‘Soul’ unplugs a stream of emotions

Nagpur: For the city audience hooked to retro musical shows, ‘Soul Unplugged with Shruti’ was a different trip. With stirring songs picked from among the most melodious Bollywood numbers, this was a presentation which was at once off beat and refreshing. At the Scientific Society Hall on Friday, the audience, surprisingly a good mix of young and old, had an enjoyable experience as they listened to their favourites with an unusual twist. Unplugged is a musical presentation with acoustic instruments. But here, some of the instruments couldn’t be totally unplugged due to the demands of modern day presentations. “My brother Parimal Waranashiwar and myself had been planning to do a concert like this for some years,” said Shruti Chaudhary, who has been singing at various concerts in the city. “Here, we are giving a different feel to the numbers without disturbing their melody,” she told the audience.
With piano, tabla and drums giving the retro numbers like ‘Ajeeb dastan hai ye’, ‘Boojh mera kya naam hai’ or ‘Raina beeti jai’, a different twist, the musicians and the singers both starred equally in the concert. And as the concept was new to the audience too, anchor Nasir Khan was equally a part of it as he kept the singers in conversation to make the evening more interesting.
Displaying her mastery over classical music, Shruti mesmerized with Farida Khanam’s ‘Aaj jane ki zid na karo’, and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s ‘Saware tere bin jiya jaaye na’. Complimenting her singing was Vijay Chiwande, who brought out the concept of unplugged by developing the underlying emotions of the song with the help of musicians. The angst that simmers in ‘Mere mehbood kayamat hogi’, or the flirty ‘Gulabi aankhen jo teri dekhi’ lighted up the stage through Chiwande’s versatility. The unplugged version of Madanmohan’s ‘Tum jo mil gaye ho’ did full justice to the original as both the singers kept the feel of the song intact. Vijay’s presentation of ‘Abhi mujhme kahin baki hai zindagi’ and ‘O saiiyan’ from Agneepath were riveting.
The concert definitely raised the bar for musical shows being held in the city as it attempted and succeeded in breaking the mould of retro theme based shows.