‘Aradhana’ became a super hit not only for its hero Rajesh Khanna but also for its exceptional music by Sachin Dev Burman. Hindi movies and songs became popular in Tamil Nadu after this blockbuster. Aptly titled ‘Ek Aradhana’, the SD Burman tribute show, brought alive his memorable compositions with special focus on Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar numbers.
Burman’s music was a seamless blend of folk, light and classical. While Anil Bajpai is the famous Mohammed Rafi voice, Shekar is Kishore Kumar’s. The two were the main performers of the day.
‘Dil ka bhanwar kare pukar’ from the film ‘Tere Ghar Ke Samne’ by Anil Bajpai and ‘Khilte hain gul yahan’ from ‘Sharmilee’ by Shekar gave a lively start to the show. Unfortunately, Anil Bajpai’s sore throat gave him a tough time. Although he tried his best to present the best of SD such as ‘Tu kahan ye bata’ and ‘Dil pukare aare aare’ the strain in the high notes showed.
Shekar was full of spirit and offered an array of solos and duets. The most captivating were from ‘Aradhana,’ the sensuous ‘Roop Tera Mastana’ and the romantic ‘Kora kagaz tha’, the foot-tapping ‘Aaj madhosh hua’ from Sharmilee (duet with Usha Raj), the lilting ‘Jeevan Ki Bagiya’ from ‘Tere Mere Sapne’, the soul-stirring ‘Tere mere milan ki’ from ‘Abhimaan’, the folk-based melodious ‘Gori gori gaon ki’ of ‘Yeh Gulistan Hamara’ and ‘Dil aaj shayar hai’, (Gambler) were enjoyed by the audience. Usha Raj, Ganga, Surmukhi Suchitra, Krithika Raman and Anusha were the voices for the duets. Among them Usha Raj’s ‘Piya Bina’ (Abhimaan) stood out for its melody and perfect rendering.
In such shows, invariably, the singers are expected to reproduce the songs as close as possible to the original. So when Shekar tried to bring in his style in the Kishore Kumar numbers, it proved to be both his strength and weakness. ‘Roop Tera Mastana’ had the crowd singing along and stood out for Patrick’s accordion playing. Commendable orchestration was by Ganesh Kirupa.
Despite these songs being accessible at the click of a mouse, live retro shows continue to draw music lovers in big numbers. This proves the timelessness of these gems.
