Is there something Benny Dayal cannot do on stage?
Probably not. On a rainy Sunday evening, the singer turned Chennai’s solemn Music Academy into a crazy college auditorium, getting audiences up on their feet and dancing to his chartbusters like ‘Badtameez Dil’ ( Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani ) and ‘Taxi Taxi’ ( Sakkarakatti ).
That was at 10, after the crowd was treated to a musical evening in which Benny, along with his magnificent band Funktuation, proved why cinema music was cool.
Things started off tepidly though. He began his musical proceedings with his Bollywood numbers ‘Locha-e-Ulfat’ ( 2 States ), ‘Kaise Mujhe’ ( Ghajini ) and other songs from Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na and Yuvvraaj .
And then, he announced, “This is the reason I became a musician,” before launching into an energetic ‘Dil Se Re’ ( Dil Se ) that had everyone hooked. The singer even added his own improvisations to the number, giving it a Carnatic twist... perhaps indicating that the December Season is just around the corner.
After that, Benny really owned the stage. With some able support from the band, he sang, danced and even had a friendly joust with the microphone to give us a musical experience that we’d seldom hear.
“Are there any Suriya fans here,” he screamed, before dishing out his hit number ‘Adiyae Kolluthey’ ( Vaaranam Aayiram ) with much gusto. His ‘Omana Penne’ ( Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa ) (“a song that my wife really likes”) was perfunctory — he must have sung that song on various stages at least a 1,000 times — but his rendition of ‘Uyirum Neeyae’ ( Pavithra ) was soulful. “I lost my mother a few days ago. It was hard to be here and perform. But my dad told me that my mom would have liked to have me performing,” he said, giving the melody and lyric an emotional twist.
Benny was soon joined by the other ‘music man’, pianist Anil Srinivasan, and the two took audiences to the past, to the era of Ilaiyaraaja and early Rahman. When Anil played the all-familiar notes of ‘Kanne Kalaimane’ ( Moondram Pirai ), the audience immediately responded... and so did Benny. They essayed their various musical influences — from ‘Aathangara Marame’ to the Beatles — and gave it an all-round musical flavour.
Benny saved his best for the last. If his evergreen hit ‘Taxi Taxi’ ( Sakkarakatti ) rustled up people from their seats, his energetic rendition of ‘Pettai Rap’ ( Kadhalan ) and ‘Darling Dambakku’ ( Maan Karate ) had them up and dancing like no one’s business. Who cares whether it’s raining outside when it’s raining music inside?
