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Saturday, September 8, 2007

Salil Chowdhury and Mohammed Rafi

Salil Chowdhury’s relationship with Mohammad Rafi.

Salil Chowdhury image courtsey: Wikipedia.org

Salil Chowdhury, noted poet, musician, lyricist, thinker is one of the most renowned intellectuals who had glorified the Silver Screen (both Bollywood and Bengali Cinema) with his stories, poetry, lyrics, dynamic musical compositions in the 50s, 60s and 70s. He was a member of the IPTA, an organisation which has been an instrument of public awareness during the pre-independence and post-independence period. Salil Chowdhury’s story was picturised under the title Do Bigha Zameen, in 1953, depicting the struggle of a farmer of a village in coming to urbanised city of Kolkata and earning his livelihood as a rickshaw-puller, which had brought national and international awards for the story, direction of Bimal Roy and other categories.

The poetic and literary skills of Salil Chowdhury had synchronised with his east-west blend of music in most of his creations. Best example can be “Ujjal Ek Jhak Paira” sung by Classical Bengali singer, Sandhya Mukherjee. It was written by Bengali poet, describing the flight of pigeons and Salil Chowdhury composed the upward and downward movement of the song in the same lines as the pigeons fly in air. The literary society in Bengal were flabbergasted with the composition of Salil Chowdhury with the translation of famous poetry titled “Runner” (postman) written by Sukanta Bhattacharya, the way the movement in music changed with the moods of the postman delivering mails on road. Other landmark musical creations of Salil Chowdhury include “Palkir Gaan” written by famous Bengali poet Satyendranath Dutta and sung by Hemanta Mukherjee.

While bringing in revolution with words and music in Bengali modern songs Salil Chowdhury went to Bombay with his treasure of knowledge. Very interestingly the song “apni kahani” in Do Bigha Zameen, 1953, sung by Manna Dey had been based on Russian processions. While using Mukesh in a number of songs in Raj Kapoor’s Jagte Raho, 1956 and DilipKumar’s Madhumati, 1958, Salil Chowdhury acknowledged the versatile talent of Mohammad Rafi, the man with the golden voice. Salil Chowdhury created a Choir Group in Bombay, where Rafi, Lata were all members.

Probably Madhumati, showed the range of music composition of Salil Chowdhury, where he got an opportunity to blend the flavour of music in the hilly regions. The songs for Rafi included “Jangal Me mor Nacha kisi ne na dekha” for Johnny Walker. But Salil Chowdhury reserved the best song in the tragic andaz for Rafi titled “tute hue khwabon ne”. The pathos in the role of Dilip Kumar was depicted by the serene performance of Rafi.

Salil Chowdhury also used Rafi in the film Maya. The song “Tasvir teri dilme” which was a duet song with Lata Mangeshkar was very big hit. The other song of Mohammad Rafi included “Koi sone ka dilwala” which was also successful. Rafi was used in the film Musafir, 1957, where his songs along with Dilipkumar’s own song “lagi naahi chute rama, chahe jiya jae” showed the tragedy of Dilipkumar who had provided his immortal performance as a poor wretched violin player, who could not marry Usha Kiran, but played the violin for a handicapped child, not knowing his son, and dying at the end of the film. It was the beginning of journey in film direction of Director Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

Salil Chowdhury also used Rafi in the song “insaan ki zindagi hai” from the film Jhoola, 1962. There was also a chorus song of Rafi and Lata, “aag pani me lagi”. There was a song “dil tarpe tarpe” for Rafi in the film Poonam ki raat, 1965, and “tumhe dilse chaha” in the film Chand Aur Suraj, 1965. Besides Rafi was given an Afghani song “ho ya qurban” in the film Kabuliwala, 1961, in which Manna Dey’s song “ai mere pyare watan” was also a big hit.

In the 1970s, Salil Chowdhury reduced composition of film music in hindi films, as he was busy with Bengali films and Bengali modern songs. Even then Manna Dey’s song “Zindagi kasi hai paheli” in the film Anand, 1970 shows his class in composing chorus songs. Even Mukesh’s song “Kahi Door Jab din dhal Jaye” was well acclaimed by musical pandits in India.

At the same time Salil Chowdhury had encouraged new talents in Bombay and allowed noted Bengali singers to flourish in the all India arena, examples include Shyamal Mitra in the song “Ek aye ek jaye” in the film Musafir, 1957. He also composed songs for Dijen Mukherjee, Subir Sen and other singers for Bollywood films. In Bengali films like Ganga, 1960, Kinugoalar Goli, 1964, Lal Pathor, 1964, Marjina Abdulla, 1976, Salil Chowdhury’s music amazed the listeners with folk songs and westernised tunes. Besides his basic compositions for Monobendra Mukherjee, “Ami parini bujhite parini”, Dhanonjoy Bhattacharya, “Jhanana Jhanana Baje”, Krishna Ganguly’s “Dakhina Batashe Mono keno Kande”, Sandhya Mukherjee’s “Srabon Ajhor jhore”, shows his control over Hindustani classical compositions.

It is difficult to highlight the contribution of Salil Chowdhury in a short article, because he had created immense number of immortal poetry, prose, songs, music in Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam films in a span of 50 years. But his admiration for Rafi is evident in the rich compositions. So Rafi’s archive should be adorned with Salil Chowdhury’s compositions to mark their fair relationship.

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1. Salil Chowdhury received Filmfare award for best music in the film Madhumati in 1958.

2. Salil Chowdhury’s Assistants like Probir Majumdar, Anol Chatterjee, Abhijit Banerjee, became legendary Music Directors in Bengali Modern Music in later years.

3. My father, Chitta Ranjan Chatterji, Ex-chief Public Prosecutor, Bankshall Court, Kolkata, had interviewed Abhijit Banerjee, renowned Music Director who had composed Bengali modern songs like “muktojharar neiko konya neiko motir haar”, “jodi amake dekho tumi udashi” for Manobendra Mukherjee, who said Salil Choudhury’s most of the creations are based on scientific, logical justifications of lyrics and tunes, which only a small section of the listeners understand, giving example of song “dhitang dhitang bole” which was based on Caribbean Calypso.

Article By Souvik Chatterji

Master of Law from Warwick University, Coventry, UK.
Master of Law from Case Western Reserve Univerwsity, Cleveland, Ohio,USA.

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Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Rahul Dev Burman and Mohammed Rafi

Rahul Dev Burman’s immense respect for Mohammad Rafi.

Rahul Dev Burman image courtsey: downmelodylane.com

Rahul Dev Burman, the son of eminent singer and composer Sachin Dev Burman, is one of the most popular composers of the last decade whose tunes are used by many modern composers in their own compositions. Being the son of the legendary Music Director, SD Burman, RD had a great challenge to match the sheer brilliance of his father. It happens with the son or daughter of all the famous personalities.

RD Burman started his journey with Chote Nawab in 1962 with the help of the man with the golden voice, Mohammad Rafi. Major songs in the film was sung by Rafi and RD Burman commanded respect in the musical community of that period, who were still mesmerised with the classical compositions of Naushad, folk songs of SD Burman, western effects of Shankar Jaikishan, OP Nayyar, Salil Chowdhury, Ghazals of Roshan, Madanmohan. RD Burman had other skills like playing the mouth organ, tabla and other related instruments and he showed his skill while playing the mouth organ for Laxmikant Pyarellal in the film Dosti, 1964 where Rafi had galvanised the silver screen with his tragic andaz *.

The bigger challenge of RD Burman was to create a gharana which was different from SD Burman, which was very difficult. He created western composition in “Ayo Twist Karen” for Manna Dey in Bhoot Bangla. But he received the maximum appreciation from music lovers with his compositions in the film Teesri Manzil, 1966. All the songs were sung by Mohammad Rafi. All the songs were superhits, including “O haseena zulfonwali”, “Aja aja”, “Dewaana tujhsa nahin”, “ janeman janeja, tumne muhhe dekha hoker meherba”, “O mere sona re sona re sona re.” The rock and roll flavour of Shammi Kapoor, which was started by Shankar Jaikishan in films like Junglee, 1961, songs like “Asman se aya farishta” in An Evening in Paris, 1967, “Aj kal tere mere pyar ke charche har jawan par” in Brahmchari, 1967, was matched by RD Burman in Teesri Manzil, 1966, and he gave the message to the Indian audience that he had arrived in the musical arena and was going to be a leading composer in future.

The relationship of RD Burman with Rafi continued in films like Pyar ka Mausam, 1969, where the songs like “Tum bin jayun kahan”, “Ni sultana re pyar ka mausam aya” were major hits. RD Burman developed a beat of his own which marked his identity in the 1970s. The biggest success came in 1970, with the film Karwa, where the songs “ kitna pyara wada” “are ho goriyan kahan tera desh re” were superhits, and Rafi’s voice balanced the choreographic skills of Jeetender for whom the maximum number of songs were sung by Rafi. For a short period RD Burman composed songs for Kishorekumar in films like Amar prem, Kari Patang, but that was due to the fact it matched with the voice of Rajesh Khanna.

Whenever RD Burman reverted back to Rafi, the songs were successful as ever, like “Yaadon ki Baarat,” “Chura liya hai tumne jo dilko”, in the film Yaadon ki Baarat, 1973, “Yeh ladka hai alla kaisa hai diwana”, in Hum kisi se kum nahi, 1977. In fact Rafi’s outstanding combination with Rishi Kapoor compelled RD Burman to provide the successful qawalli “Hai agar dushman zamana gham nahi ghan nahi”, in Hum Kisi se kum Nahi, which Rafi only could sing. The same film provided Rafi with the National award in 1977 with the song “Kya hua tera wada”. Further the musical competition in the film had Rafi and Kishore singing songs, including “chand mera dil”, etc.

The combination of RD Burman with Rafi continued in Rishi Kapoor’s film, “Zamane ko dikhana hai” where “Sochenge pyar kya hua” with Asha Bhosle, was a major hit. Further in the film Burning Train, 1980, the biggest hit was the qawalli sung by Rafi and Asha, titled “pal do pal ka saath hamaara”. The action of Dharmender and Vinod Khanna was balanced by the excellent choreography of Jeetender in the song “Pal do Pal”, and superlative performance of Rafi.

People have a wrong conception of the fact that RD Burman underestimated Rafi, which is not true. He had tremendous respect for the man with the golden voice. The only lacuna was that RD Burman had a lot of inherent classical skill which he did not get any scope of showing due to the demand of popular music except in the films of Gulzar. In Kinara, 1977, “Naam Gum Jayega”, “Meethe Bol Bole” sung by Bhupinder Singh, shows RD Burman’s gharana. Had Rafi survived for a longer period of time and had RD Burman got more opportunities to blend eastern and western music, the combination could have provided everlasting creations for future generations to cherish. Rafi’s archive should also contain the compositions of RD Burman which are admired by the modern generation and should be restored for music lovers of different ages.

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* My father Ex chief Public Prosecutor, Bankshall Court, (Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court, Kolkata) had interviewed Manobendra Mukherjee, a versatile classical singer having immortal records on bhajans, kirtans, nazrulgeeti, modern bengali songs, film songs and asked him to sing his first Bengali Modern Song “Naichondon Lekha, sriradhar chokhe, nai nai shemorai” before the crowd in a function held in Paikpara, Kolkata where Manobendra said it was his beginning of his musical journey and a song which was a blank verse without musical instruments. If that song could be heard minutely it can be realized that modern music is almost bankrupt. Aroti Mukherjee, the famous Bengali singer, also my father’s witness in a case instituted in Bankshall Court, in the anurodher asor, in all in Radio, said that her teenage was shaken up by Manobendra with the song “Naichondon Lekha” in 1953. In the same interview Manobendra Mukherjee told my father, the real starting point of compositions is classical background. He said the more RD Burman tried to move away from SD Burman in composing western tunes, the more he landed back with SD Burman’s classical gharana in Kinara, 1977, Parichay, 1972, Masoom,1982, where he was appreciated the most by musical pandits where the classical songs were sung by Bhupinder Singh and Lata Mangeshkar..

Article By Souvik Chatterji

Master of Law from Warwick University, Coventry, UK.
Master of Law from Case Western Reserve Univerwsity, Cleveland, Ohio,USA.

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Saturday, August 18, 2007

Roshan's everlasting bond with Mohammad Rafi

Roshan galvanised the Indian horizon of film music with his excellent experiments on melody. He had created mujras, qawallis, ghazals, classical compositions which match the exact requirement of the theme of the films wherever he had worked.

The earlier films like Bawre Nain was created at a time when recording was not modernised to that extent. Even then his songs in the 50s like "bade armano se rakha hai balam" were hits. In the 60s Roshan utilized the Golden voice of Indian cinema, Mohammad Rafi in the most melodious manner that was possible. In the film Barsaat ki Raat,1960, the song "zindagi bhar nahin bhulenge woh barsaat ki raat" mesmerised the music lovers with the melody of the sarengi that was used so well. Rafi's voice floated like cirus clouds in the air and Bharatbhusan's performance in the film was well acclaimed by the Indian audience.The same film had a qawalli "yeh isq isq hai, isq isq" which was staretd by Manna Dey and completed by Rafi. The grammer of Qawalli was fully existant in the song.

Besides Roshan created songs with a very serene dimension in the film Aarti, 1963, picturised on pradeepkumar.Most of the songs were on Raag Pahari. Rafi created an intoxicating appeal with the songs "Ab kya misal doon mai tumhare shabab ki" and "aapne yaad dilaya tha to mujhe yaad aya". Meenakumari's performace was matched with the background score in the song "baharon ki manzil rahi."

In the film Tajmahal,1963, the andaz of Pradeepkumar almost replicated the style of living of emperor Shahjahan that existed during the mughal period.The songs of Rafi namely "Jo wada kiya ho nibhana parega" and "payon chulene do phulon ko inayat hogi" had matched the badshahi andaz of the historical period.The lyrics were written by shari Ludhiyanvi.Besides other everlasting creations of Roshan include "laga chunri me daag chupayun kase" sung by Manna Dey in the film "Dil hi to hai" picturised on Raj Kapoor, and "Kya baat hai tujhme teri tasver me nahin" sung by Mohammad Rafi.

In the film Chitralekha,1965, picturised on Pradeep Kumar, Roshan motivated Rafi to sing a legendary bhajan titled "man re to kahena dhir dhare, woh nir mohi moh na jane jinka moh kare". It was a blank verse with very little musical instruments being used. Rafi's performance was amazing. In the film Bheegi Raat, 1965, Rafi made people spell bound with the songs "jane woh kaun hai kya naam hai in ankhoka," and "dil jo na keh saka, wohi raze dil".Pradeep kumar's scrreen presence was outstanding as Roshan's orchestration and the sensational performance of Rafi.

Noted poet and music director Salil Chowdhury in his interview with Asha bhosle had said he admired Roshan the most because of his use of melody through the instruments used in the songs including sarengi, tabla, sexaphone, guitar and noted instruments. Asha Bhosle said that Rafi, Lata and others have worshipped Roshan like sage. The song in the film Bahubegum, titled "niklethe kahan jane ke liye pahunchethe kahan maloom nahi", almost told the story of Meenakumari who left home for not marrying pradeep kumar and ended up in a kotha.It was a mujra and the orchestration was outstanding by every means. The same film had one of the most immortal performance of Lata titled"Duniya kare sawal to hum kya jawab de." Rafi was outstanding with his final performance "hum intezer karenge tera qawamat tak, khuda karen ki qawamat ho aur tu aye." Viewers became speechless in the cinemahall with this song.

Besides Roshan's performance in the Film Mamta, 1967 is worth mentioning. Mamta was the hindi version of the Bengali film "Uttar Phalguni", which depicted the story of a tawaif who was victim of circumstances and shed blood to make her daughter a Barrister who ultimately pleads in the High Court of Calcutta in an alleged murder case of her mother.The performance of Suchitra Sen, the most versatile Actress of Bengali Cinema cannot be described in words.But the big challenge was matching the quality music composed by Robin chatterji in bengali film where the majority of the songs were sung by classical singer Sandhya Mukherjee.Roshan created the asme class of music in the film.the popular songs included "Rahe na rahen hum" sung by Lata and "in baharon me akela na phiro, rah me kaighata rok nale" sung by Rafi. But the type of Hindustani classical songs that used to be sung in the Class of singers called baijees in the late 18th century was displayed by Roshan.Roshan died in 1969 with his last film "anokhi raat." It is big loss for the Film industry because if aany composer had utilized the Royal style of Rafi's singing it was Roshan himself. Rafi's archive should contain the works of Roshan so that future generations can learn the grammer of Hindustani classical used under different moods.

Article By Souvik Chatterji

Master of Law from Warwick University, Coventry, UK.
Master of Law from Case Western Reserve Univerwsity, Cleveland, Ohio,USA.

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Thursday, July 26, 2007

Shankar Jaikishan

Shankar Jaikishan image courtsey: downmelodylane.com

The most versatile Musical Giant of the Last Century.

Shankar Jaikishan are probably the most versatile music –duos that hailed the music of Bollywood during the Golden Age of Indian Cinema, the 40s, 50s and 60s.The golden era of Indian film music can be associated with the musical giants of different capabilities and specialisations.The Legends include Roshan- the king of melody, Madanmohan- the shahenzah of ghazals, Naushad- the Genius of Hindustani classical ragas with a blend of Lucknow Gharana, Salil Chowdhury –the Master of Westernised chorus with Eastern folk and poetic excellence, O. P. Nayyar – the Master of Westernised Tunes with Eastern flavour, Jaidev – the Legend of Urbanised Folk and Rural tunes, and many other Classical composers who have become immortal with their everlasting tunes. Shankar Jaikishan emerged in that arena with a range of tunes and compositions which could not be categorised under a single head. There were folk songs like “ chalat Musafir” sung by Manna dey in “Teesri Kasam”( 1966) to ghazals like “Chalke Teri Aankhose sharab aur ziada” sung by Mohammad Rafi in “Aarzoo”(1965). There were rock and roll compositions like “aajkal tere mere pyarke charche har jawanpar” in Brahmchari(1967) to pure classical composition like “Sur na saje kya gayun mai” in “Basant Bahar”(1957).

They had composed music in almost 200 films in a tenure of around 22 years (1). So great was the impact of their creative genius that it had a lasting impact on the music of the Hindi films. Shankar-Jaikishan understood the taste of the masses, were able to cater to them, as well as moulded their tastes. No wonder then that during their tenure as music directors, they were exceedingly popular and 75 per cent of the films for which their scores were everlasting hits - many have celebrated silver jubilees.

They were probably the only musical pair, who have given music to all the leading giants who had glorified the silver screen during the 1940, 1950s, and 1960s.They have given music to Dilip Kumar in Yahudi,1958, Rajender Kumar in Suraj,1966, Bharat Bhushan in Basant Bahar,1957, Balraj Sahani in Seema,1956, Pradeep Kumar in Raat Aur Din,1966, Dev Anand in Asli Nakli,1961,Manoj Kumar in Hariyali Aur Raasta,1962, Shammi Kapoor in Professor,1962, Shashi Kapoor in Kanyadan,1969, Biswajeet in April Fool,1964, Joy Mukherjee in Love in Tokyo,1965, Dharmender in Pyar hi Pyar,1968, Jeetender in Mere Huzur,1967, RajKumar in Lal Patthar,1971.

The team of Shankar Jaikishan consisted of Shankarsingh Raghuwanshi and Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal. Shankar (October 15, 1922 - 1987) was born in Punjab and trained under the famous Husnlal Bhagatram. He later settled down in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. Jaikishan (1929 - 1971) hails from Panchal, Gujarat, India. Before the duo met, Jaikishan worked as a carpenter. Their career started as music directors for Raj Kapoor's 1949 film Barsaat. Songs like "Jiya beqaraar hai" and "Barsaat mein humse mile tum" became a rage. Barsaat was also the starting point of the pair’s long and successful association with the R.K. Banner. Hit music in films like Aah and Awaara followed in the early 1950s. The song "Ghar aaya mera pardesi" went on to become a benchmark for dream-sequence songs. Their music for most R.K. films was considered a huge success, but two films stand out, Shree 420 and Sangam. The songs "Pyaar hua ikraar hua" and "Ramaiyyaa vasta vaiyya" from Shree 420 and "Dost dost na raha" and "Har dil jo pyaar karega" from Sangam were popular favorites (2).

They were honored with the maximum number (nine) of Filmfare awards in the Indian film industry. In 1968, Shankar Jaikishan released an album, "Raga Jazz Style : Shankar Jaikishan with Rais Khan." Shankar Jaikishan made a great impact on film music from the start. Their tunes range from pure classical Indian themes to more westernised tunes.They had a distinct style, which was adaptable to different stars and films.In the West, they are best known for the song "Jaan Pechan Ho", which originally appeared in the 1965 film Gumnaam. The musical number was replayed in the American film Ghost World and helped to catapult the popularity of Indian film music in America.

However, according to Raj Kapoor, the pair's most notable score came in the film "Mera Naam Joker" in 1970 which has landmark songs like "Jaane kahan gaye woh din", "Jeena yahan marna yahan", and "Ae bhai zara dekh ke chalo". Arguably, the background musical scores of "Sangam" and "Mera Naam Joker" are considered to be among the best ever in the history of Hindi film music. Of the two, Shankar's speciality was dance-based compositions, whereas Jaikishan's forte was the background musical score. Both of them preferred Raaga Bhairavi over other strains of classical music.

Shankar Jaikishan created few classical oriented tunes fit for the Golden voice of Mohammad Rafi. In the film “ Lal patthar”(1971), Shankar Jaikishan had composed for Rafi “ unke khayal aye to ate chaale gaye”in raag gara. There the nostalgic mood of badshah was presented by Rafi. Other quality creations of Shankar Jaikishan included “ Aji ruth kar ab kahan jaiyega” in raag desh in Aarzoo(1966) starring Rajenderkumar, “ Khudabhi asma se jab zamin par dekhta hoga” in the film ‘Dharti,” “mujhko apne gale lagalo ai mere humrahi”( Humrahi, 1962) “surahidar gardan koel sihi awaz”in the film “ Aman”. The lyrics were written by Hasrat Jaipuri (3).

One of the other shades of the character of the Legendary duo was that they had encouraged a number of singers both male and female, at an era when the other Music Directors preferred only Rafi and Lata. They have composed songs for Subir Sen, “ Dil mera ek aas ka panchi” in the film Aas ka panchi,1960, Suman Kalyanpur , “Dil ek mandir hai,” in the film Dil Ek Mandir,1963, Manna Dey, “Yeh Raat Bheegi Bheegi” in the film Chori Chori,1956, Asha Bhosle, “Mur Murke na dekh Mur Mur ke” in the film Shri 420,1955, Sharda, “Titli Uri” in the film Suraj,1966, Mukesh, “Yeh mera diwanapan hai” in the film Yahudi,1958, Talat Mehmood, “Koi nahi mera is duniya mai” in the film Daag,1955, Kishore Kumar, “Zindagi ek safar hai suhana” in the film Andaz,1971. The songs were complimented with brilliant orchestration which had added lights to the composition of the giant.

The other aspect of their creation include blending the Indian flavour with the foreign tunes wherever the films were picturised. Best examples can be the song “Sayonara sayonara” in the film “Love in Tokyo”, 1965, had Japanese orchestration, the other being “Raat ke humsafar” in the film “An Evening Paris”,1967, had French flavour. Besides their use of few instruments showed the class of their own, Accordion in “Sub kuch sikha Humne na siki hoshiari” in the film Anari,1959, Saxophone in “Ai sanam jis ne tujhe chand sa surat di hai” in the film Diwana, 1967, Synthesized Harmonium played by V. Balsara in “Awara Hoon” in the film Awara, 1951.

One of the reasons why Shankar Jaikishan did not get the acknowledgement of providing immortal tunes in that era is because it could not be identified as which song is composed by Shankar and which song is composed by Jaikishan. Otherwise Naushad was awarded with Dada Saheb Phalke for his brilliant contribution to Indian music, Majrooh Sultanpuri also received the same award in the lyricist category, Shankar- Jaikishan was deprived of that honour. The other reason may be that they had worked with Raj Kapoor for the longest period and most of the credit of the unforgettable tunes were taken away by Raj Kapoor himself. An archive should be created for the rich and classical creations of Shankar Jaikishan where the works can be preserved for future generations to take inspiration from.

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(1)

Dattaram, their Assistant also made immortal tunes like “Ansu Bhari Hai” in the film “Parvarish”, 1959, starring Raj Kapoor

(2)

My father Chitta Ranjan Chatterji, Ex chief Public Prosecutor, Bankshall Court,( CMM Court), Kolkata had solved a case relating to Music Rackett in HMV in the early 1980s. The Zonal manager of HMV, Mr. SriDaure gave him a present of HMV discs of film “diwana-composed by Shankar Jaikishan” and Disc of “ Pakiza- composed by Ghulam mohammad”. Mr. Sri Daure was involved with numerous immortal recordings of HMV and he mentioned that there was a song in Diwana, titled “ tumhare bhi jai jai, humare bhi jai jai, na tum hare, na hum hare”. The song was picturised with Raj kapoor staying in the railway station and Saira Banu travelling in a train. The song beat that was composed by Shankar-Jaikishan synchronised the actual sound of the movement of the train. It was only possible from Shankar-Jaikishan.It was reported in AnandaBazar Patrika, the Bengali Newspaper under the column of Ashis Ghosh.

(3)

Noted Music Director Anu Malik says that Raj Kapoor had dug a well full of everlasting music and Shankar Jaikishan drew water out of it

Article By: Souvik Chatterji

Assistant Director

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Thursday, July 19, 2007

Sampooran Singh Gulzar

Music in Films of Gulzar

Sampooran Singh Gulzar image courtsey: bollywoodvillage.com

The 1970s is characterised as a period of change in Indian film music. Although popular music continued to be created by the innovative compositions of Laxmikant Pyarellal, Kalyanji Anandji, R.D. Burman, yet the classical flavour of Hindustani music started losing predominance during that time. There were few reasons for the change.

Firstly the neo-realistic film movement by Satyajit Ray (1), Ritwik Ghatak (2), Tapan Sinha (3), Rajen Tarapdar (4), had inspired filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, Govind Nahalani to make realistic films in the 70s. Shyam Benegal started his journey with the film Ankur, 1974, where he gave the biggest break to Shabana Azmi, one of the most powerful actress of Indian cinema. Govind Nahalani made Akrosh, where he brought out one of the most daunting performance of Om Puri in a mute role. These films depicted the lives of the rural Indian folk with powerful story telling and theme music. At the same time Directors like Basu Chatterji made Chitchor, 1974, Hrishikesh Mukherjee made Milli, 1975, Golmaal, 1979, where the stories were picturised on the lives of middle class Indians. In the same era, corruption became rampant in the Governmental and non-governmental sector, thereby invoking the Directors to make anti-establishment films. Ramesh Sippy came up with Sholay, 1975, Prakash Mehra made Zanjeer, 1973, Yash chopra made Deewar, 1975 where Amitabh Bacchan played the roles of the angry young man who had raised his voice against the anti corruptive practices throughout the country.

Music took a turn in the 1970s due to a number of reasons. A number of musical giants died in that period. Jaikishan died in 1971, Roshan died in 1969, SD Burman died in 1975.In that era arrived Gulzar with a treasure of offbeat films which were backed by classic literature and soft meaningful music. Gulzar had the background of composing quality lyrics for Bimal Ray at a time when he had not started his career in film direction (5).

His song in the film “Mausam”, 1975, titled “Dil Dhoondhta Hai, phir wohi, phursat ke raat din”, composed by Madanmohan, brought the music lovers back to the cinema hall who got frustrated with the loud music that used to be composed in the commercial films at that time. The song was sung by Bhupinder Singh who was predominently eminent as a ghazal singer. The film was picturised in Darjeeling and Sanjeev Kumar recollected his past experience after returning from abroad. In the film “Gharonda”, 1977, Gulzar brought back the melody of the violin with the song “Ek Akela is shahar me, raatme aur dopeher me, abodana dhoondhta hai, ashiana dhoondhta hai”. The composer Jaidev, the winner of a number of national awards was a loner in his life, the song almost told his story through Amol Palekar with a tragic note. Bhupinder Singh performed the song with his intoxicating appeal. In the same film Jaidev used urbanised folk song in “do diwane shahar me” and “tumhe ho naho mujhko to itna yakeen hai” where Runa Laila accompanied Bhupinder Singh. The lyrics were written from the core of the heart by Gulzar (6).

In the Film “ Kinara”,1977, Gulzar was successful to extract the best possible music from RD Burman. In the song “ Naam Gum Jayega, Chehera Yeh Badal Jayega, meri awaz hi pehchan hai, gar yaad rahe” he complimented the poetic excellence of urdu poets like Sahir Ludhianvi, Hasrat Jaipuri, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kaifi Azmi, Shailendra, Shakeel Badayani and others. Lata Mangeshkar and Bhupinder Singh were at their best. In the song “ Ek hi Khwab kaibaar dekha hai maine”, sometimes the music stopped, there were dialogues and Bhupinder Singh’s voice almost brought life into the role of Dharmender who was killed in an accident by the car of Jeetender in that film. Lastly RD Burman used the Bengali classical song of SD Burman ( Madhu brindabone) to create “Mithe Bol bole” sung by Bhupinder Singh.

In the film “Dooriya”, 1980, the song “ Zindagi, zindagi, mere ghar ana, ana zindagi” composed by Jaidev and picturised on Uttamkumar and Sharmila Tagore , the height of the location of the song and height of the composition matched each other. Both of them had differences in opinion which led to separation with their children and were united at the end of the film.

In the other films like Parichay (7),1972, Kitaab (8), 1978, Aandhi (9), 1975, the songs played a significant role in bringing out the mental complexities of the characters. Notable songs include “Biti na bitayi rehna”, “Is morse jate hai”. Later on he contributed with a flavour of Rajasthani Folk songs in the film, Lekin, 1989. Gulzar’s creations are even noteworthy in films directed by other noted filmmakers , an example being “Masoom”,1983, the song “huzur is kadar bhi na itrake chaliye” and “ tujhse naaraz nahin zindagi hairan hoon mai” showing the feelings of the poet. It was directed by Shekhar Kapoor and Shabana Azmi and Nasiruddin Shah had performed to their potentials. Inpiration should be taken from the works of Gulzar to create space in the films these days for creation of soft, thoughtful, meaningful music

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(1)

Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy( Pather Panchali in 1955, Aparajito in 1956 and Apur Sangsar in 1959, based on story of Bhibhutibhushan Bandopadhaya) talked about the journey of Apu from the village in India to the crude reality of urbanised life of Kolkata. His Film Jalsaghar( 1958) was based on Feudal system existing in Bengal where Chabi Biswas depicted the Feudal Lord in his majestic style.

(2)

Ghatak’s film “ Meghe Dhaka Tara”, 1960, talked about the pains taken by victims of partition of Bengal during independence.

(3)

Tapan Sinha’s “Louhakapat”,1959 talked about the experiences of a jailor in respect of the lives of different prisoners in his jail. His film “Jatugriha”,1964, starring Uttamkumar talked about the complex life of a couple having no children in Kolkata.

(4)

Rajen Tarpadar’s film “Ganga” ,1960, depicted the lives of fishing community of Bengal who sacrificed their lives in boats and travelled through Ganges to maintain their livelihood.

(5)

Bimal Ray , the winner of a number of filmfare awards , made classic films like “ Devdas”,1955, written by Sarat Chandra Chatterji, “Madhumati” ,1958 and other notable films.

(6)

My father Chitta Ranjan Chatterji, the then chief Public Prosecutor, Bankshall Court ( Chief Metropolitan magistrate’s court), Kolkata interviewed Sabitri Chatterji and Dilip Ray eminent actors of Bengali films, who said it was so difficult to make Hindi version of Bengali film “ Panditmoshai” written by Sarat Chandra Chatterji , and yet Gulzar had maintained the Bengali flavour while making Khushbu, 1975.

(7)

Parichay was the Hindi version of the Bengali film “ Jayjayanti”,1970, where Uttamkumar played the lead role and Manobendra Mukherjee got the Indira Gandhi Award for best Music Direction. It had similarity with the Hollywood film “Sound of Music”

(8)

Uttamkumar played a significant role to bring up his brother in-law Master Raju in the film “Kitaab”.

(9)

Suchitra Sen played the role of Political leader in the film Aandhi almost personifying Indira Gandhi, the Indian PM in 1975.