PM Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping enjoy an evening highlighted by timeless Bollywood music

With people-to-people contact and cultural exchanges fast being seen as crucial for improving Indo-China relations, the instrumental rendition of Bollywood music is being seen as a step in the different but right direction.

Wuhan: China may have left no stone unturned to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping himself playing a gracious host. And while both leaders - for most parts of Friday - highlighted the need for the two countries to work closer towards peace and prosperity, it was a relaxed evening with timeless Bollywood music that truly indicated that relations are indeed getting warmer.

PM Modi and Xi held informal talks in which they reaffirmed the need for India and China to develop closer relations for the benefit of people in both countries. PM Modi, in particular, said five elements - common thinking, common relations, common co-operation, common aspirations and common dreams - are the keys to fostering long-lasting friendship. It was a day which saw both leaders bond, capped by a melodious evening with a strong Indian touch with Chinese musicians playing the memorable song Tu Tu Hai Wahi from the 1982 Bollywood movie Yeh Vaada Raha starring Rishi Kapoor and Poonam Dhillon.

Both leaders appeared to enjoy the instrumental rendition of the song originally sung by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle.

With the visit high on the quotient of culture and tradition, and with both PM Modi and Xi asserting that people-to-people contact is crucial for further developing relations, the musical evening could well have been a master-stroke.