Remember those audio cassettes with the soundtrack of one film on side A and a different film on side B? Baithak to Bollywood felt quite like that, giving you the best of both worlds. Held at Calcutta Club as part of Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet, co-organised by Victoria Memorial Hall in association with The Telegraph, the event featured four-time National Award winner Shankar Mahadevan and his troupe live in concert. As he kicked off proceedings, Shankar explained the genesis of the concept: “Often, after a concert, people would say, ‘You should have sung more film songs.’ On other occasions they’d say we didn’t sing enough classical. So we wanted to design a show that would have a bit of everything.”
The evening began with Shree Ganeshay dheemahi, an “invocation to Lord Ganesha”, followed by a piece based on raga Hamsadhwani that had Sridhar Parthasarathy (left) on mridangam, Padma Shankar (right) on violin and Shankar “just improvising with five notes”. Sridhar’s mridangam solo drew loud applause, as did the vocal-instrumental one-on-ones. Next came a devotional song, Baaje re muraliya baaje, from the album Ram Shyam Gun Gaan, which had featured an 11-year-old Shankar Mahadevan on the veena. The baithak signed off with thumri — Barsan laagi saawan bundiya.
MOST LOVED
¯Dil chahta hai
¯Rock on
¯Sajda (My Name Is Khan)
¯Kal ho naa ho
¯Maa
(Taare Zameen Par)
¯Mitwa (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
¯Breathless
GOT ’EM DANCING
¯Pretty woman
(Kal Ho Naa Ho)
¯Jhoom (Jhoom Barabar Jhoom)
¯Uff teri adaa (Karthik Calling Karthik)
¯Gallan goodiyaan (Dil Dhadakne Do)
¯Senorita (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara)
Text: Sunny Lyngdoh
Pictures: Pabitra Das
