NEW DELHI: When he passed away suddenly on 27 August 1976, one of the last century’s foremost filmmakers Raj Kapoor had lamented, “I have lost my voice”. This was because a majority of songs rendered on screen by Kapoor had the playback of Mukesh.  

To pay tribute to the legend, who was born on 22 July 1923, Doordarshan is to telecast from 21 July, a nine-part series titled ‘Sapne Surile Sapne’, primarily featuring a musical programme held earlier this month to honour the Delhi-born singer.

The programme had been organised by the Delhi Kendra of Doordarshan, in association with the Directorate of Film Festivals on 5 July. The show will be telecast on DD National at 8 am and 4 pm, except on Saturdays and Sundays. It is also scheduled to telecast on DD Bharati at 10 pm the same day.

The programme had been attended by Prasar Bharati Chairman A Surya Prakash, Information & Broadcasting Secretary Bimal Julka, Law Commission Chairman Justice A.P. Shah, the singer’s son Nitin Mukesh, and leading playback singer Manhar Udhas and other notable guests.

Nitin Mukesh and Manhar Udhas rendered some selected songs of Mukesh on the stage, thoroughly enthralling the audience.

The selection of other participants for the show was done by auditions after wide publicity on Doordarshan. Hundreds of people from different parts of the country came to Doordarshan Delhi’s studios at Mandi House to participate in the auditions. The aspirants included all strata of people from painters to vegetable sellers, from tea vendors to rickshaw pullers.  

The auditions were judged by an eminent panel of judges including Muktesh Chander, Special Commissioner of Traffic, Delhi Police, who is an established and highly talented flautist, well known Ghazal singer and composer Jitender Singh, Sufi Singer Mahendra Pal and semi classical singer Pradeep Pallavi, including others.

The Orchestra for the programme series was the ‘Do-Re- Me Orchestra’ conducted by Satish Popli. Doordarshan Delhi also utilised the services and expertise of singer Gururaj from Bangalore who has been helping to coordinate and manage the orchestra for the Delhi shows on the lines of the shows done in DDK Bangalore.

The musical tribute was inaugurated by popular playback singer Manhar Udhas, along with Nitin and Namrata Mukesh – Mukesh’s son and daughter. Law and Justice Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda and Justice Shah were special guests for the evening, along with Chief Guests Surya Prakash, Julka and Satish Upadhyaya, Delhi BJP President. Former Test cricketer and legendary leg spinner, BS Chandrashekar, an ardent Mukesh fan, was the Guest of Honour along with Dr Rajeev Shrivastav biographer of Mukesh and Doordarshan DG C.Lalrosanga.
 
The first programme in the musical tribute series produced by Delhi Doordarshan was ‘Tum Mujhe Yun Bhul Na Paoge’ on the legendary Mohammed Rafi and was recorded in FICCI auditorium on 26 July 2014. This was followed by ‘Smarananjali’, a special musical tribute to our Martyrs on 30th September 2014 at the Siri Fort Auditorium. ‘Gaate Raha Mera Dil’ dedicated to Kishore Kumar was then organised at the Manekshaw Auditorium, Delhi Cantt on 30 November 2014. This was followed by ‘Tujhko Chalna Hoga’, a tribute show for Manna Dey at Siri Fort Auditorium on 12 April 2015.

The Delhi Kendra of Doordarshan has been planning and recording musical evenings and telecasting them as a series coinciding with important dates in the life of music legends.

The programmes are being produced in fulfilment of Doordarshan’s role as a Public Service Broadcaster and in order to improve its image, encourage new talent, strengthen Doordarshan’s viewership base. These efforts are part of Delhi Doordarshan’s strategy to reach out to the people, provide them a platform to showcase their talent and to make Doordarshan one of the most sought after channels in the country.

The idea for these shows emanated from DDK Bangalore’s highly popular and successful music show series ‘Madura Madura Vee Manjula Gana’ and is the brain child of Doordarshan’s Additional director general, Mahesh Joshi who is now based in Delhi. Joshi feels that in today’s changed scenario, where the public have more than 500 channels to choose from, special efforts are required from Doordarshan to remain in the public eye. He believes Doordarshan has to become Samik Darshan and reach out to the hearts and minds of people.