Emperor of Melody - SD Burman

It was in early December that a few us met in Peninsula Studio's to discuss about the SD Burman project. I got connected thanks to Naveen Anand. 

Director's vision: While we were still debating on the format, Sita Raina was pretty clear on what we shouldn’t do. "I don't want it to sound like a biography" she said emphatically and opened it up for discussion.

Antara talked about Bengali folk and rabindra sangeet influences on his music; Naveen drawing from his vast experience from Ibadat gave a few tips on making the program captivating - the entry with a popular song in SD's voice. The light and shade effects soon fell into place. Bidisha and Meghna mentioned a few songs they were comfortable singing.

After a round table of ideas, we nailed some guidelines for the script

Music style highlighting usage of instruments

Associations with key banners / directors

Personality with anecdotes

Naveen had an interview of Kishore Kumar talking about Dada which we agreed to use. Subroto started going round table with a list of popular tracks and we collectively decided the first list of songs that had to be performed. Accommodating a meaty script along with a good representation of Burmanda's repertoire was no mean task. 

Although we didn't convene again till January, we were in constant touch via  email and WhatsApp. The program date was frozen to Feb 20 but the more difficult part task was to freeze the song list. It needed 2 more sessions of pruning and rehearsals; one at Bidisha's place and another at Subroto's before we could finalise the song list. The initial lists had too little of Lata

and we tweaked it a little to ensure she had a fair representation. Several parallel processes got into action; Naveen and Debu getting Karoke tracks and Video's ready; Atima, Ajay, Subroto and Sita working on the script. Bidisha, Meghna and Poonam got the rehearsals going and it all started taking shape. Atima wrote the script and shared with the team. I was able to give some inputs by email and by the time I joined for the next session on Feb 3, the script was ready to be rehearsed.

We got together at the Raina residence and polished the rough edges to make the story flow smoothly. We received a set back when Bidisha had to drop out of the event due to health reasons. Also Meghna had a family commitment which meant that she was allotted 1 song and Poonam stepped in to fill the void.

 On feb 15, we did a full rehearsal at the studio itself getting ourselves acclimatized to the ambience and the acoustics. We also dabbled with the script to make it politically correct. Finer details like the position of the chairs and mikes in which Ajay and Atima were going to sit to ensure eye contact with each other and with the audience were all worked out.

 The last rehearsal: We convened at 3 pm on the big day to give the last touches. From backup laptops to backup singers nothing was left to chance. In the event that Meghna tunes up late from her appointment, Poonam rehearsed "waqt ne kiya", Subroto seamlessly eased into a technician role as the desginated person could not turn up. There were a few anxious moments…

Subroto: But that is not part of the script. Where are you reading it from?

Ajay and Atima: We have that as fillers and will use if needed.

Chorus: It’s ok. This is not Royal Albert Hall.

Sita: This is my Royal Albert Hall

Naveen: That was not part of the original clip.

Subroto: That's fine. I don't want to make any last minute changes.

Finale: The show was almost perfect. Apart from 1 clip that played twice, there wasn't  any glitches. Atima and Ajay just lived the script and had enough fillers to ensure any hiccups were covered. As per Naveen's suggestion, we divided the songs into 3 sections

Session 1 - Older Classics

1: Chand phir nikla 

2: Hum Bekhudi Naveen

3: Ye Raat Ye chandni

4: Thandi Hawayein

Session 2 - Love ballads

5: Tere Mere Sapne

6: Chhod do aanchal

7: Dil Aaj shayar hai

8: Tu kahaan Ye bataa

9: Ye dil na hota bechaara

Session 3 - Modern

10: Rangeela re

11: Dil ka bhanwar

12: Palko ke peechhe se

13:Ab to hai tumse

14: Waqt ne kiya (this was the exception as Meghna was planning to come late)

 In addition to these "ye mehlon ye takhton" was included in a section by itself.

Every song performed, was accompanied by its video with voice muted. The penultimate song 

"waqt ne kiya" was accompanied with posters of films for which Sachinda scored music.

The script was weaved in a question answer format, with Atima taking the role of an inquisitive fan and Ajay answering as the expert. When there were different takes on a particular story, the tone of the narrative was made anecdotal as opposed to authoritative. 

Quizzes for the audience were built itno the script to make it interactive. Name 3 songs that were inspired by "thandi hawayen"; name 2 songs dung by drunken heroines in the vein of "rangeela re"; judge whether "ye mahlon ye takhton" owed its success to music or lyrics or both; were among the questions asked. On every occasion the audience responded correctly and I was planted right in the middle of the crowd to ensure that audience got everything correct :)

SD's rift with Lata, Sahir, Shailendra were all covered as were his mannerisms and love for Paan. His association with Navketan, Guru Dutt and Bimal Da was chronicled. Sachinda's minimalist style of music and usage of instruments like Taar Shehnai, Chinese Blocks, Flute, Accordion was illustrated. Instead of reading out the names of the songs in the script, Ajay would sing the mukhda and this format was very well received. In many instances, the audience just sang along.

While Naveen chose only Rafi songs (I wish we could accommodate a Talat number for him); Debu sang Hemant and Rafi in addition to his favorite Kishore. Ajay also went with Rafi. Poonam was at ease with both Asha and Lata and Meghna did turn up well in time to sing Geeta. The crescendo was "jeevan ke safar ke raahi" in which the audience joined along with the singers. It was a fitting end to the evening which will be cherished in days to come.

A big round of applause for the entire team for making alive the spirit of the "old monk". And thanks to the wonderfully receptive audience for making us feel that it was worth all the effort.