ghatala and Rizzi came on to the stage to make a well-deserved bow.
Mehr Hassan presented the “Best of” Awards at the closing of the show. Each model performed extremely well and the choice of picking the best in each category must have been a difficult one.
This was certainly an evening when class, culture, music and attire came together in a wonderful way. But you just had to be there to get the total experience. And on this one I am going to thank Raana Faiz for insisting on Pakistan Link’s presence. My wife and I had a great time and encouraged all that have weddings to prepare for to check out both Desithrill and XARPOSH. In concluding we need to congratulate all involved, the organizers, models, and businesses, that made this event a wholesome, family-oriented and somewhat exotic evening of good, clean fun.
