Cause Celebre

And raise money it did. As some of the leading rock acts of the country crooned their way into the evening, giant screens flashed the rising figures raised every hour through ticket sales, donations and endorsements. It piled up a handsome figure of Rs 3.2 crore.

While the concert may have had a noble intention, some from the audience complained about the images of flood victims and children flashing on the big screen with 8220;Help Us8221; written over them. 8220;I thought the images were highly patronising,8221; complained Nishad Joshi, a photographer and rock enthusiast.

Besides, the show started a whole hour earlier than its purported time. 8220;We had to do this to fit in the rather large line-up that we had, considering the 10 pm deadline,8221; explained

compere Luke Kenny. A sad sight was the large, unfilled space that separated the higher price ticket folk from the lower price ticket ones before the barricades did the job.

But a visibly content Akhtar said: 8220;I8217;m very happy with the way the show went. In spite of it being a working day and that we started early, a huge number of people showed up. The bands were great and it was all in good spirit.8221;

The show opened with its star

organiser, Akhtar performing the

title track from his recent film,

Rock On!!! that became a rage amongst audiences.

Something Relevant, Them Clones, Avial and Raghu Dixit Project got the crowd going, performing a couple of songs each, as was planned. VJ Sophia invited

Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar on stage. And then came the cringer: 8220;They say the youth today is cynical and lacks a social conscience. By coming to this concert tonight,

you have proved them all wrong,8221; said the poet and lyricist vehemently as his actor-activist wife hooted 8220;Rock On.8221;

The rest of the show was a Bollywood parade with the likes of Saif Ali Khan strumming alongside Parikrama and huge donations from Shah Rukh Khan, Karan Johar and Hrithik Roshan. 8220;The response has really been overwhelming. We8217;re thankful for the way people have donated whole-heartedly. Even those not present like Bhushan Kumar of T-series and Ashutosh Gowarikar,8221; said Kenny.