“I realized that giving is something that no one can take away
from you. The rewards of giving go far beyond money and material
things. Giving is something you will be able to take with you
wherever you go for the rest of your life."
Perhaps the significance of these words by Robin Raina who heads
the Raina Foundation, a young charity, that has taken some
mature and measured steps to bring hope and help to
underprivileged children in India and other countries, is not
lost on many celebrities. Many have adopted children supported
by Raina Foundation, others like legendary Manna Dey and Shaan
and now Asha Bhosle have gone one step ahead and lent their
voice and immense talent to the cause by participating in shows
hosted by the Foundation.
On 17 June at the gorgeous Fox Theater, Asha Bhosle enchanted a
full house of ardent admirers along with her two very gifted
male co-artists, Kumar Sanu and Sudesh Bhosle.
The evening began with a dance performance by the local dance
troupe Silent Killers; it was followed by a dance depicting the
positive and negative elements of water and the pain and
destruction left by the Tsunami by students from Kumud Savla’s
Nrtiya Natya Kala Bharati Dance Academy.
Sudesh Bhosle then took center stage. This immensely talented
singer who is also a gifted painter and mimic has become the
singing voice of Amitabh Bachchan-so much so that when Bhosle
sang a particular song in Bachchan’s voice Jaya Bachchan refused
to believe it was any one other than her husband who had sung
the song. Bhosle regaled the audience with songs in the voices
of Kishore Kumar, Rafi, S.D. and R. D Burman. K.L Sehgal, Hemant
Kumar, Manna Dey and Amitabh Bachchan. He belted out popular
numbers like Mere makhna, tum kya jaano, rang barse, ke pag
ghungroo, Hai Apna Dil to Awara, Ai mere Pyare Watan,Tere Sajan
Hain Us Paar, Zindagi ka safar and duets with Asha Bhosle that
were delightful It is amazing to see the range in his voice and
his ability to pull this off since these singers have pretty
dissimilar voices and distinct singing styles.
Sudesh Bhosle also sang the beautiful song Kehna Hai Kehna hai
aaj tumse yeh pehli baar from Padosan and dedicated it to the
memories of Kishore Kumar, R. D Burman, Mahmood, and Sunil Dutt.
He also paid homage to Tsunami victims and talked of being
familiar with the nostalgia NRIs feel when they are away from
home and dedicated a couple of songs to the victims and those
who miss their homeland.
Kumar Sanu took the world by storm when his songs from Ashiqui
became block busters and never looked back. His voice is crystal
clear, and he is charm personified on stage. Sanu also the holds
the Guinness record for recording the maximum number of songs-28
in a day. Every song rendered by him whether it was Tum Dil ki
Dhadkan mein rehte ho, or ek ladki ko dekha which netted him his
first Filmfare award, Sanam Mere Humraaz, and the evergreen
Sochege tumhe pyaar Karen ke nahin, dheere dheere se meri
zindagi mein aana, do dil mil rahen hai magar chupke chupke, had
the crowd roaring. Sanu was very effusive in his appreciation of
the genius of R. D. Burman, and the work that Raina foundation
does for underprivileged children, and for the Tsunami victims
recently.
He was visibly overcome when Robin Raina told the audience that
March 31st has been declared Kumar Sanu Day in Dayton Ohio.
Asha Bhosle then made her much awaited entry, resplendent in
white. What never ceases to amaze is the stamina and charm of
this 71 year young legend who I personally consider the greatest
singer of our times. She can sing anything any other singer can
sing, though I doubt anyone has her range and versatility even
today.
It is also interesting how she brings in something fresh,
something new in her presentation. The last time she was here in
Atlanta with Adnan Sami she wowed the audience with her voice
and presentation. This time too, her wit, her sense of humor,
and the way she blends songs and story telling, sharing happy,
mischievous, poignant memories from her life, had the audience
spellbound. The way she moves with the times is just awe
inspiring.
Asha began her segment, sharing memories of her life. The
excerpts were set to the sultry number, Mera Naam Hai Shabnam
from the hit film Kati Patang. Asha Bhosle’s voice cut through
the darkness as the lights honed in on her and two dancers with
sinewy moves escorted her onstage. She continued crooning her
life’s story and how her faith in God pulled her through the
tough times and the obstacles she faced in life.
This time along with weaving the magic of her music, she
actually did a magic trick, where she made a half smoked
cigarette disappear, in a little red handkerchief she whipped
out, much to the delight of the little kids sitting in the
audience.
She sang some old forgotten melodies, some hip numbers like
kambakht ishq, Sharara Sharara and the current block buster
Lucky lips.
Asha ji then shared some memories of her life and musical
journey with R. D. Burman. She mentioned how he once just left
for Nepal with her to get inspiration for a song. Watching the
Nepalese girls go by humming a Nepali folk tune inspired him to
come up with the lilting number Poocho Na yaar kya hua, dil ka
karar kya hua. The crowd went wild when she started crooning
Aaiye Meherban, dhal gaya din ho gayi shaam and mutu kodi kawadi
hada with Sudesh Bhosle. Bhosle added his brand of mimicry
switching to the voices of Raj Kumar and Ashok Kumar and later
making sounds of the shuttle in dhal gaya din while singing in
Rafi’s voice.
Asha talked about Bhosle being a very talented painter to which
he said, “it’s too late to talk about my talents..alas I’m
married,” which cracked the audience up! The concert continued
without a break and had Sudesh Bhosle singing one foot tapping
hit after another that had the crowd dancing all over the
auditorium. Asha Bhosle wearing a beautiful blue sari then
walked over and lent her mellifluous voice to evergreen songs
like reshmi salwar kurta jail da, kajra mohabbat wala and then
Aa Dekhen zara with Sudesh Bhosle and Kumar Sanu as the grand
finale.
The show ended abruptly much to the dismay of members of the
audience, many of whom felt Kumar Sanu did not get enough time
on stage. Others wanted to see Sudesh’s stand up comedy and many
others were clamoring to hear some more of Asha ji’s popular
golden oldies. Robin Raina said he had mentioned to Asha ji that
he was honored to have her here and that they could continue for
as long as they wanted, but she was concerned about the
additional cost the foundation would incur if they went into
overtime and decided not to continue.
The flip side was the amount of litter left by the audience.
Food containers, spilt alcohol marred the interiors of the
historic Fox theater, a shameful reminder of how filthy South
Asians are. Robin said he was prepared for that and had already
kept a cleaning budget aside. The Fox Theater is very anal about
these things but perhaps let it go out of respect for Robin and
the fact that it was a charity concert.
People kept on taking videos openly defying announcements to the
contrary, until Robin had to stop the concert midway and appeal
to every one to stop. Not that it deterred the people there. I
guess because of these antics, gorgeous theaters like the Fox
may be made inaccessible for future South Asian events. Maybe
the best solution would be to prohibit food and liquor and check
every one’s bags for stuff like they do at most events. There
were drunken catcalls and a brawl that was contained only
because Robin intervened. He had requested Fox, not to post
their Marshals as he wanted the concert to be a happy and
positive experience for everyone. May be a reevaluation is
needed in that area.
Robin Raina said that this show was a great learning experience
for him. It was the biggest show the Raina Foundation had hosted
to date and the most expensive, but the entire cost was covered
through sponsorship. “ While I’m very grateful to the national
sponsors, I cannot even begin to tell you how much support I
received at the local level, from local sponsors to selfless
people like Mustafa Ajmeri, Sandeep and Kumud Savla and many
others who helped all the way. The volunteers from the Raina
Foundation especially Aaron Tikkoo and Kallol Paul were amazing.
Compared to them I did nothing.” Says Raina.
Aaron disagrees, “A great deal of energy at Robin Raina
Foundation flows from Robin’s passion and perseverance towards
this cause and that’s what drives people like me. Robin is a
true example of a leader leading by an example.”
A lot of people who come for such shows don’t see the blood,
sweat and tears that go into not just hosting a show of this
caliber by a Foundation whose head is not a professional
promoter and has to learn the ropes by hands on experience.
Aaron Tikkoo says a great amount of a charitable organization's
time and energy is devoted to fundraising and it holds true at
Robin Raina Foundation as well. About 2 months back, at a
Foundation meeting when Robin mentioned the idea of doing the
Asha Bhosle show, no one knew how to react. “We had never done
something of this size before and it took some time for us to
digest the fact that we just have two months to accomplish this
mammoth project.
“Sponsorships, Event Promotion and Stage Management are my areas
of activity at the Foundation, getting sponsors being more
difficult of these. For the sponsorship drive, I would say we
would have targeted 70-80% businesses run by Indians in the
metro Atlanta area. Besides this we approached a sizeable number
of blue chip corporations to be part of this show, and were
lucky enough to succeed”. It wasn’t easy said Tikkoo and
involved making hundreds of calls, sending out an equal number
of emails, meeting innumerable people (all kinds), and spending
multiple weeks together trying to achieve this. “It involved
standing in front of Global Mall, Decatur, and other Indian
hotspots for more than 8 hours distributing thousands of event
promotional material. I remember there were times, when I spent
half a day at Global mall and half a day at Decatur for numerous
weekends together.”
Asha Bhosle talked about the efforts on stage and how when she
heard about the work the foundation was doing for
underprivileged children, she was moved deeply and wanted to be
part of it. Asha Bhosle has reportedly adopted some children
from the foundation.
Another thing most non-profit organizations face is skepticism
about where the dollars are going. Robin Raina says so far they
have not had to deal with it, but as the foundation and its work
grows he expects the brickbats to come along with the
appreciation. “ I will be sending out a letter that anyone who
is dissatisfied with the foundation’s work will get a refund of
his/her donation with no questions asked, if it is done in the
same calendar year.” Raina says what moved him was the fact that
even his accountant send him a check for 600 dollars when she
saw how every penny was accounted for so meticulously. “We
received 60 dollars from a school in Minnesota and 1700 pounds
from a Scottish school, raised by the kids. Its things like that
which make us believe we are on the right track.”
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