They call him the walking encyclopedia of vintage Hindi film music. He can rattle of virtually anything related to popular hindi music of yore in a flash. But for four bungalow resident and ex IDBI executive, Manohar Iyer his music troupe Keep Alive is a mission to resurrect and revive the rare and immortal musical gems. The nine year old organisation is doing a yeomen service to music aficionados.
He is to Vintage hindi film music what Don Bradman was to cricket ‘synonymous’. For Manohar Iyer firmly believes that the charm of film songs of yore is eternal and will never lose its sheen. The 51 year old ex IDBI executive took up a mission in 1997 to ressurect and revive the golden period of film music ie. 1930’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Driven purely by passion and a strange madness for melody Manohar formed a music troupe aptly called ’Keep Alive’ with the help of some music loving friends. " In the mid 80’s when the quality of hindi film songs started deteriorating with the sudden influx of disco music I seriously gave a thought as to what could be done to save melody and save vintage music. That’s when the idea of starting a musical group started taking shape. But it was in 1997 that the dream transcended into reality", informs Iyer. What started off as a small gathering comprising of 250 odd music lovers has ballooned into an enviable musical fraternity of 4000 plus members in the last nine years. Some of the finest shows of Keep Alive have been held at the Shanmukhananda Hall to a packed audience. The greatest achievement for Keep Alive is that it has not only resurrected old songs but has also familiarised several youngsters of the present generation to the music of yore. " Thanks to Keep Alive it has introduced us to many wonderful compositions of the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. We just love humming them and have also won awards at inter college music competitions singing songs composed by Anil Biswas, Khemchand Prakash and S.D.Burman", quips 20 year old Usha and Padma Swaminathan. The motive and mission of keep Alive is to propogate immortal as well as rare vintage hindi film music and in its endeavour they have organised exclusive programmes featuring songs composed by the doyens of film music like Anil Biswas, Khemchand prakash, Sham Sundar, Ghulam Haider, Naushad, Ghulam Mohammed, S.D.Burman, Husanlal Bhagatram, C.Ramchandra, Roshan, Shankar Jaikishan, Madan Mohan, Vasant Desai and penned by eminent writers like Sahir Ludhianvi, kavi Pradeep, Shailendra, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Rajinder Krishan, Shakeel Badaunvi, Qamar Jalalabadi and outstanding singers like K.L.Saigal, Lata Mangeshkar, Talat Mahmood, Suraiya, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt, Mukesh, Hemant Kumar and Manna Dey. All Keep Alive shows are theme based and the four hour long programme is flawlessly presented by the immensely gifted Manohar Iyer in a biographical format encapsulating the personality’s entire career graph interspersed with nostalgic memories and interesting anecdotes. The songs are diligently performed on stage, after several rehearsals, by young talented singers like Srikant Narayan, Gaurav Bangia, Sarita Subramanian, Vrushali Patil, Anand Bahal, Rajeev Sundaresan, Vinod Sheshadiri, Priya Joshi, Sudha, Sumeeta Sundar and Nishighanda. If Keep Alive has emerged as an eye opener for the youngsters the elders have welcomed it with open arms. " For oldies like us Manohar Iyer came as a blessing in disguise in our otherwise mundane lives. Keep Alive programmes are a nostalgic trip down memory lane and we enjoy every moment. ", says 82 year old C.M.Chokshi, the oldest member of Keep Alive. While Sreeram Manian of Calyon Bank calls Manohar Iyer a ’walking enclyopedia’ who has every thing related to film songs on the tip of his tongue and adds " The shows are an enlightening experience and you take home not only wonderful memories but valuable musical information too". In the last 8 years well known personalities like Dilip Kumar, Anil Biswas, Naushad, Khayyam, Kavi Pradeep, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Hasrat Jaipuri, Ameen Sayeen, Nadira, Manna Dey, Hrithik Roshan, Rajesh & Raakesh Roshan, Randhir Kapoor, Sitara Devi, Yash Chopra and Subhash Ghai have graced Keep Alive shows and lavished laurels on the phenomenal efforts of this wonderful music group. Well-known journalist and columnist V.Gangadhar points out " Everything is so well planned and well executed that you are glued to your seats for the entire four hours. The shows start exactly on time which is literally unheard of in a country like india. And with the supremely gifted Manohar at the helm of affairs the entire event is a delight of watch". Pasha of publicity and famous film journalist Bunny Reuben proudly declares that no music troupe in India can match what Keep Alive is doing. With the growing popularity of Keep Alive blended with Manohar Iyer’s unflinching passion, sincerity, dedication and commitment towards old melodies this ’vintage musical revolution’ has gained tremendous momentum and is bound to go places enthralling millions of hindi film music aficionados all over the world.