Lex-Spring Dhamaka held at the Bedford High School was an evening with friends and neighbors all joined in the spirit of the season and in the celebration of spring. The event was organized by the Indian Americans of Lexington ( IAL) a civic group in the town.

 Singers Meena Sundaram and Mohan Subramaniam presented the evening’s program. The emcee was Shubhro Sen and Sound engineer Jawed Wahid.

The evening started with the seductive song “ Aaiye meherbaan” from the film Howrah Bridge. by Meena. A couple of lovely duets  by S. D Burman “ Kora Kaagaz tha” from the Rajesh Khanna/Sharmila Tagore starrer Aradhana and “ Teri Bindiya re” from the film  Abhimaan.

Some highlights of the first session were the solos “Ehsaan tera hoga” from the film Junglee sung with a lot of emotion by Mohan and  the foot-tapping : Aaja Nachle” sung with gusto by Meena.

A short audio-visual presentation included the romantic number : Chaudwin ka chand “ and the ultra-hip” Yeh Ishq Hai” from  the film Jab we met.The first half rounded off with the duet “ O haseena zulfonwali” which got the audience rocking.

Shubhro Sen kept the audience engaged and on their toes with quiz questions and trivia and his easy demeanor and dynamic personality.

 Kora Kaghaz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b4G44PLj2o

O Haseena: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1y6FUzjgo8

 After the intermission, where Bollywood Cafe served dinner, the program continued with the interactive “ Pal” from the film  Lage Raho Munnabhai. Mohan used his mellifluous voice to great advantage in the song” Agar tum mil jao” from the movie Zeher and won a resounding round of applause. Meena sashayed her way into “ Barso re” from the film Guru. Siraj Khan , a personal friend of OP Nayyar said a few words about the famous composer and his music, this was followed by the iconic duet from the film Kashmir ki Kali “Isharon Isharon mein”  in his memory.  Young dancers accompanied a few numbers, including “ Dance pe Chance” from the film Rab ne bana di jodi. Shruti Balasuryan, Varsha Kannan and Sheetal  Laad performed a well-choreographed piece for this song.

The grand finale of the evening was “ Bole chudiyan” from the film Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham sung by Meena and Mohan accompanied by Kiran, Mohan’s daughter. The young dancers also joined helping to culminate the program on a high note.

Overall, the evening was filled with music and melody, from old favorites to new numbers, slow romantic ballads to foot-tapping dance numbers. The sound was impeccably arranged by Jawed Wahid and Mohan and Meena impressed with their enthusiasm and obvious enjoyment of the music they were presenting.

Anuradha Saxena from IAL introduced the evening and Shashank Nene aptly ended the vote of thanks to the appreciative audience and IAL members Sudha Balasuryan, Geeta Kannan, Nirmala Garimella, Archana Singhal and Chair Puran Dang and addressed the artists saying"Abhi Na Jao chod kar ki dil abhi Bhara Nahin. It was a memorable evening for all those attended.

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Upcoming events of IAL

On April 30th, IAL and the Historical Society will present ' Shared Traditions' a talk by two Tufts University Professors at 7 pm at the Depot Square in Lexington. It was offer different perspectives of the the Early American revolution and the Indian freedom movement and the shared traditions of the two countries.

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