Prologue: Recently members of R4 group based in Hyderabad decided to meet. Thanks to Anant Srinivas, whose influence in music circles and beyond goes with saying; I got an invite and also the chance pick a theme. Sharada, our host, was only a stones throw away. So leaving Aarohi at her friends place, I took Sushmita along. Sushmita observed that I was in full flow and commented " I am glad to rediscover my husband. I thought he lost interest in music after moving to Hyderabad". Obviously family matters had taken precedence but with Aarohi becoming a first grader, I felt it was the right time to take the plunge again.
We announced a session at our place and extended the invitation to friends in Hyderabad cutting across music group affiliations (RMIM, SKS, RTS etc.)
However, Apart from the core R4 group Devender was the only one who could make it. I knew him from Orkut days and was one of the guests at our wedding.
Dharma Kirti, Samarjit Acharjee, Laksmi Priya, MV Surender ji, Vijay Kumar (ISB wala) were all missed.... Members from various groups were recalled in different contexts, and some of these were not at all related to music.
Anant had suggested that we should do a farmaish session a couple of hours before the session. He suggested the Kalavathi track from Raga Jazz by Shankar Jaikishan and Jiyo to aise jiyo from Bahu Beti. Devender, who was coming from the farthest was the earliest to reach. In fact when I called him, he was rushing as he felt he would miss part of the session. So I reassured him that everyone else were running late.
hyderabad ke logaan fursat men kaama karte.
Soon Sharad and Sharada joined and were soon followed by Anant, Nandini and Yamini. As friends started trickling in, the first topic was Raj Kapoor's centenary and we shared our experiences of watching the films on big screen. Yamini managed to see 3 of them and shared her thoughts.
By the time Anita and Srilakshmi arrived, the food cravings were taken care of and we were yearning for music.
We started with Devender's farmaish from Jhanjhar "jaa re jaa, jaa nindiya jaa" following by the deleted song from Pakeeza "tanhayi sunaaya karte hain". We wondered where would the deleted songs releases in Rang Birangi would have fit in the movie context.
It was Sharada's turn next and we played "jurm-e-ulfat pe hamen log sazaa dete hain" (Taj Mahal) and both versions of "dil lagaakar ham ye samjhe" (Zindagi Aur Maut). Sharad suggested any song from B&W movie and I picked the Mushaira from Taj Mahal. Anant pointed that because of the popular duets like "jo vaada kiyaa" and "paaon chuu lene do"; other good songs got suppressed.
As I was about to line up Anant's farmaishes, he announced that he changed his mind as he thought about Bheempalas during his drive. So we played "ye zindagi usiki hai" (Anarkali) and "mere man ka baanvara panchi" (Amar Deep). We spent a little time talking about Anarkali and about the Geeta Dutt song composed by Basant Prakash who was uncredited. We also marveled at how CR and Naushad managed to make outstanding soundtracks on the same topic, Anarkali and Mughal-e-azam. Shankar Iyer's farmaish from Bombay Ka Chor "hai bahaaren baag-e-duniya chand roz" was the next item on the list. This was a Rafi song in a Kishore movie and Devender pointed out that there were at least 2 instances where Rafi playbacked for Kishore.
There was so much of trivia sharing, and conversations going on that it was difficult to get the quorum for my farmaish which was a quiz style.
The audience suggested that we wait for Anita and Srilakshmi to finish lunch so that they can all join hands (read brains) to crack it. However Anita had other ideas and interjected, O DJ waale babu mera gaana chala do and started humming " chand phir nikla". After I obliged, we digressed and started talking about the songs of Paying Guest.
Finally we had quorum to attentively listen to the quiz. I played 2 songs "jalti hai duniya tera mera pyaar hai" and "ham pyaar karenge" and asked what was common about them and gave the hint that it was not related to music. Another hint let the audience guess "Raj Kapoor". The clues with Kishore and Hemant play-backing for Raj Kapoor were chosen to mislead the audience. We then played a few songs of Talat lip-synced by RK including my next quiz with songs of Bewafa; "dil matwaala" and "tum ko fursat ho". While Anant got it instantly, the next clue drew a collective nod of disapproval from the audience as the Zakir Hussain link made it a giveaway.
Soon we moved to bi-lingual and dubbed versions of Hindi movies in south and vice versa. While most of the attendees were Telugu speaking, they all had grown up in the North. Devender being in Hyderabad for more than 2 decades had picked up quite a bit of Telugu songs. So he played songs from Premalekhalu (dubbed version of Aah). Devender mentioned that based on what he heard, Sangam was probably the first Hindi movie which became a huge hit in South also. There was a reference to Zamrud talkies in Abids.
Anant, Sharad, Sharada, Yamini had to leave for various reasons and the rest of us continued.
Nandini requested "yuun hasraton se daag". Devender pointed the 2 paced song from Adalat "jaa jaa re balamva". We talked about several other songs that alternate between contrasting moods like "jab naam-e-mohabbat leke" (Kaala Paani).
Topic of same tunes in Hindi and Telugu was revisited. Devender talked about Kuladaivam (remake of Bhabhi) and we discussed about Ghatalasala's "payaninche o chiluka" and Rafi's "chal Ud jaa re panchi" Anita pointed that Rafi's conveying of emotions is subtle while Ghantasala's version makes it obvious. She opinioned that while the former appeals more to the North Indian audience, the latter connects with South Indians better. Hence this was done by choice.
The topic of languages morphed into something else. As Anita, Srilakshmi and Sushmita all studied in Delhi they started talking about Telugu and Kannada schools in Delhi. Reference of Telugu school at ITO came up and Sushmita recalled that UV Ravindra's mother was a teacher there. I was taken by surprise for a minute, I know UVR for decades and have met him several times while Sushmita met him only once. How come this didn't register in my mind. Then I reconciled that I have met my match, and when it comes to remembering and recalling Trivia Sushmita is no pushover.
In fact Sushmita had a field day recalling songs and movies from various eras and modestly declared that she only knew popular songs till she got married. She also shared the experience of our honeymoon when we took a detour to meet my music lover friends, and some of the conversations we had with Vish Viswanathan.
We soon bid goodbye to Anita, Devender, Nandini and Srilakshmi with the promise of meeting soon next year.
Epilogue: While I have been attending such mehfils for quarter century now, this was the first time my father got the opportunity to attend one. He commented after everyone left" I thought everyone was going to sing. You guys were playing songs and talking :)" Yes, most of us are Kaan-Sen but perhaps we should also plan a Taansen type session.
