SURAT, February 11: Music composers might be sprouting like mushrooms and flooding Bollywood these days, but oldies; especially those who hunted in pairs and lent music to some immortal songs from Hindi movies, still stand out. Kalyanji-Anandji is one such pair, though for many it is still one entity.Anandjibhai Shah is in Surat leading his troupe Little Stars, a wonderful composition of talented young artists, whose rendition will do any seasoned singer proud. Little Stars played to a full audience at Navasari on Sunday and at Surat on Monday.
Though Kalyanji-Anandji still compose music together they have parted ways while grooming the youngsters. While Kalyanji continues to hold reins of Little Wonders, Anandji struck out on its own to start Little Stars. He justifies this by saying ``so many youngsters are coming up that it was difficult to accommodate them in one troupe.''
But the father of an artist admitted that the separation was anything but sweet. But that has come as a boon in disguise formany upcoming child artists. Kalyanji's stable now has more than 50, who perform a variety of tasks with accomplished ease.
Selecting artists and grooming them is not a problem, rejecting many is, he says. Ambitious parents, whose awareness has been heightened by programmes like Sa Re Ga Ma inquire with him. Some children are talented while others can do better in the art other than the one chosen by their parents, Shah says adding efforts are made to bring out the other latent talents.
Being in the industry for decades, Shah knows what sells. He believes good music has takers everywhere. Even his programme has more number of old songs with appropriate mixture of today's melodious songs. ``Did you find any of our sequence cheap,'' he questions knowing well that the answer will be a big no.
Everyone has been telling him the same thing eversince his troupe took to public shows. The troupe performed in the US and Muscat before coming to South Gujarat.
Handling children is easier than tacklingestablished stars who are known to throwing tantrums. ``You come backstage and find these little stars living in perfect harmony, helping out each other and without a trace of ego or jealousy. ``They pick up nuances very fast, have flexible minds that can be moulded.''
They do create their share of problems like giving into their weakness for cold drinks or ice creams that may affect their voice. The parents are told to strictly avoid taking these things .
He says these children are good at studies. ``They can concentrate and recite many songs from their memory is proof enough.'' Besides training the youngsters, Anandji himself has a major role in making the programmes a hit with audience by his inimitable style of engaging the audience in a dialogue.Like he did last night, by calling a portly couple in their 40s on the stage and making them break into a dance on Ae meri Zohra Jabi.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
