Industry Stalwarts Praise Bipin Pandit's #Khumaar2018 as 'Super Se Upar'

‘Gaano ka silsila chalta raha hai 11 saal, aage bhi chalta rahega, aisa hi hai kuch Khumaar’, and thus the 12^th edition of Bipin R Pandit’s musical extravaganza- Khumaar transpired on the evening of  10^th February at Ravindra Natya Mandir Prabhadevi, Mumbai.

Adding new dimensions to this special edition, the event also was witness to the celebration of Bipin R Pandit’s 20 years completion at The Advertising Club. He joined the organisation in March 1998 and is now serving as the Chief Operating Officer. During his journey in the ad world, Bipin has donned several hats and has been the brainchild behind this musical journey.

The concert saw a full house of music lovers from the Advertising, Marketing, Media, PR and Communications fraternity including the likes of Bharat Dabholkar, Ramesh Narayan, Bhaskar Das, Shashi Sinha, Kaushik Roy, Punitha Aurumugam, Ajay Chandwani, Pradeep Dwivedi, Ajay Kakar,  Kishen Premnarayan, Rajesh Kejriwal, Rana Barua, Mitrajit ,Yesudas and many others. 

Bipin maintains that Khumaar is first a show of top notch professionals who perform for a living. It stands out for its unique segmentation, presentation, scale, range and variety.

Khumaar unearths talent and gives scope to a budding artist to become a playback singer under the segment ‘Khumaar Ki Khoj’. Talented singers Shriniddhi Ghatate and Mona Prabhugaonkar have already started giving playback.

Industry Speak:

As in the previous years, advertising, media and marketing honchos have come out in support of and deep appreciation for Khumaar:

Yesudas S, Managing Director and Co-founder, Triggerbridge

This edition of Khumaar was an exhilarating experience for me for the innovations Bipin introduced. Khumaar has been an event I marked and blocked my schedule well in advance for. Getting Bharat Dabholkar to do an act, getting one of his singers, who was not very confident to make an entry through the audience yet belt out a song in great style and launching a newspaper look alike to commemorate his journey, I have to give it to Bipin for his relationship and his organizational abilities. I would say people who didn't turn up really missed something. For me, am already looking forward to the next one.

Pradeep Dwivedi,CEO, Sakal Media Group

The Khumaar 12th edition was a wonderful event and showcased not only Bipin’s talent and passion for music but it also was a testimony to his fan-following within the advertising industry, given the representation and turnout of so many ad-landers at the event. I think the quality of artist and diversity range of songs that were played had everybody humming and singing along which was really nice. It was good to see a lot of friends at such an informal occasion enjoying themselves. So, all in all, it was a great event. We wish Bipin very happy returns of the event in the future years as well.

Ramesh Narayan, Founder, Canco Advertising

Khumaar 2018 upheld the high standards that Bipin has been maintaining over the years.
His singers are top class. His musicians are excellent. He himself is restrained, giving glimpses of what he is capable of but not overdoing it. And his song selection was very different this time. All in all it was a very enjoyable evening.

Mitrajit Bhattacharya, President & Publisher, Chitralekha Group

Khumaar is the annual picnic of music lovers. People always have a good time and go back. The passion of Bipin in running Khumaar for 12 long years is commendable. More power to him.

Rana Barua, CEO, Creativeland Asia                                                                                                                    

Khumaar is an amazing show that draws some fabulous talent and singers who are genuinely outstanding. The songs of yesteryear greats make for an evening that stays with you for a long time. And I am glad that Bipin does this every year with total passion and panache.

Punitha Arumugam, Platform Evangelist, Hotstar

Khumaar 2018 continued to be yet another joyous and divine musical experience - amazing talent, evergreen songs, perfect harmony between the audience and the performers! And with Bipin at the core of Khumaar, there was excellence and perfection as always.

Sunil Lulla, Chairman & MD, Grey Group India

Sound-Blowing from the ever energetic BipinPandit. An annual awesome event! 

Ajay Kakar, CMO- Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group

Tareef karun kya uski jis ne tujhe banaya...Khumaar has always been a mesmerising experience for me. But this year it went beyond all my expectations. For 5 hours and more, I was spell bound. For me, what surprised me the most was that a mobile addict like me did not even look at his screen once, through this time! What a show. What performers. What musicians. What songs...kudos to Bipin for creating this magic!

Trust Bipin to pull this mega event. A mega success!

Bharat Dabholkar, Actor, Ad Guru and TV personality

I have been a regular at Khumaar for many years now. And every year I watch it with renewed amazement because watching the veterans and the new talent that Bipin seems to discover every year leaves you completely stumped. I attend many other shows also but Khumaar has this stamp of showmanship of Bipin that makes it so much more unique. Plus his shayaris add a great tadka to the evening. To steal from  Ghalib’s words- “hai aur bhi duniya mein music programs bahut achhey, kahete hain ki Bipin ke Khumaar ka andaz e bayan kuch aur hi hai"

Bhaskar Das, Executive President, DainikBhaskar Group

Khumaar --a musical extravaganza of Bipin R Pandit -- has been continuously improving in audience experience. Bipin was in his element at at his best in orchestrating the musical evening where every singer and every musician and instrument player demonstrated their extraordinary perfection. Overall I left the program with a feeling of celestial bliss. Add "over the years (the last one was in its 12th year). This indicates the growing popularity and fan base of Khumaar over the years. "

Hemant Kenkre, Former head of Communications, MTV Networks Asia

Far from being an audio visual show, Khumaar is an experience. One gets retro music we’ve all grown up listening to brought to us by top class singers and musicians. One gets the chance to meet old industry friends and of course, there’s  Bipin R Pandit a music dardi who curates a melodious, delightful evening that one looks forward to each year - Hemant Kenkre former head of Communications, MTV Networks Asia

Rajesh Kejriwal, Founder & CEO, Kyoorius Group

This was my first Khumaar and I went because it’s passionately done by a dear friend. I had no expectations because I did not know much about the festival. It surpassed all expectations, was wonderfully curated and had a high energy. Talent was obviously top notch.

Andee Hyderabadi

As a teetotaller, Khumaar is one of the rare intoxications I indulge in. It's indulgence. I wasn't born early enough to attend a Kishore Kumar  concert. Khumaar is as close I can get to the impossibility of listening to Kishore live in 2018. Chandrasekhar Mahamuni and Rajeshwar are what Kishore fans aspire to sound like. But without Bipin this would have been regular fare. Bipin adds humour, trivia, shayari, mimicry to the music and gives the event a wild spin. An overdose of oxytocin! My jaws ache with pure joy.

Ajay Chandwani, Director, Percept Ltd &Strategic Brand Engagement Consultant

KHUMAAR KEEPS ROCKING AND HOW!

Watching and soaking in the Khumaar 12^th anniversary show was an unforgettable experience in sheer nostalgia, parade of talent and rediscovering an era of Indian music now fondly referred to as the Golden Era.

The multi-talented Bipin Pandit, curator and the spark of Khumaar, and his merry band of singers and musicians rose to dizzy heights of capturing an era gone by. The magical voices of the irrespressible Mohammad Rafi, the enigmatic Kishore Kumar, the timeless Manna Dey, the impish Asha Bhosle or the soulful Mukesh ….they all got revived and rejuvenated by the talent and artistry of the singers and musicians of Khumaar.

The folk influence of Sachin Dev Burman, the melody of Laxmikant Pyarelal, the soul of Shankar Jaikishan and the punchy rhythms of  R D Burman came down in the aisles of Ravindra Natya Mandir thanks to the harmony and synthesis of the musicians. Singers Sarvesh (Rafi), Shrinidhi (Asha and Lata), Rajeshwar (Kishore Kumar), Mona (Asha) all exceled as did the lead guitarist Panchal and the saxophonist (name) lived up to their reputation of consistently performing at Khumaar every year with great aplomb.

The event was attended and supported by the crème de a crème of Indian Advertising, Media and Marketing with a hearty representation of music fan clubs.

Bipin Pandit and his witty presentation and crisp mimicry along with the humorous stories of Bharat Dabholkar made entertainment look like a light breeze in the rather stodgy world of live music shows.

For more news on Khumaar visit here.