Organised as a tribute to legendary musicians Hemant Kumar and Kishore Kumar, the evening at Habitat World, India Habitat Centre (IHC), Lodhi Road recently came alive with the rendition of melodies from Hindi and Bengali films, sung by Soumitra Banerjee and Indranil Banerjee.
The night began with Soumitra Banerjee performing Hemant Kumar’s “Tum Pukar Lo Tumhara Intezaar Hai” ( Khamoshi , 1969), after which he sang many other popular songs by Hemant Kumar. . On audience demand, he also sang some Bengali songs, as well as other popular numbers like “Kahin Door Jab Din Dhal Jaye”, and “Ye Raat ye Chandni Phir Kahan”. Banerjee went on to candidly confess of a weak hold on Hindi, excusing himself for speaking mainly in Bengali.
The hall, packed to capacity despite a good seating arrangement, left a lot of spectators standing. . The audience requested many songs from Banerjee, who took care to fulfil each one. His final and triumphant offering for the evening was the beautiful rendition of “Beqarar kar ke hamein”.
Following Banerjee’s act was Indranil, who brought to the stage Kishore Kumar’s songs, performing them in a melodious and powerful voice. He began with “Suraj ki Pehli Kiran Se”, and despite a technical hitch that followed his first song, continued to charm the audience with several other melodies, including “Aane Wala Pal Jaane Wala Hai” and “Neele Neele Ambar Par”, adding that he felt these songs could never grow old.
Paying tribute to the legend, Indranil went on to perform “Chhu kar Mere Man ko”, a song he explained was one that Kishore Kumar always performed in his own stage shows. Moved and nostalgic, the audience sang along to the melodies of their past, lending their voices to songs like “Saara Zamana Hasino ka Deewana”, “Mere Sapnon ki Rani” “Yeh Sham Mastani” and “Lena Hoga Janam Hamein”. Before ending the evening with “Chalte Chalte Mere Yeh Geet Yaad Rakhna”, Indranil playfully dedicated “Oh Hansini Meri Hansini” to all the ladies in the audience.
It was an evening the audience enjoyed, as they clapped and sang along to the immortal melodies brought to the stage once again by the singer duo.
