British band Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin
British band Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin sings Vande Mataram with AR RahmanTwitter/ Global Citizen

British rock band Coldplay's lead vocalist Chris Martin captivated the audience by singing Vande Mataram with the music maestro AR Rahman on Saturday evening.

It was a very rare and astounding moment when music maestro AR Rahman joined Chris Martin and left everyone spellbound by singing Maa tujhe salaam...Vande maatram. Rahman and then Chris Martin was also seen waving the Indian flag. Initially, he also had small tricolour stuck in his back-pocket but later put it away.

The popular band performed for over an hour at the MMRDA ground in Mumbai. The band's performance was an initiative taken by Global Citizen India. They performed several popular songs including Yellow, Paradise, Fix You, The Scientist, Parachute etc.

During his performance, he said, "Hamari khushkismati hai ke hum itne khoobsurat desh mein aaye hain (We are lucky that we have come to such a beautiful country)."

Martin turned on the heat in the evening when he started singing with his own version of Bollywood's recent hit number Channa Mereyea from Karan Johar's film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.

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

Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra announced the opening of the festival. Singer Arijit Singh enthralled the sudience by his latest blockbuster track Ae Dil hai Mushkil and other chartbusters.

Bollywood playback singer Monali Thakur sang her award winning track Sawaar Loon from Lootera. Another British pop rock band The Vamps performed their hit tracks.

Rapper 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 amazed the audience by hymning his hit numbers 'We gonna run this town tonight', '99 Problems', 'In Paris', 'Drunk In Love' and his Panjabi MC collaboration 'Beware Of The Boyz'.

Amongst all the celebrities present at the gala were Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Freida Pinto, Arijit Singh, Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Katrina Kaif, Sonakshi Sinha, Parineeti Chopra, Monali Thakur along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Aside that, prominent sports personalities like Sachin Tendulkar, Leander Paes were present in the event.