Mumbai: Classes at the international music college in memory of legendary singer late Lata Mangeshkar started at the Ravindra Natya Mandir, Prabhadevi, on Monday.
Set up by the Maharashtra government, the Bharat Ratna Lata Bharat Ratna Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar International College of Music started with three certification courses.
Ravindra Natya Mandir is a temporary arrangement for the college as 7,000 square metres of land has been allotted for the construction of the institute at the Kalina campus of University of Mumbai.
The first batch of the college has 54 students for three different courses — 23 students for Hindustani Classical Music (vocalist), 21 students for Sound Engineering (music production) and 10 students for Piano/Keyboard.
Each certification course is of one-year duration with intake capacity of 25 students. The college had initially planned to start with six certification courses including – Flute Playing, Tabla Playing and Sitar Playing – but could not do so owing to poor response from students.
“We have completed the preparations and decided to extend the last date for admission by another month. Once we start getting better response, the classes for the other three courses will also be started,” said a senior official from the directorate of arts.
The directorate is also planning to complete the first batch by July so that admissions for the next batch can be started from the coming academic year.
Principal secretary, higher and technical education department, Vikas Rastogi said, “According to the university grants commission (UGC) guidelines, each student will have to attend classes for at least 180 days. Going by that, we are looking to complete the certification course of the first batch by the middle of this year. That’s how the second batch of the certification courses can be started from the upcoming academic year.”
The state government had decided to establish an international music college as a tribute to the legendary singer. When the construction of the proposed building at Kalina campus is completed, the college plans to start diploma and degree courses.
“A brief plan of the building will be prepared with the help of a advisory board comprising members of the Mangeshkar family and other music maestros. It will then be approved by the state government following which, a detailed project report (DPR) will be prepared to start the construction work,” Rastogi said.
He said that they can think of starting diploma courses in the existing set up only after completing at least two batches but for degree courses they will require a full-fledged institution.
The international college was inaugurated by the chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis at Ravindra Natya Mandir on September 28.
The advisory board is headed by Hridaynath Mangeshkar. The other members are Usha Mangeshkar, Adinath Mangeshkar, Suresh Wadkar and Mayuresh Pai.