An Afternoon With Pt. Shivkumar Sharma and Juhi Chawla

I checked the time: 3.15 PM. I had been invited, along with two of my friends to an informal interaction session with Pandit Shivkumar Sharma - The Santoor Maestro, and the very beautiful heart-throb Juhi Chawla at her Malabar Hills house. Nervously and excitedly, we entered the room which was huge and with minimalistic furniture, and beautiful paintings. Natural light made it look even more glorious. And there they were, the people we've grown up listening to and watching. People die for a glimpse of theirs and here we were - all set to interview them in regards to their upcoming Musical Evening organized by Anand Trust.

After waiting for a while, as commercial journalists took the interviews, it was finally out turn. We took our seats - confidently and gleaming with joy. The prior journalists had asked them already about a lot of basic stuff which we already knew due to extensive research. So, we decided to stick to the topic of the concert and the entire Anand Trust initiative. On being asked as to how the entire concept of the trust came into existence, Juhi asked her sister in law Madhavi Badyani - also the main organizer of the event to brief us about it. "We had launched an album of Shlokas called Upanishad Amrit, and whatever money was earned was donated to the Swami Shivanand Hospital. That was the when the trust was made." She has known Panditji for over 40 years and the first concert they held in Nairobi with Zakir Hussain and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma.

When asked about his rapport, and bonding with Zakir Hussain, he very happily responded saying that their music has grown and evolved over the years, and that Zakir Hussain has been an active participant in the process. "He has seen my transformation." he added. "There's a different energy, and beauty when we perform together." he said with a smile.

Santoor was never something that the Indian Classical Music field knew of before Panditji started playing it. "I got a lot of non approval and criticism from the Gurus then, but it never bothered me." He knew that he needed to give a distinct style and character to the instrument - Santoor, which was till then used only in Kashmiri Sufi.

Juhi Chawla, who has been attached to the initiative since over a decade now laughed heartily when we asked whether she wanted to perform on stage or not. "In the beginning, I never understood Classical Music and its technicalities. But now, when I'm listening to the concerts, it's bliss." she smiled. "But I'm too scared to learn as I don't know how well I'll be able to do. I stick to singing melodies and Bollywood songs."

"What about the future of the trust?" we asked as a final closing question. They nodded and just said "We just want to help people." We didn't even realize that we had been speaking for over 20-25 minutes. Then we rose and clicked some amazing pictures. Not everyone gets a chance to meet their role models, but I was indeed lucky.

Music indeed is the best way to express yourself. It makes you smile, cry, or it simply calms you down. Don't miss the "Musical Evening with the legendary maestros - Pt. Shivkumar Sharma and Zakir Hussain on the 15th of January at Nehru Centre Auditorium, Worli.