A millennial’s experience at Sunidhi Chauhan’s Chennai concert

In your 30s, your friend will ask you to go to a Sunidhi Chauhan concert with them. It is very important that you respond with a loud resounding ‘yes’. 

On her ongoing I Am Home tour across the country, the playback singer performed in Chennai on February 7, and the audience was not prepared for the enigma that she is; Sunidhi Chauhan’s three-hour long concert was the manifestation of my childhood playlist.

A snapshot from the concert
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

I grew up sneakily switching to Bollywood music channels like 9XM and MTV, just to hear two verses of ‘Mehboob Mere’ and watch Sushmita Sen’s provocative dance. Sunidhi has been around, singing hits from ‘Desi Girl’, to ‘Kaisi Paheli Zindgani’ since before I knew what heartbreak was. But now I am well acquainted with the feeling, and I understand the words. What I was unprepared for, was the force she is on stage. 

She is no longer just the voice behind the songs that made me dance, sing, and push through workouts. For months, videos from her concerts around the country have been going viral, and it became one on the bucketlist for almost every millennial who grew up like I did — memorising lyrics and singing into hairbrush microphones. 

After braving Saturday evening traffic on the ECR for two and a half hours, sweating through all the makeup while walking two kilometres to the concert venue along with thousands of others, and making it barely on time, Sunidhi floated on stage singing ‘Udi’ from Guzaarish. In that moment, all the chaos fell away. It was worth it all, and then some. 

I went into the concert in two minds. I was excited because this is Sunidhi Chauhan. It promised everything I want from a live show. But I had doubts too. About the city. Would they show up for the music — or just the Instagram stories? Would they dance when she launched into ‘Race saanson ki’, or stand politely, filming a few hits for social media clout before calling it a night? 

Sunidhi Chauhan at the concert in Chennai
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The scepticism lasted exactly one song. It disappeared into the sweaty, salty air when she lifted the mic and let the audience take over ‘yeh jo halka halka suroor hai’, and the arena roared the words back at her, loud enough to catch even her off guard. From there, the night only got better.  

Apart from the now viral ‘Aa zara’ remixed with Sam Smith’s ‘Unholy’, she also sang Selena Gomez’s ‘Taki Taki’, and very much to the crowd’s surprise, ‘Sha la la’ from the hit tamil film Ghilli, ‘Selfie Pulla’ from Kaththi, and ‘Jingunamani’ from Jilla. Each number drew a louder, wilder response than the last. Whether it was the high-voltage dance anthems she is synonymous with or a slower, more soulful stretch, the audience did not just sing along, they belted every word back at her.

Chants of “Sunidhi, Sunidhi” refused to fade, even during the brief 10-minute interlude when she stepped off stage. In her absence, her dancers took over with ‘Lucky Boy’ — arguably one of the most electric tracks in a catalogue that runs into the thousands. While it would have been a thrill to hear her perform it live, the troupe more than held their own. The choreography throughout the evening was meticulously crafted. 

Sunidhi Chauhan at the concert in Chennai
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

After a costume change, she re-entered with a flowy skirt that did justice to ‘Aaja nachle’. At 42, she matched her dancers step for step, navigating the choreography in high heels without sacrificing breath or pitch.

With every song, the anticipation for some of her biggest hits kept building. We knew these were the show stoppers and the climax of the evening. It began with ‘Aankh’ an independent song written by composer-lyricist Prateeksha Srivastava, and slipped into hits like ‘Jhoom barabar jhoom’, ‘Bumbro’, ‘Main mast’ ‘Deedar de’ ‘Deewangi’ and the crescendo with ‘Sheela ki jawani’.

My only complaint was her omission of ‘Beedi jalaile’ from Omkara — one of her more ferocious performances. We had watched clips of her setting other cities ablaze with it, and waited for that familiar “one last song” return, with the lights dimming before the encore. It never came. The stage went dark, the band packed up, and a faint sense of incompletion lingered. 

But the crowd refused to let it end there. Trapped in the chaotic exit, battling weak networks and impossible cab fares, a few girls in sparkly dresses began singing the song — glitter smudged, voices hoarse, barely in tune. What the stage withheld, they attempted to reclaim – after all it was a song they grew up on, one they had made theirs .

Published – February 09, 2026 06:47 pm IST