Shreya Ghoshal performs live in Kolkata

Let’s just say this was a unique event.
Shreya Ghoshal running a 102-degree temperature performing live in concert the compositions of “best friend” Shantanu Moitra, Hansika Iyer singing her first Bengali number (“Chhaya bhitu chhaya”), Bonnie Chakraborty singing a duet with Monali Thakur (“Shadow tales”) and another with Shreya (“Take me home”), Anindya getting nostalgic with his rendition of Shantanu’s version of “Bhindeshi tara” and ““Bola baron” and Rupankar’s version of “Roopkatha ra” — what more could the audience have asked for at the grand musical preview of Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s “Aparajita Tumi”? Added to that were the wisecracks of Shantanu when he pointed at Bonnie and his bald pate and said: “It feels good to have him on stage with me!” or the cheeky reply from Aniruddha that he wouldn’t be able to sing “Jao pakhi” along with the others because he had a sore throat much to amusement of his Cobra Gang members parodying “Jao Tony jao, fight Tony fight”.
Of course, it wasn’t only about music. A minute’s silence was observed for the victims of the AMRI tragedy at Tuesday’s event, which was presented by the Prabha Khaitan Foundation and had ITC Sonar as the hospitality partner. What was also heartening was that to support the cause of Bengali cinema, the theatre that hosted the event, cancelled all its evening shows so that the stage could be set and the audience could enjoy an intimate concert conceived by Shantanu along with his band of motley musicians. The cast and crew of the film, including Prosenjit Chatterjee, Kamalinee Mukherjee, Indraneil Sengupta, Kalyan Ray, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Tanusree Shankar, Chandril Bhattacharya, Shyamal Sengupta, Arghyakamal Mitra, Indrani Mukherjee and Neha Rungta were present at the do.
Sundeep Bhutoria, managing trustee of the Prabha Khaitan Foundation, said, “It’s a privilege for Prabha Khaitan Foundation to host the first ever musical journey of Shantanu Moitra.” Incidentally, this is the second time that Prosenjit would be acting in a film that has been adapted from a Sunil Gangopadhyay novel.
Said Prosenjit, “Last year, I did “Moner Manush” that was adapted from Sunilda’s novel. This film is based on Sunilda’s “Dui Naari Hate Tarabari”.” “Take it easy, Shreya,” said producer Shoojit Sircar, before she went up on stage, well aware that the singer was not keeping well. But once up on stage, there was no stopping Shreya. It was a nostalgic journey even as she sang her choicest favourites from “Parineeta” (“Piu bole”) to “Antaheen” (“Jao pakhi” where she missed Pranab Biswas who added a “different season” to the song) and “Brishti biday” from “AT”.