By Subhash K. Jha, IANS

Bollywood stars Rani Mukherjee, Saif Ali Khan and Sonu Nigam, all part of the Indian entourage that performed at the concluding ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, just can't get over the overwhelming response to their show.

Said an exultant Rani, who performed the "Dhamaal" number written by Javed Akhtar and composed by Vishal-Shekhar, with Saif: "It was a wonderful experience to represent the country. The ambience of the huge stadium with thousands of cheering audiences was irresistible. At that moment you couldn't be an Indian and not be proud of it.

"The experience was unbelievable. When our audio-visuals started all of us from the Indian entourage broke into loud applause and screamed, 'Go India, go for it'," she added.

After the triumph, Saif was more cautious. "I had never performed a bhangra before. And I wondered if I could carry it off. Fortunately it went off smoothly. The 'Dhamaal' song rocked."

"It was unbelievable," is how Sonu Nigam put it.

"Can you believe it, all of us from Bollywood - Aishwarya (Rai), Saif and Rani included - had only 11 minutes in which to do our act! Out of this precious time only three minutes were given to Shreya Ghosal, Shiamak Davar, Sunidhi Chauhan and me to do our song 'Dilli chalo'. Gulzar saab's words and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's music made such an impact.

"At that moment on stage with the whole world watching us I felt so proud to be an Indian. It's a moment that won't come back that easily."

Sonu gives the entire credit for the Indian entourage's spectacular performance to the organisers Wizcraft.

"Everything was so fabulously arranged. A lot of effort went into the preparation. I don't know if we can pull off the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi with the same level of professionalism... Australian newspapers and TV channels rated our finale performance as the best. The taxi drivers here (in Melbourne) are saying the same. God has been so, so kind."