Pune: Stand-up comics tickle the funny bone while ghazals serenade many

PUNE: It was a full house on Sunday at the Amstrad Times Celebrate Pune festival with sounds of laughter, hooting and whistles buzzing around the arena.
The women of the Bharatiya Digital Party, aka ‘Bhadipa’, engaged the crowd completely on the second day of the festival.
The Balgandharva Rangmandir was bustling with a predominantly young audience, majority of whom were fans of the many acts and actors, especially the irrepressible “Bhadipachi Aai” (Renuka Daftardar) and the plain-speaking Savita Prabhune, alias “Kadam Kaku”.
However, the young brigade of women stand-up comics Sayali, Trupti, Madhura, Savani and Neha were not too far behind in garnering applause. They were contemporary, uninhabited, and unapologetic. They enjoyed interacting with the audience and were quick on the repartee. But the show-stoppers were indeed “Bhadipachi Aai” and “Kadam Kaku”.
The festival is powered by Phoenix Marketcity, co-sponsored by Sankla Buildcoon and the Pune Municipal Corporation is a partner.
The music launch of actor-director Mahesh Manjrekar’s film, ‘Pangharun’, added flavour to the festivities later in the evening. The entire team of the movie was in attendance. Popular poet-lyricist Vaibhav Joshi presented “Chandane Tuze Maze”. He was accompanied by singers Hrishikesh Ranade and Anjali Marathe.
Earlier on Saturday night, noted vocalist Rahul Deshpande’s ‘Shayarana’, that premiered at the Times Celebrate Pune festival, took the ghazal aficionados on a delightful journey that continued well past midnight.
He was joined by the talented actor-vocalist Priyanka Barve. Barve enthralled the audience with solo performances of songs ‘Aata Jagayache Ase’, ‘Malawun Taak Deep’, ‘Salonasa Sajan Hai’ and more. She joined Deshpande for a few duets.
“This entire event is all about give and take. You will get as much from me as you give. Leave all your baggage outside and tell yourself that you are only going to be happy tonight,” Deshpande told the audience as he started humming Nasir Kazmi’s “Aaj Dekha Hai Tuze Bahut Der Ke Baad”.
Deshpande’s expertise in this beautiful form left the audience marvelling the delicate power and translucence of his voice. “After completing SSC, I spent almost 12 years learning from ghazal expert Sureshchandra Nadkarni who introduced me to ghazals sung by different singers. Ghazal is all but a form of Bhaavsangeet and my grandfather Vasantrao Deshpande was a connoisseur,” he said adding, “In classical music, the ‘sur’ comes first and the words follow. In bhaavsangeet, however, words come first and the ‘sur’ follows and enriches it. The focus changes and one needs to work on the diction as well.”
The audience was left spellbound as numerous ghazals of renowned poets like Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Ahmad Faraz, Nasir Kazmi and Suresh Bhat were performed. Deshpande also presented a ghazal by Vaibhav Joshi, which is to be a part of his grandfather’s upcoming biopic, “Mee Vasantrao”.
The programme reached its pinnacle with the rendition of “Ranjish Hi Sahi … Dil Hi Dukhane Keliye Aa’ by Deshpande and Barve. Happy with the response of the gathered mass, Deshpande said it was difficult to get an audience for a ‘ghazal-only’ programme. He thanked The Times of India for providing him with a platform.
Aaditya Oak, who accompanied Deshpande on the harmonium, also compèred the event. His wit and repartee had the audience in splits, making Deshpande comment that Oak — though a resident of Thane — was as good as a Punekar. Shayarana would not have been what it was without Anay Gadgil on keyboard, Yashwant Vaishnav on tabla and master Sanjay Das on guitar.