Khumaar is Quality Entertainment: Bipin Pandit

It has been rightly said that music is a universal language that binds all.  This adage came true on Friday evening, when stalwarts from the industry came together; forgetting work to enjoy a quiet evening of soulful music of Khumaar -an initiative by Bipin Pandit, COO of The Advertising Club. ‘Khumaar’ is an extremely talented group of musicians, singers and composers that performs live shows.  ‘Khumaar’ is a Hindi word which means intoxication. Khumaar is Pandit’s biggest property; its distinctiveness lies in the segmentation of the programme in the form of solo acts, duets, classical acts, qawalis and sufi performances.

Pandit is very passionate about music to such an extent that it inspired him to write a book titled ‘Khumaar’. The book was launched on the same evening as of the show at the hands of the legendary music director Pyarelal of Laxmikant Pyarelal fame. Pandit  said,  “I was very keen that  only a legend like Pyarelal  launches my  book on music.” The evening saw him in a trance, reminiscing the good old days, as his soulful voice charmed his friends and colleagues from the industry.

Industry veterans like Sunil Lulla, Bhaskar Das, Prasoon Joshi, Paritosh Joshi, Ambi Parmeswaran, Subhash Kamath, Mitrajeet, Ravi Rao, Anita Karnik, Ajay Kakkar, Mandeep Malhotra , Arijit Ray, Andy, Dilip Tahil, Shashi Sinha and Sandeep Sharma were present to encourage Pandit for his initiative which has been running successfully since the last seven years.

Sandeep Sharma , President , RK Swamy, BBDO Media shared his views on the unique evening. Sharma said, “ I think it is a very good idea. Indian Cinema is a rich treasure house of music and all of us have been brought up on that thought even today. Personally for me music has always been a passion . Even today when I listen to those songs or lyrics it is almost like a treasure . For e.g. Rajesh Khanna’s songs, they are priceless and almost like picking up nuggets of gold! Music like this has a kind of resonance and it can be definitely considered a treasure to get a book that captures the glorious era of Indian Cinema , the anecdotes on the great song writers , about music directors and what really transpired in their lives when they created these priceless compositions . These treasures have to be passed on to future generations.” Sharing his take on the advertising   event which does  not discuss business but only centres around music he said , “ “I think it is a great idea and look forward to many such events.” He is of the opinion that agendas concerning networking , business and discussing issues  should be done in informal settings and less in corporate settings . “Having an event against the backdrop of a great musical night such as Khumaar  with a non-corporate theme is far richer and a better output can be generated,”  he added.

Mandeep Malhotra, President and Head , Mudra Max, who too was present at the occasion spoke about the musical evening.  “I really love this. It is an excellent way to disconnect and then reconnect. It is amazing that for a change you are not discussing business and awards and hence I am enjoying it to a great extent,” he said. He shared about his personal favourites from the collection of Rajesh Khanna’s movies and how he himself as a youngster enjoyed singing hit tunes from his movies. He also spoke about the jingles that had a personal touch to them in the yester years in comparison to today’s jingles which he said comes only from pre-planned briefs. His advice to the new generation is to believe in and take pride in what ever they do.

Arijit Ray, CEO, Dentsu India said, “I think Khumaar is a fantastic idea and it’s great to see Bipin taking this idea forward by allowing his passion to take precedence over anything else. People 

from the industry come to enjoy an evening with friends and spend it hearing some fantastic music and insightful conversation. Khumaar is a great platform for the industry people to blend and we are enjoying the music.

Pandit in the book Khumaar talks about his favourite musicians, composers, lyricists and vocalists and it reveals his unknown side to the world. He also convinced industry stalwarts and his friends to pen down their thoughts about their favourite artists, composers, singers, etc. to include it in the book. The evening also saw Pandit paying a tribute to romantic legends like Rajesh Khanna, Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand and Yash Chopra with his poignant voice. The show was telecasted live on his personal website: www.bipinpandit.com. It’s Pandit’s passion for creativity and especially music that makes him so successful in seamlessly leading and managing an association of advertising minds like Ad Club and successfully creating a property like KHUMAAR.

The industry people describe him as an 'immensely' talented person. Pandit has been on stage as a compere and mimicry artist for 23 years and for long cherished the desire to have his own group. In an exclusive interview with Adgully the leader who creates brands revealed his deeply passionate musical and creative side. Pandit always had an urge to do things with a complete creative independence. Thus Khumaar as an idea started seven years back in 2007 and has been lucky enough to choose it’s audience. Pandit said, “Khumaar is receiving an increasing popularity and new faces are to be seen in every show. Khumaar has got its own loyal audience; it is an event which is a fine combination of musical delight and execution, not to forget the sleek look and feel. Khumaar today has become a property.”

A property in its initial days is always fraught with challenges and Khumaar was no exception. The biggest challenge to conduct an event like this was money/ sponsors. Pandit says, “Since I was an experienced artist on stage I had no doubt about the ability to perform and get the best group of musicians and sound operators. But today the artists receive quick exposure from television and they have become demanding. Thus money charged is much higher and nowadays a show is an event hence getting commercials in place is a huge challenge.”
Pandit was lucky to have friends from the industry who came forward to support his musical endeavour. He happily said, “God has been kind to me. My friends have been magnanimous, they did not even ask for any branding. Sponsorship is the key, especially when the shows done do not have an element of ticket sale.”

Khumaar has received praise from all sides Some have hailed it as a truly classy product to others who have lauded him for the fantastic concept/idea, and some have gone far enough to appreciate his articles and unseen pictures as great work. The coffee table book KHUMAAR has  unique , never tried before ideas and it contains articles by well-known head honchos from the Advertising, Media, Marketing and Journalist fraternity, some of whom are Piyush Pandey, Pradeep Guha , Bharat Dhabolkar, Ayaz Memon, M.G.Parameswaran, Ajay Chandwani, Charulata, Gokul Krishnamurthy, Narendra Kusnur, Rajiv Vijayakar, Chaitanya Padukone, Nandkishore Desai, Madan Sanglikar, Arjit Ray, Andee Hyderabadi, Dipen Sheth and many more.  The book also has a fine blend of never before seen black and white and coloured pictures of yesteryear stalwarts and two interviews with the Music maestro Pyarelalji and Ruhan Kapoor, son of the great singer Mahendra Kapoor. Pandit will begin to distribute his books and is looking for good recommendations which will help immensely and also an ISBN has already been procured.

Khumaar has plans to do international shows across various places in the world. They have been organizing get–togethers, dealers meet and product launches at regional levels for corporates.

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