Date: November 13
Venue: The Music Academy
Time: 7.30 p.m.
The film was “Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai”. The stars were Meena Kumari, Raaj Kumar and Nadira. The music was by Shankar-Jaikishan. And the big hit was ‘Ajeeb dastaan hai yeh', a philosophical rumination about the strange journey of life, whose beginnings and ends are mysterious, and which flows through destinations without our comprehension. This was the spirit of the music of the 1960s, when Hindi cinema still found place for inquiries into big questions, and this is the spirit of The Hindu Friday Review November Fest concert named after this song, which is one of Lata Mangeshkar's memorable songs.
In ‘Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh', Sadhana Sargam and Chetan Rana pay tribute to Lata Mangeshkar by focusing on her songs that made the most impact on people. These immortal melodies are so deeply entrenched in the nation's musical consciousness that the challenge is to make them sound fresh and alive again. This is the daunting task Sadhana Sargam takes up. A highlight of this concert is the presence of the noted voice-over artiste Harish Bhimani, who will anchor the show and punctuate the songs with anecdotes about different aspects of Lata Mangeshkar's career. He is an authority on the singer, having written the biography In Search of Lata Mangeshkar .
Q & A
How did you choose this theme for the programme?
I chose this theme because the November Fest devotes an evening every year to retro Hindi music. It felt apt to sing Lataji's memorable songs.
How easy was it to choose from hundreds of songs she has sung?
We all know Lataji's songs are innumerable, very popular, and to choose a few songs is always very difficult. I hope the audience enjoys our selection. I cannot compare myself to a singer such as Lataji, as she cannot be bettered by anyone, but I will try to do my best and will leave it to the audience to judge.
How would you describe Harish Bhimani's contribution to the evening?
Harish Bhimani has been associated with Lataji's concerts for a long time, and he has been compering her shows regularly. He has done several interviews with her and has a treasure trove of anecdotes which will be fascinating to listeners.
