Hui mehengi bahut hi sharaab ke…

PRIYANKA TATER on Pankaj Udhas’ Sydney concert

Even though I am 15 minutes before time, I find myself struggling to park my car. Finally after two rounds of circling around, I find a spot. Alright, this is just the beginning! As I walk towards the Hills Centre, I am still trying to figure out where the entrance may be, peering through the spaces between people.  It’s packed and how!  I walk amidst blinding flashes, while the who’s who of the Indian community in Sydney are preening and posing, reminding me of my days as a Bollywood journalist back in Mumbai.  In the next 15 minutes the foyer is all deserted.

As I enter the main concert theatre, I gasp, “Wow!”  Four levels of seating with a capacity of nearly 1700 people, and almost every seat taken! Bollywood, eat your heart out, this is not for you.  It is the mehfil of Padmashri Pankaj Udhas.

After an introductory performance by Pupinder Mintu dressed in a black and golden brocade sherwani, in comes the ghazal legend himself. The audience is quick to shout in unison, “Aaj ki shaam, Pankaj ke naam!’

The maestro starts with a soft hum and takes off with Beparda nazar aayi, jo kal …niklo na benaqaab, zamaana kharaab hai, and not even two lines into the ghazal, the deafening sound of claps and whistles fills the auditorium.

As the clapping fades after the first ghazal, the singer with his velvet voice greets the audience adding a pinch of humour, “Doston, bhaaiyon aur beheno, aadaab, satsrikayaal, good evening. Anna Hazare ka zamaana hai. Anna ne ek baat acchi kahi, there should be no corruption.” And the audience is already in splits when the singer boosts it further by adding, “Aaj jo music pesh karney jaa raha hoon, there is no corruption in it. Aaj tak ghazalon ka remix nahi bana hai. Ghazals are the purest form of music.”

Pankajji follows this statement up with a ghazal from his early days, which he confesses is still one of his favourites: Deewaron se milkar rona, achcha lagta hai. Needless to say, the audience is generously pouring in the applause after almost every verse, which makes the ghazal maestro say, “Duniya ke har kalakaar ke liye, taaliyon ka nasha sabse bada nasha hota ha, woh ushi nashe ke liye jeeta hai!”

(For tour promoter Yogesh Sharma of Cinestar Entertainment (and his partners Arun and Susmita Bose of Kashi Indian Restaurant), this must surely have been a moment of great satisfaction, not only to see their efforts appreciated by the public at large, but also acknowledged by the star of the night himself).

And with claps as the background score, in poured ghazal after ghazal, ranging from Sabko maloom hai main sharaabi nahi hoon to the famous ghazal from the film Saajan, Jeeyein to jeeyein kaise, bin aapke to Aur aahista kijey baatein, dhadkaney koi sun raha ho. I have to mention the breathtaking jugalbandhi by the musicians in, Hui mehengi bahut hi sharaab, ki thodi thodi peeya karo.

The first half ends on a note of humour again, as Pankaj Udhas shares a joke: “Mere ek dost hai jisney mujhse kaha, ki who shaadi se peheley bhi sher tha, shaadi ke baad bhi sher hai, fark sirf itna hai ki shaadi ke baad uske upar Durga Maa baithi hain!” The laughs are simply unstoppable, followed by the beautiful Chaandi jaisa rang hai tera soney jaise baal (this was the first non-film song to have featured on Binaca Geet Mala as the best song of the year for topping the charts for the longest period in 1984).

Before going into the interval, loud cries of requests fill the air, and the ghazal maestro is willing to oblige, as he asks the audience to write in their requests on paper and send them to him backstage.

A break of mere 20 minutes never seemed longer, and the audience is diligently back to get some more of the ghazal singer’s untainted music.

The second session starts with Dil dhadakney ka sabak yaad aaya, woh teri yaad thi, ab yaad aaya.

Soon he introduces the dashing Yama Sarshar, Sydney’s up and coming tabla star, who syncs in with the rest of the musicians and does a great job matching beats with tabla maestro Rashid Mustafa.

It’s time for the requests to be fulfilled as Pankajji sings a medley of all the requested songs.

And then the most awaited song, a song that I fell in love with when I watched the film Naam back in India. Then I only loved the music, the lyrics and the voice. But at this moment, sitting here in Sydney, listening live to the magical voice, I could relate to every word of this song. I believe every migrant sitting in the auditorium reiterated the same sentiment.  It was Chitthi aayi hai… And oh, this song never felt more special! I wouldn’t be surprised if more than half of us unconsciously or consciously shed a tear or two.

“I read an article in the Times of India recently, on the film Naam that released in 1986. It’s been 25 years and this song is still alive, even after 25 years. Kabhi kabaar aise geet ban jaatey hain, hamesha nahi bantey,” said Pankaj Udhas. I couldn’t agree more!

A good artiste is someone who understands the pulse of the audience and Pankajji proved just that by performing a Punjabi and Gujarati ghazal for the janta who had been asking for a while, for some regional dressings on this musical evening.

Then came Main itna zor se naachi aaj, ki ghungroo toot gaye, received with claps, whistles and more claps. And then followed the ritual of introducing his musicians and the team.

I have to confess that I’ve never been a big fan of ghazals per se, but after experiencing this evening of live music by the ghazal maestro Padmashri Pankaj Udhas himself, I realized what I had been missing out on all these years. For the purists there’s ample reason to smile, as the ghazal maestro proved that unadulterated music still exists.