"Hindi Manch Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2014" the premier singing competition by a nonprofit organization Hindi Manch was well received by the community on Saturday 4th October in Collins center, Andover. Nearly full Auditorium which has a seating capacity of 1200 cheered for local aspiring singers. The main attraction of the event was Mr. Suresh Wadker, the legendary playback singer who has sung many timeless songs not only in Bollywood but also in many regional languages in India. He was here as the main Judge of the finale and also as a performer. Mr. Wadkar was accompanied by Mrs. Astha Shukla, the famous classical singer from New Jersey as the second judge. After several rounds of Auditions in several cities across New England, 30 Semifinalists were contesting in four categories for the top spot in their respective groups. They have been training hard and refining their singing skills with the help of several mentors provided by Hindi Manch from past several weeks, told President Preetesh Shrivastava.  

The program was conducted in two segments, the first segment was the Semifinals which was held between 10:00 am- 2:00 pm, the second segment which started 5.30 pm was divided into two parts, the first part was the Finale and the second part was the concert of Mr. Suresh Wadker with live music. The first segment saw tough competition, according to the judges, it was a difficult task to select finalists from equally talented singers. Mrs. Astha Shukla was accompanied by Mr. Pranab Biswas, a renowned playback singer on judging panel for the semifinals.

The finale started at 5.30 pm with inaugural candle lighting by Mr. Sanjay Saxena and  Mrs. Sangeeta Saxena, the founders of Gayatri Parivar in Massachusetts. Mrs.. Jharna Madan and Mrs. Sneh Jai Singh who represented Hindi Manch Core team felicitated the Chief Guests. The talented 'Emcee' team of Hindi Manch, Pratibha, Sridhar, Gopika, Ajai Jai Singh and Ajay Jain took the charge of the stage to host rest of the evening. Their unique poetic style of emceeing was applauded by the audience. After initial logistics announcement, the first item of the evening  "Aa dekhen zara, kisme kitna hai dum" a group song,  performed by all participants (including who could not make it to the semis),  was precise in the context of the competition.  The next Item of the evening was the performances from Ms. Sachi Badola and  Ms. Radhika Jangi, the winners of 2012. Sachi's energy in the song 'Hathon ki Chand Lakiron Ka'  from movie 'Vidhata' brought a power pact performance. Radhika's command over classical music was evident when she sang "Bole Re Papihara".

Mr. Preetsh Shrivastava, President Hindi Manch was invited on the stage, he delivered a thank you note in his well known witty style. He explained the efforts of Hindi Manch to bring the community together and how it is passing the cultural heritage to next generation through various activities. He also called upon stage and facilitated the Platinum sponsor of the event Mr. Sanjay Thakkar from Max New York Life Insurance and spoke about his support and contribution towards the organization. All Semifinalists were invited on stage and the finalists were announced. In 6-12 Age group Pritha Yalakkishettar, Neha Panke, Sanchit Kurup, in 13-21 age group Harini Shanmugham, Anusha Kulkarni, Mahima Cielappa, in 21-50 age group Div Prakash, Ashvini Paranjpe, Nalini Krishnan, Divya Jayanthi, Akshay Anaokar and in 50+ Age group Paresh Motiwala, BR Devi and Nalini Rathore could make it to the finale of one of the biggest singing competition of New England Area. Representatives from Harvard Pilgrim Health Insurance were invited on the stage to welcome the Judging panel. Mrs. Astha Shukla and the legendary singer Mr. Suresh Wadkar was felicitated by the representatives of Harvard Pilgrim Health Insurance. After both the judges took their position on the stage, the first finalist from Age group 6-12, Sachit Kurup was called to present his performance; he sang ‘Maa’ song from the famous movie Taare Zameen Par. His singing impressed not only the audience but also the judges, the little boy got hugs from both the judges. The next performer was Pritha who beautifully sang Humko Man ki Shakti Dena and it was followed by the last finalists in that age group, Neha Panke who sang Bahara. Now this was the time to call the finalists of next age group 13-21, Anusha Kulkarni sang the beautiful song 'Suniyo Ji Araj Mhario' from movie Lekin, despite a little trouble in the initial 'Alaap' she did full justice to the song. Harini Shanmugam sang hit song 'Sun Raha hai' from movie Aashiqui 2 and Mahima beautifully sang the offbeat song 'Sapno se Bhare Naina". By this time audience came to know that the judges got the toughest job tonight.

The next group was the seniors of our community ', Age 50+, Nalini Rathore sang Ye Zindagi Usi ki hai, the second contestant Paresh Motiwala was pleasantly surprised when Mr. Wadkar praised his voice quality, he sang Mohd Rafi's 'Aap ke Haseen Lab'. BR Devi was last finalists in this category, she stunned the audience and the judges when she sang Lata Mageshkar 's 'Jiya Lage Na' from movie Anand. In the next category of age group 21-50 where 5 finalists were selected, Mr. Pranab Biswas joined the Judging Panel as the third judge. Div Prakash sang the classical number of ustad Rashid Khan  "Aaoge Jab Tum" from movie Jab we met. Ashwini Paranjpe beautifully sang 'Baiyya Na dharo' . Nalini Krishnan the third contestant in this group grooved the audience when she sang "Maiyya Maiyya" from movie Guru, she was a rock star on the stage. She received the best compliments from the judges when Mr. Wadkar said "Itna Achcha bhi Nahi Gaana Chahiye", the audience gave her a well deserved standing ovation. Divya Jayanthi the fourth contestant in the group sang the 'Saanware'  and received very good comments from the judges, her song was very well received by the audience. The last contestant of the group and the evening was 'Akshay Anaokar', the moment he started the song 'Tu Hi Re' from movie Bombay, everyone in the auditorium including judges were into the song with him with same emotions, he completely mesmerized everyone in the audience.

Break was announced at this time and also public voting was opened for people's choice award, audience had to vote for their favorite singer among all finalists through SMS. The second segment of the event started with the welcome of all the audition judges, they were felicitated by the Chief Guests. All the musicians were introduced at thisv time, Nikhil Pendharkar and Alden D'SOuz were on Keyboard, Angshuman Parashar and Manish Kurup on Guitar, Sujeet Phanse on Bansuri (Flute), Bharat Lagu on Dholak, Shridhar Ganapuram on Drums and Amit Khavtekar was on Tabla.

Now finally the moment had arrived which every single person sitting in the Auditorium was eagerly waiting for, Mr. Suresh Wadker was on stage all set to mesmerize the audience with many of his immortal songs. As expected he created magic with his timeless songs “Aur is dil mein kya rakkhaa hai”, "Lagi aaj Savan ki",  “Seenay mein jalan” , “Ae zindagi galey lagaa lay”,  "Huzur Is Kadar Bhi Na Itra ke Chaliye", "Rat ke Dhai Baje" and many more. He also sang his famous Marathi Bhajan "Omkar Swaroopa" on public demand. He also invited his student Shraddha Agarwal on stage, Shraddha is a core member of Hindi Manch and a well known singer in the community. They together performed one of Mr. Wadker’s most famous Duets "Megha Re Megha Re". Mr. Suresh Wadkar expressed his gratitude for the love he received from the people of New England and promised to come back again for a live concert.  

Hindi Manch's President Preetesh Shrivastava thanked all the volunteers and appreciated their selfless and months long efforts. Winners were announced at this time, Sachit Kurup in 6-12 Age group, Anusha Kulkarni in 13-21 Age group and B.R. Devi was the winner in 50+ Age group. First time in the history of Hindi Manch Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, there was tie in the age group of 21-50. Nalini Krishnan and Akshay Anaoker were announced the joint winners. The beautiful musical evening came to its end with the winners performing with Mr. Wadkar live on stage, it was a dream come true for each one of them.

Hindi Manch brings every essence of Hindi and related dialects/languages in form of Music, Theatre and Literature through various events all year round and keep us connected with our roots, the extremely successful "Hindi Manch Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2014" will be another feather in its Cap.

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