The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ (RCOG) India Liaison Group (RILG) hosted a fund raising event on Saturday, 20th July 2019 in Regent Hall, Oxford Street, London, paying tribute to the great maestro Rahul Dev Burman. The event titled ‘Woh Shaam Kuch Ajeeb Thi' was uniquely conceptualised as a tribute to the on a bright sunny evening, it managed to capture 550 people who absolutely loved the show and through it and raised an outstanding £5500. This was the fourth fundraising event by RILG after the successful 'The Silver Screen Divas' last year and they plan to carry on their great work.
RILG is a body of obstetricians and gynaecologists of Indian origin based in the UK. Their main vision is to improve women’s health in India particularly in the rural areas through education. They have done this through fundraising events in London whereby all funds raised go towards education programmes in India as well as running training and educational courses such as perineal repair courses, management of obstetric emergencies and essential gynaecological service courses for healthcare workers in impoverished regions in India.
The Show
This show celebrated the life story of R D Burman. The songs and dances were handpicked as one of the iconic and memorable songs and showcases the versatile genres that Burman composed, from traditional to modern, cliché to experimental music. Most importantly, for the first time in UK, they showcased Burman’s background scores with live musicians on stage which included a String Ensemble and Saxophonist alongside the famous band “The 515 Crew”.
The event had music and dance performances by members from a group of doctors who are eminent in their fields and simultaneously have keen interest in performing arts. They were accompanied by professional singers.
Noted classical singer Chiranjeeb Chakraborty not only conceptualised and directed this musical bouquet, but also captured the audience with his classical renditions of popular Hindi film songs from Amar Prem and Ghar. The show ended with a wonderful uplifting medley of songs with all performers, dancers and vocalists mingling through music. It was conceived, conceptualised and scripted by Dr Sharmistha Guha and co - directed by her along with Chiranjeeb Chakraborty.
Felicitation
The evening was also used to felicitate senior members of the Royal College for all their insipiring hard work. These members included Prof Leslie Regan (President of the RCOG); Dr Ranee Thakar, Dr Sunit Ghatak and Dr Greg Ward. Ms Lakshmi Kaul (Head of the UK Confideration of Indian Industry) was the Guest of Honour. Keeping in with the ethos of supporting women’s empowerment, they also honoured Mrs Roshni Mukherjee of Myosutra for her entrepreneurship. Last but not the least Pandit Chiranjeeb Chakraborty who directed the show and all the 3 shows before and excels in his craft.
