Star Performer to farewell Bollywood

Golden Voices: Amit Sengupta, Arun Khotkar, Om Srivastava, Rajesh Thakkar and Sandhya Rao

One of Auckland’s foremost singers is to bid farewell to Bollywood and concentrate more on the kind of music that would inspire the rising generation of local singers.

Amit Sengupta will present Old is Gold Part IV as his final offering involving Hindi film music at Bruce Mason Centre in North Shore City on February 20.

“It is time to concentrate on more creative aspects of Indian Classical music,” he said.

But Amit may not give up his favourite profession of teaching music, for there are hundreds of aspiring youngsters, keen to expose their inherent talent on stage.

While they may not be the real losers (except to miss his presence and performance on stage at future shows), the Starship Foundation would certainly miss his benevolence.

For, over the years, he has donated more than $25,000 (some of which was his own money) to the organisation, which provides quality healthcare for children.

Old is Gold III, held under the auspices of Amit’s Mohammed Rafi Academy of Music on May 30 last year raised about $7500, again the single largest by an Indian organisation in New Zealand.

Twenty-three artistes, including 14 singers, will participate in the three-hour show, rendering some of the best songs that Hindi films have heard in recent years.

Among them are such well-known names as Arun Khotkar, Om Srivastava, Rajesh Thakkar and Sandhya Rao.

Amit is not sure how much he would be able to donate this year but was confident that it would be a “decent amount.”

“Securing sponsors has not been easy this time. Companies that regularly help expressed difficulties posed by the economic downturn,” he said.

The main reason of course is the proliferation of musical programmes over the past two years.

The number of shows has more than doubled, with each of the organisers targeting the same companies for sponsorships.

“The resultant apathy is therefore understandable,” Amit said.

However, he hoped that sale of tickets, priced at $15, would help.

“Bruce Mason Centre has more capacity and hence a full house is imperative to raise funds for the Starship Foundation,” he said.