Toronto dances to Masala!Mehndi!Masti! 2008

Unofficially, approximately 3500 dance into the record books!

Masala!Mehndi!Masti 2008 scored yet another fantastic year! It was indeed an eighth explosive year as M!M!M! ripped it up for larger than ever crowds at the CNE grounds in Toronto from July 25-27, 2008, with movies, music, theatre, dance, shopping, food, laughing and singing. And if everyone thinks it's all just about fun and games, we also had visual and literary arts with several readings from Desi authors and poets and intellectual discussions on social issues affecting our community such as identity, relationships and sexuality. The Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cancer Society also hosted several relevant workshops. Also for the first time ever M!M!M! held a baccha (children's) party which proved tremendously successful providing impetus to make it even more striking next year.

The main headliner for the M!M!Movies segment was Nandita Das who flew in from India and was present for all 3 days of the festival where a retrospective of her movies was screened. Besides being an actress, Nandita is also a social activist who gave her insights into the challenges and issues of the society at large in India by holding interviews, that were open to the public, with Cameron Bailey, co-director of The Toronto International Film Festival, and Bruce Kirkland, movie critique for The Toronto Sun. Ritchie Mehta, an up and coming Canadian director, whose movie "Amal " has won several awards, also joined in for one of the interviews.

The main music headliner, avant-garde music maestros Karsh Kale with MIDIval Punditz and Vishal Vaid mesmerized the crowd with their cutting-edge arrangements. Throughout the weekend, there were more than 70 performances and events.

Saturday night saw the ever-popular Bhangra Blast bring the house down as DJ Baba Kahn, Lomatic and Sunny Brown, showed off their Bhangra prowess. Toronto's popular Punjabi Elvis, Ranbir Chauhan, with Raina Sen added a lot of zest to the fun-filled evening.

The main draws on the final day were presented by Asian Woman, UK's premier magazine for fashion, beauty and lifestyle targeted towards the South Asian community, who kicked off the fall launch of their Canadian magazine by holding a chic and sophisticated fashion show- the like never seen before, as the models not only sashayed down the ramp in elegant bridal wear but also acted out scenes typical of an Indian wedding. The scene where the groom carries off the bride prompted super hoots of approval from the over-crowded room.

At the same time a massive crowd had converged on the main stage in Bandshell Park where the World's Largest Dance Class was about to take place al fresco. Volunteers got busy signing up everybody to participate. Soon, instructors from Shiamak Davar's (India's ace choreographer) dance school in Toronto came on stage and instructed the crowd on how to dance. Slowly at first and then more energetically the audience learned how to take a few steps, roll their arms and shake their hips. To popular tunes like 'Om Shanti Om' and 'Mauja Mauja' the enthusiastic crowd went wild learning how to shake, move and groove à la Bollywood. An ocean of synchronized arms and heads, shoulders and hips was a sight to behold. Festival Director Abhishek Mathur and many MMM organizing team members joined in, encouraging the wonderfully responsive crowd to move more vigorously and let it all hang down. Everyone's adrenalin was pumped to the max. With the capacity filled Bandshell Park shaking the grounds and moving synchronously as one with their arms rolling in the air, this was as magnificent as it gets! This was high-octane heaven! This was pure dance ecstasy! It doesn't get any better as the mighty Torontonians outdid Elvis the Pelvis in their attempt to snatch the Guinness record for the largest dance class away from Russia, where 1800 had taken part, and bring it home right here to Toronto which had over 3000 participate!

The results are awaited from Guinness, however the organizers of Masala!Mehndi!Masti! are very optimistic and almost confident that they indeed have pulverized the old record and will be setting a new Guinness Record for the World's Largest Dance Class.

Another grandiose finale to North America's largest FREE South Asian festival!

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