Chris Martin steals the show by singing 'Vande Mataram'

Mumbai: Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin ended the Global Citizen Festival India concert on a high note with his band this evening by singing "Vande Mataram" with the music maestro A R Rahman and also waved the national flag.

The band performed for over an hour at the MMRDA grounds. The singer is in the country as part of the Global Citizen India initiative 2016. The British Rock band performed several memorable songs including Paradise, Viva La Vida, Yellow, Fix You.

Martin invited A R Rahman on stage and both sang "Maa tujhe salaam...Vande maatram". Martin later even waved the national flag. Initially, he also had small tricolour stuck in his back-pocket but later put it away.

Martin also enthralled everyone with his own version of song "Channa Mereya" from Karan Johar's film "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil".

During his performance, Martin said, "Namaste friends, yeh hamari khushkismati hai ki itne khoobsurat desh mein aaye hain. (We are fortunate that we have come to such beautiful country)."

At the start, Martin was introduced by superstar Shah Rukh Khan, cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar and actress Frieda Pinto. The Global Citizen Festival India 2016 turned out to be the biggest entertainment event of the year in B-town as several Bollywood celebrities and some international artists shared the stage at the MMRDA grounds.

Among the celebrities present at the gala were Amitabh Bachchan, Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Katrina Kaif, Sonakshi Sinha, Parineeti Chopra, Monali Thakur, Arijit Singh, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Arjun Rampal, Suzanne Khan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was earlier supposed to attend, could not make it to the event. He, however, joined via a video link that was beamed live.

Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra announced the opening of the festival. Singer Arijit Singh began the musical journey by crooning his latest blockbuster track "Ae Dil hai Mushkil" and other chartbusters.

Playback singer Monali Thakur sang her award winning song "Sawaar Loon" from Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha-starrer "Lootera".

British pop rock band "The Vamps" performed their hit tracks. They also had great time working with ace choreographer Farah Khan. "It was great fun meeting Farah Khan. She taught us some cool dance moves," they said.

Arjun introduced megastar Amitabh Bachchan on stage and Big B was joined by the Shillong Chamber Choir. He recited a poem which was a tribute to Indian women and gender equality.

Actress Vidya Balan came on stage and spoke about issues like open defecation, clean water and sanitation.

Dressed in a red dress, fashionista Sonam Kapoor pledged to educate youth about sustainable development, sharing the goal of making Internet reach about 300,000 villages.

While introducing music maestro A R Rahman, Shah Rukh Khan said, "I wouldn't be what I am if it were not for Rahman's "Chaiyya Chaiyya". King Khan later returned to the stage to introduce American rapper Jay Z.

Jay Z made his India debut at the Global Citizen India concert with his hit Bounce, set against a sample of AR Rahman's tune "Chaiya Chaiya". He also crooned his hit songs 'We gonna run this town tonight', '99 Problems', 'In Paris', 'Drunk In Love' and his Panjabi MC collaboration 'Beware Of The Boyz'.

Then came the ever energetic Ranveer Singh who took to stage in his "Bajirao Mastani" costume and danced to "Malhari". Later he changed costume and got in "Befikre" mode as he danced to "Nashe Si Chad Gayi".