Mumbai | A new history was witnessed in Mumbai when veteran singer Suresh Wadkar sang 'Legends Live' directed by Malayali Nikhil Nair on a stage set up by Padayani Kolams to a packed audience. Suresh Wadkar, who won the hearts of India with Hindi Marathi devotional songs, started a new musical series at Mulund Kalidas Natya Mandir Hall on Saturday, November 9 at 7 pm.
When Wadkar was joined by Vaishali Samant, Maharashtra's favorite singer, and young singer Swapnil Godbole, on the stage with Padayani's background and sound and light mixes, it was a new experience for the metropolis.
Padmashree Wadkar left the stage praising the first edition of Legends Live, which was organized by Malayali youth Nikhil Nair. For the first time in Mumbai, the Padayani Kolams intertwined with Kerala's agricultural and relics of ancient culture became a new experience for singers and connoisseurs.
With charms that have not been seen till today, the multi coloured layouts in Areca palm strips, Areca spathe and coconut midrib had been put up in the metropolis under the leadership of K R Ranjith Kadammanitta, the famous Padayani artist of Kerala. This musical evening was organized in collaboration with Girija Welfare Association.
Fifty children from orphanages were special guests on this musical evening, which made the event really elegant.
After the musical event, the children rushed to the stage with excitement and enthralled the amazing stage decoration with the Padayani and Kuruthola (tender palm leaves of coconut) handicrafts, and returned with a photo with Wadkar and other musicians. The Kolams are put up by the artists of the ‘Kadammanitta Gothrakalakalari’, the most famous Kadammanitta Padayani performance group in southern Kerala.
K. R. Ranjith Kadammanitta (2018 Kerala State Government diamond Jubilee Fellowship winner and 2019 Kerala Nadan Kala Akademi Yuva Pratibha Award winner) directs the stage decoration with the Padayani and Kuruthola (tender palm leaves of coconut), which are an asset of the agricultural and ancient culture. Artists Anish Kadammanitta, Sajith, Krishnakumar, Umesh and Randeep participated in the stage decoration.
Legends live was staged with the state-of-the-art technology of sound and light design according to the international standard.
In the first edition of Legends Live, directed by the Malayali youth Nikhil Nair, Suresh Wadkar, who has influenced millions across generations, enthralled the packed audience by singing a variety of songs including film and non-film ghazals.
Adept at introducing new technologies in the best possible way, Nikhil was already Senior Producer & Studio Director of Bigg Boss Hindi, Marathi & Malayalam and Event Coordinator for several mega shows like IIFA Awards, Star Parivar.
Nikhil was also present in designing the wedding ceremony of Mukesh Ambani's son Anant Ambani.
Nikhil has also set foot in the dance scene of Hindi cinema. Nikhil is the son of former Lok Kerala Sabha member, Malayalam Mission teacher and Kerala Central Organization Committee member Rajashri Mohan and C K Mohan Kumar. Nikhil, who made successful first edition of ‘Legends Live’, is busy planning the sequels.
Also, participated in the event were former Lok Kerala Sabha Member Lion Kumaran Nair, Kerala Kendriya Sangadana President T N Hariharan, Lok Kerala Sabha Member M K Nawaz, Care for Mumbai Secretary Priya Varghese, Lok Kerala Sabha Member C N Balakrishnan, media persons Premlal Raman, Honey V G, M G Arun, C B Sathyan, cultural activists Manoj Malavika, Edassery Ramachandran, Suma Sasidharan, Pramila Surendran, Raghunathan Nair, Meridian Vijayan, footballer Bindu Prasad, cricketer Sudheesh Nair, Arunima, Beena Sahadevan, Keli Ramachandran, Sunny Mathew, Satish Nair and Dr. Sunil Kutty.
Along with Nikhil, Rahul Nair, Meenakshi Rastogi, Anoop Nair, Ved Niranjan, Sheetal Balakrishnan, Nandita Nair, Mithun Nair, Sai Sagar, Sagar Bargode, Nida Vaid, Ganesh Mohan, Sumalatha Nair, Manish Joshi and Sunil Kutty Menon hosted the ‘Legends Live' musical evening.
The events were managed by Dr Neeraja Gopinath and P R Sanjay. Legends Live was organized at international standards with Bharti Medicover's ambulance service, proper waste disposal, police-fire fighting system and state-of-the-art sound, light, picture and video technology.
