Down the Memory Lane of Melodious Bollywood Oldies for ISCA’s Father’s Day

By Jawahar Malhotra

HOUSTON: For Rajan Radhakrishnan, doing what he loves best – which is singing and acting – on Father’s Day is his way of giving joy to the older segment of our community and also a way to remember his own Dad, who passed away many years ago in India.

The mustachioed and perennially smiling Rajan – as he is universally known to all and sundry – has a flair for theatrics that has moved him to try his hand at acting and making his own soon to be released movie in India. Onstage, he is a dynamo, constantly moving with abundant energy, and gesticulating with the words to the songs and the rhythm of the music.

This past weekend marked his seventh year of serenading the elders of the India, usually with other talented ladies from the community who love to sing also, and volunteer their time. In the past, the India Senior Citizens Association has held its functions in the Bayland Park Community Center on Bissonnet and Hillcroft, but from this year onwards, they have been meeting in the India House on West Bellfort, which was the venue for this year’s event – an early Father’s Day program – on Saturday, June 8 at noon.

“In the previous two years, Alpa has been out of town,” explained Rajan of his solo female companion, “so this year I told her “We’ll feature only you’ to sing all the songs.” He was referring to Alpa Shah, his associate in the Madras Pavilion restaurant in Sugar Land, which Rajan manages with her husband, Mahesh. Alpa has sung in previous years too and was eager to do so this year after being in India the last two months.

Alpa is a connoisseur of the Indian performing arts, and has even tried her hand at acting in local dramas and Indian classical dance after a vigorous training schedule, though she has no formal training in it. Likewise, she adores Indian music, and is especially conversant on the songs of Indian movies, down to the names of directors, lyricists, playback singers and the actors who played the associated roles.

As about 250 seniors sat in the large hall of India House, Alpa and Rajan visited the hits of yesteryear, from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s and Alpa gave a short background of each song before diving into it, while Rajan prepped the music CDs and the mics. Each of them sang five solo numbers and then joined together in six duets from old time favorite movies like Kashmir ki Kali, Gumrah, Guide and Waqt, much to the delight of the audience who knew the words to the songs and had seen the movies, and gave them rapt attention. Rajan was his best when he sounded like the late Kishore Kumar, whose songs he has modeled his voice to.

At the end of the sixteen song medley which lasted over an hour, the seniors ate a lunch that was catered and donated, as also in the past six years, by Madras Pavilion. “The greatest compliment to us was when one of the elders who doesn’t know me came up and said that she really loved the performance,” smiled Alpa. And for Rajan, that is what encourages him on to serenade the elders every Father’s Day.

Stay tuned for the ISCA Convention coming up in September.

For further details and to volunteer contact Lalit Chinoy at 713-481-4222.