Hamari yaad aayegi
Naresh Khattar
honor famous singer of yore Mrs. Mubarak Begum. The event was
organized by Sangeet Smrit, a Delhi based organization run by Ms.
Shikha Biswas Vohra (Anil Biswas's and Meena Kapoor daughter) and
India Islamic Cultural Centre. I learnt that the show was conceived by
Mr. Siraj Khan from Hudson but was produced and executed by one Mr.
Naveen Anand and two others M/s. Prithvi Haldia and Mr. Purinder
Ganju. All three of them worked tirelessly for last two months to
bring this show to reality. That they could rope in two very good
sponsors for this show - M/s Polyplex Corporation Limited and M/s
Nucleus Software Exports Limited helped them vastly. The participation
of sponsors ensured that the show was very slickly and professionally
executed. The presenter of the show was Ms Salma Sultan, one of my
most favorite news-reader from the Doordarshan days. The guest of
honor for the evening was Mr. Vasant Sathe; former I & B Minister and
former ICCR Chairman - and the present cultural Czar of Delhi!
The India Islamic Centre's , main Auditorium which could seat about
300 people was filled completely . The size of gathering was just
right for this kind of mehfil. As is expected in such shows, most of
the audiences were 40+ in age and were very appreciative of music of
that era. What was particularly gratifying that there were no annoying
cell-phones buzzing throughout the show; organizers had insisted both
in invites and in personal emails that those attending must leave the
cell-phones in their cars.
The show began with a short AV on Begum's live in Salma Sultan's
voice. Salma Sultan has not lost any of her characteristic Urdu
talaffus and lehjaa. Immediately thereafter, a group of very capable
singers of Sangeet Smriti sang the famous qawwali 'jab ishq kahin ho
jaati hai; to aesi halat hoti hai' (Arzoo/SJ). There was a live
orchestra playing that was arranged by one Mr.Pavan Naidu who himself
was on Keyboard. Other than him there was a Table/ Dholak player,
another percussionist on Drums and yet another for miscellaneous
percussions. That apart there was an artist each on Baaja, Sarangi,
Sitar and Guitar.
After this qawaali, some of these artist individually sang a few
other songs of Mubarak Begum namely 'ham haale dil
sunayenge' ( Madhumati/ SC) and 'aankhon aankhon mein har raat guzar
jaati hai ( Robin Bannerjee/ Marvel Man)
With this the first segment of the show was over and then entered
Salma Sultan followed almost immediately by Mubarak Begum. Begum got
a rousing welcome with entire audience standing and clapping. Dressed
in a glittering yellow shimmer dress she did not look her age. Coming
to the format of the show, my feeling is that Salma Sultan had planned
the show in an interview style wherein she would converse with Begum
and also request for songs. But somehow, the begum, turned out to be
quite a conversationalist on her own and took the show in her own
hands. But in doing so she did not allow her presence to overawe Salma
Sultan in any way: making special efforts to make it easy for her by
calling Salma Sultan as someone who is bigger and better known star
than her. She even termed herself as a fan of Salma Sultan from her
news reading days. Incidentally, Salma Sultan looked just as stunning
as she looked 25 years back on TV. All through their conversation,
begum turned out to be a very simple and informal person with
absolutely no hang-ups.
Begum started her concert with a naat 'khaaliq tuu karde karam'. Here
I would like to mention that all through the show, one could sense
that the Begum WAS a bit out of touch in her singing and her voice
showed signs of crack; especially on higher notes. Though, one could
sense that she was quite aware of her limitation but she did not
allow that to dent her enthusiasm in any way and carried on with the
show with a certain aplomb. The listeners, on their part, were also
generous in their appreciation.
Just after that Naat, she sang SJ's duet from Hamrahi, 'mujhko apne
gale lagalo' and had that entire audience clapping and humming along
with her. This was followed by the peppy 'nigahon se dil mein chale
aayega' ( ? Shanmukh babu Upadhyay/ Hameer Hath) and the begum had
audience eating out of her hand. Thereafter she sang in succession
'neend ud jaaye teri chayen se sone wale' ( KA/ Juari), 'ae dil bata
ham kahan aa gaye' (? S Kishan/ Khooni Khazana) and one of my personal
favorite 'voh na aayenge palat kar' (SDB/ Devdas). By now she was
being lustily cheered for all her songs with wah- wah-s. With this the
second segment of the program was over and begum took a rest while the
other singers continued singing her songs. Audience was particularly
appreciative of their singing 'hamein dam dai ke sautan ghar
jaana' (Iqbal Quereshi/ Yeh Dil Kisko Doon). Anil Biswas's grand
daughter daughter , Tuhina sang 'shama gul kar ke na jaa' ( Arab Ka
Sitara/ Sadaat ?). She also sang 'sanwariya teri yaad de ( Ramu to
diwana hai/Chandu ?). Another good singer, Lekha sang 'ghir ghir aaye
badarva kaare (Daak Babu/ Dhaniram). By now begum was clearly
overwhelmed with nostalgia and narrated several anecdotes (most
already known and some new to me) and many many ashaar much to the
delight of the audience.
In the final segment, begum took over the mike once again and sang
'be muravvat bewafa' (C Arjun/ Susheela) followed by 'itne kareeb
aake' ( Shagoon/ Khayyam). She had a talat like amateur singer
accompanying her in Shagoon's song.As anticipated she finished her
performance with 'kabhi tanhaiyon mein' ( Hamari Yaad Aayegi/ Snehal
Bhatkar).
There was a vote of thanks by Naveen and then Mr. Vasant Sathe
felicitated the Begum with flowers and a Shawl. She was also presented
a Cheque as honorarium. Begum thanked everyone profusely and left
backstage.
I was somehow able to sneak into the green room and caught begum for
an autograph. I also asked her as what happened to all those songs
that she is said to have recorded (or rehearsed) with SDB ( and
Pancham) for Benazir. Begum just smiled and refused to give an
answer.
In the foyer, I met Dr. Mahesh, Romee and few other music lovers whose
names I had read on various internet forums but never met personally
before. There was also a mention here on her missing on Daayera song.
Thus came an end to a wonderful evening and I left home in my car
humming tunelessly all the way (much to wife's annoyance) some the
songs that I had heard during the evening.
( I have tried to verify the pstats of the songs from the internet but
some errors could still have crept in. My apologies...)
Naresh Khattar
dn.usenet
"Naresh Khattar" wrote :
>
> organized by Sangeet Smrit, a Delhi based organization run by Ms.
> Shikha Biswas Vohra (Anil Biswas's and Meena Kapoor daughter)
>
Meena Kapoor does not have any children.
raaz
Thank you very much, for the detailed narrative post.
Someone would have captured those events on video and if they upload
it on youtube, it will be a great pleasure to watch.
kkg
i also attended the show.it was really good and naresh has beautifully
narrated it covering minute details leaving no important points.three
video cameras were covering the show.i think someone can contact the
organizer mr naveen anand to put the videos on you tube.his phone no
is 09873412329
kkg
rajendra
We are grateful Mr.Khattar for a fine narrative of the show. However,
I request Mr. Khattar to write another post reporting the anecdotes
Mubarak Begam shared with the audience in the show.
Rajendra
Srinivas Ganti
make it.
When I came to know about the show, I wanted to post it on RMIM
but decided against it as it was advertised to be a private gathering
with limited seats.
So after checking with Mr.Naveen and Mr.Siraj, I forwarded the details
to a few music lovers from Delhi.
Incidentally Mr.Siraj was also involved in a benefit concert for
Mubarak Begum in Pune on March 20.
Srinivas.
Naresh Khattar
Thanks 'dn' for correcting. And yes, thanks Srinivas for informing
about this show :)
Rajendra bhai, I will try and post some anecdotes later.
Naresh
anand.n...@gmail.com
Thanks to all of you who made it to the show and also to those who did
not. The event was not strictly 'Private', but was called so since
there are only two kinds of events at India Islamic Cultural Centre,
one in which every member is invited, and second which is on the basis
of renting out the auditorium which is termed Private. Also a lot of
people donated for the cause and we were obliged to reserve seats for
them. Roughly two thirds of the total seats were thus reserved for
donors, and the rest were given to other music lovers. As a result a
lot of non-donors were disappointed at not being able to get passes.
For this very reason, we did not advertise the event widely as we were
unable to deal with the numbers involved.
All the people involved with the show were highly motivated, and
worked very hard to make it a success. I would specifically mention
the role of Salmaji, Shikha Biswas Vohra (She is the daughter of Mr
Anil Biswas from his first wife), Pavan Naidu, the young singers and
the staff at India Islamic Cultural Centre. Also my friends Purinder
Ganju and Prithvi Haldea deserve special mention. Our sponsors
Polyplex Corporation Ltd and Nucleus Software Exports Ltd. also played
stellar roles.
I am glad that the show went well. It was a very significant event
since it was Begums first show in Delhi, and also she sang after a
long hiatus of about 40 years. The video is expected soon and I will
try and post some of it to youtube (Will have to figure out the way
first!)
We were intially a bit apprehensive about the content of the show, not
knowing how Begum would sing since she has not been singing all these
years, but we were stunned to see that despite all the adversities she
has faced in life, her voice and her sense of humour is amazing. She
kept the audience spellbound. The younger singers were awesome, and I
think we all enjoyed creating this show immensely.
Looking at the number of people who were disappointed at not being
able to attend it, I am happy to state that very soon Begum will be
invited again by India Islamic Cultural Centre for a repeat
performance. I hope you will be able to see the show at that time.
I will try and post some of my personal experiences in organising this
show later.
Some factual corrections in Nareshjis narrative, which is largely
correct:
1. Shamma Gul Kar Ke na ja was sung by Sheetal, not Tuhinaa
2. Itne Qareeb Aa ke bhi was sung by Sheetal and Mahesh, not Begum and
Mahesh.
Naveen Anand
raaz
Thank you for posting more details about the program.
Further good news, is about your good intentions to post part
of video coverage on youtube, which enable music fans,
worldwide, to have a glimpse.
rajendra
Naveen ji there is a suggestion. If the programme was video recorded
you can make DVD of the programme and provide at a price to music
lovers of other parts it would be great. I do not know if it will be
feasible for you.
Rajendra