Variety-laden musical evening

'It was primarily a tribute-paying event to the evergreen singer Manna Dey. As part of our Monthly Movie Memories series, we had a few other legends also to honour during our programme.

Yet the spontaneous support from the niche audience who came up with impromptu dance moves and an 'Antakshari' where the dancer swayed to the songs sung by the participants made the evening awesome' recounts Pooja Balan, one of the co-founders of the musical group Dakshin Dhwani which came up with its programme- 'Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli'- last Sunday at Nritya Forum, Banjara Hills.

Taking up select hits from the works of icons like Prakash Mehra, Naushad, Majrooh Sultanpuri and old time music director Anil Biswas, the group, as has been their trademark style, mixed and matched singing with audio-visual clips. In all, there were more than a dozen legends whose birth/death anniversaries fell in May and the group endeavoured to share vital inputs about all of them through this combination approach.

'A legend need not have been a serial performer. Even one film in which his work was noticed and accorded a cult classic status is good enough to be considered for highlighting ' informs Pujazz, an enthusiastic crooner of Dakshin Dhwani who is clearly in love with many things vintage and old world.

The audience was hence treated to a variety of hit songs, enthusiastically sung by nearly 10 singers who kept up the tradition of keeping alive golden memories. The sultry climate was a dampener to an extent yet the rhythm of the programme, in which the group members put up a credible show to demonstrate their enthusiasm and continue it month after month proved to be an effective antidote for those who braved the heat. ' Next month, our challenge would be to hold it among rainy evenings' said T Balakrishnan, who sang a Mohammed Rafi song to the delight of the audience.