Madhushree Bhattacharya’s devotional album is a tribute to Lord Ganesha and available only at the temple

SIDDHIVINAYAK ON A SONG

Madhushree Bhattacharya’s devotional album is a tribute to Lord Ganesha and available only at the temple

Madhushree Bhattacharya, the singer still remembered for ‘Kabhi neem neem’ (Yuva, 2004) and ‘Mahi ve’ (Kal Ho Naa Ho, 2003), has just come out with a devotional album, Siddhivinayak, that is a tribute to Ganesha.
Madhushree with actor Nana Patekar, Mamta Sharma, President of Women’s Welfare Association, music director Robby Badal and Nirmala Samant Prabhavalkar, former Mayor of Mumbai, at the album release at Siddhivinayak Mandir “In mid-August, I’d gone to the Siddhivinayak temple for darshan. The pooja went off well and I came out asking myself why I didn’t sing for the Lord,” she reminisces. Within a week music composer Robby Badal had composed five songs for her and with co-artists Anup Jalota, Sumit Tappo, Jayant Pingulkar, Gaura Srivastava, Tushar Joshi, Sumit Saretha, Vivek and Robby Badal joining her, the album was ready in another week’s time.
“On September 1, Nana Patekar who surprised me with his knowledge of classical ragas and taals, released the album that was named after Siddhivinayak that had served as my muse at the temple itself. We distributed 1,000 CDs for free in the temple and the rest are being sold from there rather than in stores,” says Madhushree.

She points out that for the last three years she has been opening the Dadasaheb Phalke Awards with a Ganpati vandana that has been tuned differently for the album, incorporating the sounds of dhol, dhak and Durga puja festivities.
“You also get to hear ‘Jaidev, Jaidev’ in a new version, along with other songs you might have heard during temple visits and the chanting of ‘mantras’,” says Madhushree.
During the on-going Ganpati festival, she plans to have a show at Siddhivinayak at which she will sing some of these songs live.