Rahul Deshpande gives a ‘Hatke’ performance

NAGPUR: It was a heady mix of nostalgia, adulation and total devotion. The diehard fans of Vasantrao Deshpande, doyen of Hindustani classical music, enjoyed some good singing by maestro’s grandson, Rahul Deshpande, at Vasantostav organized by Swarvedh at Deshpande hall on Saturday. The presentations were a mix of best in Marathi music. The oeuvre of the artist was pure Hindustani classical.
“I usually don’t sing these compositions since I started giving classical concerts,” said Deshpande. “But if through these immortal songs I can reach out to Nagpurians, I would feel blessed,” he said. That they had been won over become obvious when there were calls of once more as Rahul finished with a Namdev bhakti geet, ‘Pandhari cha vaas.’
Picking up some of the most popular natya geet, abhang, bandish and film songs, he began the evening with a heartfelt rendition of ‘Tu sukhkarta, tu dukhaharta’ followed by a natyageet from Matsaygandha, ‘Deva gharache dnyat.’ Living up to the title of the programme, ‘Rahul Hatke’, the singer came up with a Bhavgeet, ‘Toch Chandrama nabhat, tich chaitra yamini.’
Underlining his admiration for Kumar Gandharva, another doyen of Hindustani classical music, Deshpande spoke of his devotion for the great musician and how after his death in 1992 he heard a cassette of nirguni abhangs sung by him and got totally immersed into his style of singing. “Once at a concert at Nagpur, I sang only Kumarji’s compositions. Next day I realized that the audience was peeved as they had come to hear Vasantrao Deshpande’s composition from his grandson,” he said. Coming in with a bandish ‘Aaj achanak gath padey’, written by poet Anil and composed and sung by Kumar Gandharva, he was quick to serve an immortal composition of his grandfather ‘Bagalyanchi maal fule ajuni ambarat.’
His soulful rendition of ‘Tu sapt sur majhe,’ originally sung by Suresh Wadkar, immersed the audience in deep emotion as the notes of raag Marwah left them feeling listless.
Totally mesmerized with a medley of Vasantrao’s composition, the audience just about surrendered to the fine form of the vocalist and the undiluted ecstasy of hearing these evergreen numbers.
On Sunday, Deshpande would be playing the lead in the epic drama ‘Katyar Kaljat Ghusli’ at 9am, and will perform with Swapnil Bandodkar in a programme titled Swara at 6.30pm.