vo jab yaad aaye bahut yaad aaye

Baithaks and Bhajan Mandali’s have started dominating our musical landscape; and concerts have been pushed to the background. Sunday gave us the perfect opportunity to make amends and in fact we were spoilt for choice. We chose "saaz  Aur awaaz" over “sama hai suhana suhana”as it promised more variety; tribute to 3 legends as opposed to 1. Presence of BK Birla and his Bhoole Bisre Geet (BBG) gang was a bonus. We arrived at the venue well in time and caught up with Birla. He introduced me to Vinayak Wad and not surprisingly we had a lot of common friends. Shankar Jaikishan and SD Burman dominated our brief musical discussion.

The evening started with invocation of Lord Ganesha The compere Shalini made the session quite interactive by asking us to guess the name of the song coming up by providing clues. First on the list was a song from Bahare Phir Bhi Aayegi sung by Rafi. It was obvious to us as well as members of BBG but the opening bars of music led us astray. We realized that they were playing Sholay theme music before the actual song began. Vikram Dixit, began with “aap ke hasiin rukh pe” and followed with another OP Nayyar composition, kiss na kisi. se kabhi na kabhi from Kashmir Ki Kali He did an excellent job and sounded very close to Rafi. But when his turn to sing " ek ajnabi Hasina se" came I noticed that he can sing Kishore even better.  Shalini announced that it was time to meet the “Hasina” and asked the next singer to come on stage; Shruti Raghavendran. The applause form the BBG gang indicated that she was not an “ajnabi Hasina”, but a familiar one. Shruti was joined by Kumaran and they performed “jab deep jale aana” with gusto. While Shalini was having fun, the BBG gang was one step ahead. Shalini was building a theme around the songs and quipped, “Hasina se mulaqat ho gai aur saawam ka mausha hai. Ab aage kya hoga?” She was leading us to the next song but a mischevious BBGian responded "baccha" which had us in splits.

“Madhuban men raadhika naache re” followed and it showcased Vikram’s classical training. Kumaran gave an equally compelling rendition with the Rajesh Roshan classic “kaa karuun sajni”. Aditya Vittal was the next performer and began with "o mere dil ke chain". This 18 year old is buzzing with talent.  This was followed by 2 duets performed by Vikram and Shruti; “is mod pe  jaate hain” "vo jab yaad aaye". The latter was a tribute to composer Laxmikant on his birthday.

Shalini asked us to guess the next number originally sung by Rafi from Teen Deviyan. I initially thought of “kahiin bekhayal hokar” and later guessed correctly that it is “aise to na dekho”. Vikram negotiated the highs and the lows as well as the pauses in this SD Burman stunner very smoothly. It was now Vikram’s turn to ask the audience to guess a song from Baap Re Baap and ofcourse it was “Piya piya piya”. This is a relatively younger voice of Kishore and Vikram managed to bring this hue remarkably well. He and Shruti recreated the magic of this number with their lively stage presence. Aditya returned with “mere dil me aaj kya hai” and I was pointing to Sushmita that this song was made almost 3 decades before the singer was born. Big credit to Aditya’s parents for instilling interest in him. The first half of the program ended with a dedication to BBG team with a lovely rendition of “madhuban kushbuu deta hai” by Kumaran.

A short break ensued, which we enjoyed with Sandwiches while interacting with members of BBG. We rejoined, and it was announced that Vikram was going to sing 5 songs straight. Vikram began with a song from Night in London.  When the audience rightly guessed as Nazar na lag jaaye he responded " exactly". “mere saamne waale khidki men” and “main huun jhuum jhum jhumroo” followed. Sushmita's favourite Raaga is Shivaranjani and she was delighted when “mere naina saawan  badho” was performed. It was lapped up by the audience and they demanded an encore, which was obliged. Shaildenra's words in Talat Mahmood’s" hai sab se madhur vo geet jo dard ke sur men gaate hain" never sounded more apt. It was now time for peppy songs and orchestra by Suresh and team stood out. The Violin in “dard-e-dil dard-e-jigar dil men jagaaya aapne” and the Saxophone in “badan pe sitaare lapeTe hue” got the audience pumped up. Kumaran and Shruti were in unison with “ Jaan-e-man tere do nayan” and “tuu jo mere sur men”.

Vikram joined them for “mohabbat bade kaam ki chiiz hai' and the atmosphere was charged up as a couple started dancing.  “inteha ho gaii” and “hamko to yaara teri yaari” got the crowd onto their feet and the entire BBG group started dancing. I noticed that “o Hasina zulfon waali” got Sushmita tapping her feet and we joined the fun. The concert ended on a high note with audiences singing along to the beats of “jai jai shiv Shankar”.

All the singers and members of the orchestra led by Shankar did a wonderful job. It was gratifying to note that the compere mentioned the names of the composer and lyricist along with singers and movie name without any errors. It was nice to hear the mention of Asab Bhopali’s and Shamshul Huda Bihari’s; not exactly household names in the public domain.

“vo jab yaad aaye bahut yaad aaye” was a nostalgic reminder of radio listening era as well as ode to Delhi days when concerts were a staple diet. Here’s looking forward to an encore.