Khumaar mesmerises industry leaders with music and nostalgia

Khumaar, a musical concert, organised by Bipin R Pandit, COO, The Advertising Club, saw the who’s who of the advertising, marketing, media and communications fraternity in attendance.

Held at the Manik Sabhagraha auditorium in Mumbai on July 2, 2016, this was the 10th anniversary of Khumaar. The idea behind the musical concert is to invite music lovers and engage and entertain them with quality entertainment.

Seen amongst the audience this year were Sam Balsara, Kishan Premnarayan, MG Parmeswaran, Nagesh Alai, Bhaskar Das, Sandeep Sharma, Sanjay Tripathy, Ajay Chandwani, Ayaz Memon, S Yesudas, Paresh Chaudhary, Vikas Khanchandani, Harsha Joshi, Ashwini Pable, Jaideep Gandhi, Mitrajit Bhattacharya, Bhushan Khot, Vivek Bhargava, Aditya Save, and Krishna Iyer, among many others.

An interesting feature of Khumaar is segmentation of songs into Solos, Duets, Classical, Qawwalis, Songs of Unsung Heroes, etc. This year a special segment was devoted to Khumaar Ki Khoj, which provided an upcoming artist a platform to showcase his talent.

Khumaar also promotes social causes with its tie-up with the NGO Light of Life, which has been aiding school drop outs in returning to schools, imparting skills in students to make them self reliant, as well as providing free medical treatment to the needy and making life better for the elderly.

AdGully spoke to a cross-section of the industry honchos who attended the concert this year to find out their views on the entire initiative.

Paresh Chaudhary, Chief Executive Officer, Madison PR:

“This was the first time I attended Khumaar. And it was absolutely brilliant. In fact, before this I have attended quite a few shows celebrating veterans such as Kishore Kumar, RD Burman, Mohammad Rafi, organised by various people. But this is being done with a purpose. So, it is not only for entertainment but he (Bipin Pandit) is also launching new artists. He is creating their own livelihoods, various bands going onto international platforms to perform. So they have something called Khumaar Ki Khoj, where this new guy called Rudhraksh was amazing, he received a standing ovation too. In fact, I am planning to meet an industry expert next week to launch him there.

It is not everyday that you have a show that is 4-4 and half hours long, which captivates you for such a long time. I think the most memorable aspect was the introduction of the Khoj artist; also this guy called Sarvesh, who was rocking and a delight. The song selection, too, was great.”

Nagesh Alai, Vice Chairman - Global, FCB Worldwide:

“It was a drive down nostalgia and melody, it is always wonderful and joyous. That’s what Khumaar has been offering over the years. It’s a great way to honour inimitable and great singers and music directors of yore. The added mimicry and compering by the driving force, Bipin Pandit, was an added attraction. It is an event that I look forward to. Bipin should consider contemporising it if he wants to draw in the post-1990 generation.”

Sandeep Sharma, President, RK SWAMY Media Group:

“I had attended the show two years ago, before this one. It was a superb show and lived up to its theme of “true musical intoxication”. Despite the heavy rains, the hall was almost full. The singers and the musicians did a fabulous job and it was evident by the fact that there were people dancing and all were present till the very end of the show. The quality of the singers, both male and female, and the choice of songs ensured it was a super hit.

The most memorable aspect for me was Bipin’s interjections with lovely anecdotes about our yesteryear greats, especially Mohammed Rafi, and his contextual repartees were delightful. The qawwalis in the end were very good and so was the solo saxophone play.”

Vikas Khanchandani, media entrepreneur and mentor at Aidem Ventures:

“This was the first time that I attended Khumaar. The event was very well organised. The theme and the performances were really good. I am really glad that they are bringing in new artists and giving them an opportunity and a platform, ready to present their capabilities, and they did a great job. Those young guys were so passionate about music and sang from their hearts. The mimicry was really good too. Bipin did a great job on that and kept everybody entertained.”

Vivek Bhargava, Founder and Managing Director, iProspect Communicate 2:

“It was my first Khumaar concert, and it was an amazing experience. Bipin puts in a lot of passion into this event – it has grown from a small gathering to a large event. Inspite of the heavy rains, it was choc-a-bloc. Bipin is an fantastic compere – his mimicry and knowledge of music makes the whole event stand apart. I am glad to have been a part of the same!”

S Yesudas, Managing Director & Co-founder, Trigger Bridge (posted on Facebook):

“This goes to my friend Bipin whose many facets of hidden talent I discovered on Saturday with amazement. Bipin, when you, through your witty and humorous presentation and your singers and musicians through their performance enthralled the crowd which gathered despite the downpour, I felt you had a much deeper purpose through Khumaar, in addition to the entertainment which put a smile on many faces; giving retro music a new life with some factual explanations, which made the listeners receive the music differently and also provide a stage for upcoming talent, most self made, who are in deep need for such recognition. Rudraksh is indeed a great find. You are doing a great job, my friend. If I can do anything to help further your purpose, will consider it a pleasure. Stay blessed.”

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