On different evenings I recently attended Padma Talwarkar’s malhar program at St. Xavier’s and the first public showing of Amol Palekar and Sandhya Gokhales’ documentary film on Kishori Amonkar. Both were magnificent! Padma’s musical creativity and emotional commitment are impressive. Her student accompanist in vocal was outstanding. I did not catch her name but she is certainly a young woman with great possibilities. Kishoritai was present at the screening of the documentary on her. In her brief comments she noted that she is a witness to classical music dying. She was though happy with the film. It was hagiography and beautifully done. It was not superficial. In fact it was densely packed with serious thoughts and ideas and I would like to see it again! I particularly liked the film clips of her mother giving talim and the clips of kishori giving a lecture-demonstration in Pune in 1986. It is hard to believe she is 80 years old. May she continue singing for many more years.
