Sonu Nigaam sings for Pyarelal

The classics of Bollywood duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal will be explored again with a concert on May 7. The concert featuring composer duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s hits will have performances by Nigaam, Alka Yagnik and Kavita Krishnamurthy too.

The classics of Bollywood duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal will be explored again with a concert on May 7. A Musical Journey Of The Maestros, to be held at Andheri Sports Complex, was turned into a large-scale, celebrity event under the guidance of Pyarelal himself. “I wanted to have a musical event without any dancing and performances,” says the veteran composer, adding that such concerts stopped in the mid-1980s. “We had some Laxmikant-Pyarelal shows abroad, with 50-odd musicians and stars like Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz. Then actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan began performance-oriented shows. Lataji (Mangeshkar) and Ashaji (Bhosle) started doing only one show a year. So the era of musical concerts came to a halt.”

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So when a foundation approached him for a musical event, Pyarelal suggested turning it into a major concert because the city hadn’t witnessed anything like it in over two decades. “I spoke to Sonu Nigaam, Sudesh Bhosale, Kavita Krishnamurthy and Alka Yagnik. And they were all very glad to collaborate,” says the composer. Shail Hada, Vibhavari Joshi, Shrikant Kulkarni and Sudesh Bhosale’s son Siddhanth will also sing hits composed by the duo.

He recalls, “Sonu has spent considerable time in planning the concert. I insisted that he should sing more and not dance like he’d like do for contemporary tracks.” The composer is enthusiastic about the 100-piece orchestra which will accompany the singers. Sonu will be singing some of Mohammad Rafi’s hit songs, while Sudesh will recreate Kishore Kumar’s chartbusters. Ask Pyarelal about the contemporary music scene and he replies, “Now all that dhinchak (trashy) music has stopped,” he observed, adding, “Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Salim-Suleiman are recreating the melodies that we had in our music. Although today’s music falls behind in poetry, I’m sure that it will return to film songs soon.”