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NEC Birmingham Mela
This is a Mela in the broad sense of the word but festival it is not, the NEC Birmingham Mela is a different animal, more of a Mela exhibition, just like every other exhibition you may have been to except there is some Asian stuff.
It is easier to describe what there is not, having no atmosphere, no colour, lacking in the usual Mela friendliness and with no or little input from the community, this Mela is here to purely turn over sales and sell products to the Asian community, if they have a need to buy.
The main thing to stand out on arrival is the amount of security, guards in bullet proof vests, others with CCTV cameras strapped to their heads, police, security overkill. |
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The Rishi Rich Project did offer some entertainment, Rishi hooking up with Juggy D and Jay Sean, the boys performed a few songs in a showcase, the same performance 3 times a day for the 3 days. They were as good as usual and although the audience were being forced to remain in their seats and not dance or move, they were certainly the highlight of the day.
Hadiqa Kiani & Ali Zafar didn't appear due to some administration error. |
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| There were also some cameo appearances on the Bollywood stage with Saif Ali Khan telling us how much he loved us and Ajay Devgan and Kajol talking about their movies. It was an interesting seminar. |
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With a reported £1,000,000 budget on this event, I continued to look to where it may have been spent, yet as much as I tried I couldn't work it out, administration and security must simply be very expensive in Birmingham as it did not show in the venue.
The stalls for the most part were sparse and uninteresting, or at least once you had been round once or twice everything had been seen before.
The food options were limited with 1 thali at £8 or an English food cafe.
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| In the end £15 per ticket and £7 for parking is a very expensive day out if you are a family of 4 or 5, especially when there was very little for children to do, a couple of fair ground rides and a rotating Army climbing wall will not keep the kids occupied for long.. |
If you are thinking of going to NEC Birmingham Mela, just know what you are going for and be prepared, for unless you want to buy some wedding shoes or look for a caterer, general boredom will kick in after about 2 hours.
I went to Birmingham with such enthusiasm and hope, the build up was great, the whole Asian week concept was great, on paper the resources put in to it looked optimistic, but ultimately this 'Ultimate Asian Experience' has little to do with the Asian community, little to offer that you can't find in the yellow pages and little thought or consideration put in to who this event is actually for.
I'm so disappointed that I was so disappointed. |
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Overall it is really very clear that this event has been put together by people experienced in organising commercial exhibitions, yet it is equally obvious that there is no understanding or knowledge on how to produce Mela.
If you would like to take my advice, then stay at home with a good movie and a Birmingham Bhalti, you'll have a much better time. |
| Review by Mr Mela |
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