MONTY SYED. THE SHOWMAN OF CHICAGO
by Jatinder Singh Bedi
CHICAGO (USA) – Perennially organizing phenomenal Bollywood megastars concerts be the touchstone, Monty Syed is the unblemished reigning King.
Monty’s decades long journey thru the corridors of Bollywood entertainment has been more of a pilgrimage. Year-after-year, he brought awesome shows, and continued to add a brilliant feather.
Aptly crowned as the ‘Showman of Chicago,’ Monty Syed has traversed over 25 years bringing to the community show-after-show, concert-after-concert. Be it Amitab Bachan, Shahrukh Khan, Asha Bhosle, Adnan Sami, Aishwarya Rai, A R Rahman, Jagjit Singh, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, or Salman Khan; Monty Syed has done it all.
In relentless pursuit of excellence, Monty Syed settles only for the top notch. His recently organize Atif Aslam Concert brought him the State Honor from the Governor of US State of Illinois, JB Pritzker.
It’s noteworthy that Atif Aslam has been staged twice in Chicago. Each time, it jam-packed houseful; each time Monty hosted it in Chicago’s most prestigious high-end Arie Crown Theater.
Arie Crown Theatre seems as-if a ‘good-luck-venue’ for Monty. All the Concerts that he hosted at this theatre went houseful. This included Adnan Sami’s maiden Concert that too Monty had brought to Chicago.
Soon thereafter, Monty Syed became talk of the town. He, then, was a sought after show-master for the Bollywood stars. His success after success added so much to his popularity that fat-pocket local investors would vie to invest in his shows.
His submissive unassuming quiet demeanor made him a common tree amongst diverse South Asian communities. Thus the audience in his concerts became pan-South Asian and Arabian.
Such high was the confidence in his abilities as plopped the all-time-great, the lifetime singular opportunity in his lap. It’s was the Ultra-mega Concert of Amitab Bachan accompanied by Aishwarya Rai, Jaya Baduri Bachan, and Abhishek Bachan — all together.
This concert added the glittering golden feather in Monty Syed’s cap. Its glare eclipsed his competitors from the scene for quite some time; many disappeared permanently.
He also has to his credit organizing Jam-packed and house full shows of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.
Since 1999 Monty Syed brought to community over 250 shows. In the course of this 25-year long journey Monty Syed also obliged several mediocre artists like Anupam Kher who did ribbon cutting of a now-failed tiny grocery store named Bandhu Foods in Hanover Park; besides Pankaj Udhas, Paresh Rawal, Anoop Jalota, etc.
Since 1999 Monty Syed brought to community over 250 shows. In the course of this 25-year long journey Monty Syed also obliged several mediocre artists like Anupam Kher who did ribbon cutting of a now-failed tiny grocery store named Bandhu Foods in Hanover Park; besides Pankaj Udhas, Paresh Rawal, Anoop Jalota, etc.
Monty also tried his hand at stage dramas Like “Act of God,” and New Year Eves including the sold out show at Surinder Jain’s then famous Banquet Hall in Downers Grove. He also hosted a week-long celebration to commemorate “100 Years of Bollywood.’
Showman Monty Syed is not just a Bollywood Boy; he is an astute entrepreneur. He talks less, and thinks more. He is rarely seen on the stage; and rarely returns the call. To buttress his upcoming glamourous profile, he briefly ran a radio station and published a community newspaper. On the sides he ran a chain of Mumbai Cafe keeping Hoffman Estate as his base.
He actively participated in the community affairs as a community leader. He has founded the Federation of India Associations that aims at being an umbrella for the Indian immigrants here in Chicagoland. It be mentioned that as a community organizer, Monty Syed hoisted the longest and the largest Indian National flag in Hoffman Estate. India's Ambassador Mukta Tomar presided over the hoisting ceremony. This hoisting brought Monty Syed an entry into the Guinness Book of World Record. It still stays unequalled and unbroken.
Noteworthy is the ever-increasing tenacity of Monty Syed who, even today, like a magician continues to dole out Bollywood surprises out of his magic-hat!