“Will he be able do justice to music of SD Burman?”
That was the question in the mind of Shahsikant Joshi when I invited him to the
concert. The remark was not off the mark as Shashi is a veteran member of RMIM,
a group filled with informed listeners and critiques. Now did Prahlad and team
pass the litmus test? Read on to find out.
The evening opened with Prahlad’s parents and grandmother lighting the
lamp and a lovely performance by a budding dancer.
Apoorva gave a brief introduction to SD Burman; and highlighted that he
left royalty to take up music. Prahlad walked in to a warm applause and opened
with “Jalte hain jiske liye” that set the stage for the evening. Majrooh
Sultanpuri’s ability to fit words to tunes was recalled.
Rujuta started with “phir na kiije meri wafa”…and then Prahlad chipped
in with the dialogues that Guru Dutt says “dekhiye maine kahaa”. Perhaps most
of the audience was not familiar with this part as this is often chopped off.
Once Rujuta came to “jaane kyaa tune kahi” the auditorium sprung to life.
I suggested Prahlad to throw in a few questions to the audience while
referring to the songs. While Prahlad made appropriate additions to my script,
he ensured that this “dialogue with audience” reflected throughout. When
Apporva introduced a song from Bandini and dropped a few hints about the
lyricist; the audience promptly responded “Gulzar”. Rujuta seamlessly transited
from “Geeta Dutt” to “Lata Mangeshkar” with “mora gora ang laile”. SD used
“Chinese blocks” in both these numbers and the orchestra did a great job
reproducing those sounds.
The next clue to the audience was to guess which voice suited Dev Anand
the most.
The hint that when it comes to hit ratio; it was neither Kishore nor
Rafi was sufficient for the audience. The auditorium echoed “Hemant Kumar”! “na
tum hamen jaano” by Prahlad was well received. When the name of the lyricist
“Majrooh Sultanpuri” was announced, a kid sitting next to me whispered “Majrooh
Sultanpuri again?” Majrooh’s songs came throughout the evening and not
surprisingly as his association with SD spanned form 50’s right through 70's.
The next number “din dhal jaaye” was also appreciated. Apoorva
briefly touched upon the music and making of Guide and tidbits and songs from
the movie were liberally sprinkled trough out the evening. Prahlad’s string of
solos continued with “dil ka bhanvar” and “wahaan kaun hai tera”. SD’s use of folk
music was highlighted before the latter song from Guide.
Rujuta then joined Prahlad with “shokiyon men ghola jaaye” and true to
the words, it had an intoxicating effect.
The audience were engrossed in the melody and the ensuing silence
suddenly transformed to a roar. Yes, the magnetic personality of Aniket Prabhu
now took centre stage. His voice and screen presence set the stage on fire.
“khoya chaand” had the audience requesting an encore. He obliged with another
stanza of the song.
As Apporva said “Abhimaan”, the audience roared approvingly. Rujuta’s
wonderful rendition of “ab to hai tumse” was followed by “piya tose naina laage
re” also song by her.
Apoorva mentioned SD’s ability to come up with youthful tunes even at an
older age. Prahlad’s “meet na mila re manka” followed by “gun guna rahe hain
banvare” with Aniket and Rujuta underscored the point. One gentleman in the
audience was quite demanding and insisted that they sing the “sun pass to aao”
antara. Aniket and Rujuta obliged. He then asked for “mere man tera pyaasa” but
Aniket politely refused as the song was not part of the list and was not
rehearsed.
A brief instrumental rendition of “megha chaaye aadhi raat” by Ishwar on
the violin cast a magic spell on the audience. It was followed by an equally
captivating rendition of the Sharmilee stunner by Rujuta.
Although he sang only one solo, Nilanjan’s “Nishite jaiyo phulo
bone” was so well rendered that it was one of the highlights of the evening.
Naturally the audience responded, “once more” and he kept going back and forth
between the bangla and hindi versions. The Bangla version was released way back
in 1935 and has withstood the ravages of time.
It was now time for a break and I caught up with Shahsikant and
family. I was transported back to the 90’s when a search on the
nascent internet for a popular song lyric would often land up on a contribution
from “pankha road se pintu diwana”. Although it was the first time
we met, we started talking as if we were old friends separated in childhood! Our
conversation was interrupted by Prahlad’s wife, Aditi; “The concert is going to
resume”. Aditi, was one of the organisers working tirelessly behind
the scenes. I could spot her running around; managing the box office, attending
phone calls and greeting people with boundless energy and enthusiasm.
When we came back, Apoorva was quoting a few lines from “Sargamer
Nikhad” the autobiography of SD. Aniket then teamed up with Rujuta for “paanch
rupaiya barah aana” and had the audience in splits as he enacted the scene from
the movie.
Madhura then gave a charming rendition of “tadbeer se bidgi hui”.
Wonderful guitar accompaniment by Bob and Vivek enhanced the appeal.
The Sawal Jawaab style of songs now came to the fore. The audience
rightly guessed “achha ji main haari” by Prahlad and Rujuta. Rujuta was joined
by Aniket for “ham aap ki aankhon men” and “deewana mastana hua dil”. These
foot-tapping duets were followed by equally catch solos rendered energetically
by Aniket; “ham hain raahi pyaar ke” and “mana janaab ne pukara nahiin” and the
audience sang along. Tere Ghar Ke Saamne title song by Aniket and Rujuta
followed.
For “baiThe hain kyaa uske paas” Rujuta was joined by Madhura. This is
very difficult to sing but the ladies managed to do justice to the higher
octaves.
This was one of the few songs in the evening where the audience expected
something else. When Asha song from Jewel Thief was announced, I could hear
“raat akeli hai” from the audience. Occasionally it’s nice to spring a surprise
but reading the pulse of the audience is important for live shows.
This is precisely why I liked the song selections. These may not satisfy
the connoisseur in me but when you are putting it out for public consumption a
lot of parameters must be weighed in. Songs Popularity, singer’s and
orchestra’s comfort level as well as favourites of the team. Overall the
playlist spanned the decades but with a composer as versatile as SD Burman it
is impossible to cover all genres and singers.
While discussing the sequence of songs with Prahlad, we went over a few
scenarios. A chronological presentation would put “badi sooni sooni hai” at the
end and the concert would close with a sombre note. The preferred alternates
were “honton pe aisi baat” and “mere sapnon ki raani”. The Aradhana song was a
nice way to talk about the legacy of SD Burman and it was decided to end the
concert with it.
These three choices happened to be the last songs for the evening in
that precise order. “Honton pe aisi baat” reverberated through the auditorium
with the audience dancing to the beat. Prahlad also improvised a little on the
compositions by adding chorus accompaniment.
Geeta Sundar, Apoorva, Nilanjan, Swarn, Madura, Salman did a great job
as backing vocalists. And the entire orchestra team lived through the songs.
2 keys - Rohit and Vaibhav
Rhythm guitar - Bob
Bass guitar - Vivek
Drums – Sachin
Dholak - Rajendra
Tabla - Harsha
Violin - Ishwar
Accompanying percussions - Lakshmi Prabhu
At the end of the program I observed Shashikant talking to Prahlad.
After complementing Prahlad, the conversation drifted to Shashikant’s poetry
and if Prahlad could compose them. While that answers the question I posed at
the beginning, it also sets the bar higher. Greater expectations and perhaps a
few more discerning audience in future shows.
The evening gave unbridled joy to the audience. Folks were cheering,
dancing and just having a good time. Apne hi bas men nahiin man, dil hain kahiin to huun kahiin main…
Isn’t life worth living for such evenings?
Shailendra's lyrics sum it up the best.
Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai…
