Aparna Sen, Shabana Azmi, Shankar Mahadevan, Kaushiki Chakraborty & others pay homage to Tagore

Prominent artistes from Bengal and Bollywood join hands for a music video
The lockdown world over has put a halt to the way daily lives function but slowly and steadily all forms of creativity are breaking the shackles. Recently, a cultural group in London, came up with a music video, comprising some big names from the Hindi film industry, Bengali music industry and artistes abroad to give a sense of hope and togetherness through the power of music.The arrangement was made and the video released on Tagore’s birth anniversary.
The video sees Shankar Mahadevan singing a Hindi translated version of Tagore’s Purano Shei Diner Kawtha, penned by Javed Akhtar, for the first time with Kaushiki Chakraborty, Sangeeta Datta and Soumik Datta. For the Bengali version, Kaushiki is joined by stalwart Pramita Mallick, actor-director Parambrata Chatterjee, rock artiste Rupam Islam and musical duo Soumyojit and Sourendro. Actress-dancer Sreenanada Shankar also features in the video. Auld Lang Syne is presented by the international soprano singer Patricia Rozario, Rabindrasangeet singer Sangeeta Datta, sarod player-composer Soumik Datta and musical theatre artiste Sasha Ghoshal are also part of the video. Vidya Balan is seen sharing the key message of ‘Masks for All’, while Shabana Azmi, Sharmila Tagore and Aparna Sen can be seen reading poetry.
“I know Sangeeta for a long time and I whole-heartedly support the mask initiative. It appeared to be a nice idea to sing a Tagore song around 25 shey Boishakh and also sing the Hindi portion, written by Javed Akhtar saab. As musicians, we have a strong tool to share important messages and I wanted to be a part of it,” said Kaushiki.
Talking about the project, Sangeeta Dutta, artistic director of the UK cultural group, said, “We had two live shows planned for this summer but both had to be cancelled. So, I started toying with the idea of making a music video through the age old melody Auld Lang Syne, which inspired Tagore’s Purano Shei Diner Kawtha and the fresh Hindi translation that Javed Akhtar has done for me. I wanted to get it ready to mark Tagore’s birth anniversary. Around mid-April, I was approached by a patron of a Kolkata-based NGO to give the creative content with which they could drive fundraising for one million masks for one million people in Bengal. Another welfare society in UP was also working towards the same target. So, suddenly we had a tight deadline to work towards. I am glad, we could manage everything on time.”