By Anuka Roy

He is a man of many parts.  The Advertising Club COO Bipin Pandit dons multiple hats. It has been 27 years that he is performing on stage. He juggled the role of a compere, at times a mimicry artist and on many occasions both. But singing is something he has been passionate about from his childhood. And then he heads the operations of an ever-active Advertising Club.

Pandit reminisces how as a young boy he would be invited to sing at his neighbour’s parties or his cousins coaxing him to sing for them. “Singing has been with me since my childhood. It is something which I am very passionate about.” Despite a full-time day job he manages to find time not only to sing but perform professionally as well, we wonder, how? “I have always believed in one thing, whatever is close to your heart you will always find time for that,” says the Mohd Rafi fan. He says even after a hard day’s work in office, the musical performances he gives, rejuvenate him to work even harder the next day.

It was in 2006, Pandit founded his own group Khumaar which performs Hindi songs of yesteryears sung by stalwarts. The idea of the group came to him when he was performing with others. Pandit wanted to do something bigger and better than the shows he performed in and that is when he decided to form Khumaar. “I thought let me do a show where I will choose the audience, songs, singers and musicians and I will be in total control of the situation and give a product which people will like,” he says.

The idea of the musical night was to invite all music lovers from the advertising, marketing, media, PR and communications fraternity and engage and entertain them with quality entertainment that will provide them the much needed relaxation from their punishing schedules. On the occasion of Khumaar’s tenth anniversary, the show has been open to all and response has been good so far.

This year a special segment will be devoted to Khumaar Ki khoj whereby a young artist/talent will be identified and offered to perform. Pandit says in the past also he found out talented who have now become stars in their own right and it makes him very happy.

Khumaar has tied up with a NGO ‘Light of Life’ founded by Villy Doctor. The NGO has been working in getting school dropouts to be reinstated, imparting skills to students to make them self-reliant, giving free medical treatment to the needy and making life of the old and aged people better.  The musical show will take place on July 2 at the ManikSabhagraha Auditorium in Mumbai.