Tribute to S&J brings out T & P

Venkat Raman –

The Dorothy Winston Centre of Auckland Grammar School could have been filled with capacity on March 28 had it not been for a number of extraneous factors but the 500 or so who attended the event went home with heavy heart.

A three-hour programme of 28 songs of Shankar Jaikishan, who have more than 1300 songs to their credit, would not do justice to the masters.

T&P displayed

But it certainly brought out the Talent and Passion of our men and women (there were seven of them) to render difficult songs with ease. Examples; ‘Main Chali, Main Chali’ (from ‘Professor’) by Ritika Badakere and Shewata; ‘Rasik Balmaa’ (‘Chori Chori’) Guncha Singh and an orchestra that showed improving standards of professionalism.

Rachit Bhatia proved his prowess as a singer with good stage mannerisms as he rendered

‘Badan Pe Sitaare Lapete Hue’ (‘Prince’), while his rendition of ‘O Mere Sanam’ (‘Sangam) with Guncha was par excellence.

Ashish Ramakrishnan who entered the stage with ‘Tu Pyar Ka Sagar Hai’ (‘Seema’) was convincing but it was ‘Kisiki Muskuraahatoon Pe’ (‘Anari’) that earned him wide applause.

Sandhya supersedes

However, in my opinion, the evening belonged to Sandhya Badakere who chose ‘Tumhe Yaad Karte Karte,’ a difficult number from ‘Amarpali.’ Her rendition was so close to the original number by Lata Mangeshkar that it brought memories of the events of 1966, the year in which the film was released.

Mt Roskill based Swar Sadhana Academy of Indian Music (of which Sandhya Badakere is the Director & Principal) organised the programme titled, ‘Zindagi Ik Safar Hai Suhana.’

Mrs Badakere, we hear, is organining an evening of songs composed by Sachin Dev Burman and his son Rahul Dev Burman in May next year.

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