'Khazana' Festival is a salute to all shayar, shayara's: Pankaj Udhas

Paying a tribute to poetry, Ghazal maestro Pankaj Udhas, along with popular artists including, Sudeep Banerjee, Parthiv Gohil, Mirande Shah and Aabhas Joshi recently performed some of their greatest hits.

Bringing together five of the most popular names in the ghazal industry, Hungama Spotlight gave us a glimpse of the magnum opus, 'Khazana - A Festival of Ghazals'.

'Khazana' is an endeavour which started in 2002 by Pankaj Udhas, Talat Aziz and Anup Jalota and is in its 16th edition with an eclectic line up consisting of acclaimed artists like Papon, Javed Ali, Anup Jalota, Rekha Bhardawaj, Bhupinder Singh, Soha Mohapatra, Sudeep Banerjee, Talat Aziz among others.

The household name for ghazals, Pankaj Udhas, said, "In its 16th year, 'Khazana' is a tribute to poetry and all the master poets, shayars and shayaras' of then and now. Ghazals are mostly made out of poetry and poets should be credited for it as they have contributed to Indian Classical music with their poetry and ballads."

He added, "In the past years 'Khazana' has been able to raise five and a half crore rupees to support and fund cancer and thalassaemia patients. This year the lineup is very diverse and hailing from different backgrounds, and they have come together for this festival of ghazals"

Taking this celebration digital once again, it will be streamed live on Hungama and available on its various platforms on July 21-22 as the Ghazal artists perform at The Trident, Nariman Point, Mumbai.