Highlights
- Sanjeevani Bhelande was nominated for Filmfare Award for her debut film song.
- Her bilingual music CD ‘Meera and Me’ is considered as a unique work
- The Ekal Foundation runs informal one-teacher schools Ekal Vidyalayas in rural India
Bollywood singer Sanjeevani Bhelande’s association with Ekal Vidhyalaya began with her very successful fundraising US tour in 2010.
“This is like giving back to the community - a gift,” said Ms Bhelande.
Sanjeevani Bhelande along with her own band - Sanjh Sanjeevani has performed around the world.
Winner of the Zee TV’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa first challenge in 1995, she was nominated for Best Playback Singer (female) for her debut film ‘Kareeb’ in 1999 and won the Ashirwad Best Playback Singer Award for the song "Chori chori jab nazrein mili” from film Kareeb.
“The award was given by Khayyam Sahib. Vidhu Vinod Chopra's elder brother who was present in the reality show had invited me to sing for the film,” she told SBS Hindi.
She has some very popular Bollywood songs to her credit and has sung for various music directors and in various languages. She is also a composer.
My compositions are influenced by my classical training. It reflects the styles of Hridyanath Mangeshkar who taught me music for sometimes, Jaidev and Naushad ji. I like A R Rehman’s melody. So you would see all these have a mixed influence in my compositions.
A few years back, Ms Bhelande released a bilingual book and a music CD ‘Meera and Me’ in a fusion of classical and western music wherein she has translated and sung great Saint Meerabai’s poems into English.
This is a modern interpretation and translation of the divine love songs of the legendary 14th-century Indian poet Meerabai.
“I have recorded an album of Meera’s songs in a bilingual, musical form for the modern Indian youth overcoming the language barrier. Meerabai is an inspirational figure in our culture. I tried reaching out to youth in their language. For example, Meera’s ‘Jo tum todo piya’, I explained it as a ‘breakaway song.”
She hopes every girl is able to express herself without inhibition, the way Meerabai did.
Meerabai showed, a woman is a soul not a body. We know Meerabai for her Bhakti and her work not for how she looked. So I want every woman should be able to pursue her dream. She should be able to shine and navigate her way to reach her goal without being conscious of her gender just as Meera did. This is when a woman will be mukta (liberated).
Ms Bhelande’s association with the Ekal Foundation started in 2010 when she toured the United States for a fundraising event.
Since then, she had been going back there, Canada, etc, to support the cause.
The Ekal Foundation is a non-profit organisation dedicated to education and village development in rural India. It initiates and runs informal one-teacher schools in rural and tribal areas.
Bollywood singer Sanjeevani Bhelande Source: Sanjeevani Bhelande
The foundation was established in 1986 with the first single teacher school in Gumla, Jharkhand.
