Music fraternity unites at Shankar Mahadevan’s Ganeshotsav celebrations

Grammy-winning composer-singer Shankar Mahadevan opened the doors of his Vashi residence, Sasha Villa, to the music fraternity on Tuesday evening for a soulful Bhajan Sandhya as part of Sasha Villa Cha Raja celebrations.The evening, steeped in devotion and melody, continued late into the night with performances by some of India’s most loved musicians. The evening began with Shankar, sons Siddharth and Shivam, setting the tone with “Narayan Hari”. It was followed by Gita chants, bhajans, folk and classical renditions, creating a spiritual ambience.Shankar Mahadevan with sons Siddharth and ShivamSinger Hariharan mesmerized everyone with his soulful performance, drawing a rapturous response. The evening reached another emotional high when lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar recited a heartfelt poem with Shankar.(L-R) Ojas Adhiya, Purbayan Chatterjee, Rakesh Chaurasia, Taufiq QureshiHariharanTaufiq Qureshi, Runa Rizvi and Shivam MahadevanRaghav Sachar and Pratibha Singh BaghelShabana Azmi and Javed AkhtarSulaiman Merchant and Salim Merchant Ojas Adhiya, Shankar Mahadevan, Javed Akhtar, Purbayan Chatterjee and Rakesh ChaurasiaJaved Akhtar said, “Agle saal main yahan aise hi aane wala nahi. Kal se main ek music teacher rakh raha hoon, ek saal mein sikhunga aur uske baad yahan aaonga. Yahan toh ek se baad ek musician hain. Itni khushi hoti hai jab bhi yahan aata hoon. Yahan sirf mohabbat, sirf dosti, sirf ekta hai. Kabhi kabhi mera dil chahta hai ki jo yeh chhota sa function hai, yeh phailke pura Hindustan ban jaye.” His words were met with thunderous applause, perfectly capturing the spirit of unity and love that defined the night. Shankar MahadevanThe Bhajan Sandhya also featured a powerhouse jugalbandi by percussion legends Sivamani, Ojas Adhiya, Taufiq Qureshi, along with Grammy-winning flautist Rakesh Chaurasia, sitar virtuoso Purbayan Chatterjee, and composer Souumil Shringarpure. Mankeet Singh with Harshdeep Kaur, and Akriti Kakar with Chirag Arora and MehraanMahalakshmi Iyer, Anjali TendulkarThe guest list read like a who’s who of the music industry. Salim-Sulaiman Merchant, Harshdeep Kaur with husband Mankeet, Akriti Kakar and Chirag Arora, Mahalakshmi Iyer, Runa Rizvi, Raghav Sachar, Pratibha Singh Baghel, Meenal Jain, Priyanka Barve, Aditi Singh Sharma, and Raj Pandit were all present, each joining in the musical celebration. Sachin Tendulkar’s wife Anjali Tendulkar and daughter Sara Tendulkar were also seen here.Page 8 of 40