To all the music lovers...there is a good news for u... Will go clubbing tonight with team @t2telegraph — Two back-to-back tweets from Tolly heart-throb Dev on June 10 afternoon set the tone for a special night out with Team Chaamp — Dev (who plays boxer Shibaji), debutant actress Rukmini Maitra (who plays Jaya, Shibaji’s love) and rapper Raftaar, who makes his Tolly debut as music director with one of the Chaamp songs. A Dev Entertainment Ventures film, Chaamp — which releases on June 23 — follows boxer Shibaji’s struggle to overcome all odds. On the eve of the Friday release, we rewind to the Saturday night fever that began with Team t2 meeting up with Team Chaamp at The Park. Come let’s do the club-hop with Dashing Dev, Ravishing Rukmini and Rocking Raftaar!
TEAM CHAAMP RAPS IT UP AFTER ALL THE ACTION
CLUB TALK
Dev: The best place where I can take Raftaar with the Chaamp song is where he is the king... the king has to be in his kingdom! And the Calcutta people got to know how down to earth and grounded he is. He is a true champ. Rukmini: The audience really responded to the entire team. They were very receptive to the fact that we were promoting a Bangla film.
Raftaar: People making noise for you makes me understand that music is universal. I have done a Hindi song in a Bengali movie and Dev was open to the idea.
Dev: Rukmini was great at emceeing!
Rukmini: I had to get the message across about Chaamp releasing on June 23. I was the Boss Lady!
THE CHAAMP SONG
Raftaar: This song is my zone… rising from the ashes, coming back to victory, standing up for what is right… this is what Raftaar is known for. I could relate to it. I was in Dubai on a holiday and Dev told me to make a song. I had a performance for Holi. I finished my show, and came back to the hotel. Everybody went out shopping, and I made this song in the hotel room and sent it to Dev in five hours! And then we finished recording the song in one day in Calcutta, including Dev’s singing and the guitar parts.
What’s a celeb night out without some teaser posts? Dev, Raftaar and Rukmini took to their social media platforms to announce the party prowl with Team t2 for company, before heading out from The Park, where the trio met at 12.30am. “Team #CHAAMP is all set to club hop on a Saturday night! Stay tuned for more deets @idevadhikari @RukminiMaitra @raftaarmusic,” read our tweet that bagged several likes and RTs.
STOP ONE: M BAR KITCHEN
Perched on the private deck, M Bar Kitchen was the first stop for the night. Minutes later, DJ Manish Patwa churned out Dekho dekho chaamp from the film and the opening guitar solo and lyrics that went Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee... got the crowd and Team Chaamp grooving.
Dev cupped his hands around his mouth and did the shout out loud. “Would you like to hear Raftaar rap without any music?!” asked he, even as Raftaar launched into his hit number Swag mera desi.
“We are here because Chaamp aa rahi hai Bhai ki. Mujhe Bangali aati nahin, Hindi bolunga toh chalega sabko?” asked Raftaar before the Dhakkad hit-maker began rapping and Dev went into a record mode on his phone.
The party peeps at M Bar Kitchen made the most of it by clicking selfies with the star and the rapper.
“What’s up Kolkata?! How’s everybody doing tonight?!” The crowd let out a roar. “This is Dev, your superstar. This is Rukmini, your upcoming super-super star. And I got the privilege to do a song with the champ! Make some noise for Dev. Make some noise for Rukmini. Make some noise for yours truly!” said Raftaar, taking on the mic.
And then it was Dev’s turn to rap as Raftaar held out the phone to record a video for his Insta Story. “I am very active on Instagram since it has everything in one... at least I know how many people are watching my stories,” said the Baby marvake maanegi rapper.
STOP TWO: MYX
One for the album. If Rukmini slayed in a velvet ruffled jumpsuit from Zara, Dev went casual cool in distressed denims and tee, layered with a military green jacket, paired with white kicks. #PowerCouple. “We had a great time,” said Dev. “What a night (keeps repeating)! It was a brilliant experience. Bengali cinema has reached an all-new high with this. How many of us can be there and be singing along with Raftaar on a DJ console at a club?!” dimpled Rukmini. t2 had one final question for Raftaar: What makes the Calcutta party circuit better than Delhi? “The biryani!” was the rapper’s reply.
Dev and Rukmini danced along with the crowd to tracks like Tamma tamma again, High heels and Cheap Thrills.
Dev took a groupfie with Rukmini and Raftaar.
Model-actor Ushoshi Sengupta cheered on the team at Myx.
The three parked themselves at the DJ console even as the Myx crowd bounced to the beat of Chaamp. “This film is for the city, by the city, of the city,” said Rukmini, as they launched into the Chaamp song. “There is a champ in everybody. Everybody wants to fight. Everybody has dreams,” said Raftaar.
STOP THREE: ROXY
“Rukmini!” A voice from the crowd called out her name even as the stunner introduced the film to the party peeps. “You must be wondering what we are doing here with Raftaar, superstar Dev and yours truly? This is for Chaamp, a Bengali movie releasing on June 23,” said Rukmini.
Rukmini held out the mic for the crowd to sing along with the Chaamp track and the packed crowd (picture below) at Roxy put their hands up in the air and cheered on.
Dev was mobbed by his fans and Payal Das’s (inset) excitement knew no bounds. “In the Bengali film industry I only follow Dev and his films and it was such a pleasant surprise to see him at the console at Roxy! I also got to meet Rukmini and I feel both of them make a great jodi. After all the jostling I did finally manage to click a selfie with him and posted it on Facebook the next day!” the 21-year-old told t2 later.
Text: Arindam Chatterjee and Pramita Ghosh Pictures: Rashbehari Das
