To the rescue

Titled `Pankaj Udhas in friendship with Anup Jalota’, the evening, much to the credit of the organisers began within half an hour of the scheduled hour with Anup Jalota, who is also a founder member of the organisation, rendering a melodious and heart warming vandana.

Following it up with his much appreciated Aisi Laagi Lagan, Meera hogi magan that never fails to spellbound the listeners, Jalota came into his element with Rang de chunariya, tere man mein Ram tan mein Ram and Jaana tha Ganga paar. While it’s undoubtedly Jalota’s mellifluous voice that has won him so much acclaim, equally noteworthy is the versatile artist’s stage presence.

Interspersing his renditions with witty one-liners, many of them impromptu, and his favourite jokes, Jalota has the gift of establishing an instant rapport with the audience that makes all his performances an unforgettable experience. As he proceeded to create the right mood for the evening,he punctuated his devotional numbers with a couple of his well known ghazals such as the haunting Jabse gaye hain aap kisi ajnabi ke saath. He finally rounded off his mesmerising performance with the catchy Dama dam mast kalandar winning a thundering applause from the audience.

After a brief interlude, where the two artists formally launched the RESCUE ambulance as well as the Helpline, the spotlight shifted to Pankaj Udhas, the man who had come all the way down from Mumbai without charging a single penny for his performance that evening as his contribution towards the worthy cause.

Beginning with one of his earliest ghazals Kabhi kabhi tera maikhana yaad aaye bahut, Udhas further strung the evening together with lilting numbers like Niklo na tum benakaab and thodi thodi piya karo. Amongst his relatively newer numbers were the well known Ik woh be tha zamana and Phir haath mein sharab hai. Responding to the never ending stream of requests from the audience Udhas, in conclusion, regaled the crowd with his Chandi Jaisa rang hai tera to finally wrap up his one hour performance with the evergreen Chithi aayee hai.

While there was room for improvement as far as the sound mixing was concerned, the otherwise well organised evening, followed by dinner, was, in all, one worth spent. With the laudable cause and the ghazal singers heartfelt offerings, doing much to warm the hearts of all who sat there well past midnight, braving the December chill.