Pankaj Kothari is a well-known Bangalore caterer, and once a year, he brings Kaushik Kothari and his orchestra, the Golden Greats, to Bangalore to stage Rang De Basanti, which stages several evenings of old Hindi film hits, with sumptous dinner being included in the ticket price as well.

We went to the show on Monday night and were treated to a medley of rousing songs, patriotic numbers, and mellifluous duets, and several haunting old immortal songs.

The dinner that precedes the show is always amazing; there are varieties of pasta, pizza, chaat, and salads as well as the regular food items such as roti, subzi and biryani; and a delectable variety of sweets are also provided.

Here are the beautifully carved pieces that were the centre-stage of the dinner area:

There is a full-strength orchestra, with singers who each reproduce the voice of a well-known playback singer, such as Mukesh, Shamshad Begum, Hemant Kumar, and so on.

We enjoyed hearing several golden oldies, some rousing patriotic numbers, and swam teary-eyed through some sad songs as well….

Here are the singers at the begnning of the show:

It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening!

Rang De Basanti is giving another show on the 28th (tomorrow) at the same venue, and this time, it will be exclusively the songs of Mohammed Rafi.

So Hindi film music buffs..if you are interested, head to Gayatri Vihar, Palace Grounds, on Wednesday evening. ⊕