It has been 30 years since I’m performing on stage. At times as a compere, at times as a mimicry artist and on many occasions both. I thank God for having given me the opportunity to associate with the best of the groups like Babla, Beatles, Gunjan, Jhankar, Star Nite, Golden Beats, Lovely Star etc. and also some playback singers nite.
Thus I got a chance to perform at all the auditoriums in Mumbai and also in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chennai and Bangalore. It was in 2006 precisely a decade back, I floated my own group Khumaar which renders hit Hindi Musical Songs basically of yester years sung by stalwarts like Rafisaab, Kishorda, Mukesh, Asha, Hemant Kumar, Mana De. It is a group of 18 people, versatile enough to render all new songs of any singer besides of course songs in Marathi, Gujarat, Punjabi, Bengali, Rajasthani, South Indian Languages, etc.
The idea was to invite all music lovers from the Advertising, Marketing, Media, PR and Communications fraternity to engage and entertain them with quality entertainment which will provide them the much needed relaxation from their punishing schedules. This thought and its execution is very well appreciated by the fraternity. Today Khumaar has huge fan following from all sectors. Since the last 13 years, Khumaar has become a brand.
Over the years, luminaries who have graced Khumaar are Pyarelalji, Pandit Suresh Wadkar, Roop Kumar Rathod, Sonali Rathod, Pradeep Guha, Ramesh Narayan, Prasoon Joshi, Bhaskar Das, Shashi Sinha, Ajay Kakar, Ajay Chandwani, Anurag Batra, Subhash Kamath, M. G. Parameswaran, Pratap Bose, Sunil Lulla, Bharat Dabholkar, Nagesh Alai, Avinash Kaul, Pranesh Misra, S. Yesudas, Sanjay Tripathy, Vikas Khanchandani etc.
An interesting feature of Khumaar is segmentation of songs like SOLOS, DUETS, CLASSICAL, QAWWALIS, SONGS OF UNSUNG HEROS etc. Last year Khumaar introduced two new segments of a) Regional Songs, b) New Songs. Since the last three years a special segment is devoted to Khumaar Ki Khoj whereby we identify a young artist/talent and offer him/her the Khumaar platform to perform. If he or she goes on to become a big star I will be the happiest person.
Thus Khumaar offers a wide variety in 3 hours duration. Our find Shrinidhi Ghatate launched under this segment is a playback singer today and sings for Ehsaan Shankar & Loy. She is hailed as the Shreya Ghoshal of the future. All the singers and musicians of Khumaar are top notch performers who do musical shows for their living.
Khumaar has also promoted social cause through the musical programme. It had tied up with a NGO Light of Life founded by Mrs. Villy Doctor. They have been doing great work in getting school drop outs to be reinstated, imparting skills in students to make them self-reliant, giving free medical treatment to the needy and making life of the old and aged people better.
Last year’s show was held on Friday, December 28, 2018 at 5.30 pm. The venue was Sir Sayajirao Nagargruh, Akota, Vadodara.