Vishal Bhardwaj displays his hidden prowess as a ghazal singer at Khazana

By Jyothi Venkatesh

The biggest, as well as the most pleasant surprise of the evening at the festival of ghazals- Khazana organized by Pankaj Udhas in aid of Cancer Patients Aid Association & Parents Association Thalassemic Unit Trust at Hotel Trident, recently was the mellifluous as well as the melodious voice of the veteran music director cum filmmaker Vishal Bharadwaj.

Amidst stalwarts of the evening like Talat Aziz, Pankaj Udhas, and Anup Jalota, it was Vishal Bhardwaj who stole the scene as a ghazal singer by belting out evergreen numbers like Phone Ko Chhodo Aankhon Aankhon Mein Massage Mujhe Bhejo Na Pani Pani Re Khaare Pani Re, Aankh Se Aankh Milane Dete Aap Bas, Aisi Uljhi Nazar Unse Hat-thi Nahi Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji and last but not the least O Saathiya, a duet with his wife Rekha.

By the way, this year’s proceeds from the two evenings will be used towards the continued care and rehabilitation of patients suffering from Cancer and Thalassemia, Pankaj Udhas said. This year, Khaza featured, besides Vishal Bharadwaj, Rekha Bhardwaj, Anup Jalota, Talat Aziz, Hariharan, Ghansham Vaswani, and Shivani Vaswani, also a multitude of talents like Sneha Astunkar and Himangi, Sudeep Banerji, Priyanka Barve, Pratibha Singh Baghel, Runa Rizvi Shivamani, Pooja Gaitonde, etc, besides the talent hunt winners Surendra Kumar Bansal and Aparajita Lahiri. Rakshanda Khan and Madiha Khan anchored the evening with aplomb.

Kudos to Pankaj Udhas and Anup Jalota for the wonderful evenings which were accompanied by the choicest of scotch and sumptuous dinner thanks to liquor supplier Vasant Bhandari and event managers Nayaab Udhas and PR person Vaibhav Patil.