Anup Jalota Fulfills Shashikant Bhomavat’s Dream When He Turned 70

Jyothi Venkatesh

Artist Shashikant Bhomavat  had a dream which was unfulfilled since the time the artist graduated from Sir JJ Institute of Applied Arts, Mumbai, standing first in order of merit. His dream was fulfilled by none other than the versatile bhajan singer Anup Jalota himself, ironically when Shashi turned 70. On 9^th January 2020 Shashi and Anup Jalota were having lunch at Anup’s house and without any hesitation, the shy Shashi took a chance by asking him whether in an event of his, he could get an opportunity to paint while Anup is enthralling the audiences with his bhajans. Shashi was overjoyed when Anup immediately agreed and said that he was all set to sing at an orchestra singing show organised by Tathastu, ‘Main Shaayar” a tribute to the late lyricist par excellence Shri Anandakshi, at Shanmukanand Hall. Anup told Shashi that he can paint on Canvas while he would sing a song of his from the film Amar Prem - Chingari Koi Bhadke. Says Shashi, “It was a challenge for me to paint in front of a legendary singer like Anup Jalota and an audience consisting of 1200 spectators. It reminded me of the time when the great artist MF Hussain painted on a huge canvas, while the legendary Pt. Bhimsen Joshi sang a classical song. It was held some years back at Jahangir Art Gallery.

 “I made up my mind to paint on a large canvas 66” X 42”. I started viewing the song on my Desk top several times and this gave an idea what to paint and as the main subject in the song was the boat (bagra) below Howrah Bridge where both the actors were sitting and the late hero Rajesh Khanna was singing the song in full mood, holding a glass, with the flow of river making it more sensuous, I tried to paint the flow of river and the music which made the whole song lively, ( Anup Jalota came leaving his harmonium and saw the painting and went back to sing) the strokes of my brush with vibrant colours were fast enough to give that flowing effect  and the clouds covering a portion of the moon, which gave partial light on the river plus the lantern hanging in boat gave reflection in the river, and the  couple’s mood was very dreamy. I could not sleep that night after the out of the world surreal experience in front of 1200 spectators which really gave me a good motivation”, assigns off Shashi with pride. Incidentally, I am proud of this feat of Shashi Bhomawat in the first place because it was I who had introduced Anup Jalota to him way back 37 years ago