Bollywood singing sensation Mamta Sharma and her musicians are headed for South Africa in the Zee Heroes and Mamta Sharma show.
With four stars from the Zee TV serials in India – Hiten Tejwani (who plays Manav), Avinash Sachdev (Dev), Karan Grover (Karan) and Rithvik Dhanjani (Arjun) – the team of entertainers will perform in a two-city tour in the next week.
Sharma is best known as a playback singer in Hindi films, particularly for movies like Dabangg and Yamla Pagla Deewana, and often sings in a husky voice.
She has received several awards for the song Munni Badnaam from Dabangg.
Sharma can sing in 11 languages, and in different modulated voices. She has performed in shows all over India and abroad alongside a host of A-list celebrities like Salmaan Khan, Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan. She has shared the stage with playback singers Kumar Sanu, Shaan, Shreya Ghoshal and Sunidhi Chauhan.
Sharma sang her first playback item number for Malaika Arora with Munni Badnaaam. She also has hits with Anu Malik for the movie Yamla Pagla Deewana. Her current item number, Anarkali Disco Chali, from Housefull 2, has reached great heights and is topping all Bollywood chart shows in SA.
The Zee TV soapies have also become something of a phenomenon in South Africa. Research shows that shows Pavitra Rishta, Choti Bahu and Yahaan Mein Ghar Ghar Kheli are the top three serials on Zee TV.
Showtime SA Promotions, which has arranged the event, said they were proud to have the best time ever on stage together.
Tejwani played a role in the serial Ghar Ek Mandir, which was aired on Sony Entertainment Television. This was followed by Kabhie Sautan Kabhie Saheli and Kahiin Kisi Roz. His most notable performance was the character Pratham in Kutumb. He has now replaced Sushant Rajput Singh as the lead character, Manav, a successful businessman, in the soapie Pavitra Rishta.
Sachdev’s first notable acting role was in a TVS Scooty commercial with film actress Preity Zinta. In 2008, he secured his first television role in the soap opera Karam Apna Apna. In Choti Bahu, Sindoor Bin Suhagan was his fourth television role. Near the end of the serial’s first season, Sachdev’s character, Dev, was thrown from a cliff to his death, but the popular character was revived for a second season with a new plot.
Grover landed an acting debut with Neela Telefilms produced TV serial Saarrthi on Star Plus. The multi-award winner is working on Yahaaan Main Ghar Ghar Kheli.
Dhanjani debuted on television as Jay Khurana in Star One’s Pyaar Kii Ye Ek Kahaani. Acting the part of Arjun in Pavitra Rishta, he has gained recognition among viewers.
Born and brought up in Madhya Pradesh, Rithvik Dhanjani’s first priority is his acting and if he had not been an actor he would have liked to have been a magician or choreographer. Rithvik Dhanjani’s biggest inspiration is his teacher Abhijit Das, and Rithvik is still taking training under him. Before coming to small-screen acting, Rithvik was a choreographer and when he was in Dubai for his international movie, City of Life, he also choreographed Dabangg’s villain, Sonu Sood. After that he did theatre in Dubai for two-and-a-half years. He is soon going to make his big screen debut with an as yet untitled film produced by a new production company, Gill Productions.
* additional information from Wikipedia.com
• The two-city SA tour heads for Durban at the ICC Arena on Saturday, June 9 at 7.30pm and then Johannesburg at Carnival City on Sunday, June 10 at 5.30pm. Tickets are R120 from Computicket.
• WIN! WIN! WIN!
Five double sets of VIP box tickets are up for grabs to see the Zee Heroes and Mamta Sharma show. To stand a chance of winning tickets to the concert at the ICC in Durban simply SMS “ZEE DN” to 33963. SMSes cost R1.50