It was an Aradhana by his fans; to the man who gave them the film, and with it the evergreen musical hits. On the third death anniversary of legendary producer/director Shakti Samanta, a group of fans came together at Yavanika to play musical gems from his movies.
In his career spanning more than five decades, Shaktida had directed 56 films in Hindi and Bengali. He had delivered hits like Aradhana, Amar Prem, Kati Patang, Amanush, Howrah Bridge, Chinatown and
Kashmir Ki Kali.
A music enthusiast himself, his films are famous for their evergreen songs. The story goes that he was so impressed by the song ‘Chingari Koi Bhadke’ that he insisted it must be included in the movie Amar Prem and the screenplay had to be rewritten
to accommodate the song.
Singers such as Pallavi Pramod, Rohini Prabhunandan and Kaustav Songman along with Ram Nagaraj played timeless hits like ‘Aapke anurodh pe’, ‘Roop tera mastana’, ‘Dil aisa kisine’, among many others. Pallavi opened the show with ‘Aaiye meherban’ while Rohini presented classics like ‘Raina beeti jaaye’ evoking memories of scenes from the hit movies and with it a cache of personal memories of a bygone era.
Kaustav Songman, who was anchoring the show, kept the audience engaged by quizzing on films directed by Shakthida. He also performed the title song of the movie ‘Mehbooba’, the audio of which is still officially never released. The song ‘Cham cham baje re payalia’, a song that brings the strong influence of classical music in Bollywood songs.
As the audience realised that the end of the musical show was near, they kept asking for encore after every performance. After the show, the audience felt that only the classical and melodious songs were given prominence over some peppy numbers that the director made a point to include in his movies.
The show also saw a special screening of an interview of filmmaker Ashim Samanta, son of Shakti Samanta.