Gaurav and Amruta give another great Geetmala, but…

 

Gaurav Bangia and Amruta Natu, of Sa Re Ga Ma fame, presented Ameen Sayani’s Geetmala for the second time at C3 Church Hall in Silverwater on August 6, 2016.

The first show was such a success that everyone came expecting another great musical night. But there was disappointment from the start as the sound system was not up to the mark. Adjustments to the sound system were made in front of the restless audience who did not relent to Gaurav’s charm as what they asked was songs and not just  talk. Only  Gaurav did not loose his charm and tried his best to calm some unhappy souls. He joked, did mimicry and demonstrated his skill and egged all to sing along as well as clap which they did.

Sydney audience is quite accommodating soon as the sound was good enough the songs pelted out from the old era such as ‘Suhani raat dhal chuki’, ‘Pyar kiya to darna kya’ with the clips playing at the back with singers totally in sync with the scene made the night interactive and enjoyable as people  clapped and sang along urged by Gaurav. He did his best to appease some of the seniors who had gone there in busloads to relive the nostalgia of the 50s and 60s. He wondered at the same time how come Australia was so backward in providing the sound it was when it was such an advanced country in his opinion.

Gaurav did not loose his cool and did his best to entertain with songs from Albela the famous ‘shola jo bhadke’ and Asha with another famous ‘Eena Meena Deeka’ with Swastik Dance Group  girls who danced to the numbers and the scene totally changed with the audience enjoying the show thoroughly. Songs from movies such as Khamoshi, Anupama, Anamika, Don brought cheers from the crowd finally. The duo were equally adept in singing qawaalis with ‘nigahen milane ko ji chahta hai’ and ‘na to karwan ki talash hai’.

They sang beautifully the Anarkali song – ‘yeh zindahi usiki hai’ with Pradeep Kumar and the beautiful yesteryear actress Beena Rai on the screen in the background. The  audio visuals engaged the eyes while the ears listened to some beautiful numbers on the night as Ameen Sayani every now and then came on recorded video remebering some of the music greats such as Naushad, Lakxmikant Pyarelal, R D Burman and Hemant Kumar. The sound had improved in the second half as Gaurav practiced on stage as  sound engineer tinkered with the sound system while  people went for a break in the interval..

Organiser Gurudutt Shenoy implored all to be patient as emcee  Anu Chhabra and Nitin  Madan thanked all who supported the event   namely  Rahul Jethi of Bank of Queensland, Simeran Singh Fortune World Travel, Ravinder Pal Singh Bakers Delight,  Suren Pather,  Sumo Group,  Yateender Gupta,  Starin Group  and was supported by Sanjay Deshwal and Select Insurance. Sri Om Care Foundation  was the Charity Partner that had brought around 175 seniors from around Sydney.

All in all it was an evening full of ups and downs but it made up in the end for all its worth and all agreed that both Amruta and Gaurav Bangia are quite good singers and performers. Amruta’s ‘Kuchh dil ne kaha’ was just superb and Gaurav was excellent with ‘Khai ke paan banaraswala’. We do need good Indian sound engineers to fix this problem who know what kind of sound is needed for Indian music.

 

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