A song and dance affair

Sizzling shakes and sentimental songs galore at Bollywood Club event

require mastering of the techno logy and a certain sli c kness, o thenvise, as nnformnately was d1e case, d elays stare to rake over and together with breaks, the audience wasn't quire ab le to get in to the spirit o f d i e evening's programme. A willin g audien ce and a n or inconsiderab le pool o f talent, were both left und erutilised. P erhap s i t was di e gremlins getting into the technology o nc e agai n.

Much to m y d e light, t h e last son g was Ki 111oin;boot bol~yo. Punjab i songs are al ways guaranteed co l ive n d1.ings up and tlus ,vas a good n o te o n w h ich co end the eveni n g The event also saw the launch of a new C D ent itled l zpa01 , a copy of w hich had been handed our to all as a reminder of the evening for tbe audience, as they ven tured out i n to the cold nig h t air.

which promised 'a fun filled evening with thrilling BoUywood dances and son gs' There was an in v itatio n to 'move your feet with 1/ltlllz, 111asti and /)/{/za' a nd tO enjoy mouth -wateri ng food wi th family and friends

To bring a n idea to fruitio n often requires tenacity, s teely d eterminatio n , hard work and maybe a p inch of lu ck Often people have an idea th at t hey would like to bring to life, bur don't kn ow how co go about maki.ng it succeed. So it was a p leasant surprise to come across the Australian B ollywood Club (ABC), a su ccessful ven ture by Dr Knlshrestha of Adelaide. The aim o f the Club, Dr Kulshrestha explained, is " to integrate Australian people with Indian p eople through Boll)"-vood culture". The club holds concerts of mu sic and dance whjch includes participation of J\.us tralj an s, as well as the local m usic and dance talent of A delaid e Th e m ost recent event of the ABC was 'Bollr,vood Night,'

\'v'e were fortunate to h ave the proceedings kicked off by Vinod Rajpu t, a Sydney- b ased si nger well- know n to the Adelaide audience. H is d eliver y of a farmaish of the sem i-classical song Madb11btJ11 me Radhik.a 11aache re brought b ack memories of the era of golden -oldies in cluding Koh-i11oor, the film fro m w h ich tlus so ng i s taken. Vinod has stage presence, charis matic delivery and the ability to draw the audjence to bis performance. Following him was Adelaide's own Lam Ma ngesh kar, See m a Sreekumar. One of her ch osen so ngs Di! apna 011r preet pamqyi contains those h auntingly evocative lines Aondhi ,min ek deep jolo'!}o, a11rpani main aag lagtJ'!}i, See ma's p leasing deliver y w ith her stro ng voice a nd confident manne r conrrasted so me wha t to the o riginal film version where a yow1g L ata wi d1 a softness in her vo ice, sang for d1e inn oce n t- looking Meena Kumari in the film. It's a n intriguing question th at mu st confront eve ry sin ger, as to how closely they should try to emulate the o rigi n al rath e r than deliver a song as d1ey see fit. Th ere's a good case that says that the prerogative should be with the artist, but t hat passio n sh oul d be in the delivery, and tb e audience can't ask for much more.

Dr Ku ls hrestlrn , himse lf a poet an d lover of music and dance, chose co sing so ngs o f masters Talat :Mehmood and Saigal. The line D1111rya 11111/be dboo11dhe magar went 11isbam1kni na ho typj fies the sorrowful sen timents of Talat's songs Lighter songs of Kishore Kumar a nd others we re co come, satis fyi n g all tastes.

In keep ing wi th the variety of t he eve ning's promise, there were a couple of dance performances. Th e first was Bollywood dancing by Su nai na Sharma, followed b y 'Cat and her Fleur ieu Spices,' a troup e o f belly dancers in surprisi ngly demure, but elegant dress. Dan ce is a m edi w11 d 1at can b e enjoyed b y all, unlike song, where ly ric s c an have a special meanin g, especiall y in 11agtJ10.r a n d ghozals.

Cat's group performed two quite unique pieces, one set to r ipp ing Gangnan1 style music a nd the other, a solo performauce wit h a sword The sword danc e requires po ise, balance , and a Auidi cy o f movement that needs to c aptiva te the audience. Sunaina 's dances were set ro strong music. Her full lem onyellow costume caught die light an d with her movement, at rim es, became a b lur. Just as di e audienc e was captivated by h e r dance, her graceful movement was heartbrea kingly cut sh o r e as the mu sic simply sto pped, leaving her suspen d ed in middance!

M u sic and dance for the eve ning was to be performed in t he 'karaoke' style with p re -recorded backing for performances Changeover s