Small Talk

Music mania
It was evening filled with enthusiasm,energy and fervour for thousands who witnessed the Ajay- Atul live in concert at the SSPMS grounds on Saturday. With songs such as- kombdi palali,Ye go ye,mana udhan waryache,moraya moraya and so on,the musician duo Ajay and Atul entertained the audience for over three hours. Performances by Shankar Mahadevan,Amruta Natu,Vaishali Samant,Kunal Ganjawala and so on mesmerised the audience who danced and swayed to their favourite tunes. The show was compered by actor Makarand Anaspure and Amruta Khanwilkar. The concert concluded with the famous song – Moraya that was accompanied by local dhol troops that triggered the cultural and traditional colours of the song.

Fashion parade
Pune is all set to join the league of fashion players with the launch of its first ever fashion week scheduled to start from January 15. Conceptualised and designed by N’Igma Production House,the event boasts of some of India’s finest designers. With designers Salim Asgarlly displaying his fearless collection,Nivedita Saboo showcasing her western fusion,Moushmi Sanas with her western and Indian outfits along with esteemed names in the fashion industry such as- Nishka Lulla,Seema Singh,Archana Kochhar,Vikrant and Jega,Shaina NC,Leepakshi Ellawadi,Vikram Phadnis and one of India’s youngest designers,11-year-old Prachi Badve,the Pune fashion week is sure to set the ball rolling for the city. Models like Pooja Chopra,Anchal Kumar,Dimple Patel,Arwa Hussain,Poppy Jabal,Lekha Anantaraman,Nandini Vaid and Sujata Das will walk the ramp displaying collections of these designers. “The vision of the Pune fashion week is to put the city on a national map. It will provide a platform for local designers to showcase their talent,” says Satyajit Joglekar of the N’Igma Production House. The event will take place at the Westin,Koregaon Park.

Classic concert
Society for promotion of Indian classical music and culture amongst youth (Spicmacay) in association with Indian Council of Cultural studies (ICCR) is organising a two-week festival of performances and interactive workshops by eminent artists such as- ustad Abdul Rashid Khan,Birju Maharaj,Panditt Hariprasad Chaurasia and so on from January 15 to 30. The festival will include 40 concerts with 25 artistes performing at various colleges and schools throughout the city. “There are over 12,000 foreign students in India,and we wish to reach out to them. Indian art forms,be it dance,yoga or mediation convey the message of peace and harmony. The process of bringing peace has to begin somewhere and I think we have initiated it. When these foreign students go back,they will take with them a message of peace which is bound to spread,” said Shirish Kaulgud,volunteer,Spicmacay. Senior Bharatnatyam exponent Sucheta Chaphekar said,“Art resides in every individual. As a guru its our responsibility to reach out to the young and explain to them these art forms which help to look within our soul.” There will be other activities like heritage walks to various historical monuments with a historian,and overnight concerts.

Honouring legend
Rotary Club of Pune,Lokmanyanagar awarded Rotary Kala Gaurav Puraskar to late musician Madanmohan at Tilak Smarak Mandir on Tuesday. The award was accepted by his sons Sanjeev Kohli and Sameer Kohli. Madanmohan was one of the greatest musicians of the Hindi film industry. The chief guest for the function was Mohan Palesha,District Governor of Rotary for 2011-12. A film on Madanmohan’s life was shown earlier,that took the fans of this legendary musician down the memory lane. Later,noted singer Dr Alka Deo Marulkar and her daughter Shivani sang soulful Madanmohan- Lata Mangeshkar numbers.