I can’t forget the roar of the audience: Maniesh Paul

He has hosted several stage shows and reality shows. However, after his recent world tour, Da-Bang, Maniesh Paul has discovered another side to performing on stage. He says, “Being on the Da-Bang tour has been a fantastic experience. I have learnt a lot about how such grand shows are organised. The euphoria of fans was phenomenal.”

Maniesh knows that it is a big deal to be on a tour with superstar Salman Khan, and he admits that his name was suggested to the organisers by Salman himself. “Hats off to that man. He can easily dominate the show but he gave space to everyone. Our timing on stage worked well, and this one time, I cracked a joke and he laughed for the longest time. We had to wait for him to settle down. He is a natural, which lends itself on stage,” says the Tere Bin Laden: Dead Or Alive (2016) actor.

A fan of Maniesh, fixed a meeting with him during his performance in Australia, and he was surprised to see her reaction when she met him. “She was howling and shivering when she hugged me. She is quite young and her emotions were heartfelt. Also, I can’t forget the roar of people when I walked through the crowd. Tours like these not only let you meet your fans and vice versa. In fact, many people said, ‘we haven’t been following your work regularly but after seeing you live, we now know that you don’t need a script’. They enjoyed my energy and banter. I, too, discovered myself as a dancer and many people have asked me [during the tour] why I didn’t dance earlier. Also my physical transformation was noticed which was wonderful,” he says.

Maniesh rapped and danced on stage, which was a first, and the reception he got for it was heartening. The host-actor says, “Salman sir said I should open the show in a different style and that triggered the idea. I did a choreographed act and I even showed off my body (laughs). I was hesitant to bare my torso as there is no competition with Salman sir there, but he insisted, reasoning that as I had worked hard, I should show off. There was hooting and screaming from the crowds which pumped everyone up.”

Maniesh not only danced solo but also with Salman Khan, Bipasha Basu Singh Grover, Sonakshi Sinha and even Prabhudheva. He even sang a song with singer-rapper Badshah too. After a point, Maniesh and Prabhudheva “dance bombed” other acts, which later became a regular occurrence.

Other than the fun on stage, the group had a blast off-stage too. “We would travel together, not sleep on flights, sing and dance, pull each other’s leg, and have loads of fun. Everyone was friendly and no one had a starry attitude which was great.” The world tour was held in many cities including Hong Kong ,China, Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, and Auckland, New Zealand.