Anchoring

Mumbai flanked by Khayyam Sahab & Mr Qazi of Nehru Centre – one of his last concerts ~ 2010. I remember mentioning at the concert conclusion that my first professional compering assignment was with Jagjit Singh ~ Indian Merchants’ Chamber, Mumbai ~ 1977.

When I started out in the voice world, anchoring was not anchoring that it is today. it was merely announcing. Woh sootra-sanchaalan nahin thaa, keval udghoshanaein theen. Unfortunately, some anchors of the time seemed to work hard at proving this! I do like to think that my initial work has been disruptive enough for people to take notice of how…

I remember once Ameen Sahab (late Ameen Sayani) & I were at the same programme – him in the audience and me on the podium. During a break he observed, Hareeesh, what you speak from the stage is very different from what people expect. Your words are possibly appreciated only by the first ten rows! What about the large number…

I’ve always believed that anchoring should add value to a presentation content rather than be a smart adjunct to the main show. And this was amply proven when, in a manner of speaking, I was handed a virtual Oscar when Lata Mangeshkar wrote in the preface of a book on her (On Stage with Lata – Mohan Deora-Rachna Shah, Harper…