This was the first time I attended a show, dedicated to the popular composers Kalyanji-Anandji and Laxmikant-Pyarelal, who ruled the Hindi film music scene for three decades and were also a part of the golden era.
Kalyanji-Anandji were Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s seniors, but both pairs composed their best works between early 1960s and the late 1980s.
The Satrangi programme drew a fairly large audience in the age group of 50 and above. And they enjoyed each number belted out by Pramod Nair and Priyanka Singh (from Mumbai).
Kalyanji- Anandji’s songs formed the first segment starting with ‘Aaja tujko pukare’ from ‘Geet’. ‘Kya khoob lagti ho’ from ‘Dharmatma’ and ‘Behudi mein sanam’ from ‘Haseena Maan Jayegi’ followed.
Of the 14 songs, the other popular ones were ‘Tumko mere dil ne pukara’ from ‘Rafoo Chakkar’, ‘O mere raja’ from ‘Johnny Mera Naam’, ‘Yunhi tum mujhse baat karti ho’ from ‘Sachcha Jootha’, ‘Salaam-e-ishq mere jaan’ from ‘Muqaddar ka Sikandar’ and ‘Wada kar le sajna’ from ‘Haath ki Safaai’.
It was nostalgia all the way, as stars of the past such as Dharmendra, Feroz Khan, Dev Anand, Vinod Khanna, Rajesh Khanna, Hema Malini, Rakhee and Rekha came alive on the screen as some of the songs were accompanied by video clips.
The second half focussed on Lakshmikant-Pyarelal with soul-stirring numbers such as ‘Woh jab yaad aaye’ from ‘Parasmani’, ‘Ek pyar ka nagma hai’ from ‘Shor’, ‘Rim jim ke geet’ from ‘Anjaana’, playful ones such as ‘Woh hain zara khafa khafa’ from ‘Shagird’ and ‘Hum tum ek kamre mein band ho’ from ‘Bobby’ and the super fast ‘Dafliwale dafli baja’ of ‘Sargam’ that drew applause. Lyricists Anand Bakshi and Indeevar, who often wrote for the pair, used to be popular too.
The emcee Uday Maghani shared many interesting anecdotes about the Kalyanji-Anandji and Laxmikant-Pyarelal.
Singers Pramod Nair and Priyanka Singh are young but they handled the songs well. A group of elderly people, who were in the audience, said they enjoy such live shows and love to encourage young singers who perform old songs.
Tuneful journey
Hailing from Kerala, brought up in Kolkata, Pramod Nair moved to Chennai and has been pursuing his passion in music since 2007.
Why Hindi songs? “I grew up listening to these songs and was enamoured of their melody and rhythm. I used to sing in school and college and even when I worked in the corporate sector. Then one day, I decided to follow my heart. I work on different themes, with singers, actors and lyricists,” says Pramod.
“I prefer to keep my programmes restricted to smaller audiences and I find that they have become my regular patrons. I don’t have a group as such, but the members of the orchestra are also my regular performers. On the projects we do, we work like a family. I perform to both live and pre-recorded music.”
