BANGALORE: In a unique tribute to Raj Kapoor, a US-based Kannadiga, Lakshman Sriram, released a two-and-a-half-hour-long DVD on the legend at the Indian Institute of World Culture recently.
The event, coinciding with Raj’s birth anniversary, saw lyricist Jayant Kaikini and Hindustani vocalist Syamala Bhave releasing the DVD, which includes an invocation by Raj’s father the late Prithviraj Kapoor, interviews of Raj, interesting facets of the great actor’s life, and Sriram’s take on his idol. And it contains the greatest hits from Raj’s films, all performed by Sriram.
“A lot of effort and expense have gone into the DVD, which I have been planning for a long time now,’’ says Sriram, who was in India to release the DVD and perform karaoke shows of famous actors and musicians. Sriram has performed several karaoke shows in India and USA.
And some of the stars featured in his shows include Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey, Mukesh, S D Burman, R D Burman and songs from movies featuring Raj Kumar and Vishnuvardhan.
He has released several CDs of his karaokes, from his own earnings, and has been training under an accomplished artiste Rohini Prabhunandan.
For Sriram, singing is his passion and he enjoys it immensely. And as one speaks to him, he breaks off into a melody every now and then, lost in his world of music.
He has received several notes of appreciation from stars like Manna Dey, S P Balasubramanyam, music director M S Viswanathan, filmmaker K Balachander and Dev Anand.
“It is more like a documentary. I have not come across any such initiative on this great Hindi film legend. Since Raj has been my inspiration, I decided to bring this out myself,’’ says Sriram, who acknowledges the help from his wife Rajalakshmi and several of his friends for the painstaking effort that has gone into bringing out the DVD.
Sriram, in fact, travelled all the way to Chennai to have the DVD endorsed by filmmaker K Balachander, who complimented Sriram on his effort.
On the occasion, Sriram also released two CDs Ramu Remembers Raju, an audio CD of hits from Raj’s films performed by Sriram and another called Raag Sivaranjani, inspired by S P Balasubramanyam. Sriram plans a tribute to Shammi Kapoor, Mohammed Rafi and Shankar-Jaikishen before returning to USA.
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