Honouring the legend

After winning one of the most prestigious awards in the country, the Dada Saheb Phalke award, Manna Dey was more than happy to share his joy with his City in a special felicitation function organised by Sound of Music and conducted by Jayram and Gururaj.
The maestro’s contribution to the film industry on the whole has been tremendous and the visibly touched Manna Dey was overwhelmed with all the affection his fans showered on him at a jam-packed event.

“I am an ordinary musician. I was fortunate to have listened to good music and met great maestros. But just that doesn’t make anyone special. You, my listeners, have made me
special. The Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and Phalke don’t touch me at all, I am touched by your love,” he said.

 He also shared the  honour with many of his contemporaries and close friends like Mohammed Rafi, Hemant Kumar, Talat Mehmood, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha.

“I’m 91 years young. I practice two hours every day and give three-hour concerts.”
“God willing, I will sing till my last breath,” he added.
On this note he sang two evergreen songs, Sur Na Saje and Ye Mere Zohrajabeen, which was well received by the audience. 

The evening was also graced by many local singers like Vidya Raghavan, Archana, V M Nagraj and others including the popular singing cop Murali and actor Annirudh.
They sang some Manna Dey’s numbers like, Ee Mere Pyaare Watan, Aja Sanam, Yeh Raat Bheegi Bheegi, Zindagi Kaisi Hain Paheli, Na Mangu and Jayathe Jayathe.

The programme also had Bharathi Vishnuvardhan honouring the living legend.