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.

Journey through Lata Mangeshkar's Songs

 

It is hard to imagine a single day without listening to or humming or perhaps just reminiscing of a song by Lata Mangeshkar. The many moods and hues of her songs have been a constant companion for last 3 decades and here is an attempt at chronicling my discovery of her music while drawing parallels with events in my life.

(1) Mera salaam le jaa (Udan Khatola, 1955)

The opening bars of music that I first heard in the 80’s with the magical voice singing ‘Hawa mein udta jaaye’ still echo in my ears. My first introduction to Lata and for that matter old music was through my maternal uncle’s music collection. This was during school days when my primary exposure was to her songs from RK films composed by Shankar Jaikishan (SJ). Apart from these, I had a wonderful tape of assorted songs that included ‘Baansuriya bajaaye sakhi’, ‘Nain mile nain hue baanware’ and the defining song of my childhood ‘UDan khatole waale raahi’, a choral tapestry delicately crafted by Naushad.

I had got admission into Hyderabad Public School and it was considered a sure shot ticket to success (America) those days and Udan Khatola (1955) perfectly captured the vehicle of my dreams. ‘Mera salaam lejaa, ulfat ka jaam lejaa’ was literally an invitation across the seas and as I now look behind, I realize that although America was my “queen of dreams” at that point, it was the signature of my favorite singer that I have been carrying all along and it has outlived my “queen”.

(2) Thane kai kai bol sunava (Meera Bhajan)

Studying in HPS ensured that I continued to get exposure to vintage music. Our history teacher Mr. Imdad Ali used to ask us to sing Raj Kapoor songs during recess. Our principal, Mr. O.P Pathak had a wonderful selection of patriotic songs and bhajans for the morning prayer. Lata-Hridaynath combination was the most common among the bhajans and it set the tone for a serene and peaceful beginning to the day.

(3) Phaili hui hai sapnon ki baahein (House No. 44, 1955)

I started listening to Vividh Bharati and Radio Ceylon during college days, and soon formed a strong liking for composer SD Burman. I had interesting debates with my uncle over SD and SJ in general, and their usage of Lata in particular. My uncle had several childhood favorites which he praised, like ‘Tera jaana dil ke armaanon ka ruk jaana’ (Anari, 1959) and marvelled at how Lata managed to sing the high pitched ‘Aji ruuth kar ab kahaan jaaiyega’ (Arzoo, 1965). I preferred a more sublime ‘Chaand phir nikla’ (Paying Guest, 1957) or ‘Rulaake gaya sapna mera’ (Jewel Thief, 1967).

Not that there was anything wrong with either tastes, but it’s interesting to note that Lata was our favourite for different reasons. Another very important aspect was that I started gravitating towards the soothing songs of Lata since it helped me fall asleep quicker!

This was also the time when my dreams started taking the shape of reality; I was well on my way towards finishing engineering and America beckoned ‘Aaja chal de kahiin duur’. Right from the opening bars of music in the prelude, the song is a winner. The dreamy lyrics, the charming wave like motion of the composition give it an ethereal feeling. The voice of the diva takes it to the next level and makes it sound as irresistible as the “land of milk and honey”.

So I landed in the US with a stack of tapes among other more essential items. This stack was auto-recorded by my uncle from Vividh Bharati’s ‘Aap Ki Farmaish’ programme when I was busy attending college.

(4) Subah ka intezaar kaun kare (Joru Ka Bhai, 1955)

It was in the US that I first got access to the internet and soon became an active member of the news group RMIM (rec.music.indian.misc), a haven for old music buffs. I also started expanding my music collection and the first tape I purchased was “Lata in a blue mood” which had songs from late 60’s and 70’s. I found the tape so good, that every night I used to put it on before going to bed and gently ease into asleep. I called this “soothing song playlist” and it evolved with time and I slowly gravitated towards music of 50’s.

As I was relying on a small Walkman model run on rechargeable batteries, I had to make variants of the “soothing playlist”. New discoveries that I got hooked onto had to be recorded multiple times on tape to avoid repeated rewinds and conserve the battery. There were times when the listening started in the night and went till the battery died. I just couldn’t literally wait for the next morning to resist the temptation of exploring.

As Sahir says ‘Ye rut ye samaa mile na mile, aarzu ka chaman khile na khile, waqt ka aitbaar kaun kare… Subah ka intezaar kaun kare’”. The interlude music after the first occurrence of ‘subah ka intezaar kaun kare’ (at the 40 second mark) and Lata’s ‘haaye’ in the last antara just after ‘ruuh bechain hain nigaahon mein’ are the high points of the song apart from the lyrics.

(5) Tuu humko dekh aur hamari nazar se dekh (Zindagi Aut Hum, 1962)

I landed a job in Chicago and the mini walkman gave way to an mp3 player and equipment to digitize songs. I started with the auto-recorded stack of tapes I got from India and realized that all were duplicates and I was eventually left with one tape.

Nestled between the popular numbers was this stunner that I had never heard before, which made the effort worthwhile. The song opens with a subtle sarod prelude setting the tone for this ethereal composition. Lata begins softly with “Tuu humko dekh aur hamari nazar se dekh / miithi adaa se, pyaar se’ and suddenly the pitch and the emphasis increase with ‘Pyaari nazar se dekh’.

Every antara ends with ‘tuu humko dekh’ repeated twice, separated by a lovely sarod piece. If I have to describe the composition in one word I would say ‘mulayam’. Devoid of heavy orchestra, the music complements the singing voice very well. Veer Mohammad Puri hasn’t written many songs in Hindi film music, but this song is enough to showcase his ability to capture the delicate feelings with lines like ‘ai hoshdaar hosh ka pardaa uthaake mil’.

The movie has several other outstanding Lata songs like ‘dhiire se gagari utaar’ and ‘jaa re jaa re meri chhod chunariya’. The last two became huge favorites at RMIM meets prompting a few of us to call Roshan as “Zindagi Aur Hum Roshan”.

I did my part by exploring Chicago with ‘miithi adaa’ and ‘pyaari nazar’ and discovered India Video in Wheeling and Bombay Video in Devon. Both had lots of old Black & White VHS tapes which became a big source of my song collection. Moving to a big city also meant proximity to airport and I could fly frequently to RMIM meets in East and West Coast and also visit RMIMers

I started acquiring the commemorative tapes from RMIM meets and the 1999 edition on Lata became a favourite. One of the songs in the compilation was Sudhir Phadke’s duet with Lata ‘kismat ka nahiin dosh baanvare’. Vish Krishnan, in his commentary mentioned the list of albums in which they partnered ‘Murliwala, Malti Madhav, Gokul Ka Chor, Pehli Tarikh, Ratnaghar, Sajni and Bhabhi Ki Chudiyan’. I started exploring Sudhir Phadke’s work and my fellow RMIMer Dr. Arunabha Roy promised to give me a rare compilation of their work that he got from Dr. Mandar Bichu. I instantly fell in love with it and added ‘Raat andhiyaari hai’ to the soothing song playlist.

(6) Raat andhiyaari hai (Sajni, 1956)

The opening line sets the tone for this melancholy nocturne. Lata emphasises “raat” and “andhiyaari” as if the night is very long and very dark. The line is followed by a lovely piano interlude followed by ‘raat andhiyari hai’ but it is more subtle second time around. Its like the first ‘raat andhiyari hai’ is typed in bigger font in the title page and that forms the backdrop of the song. The song oozes maternal love which is epitomized by the line ‘sukh se tuu so mere praaN, mere maan, mere rain ke vihaan’. Every time praan, maan or vihaan are rendered, the emotion is so perfectly captured that one can visualize the love showered by the mother on her child. The other recurring emotion in the song is sadness.

In the second antara the word “andhkaar” is repeated to cascading effect taking darkness to new depths. Pandit Narendra Sharma’s lyrics are a constant with Sudhir Phadke’s music and the following line takes the cake for me.

aaNsuuon ke motiyon kii tuu hai musakaan

The orchestration is soft, subtle and soothing. It complements the theme very well and elevates the song to a treasure that can be cherished for a lifetime.

Post 9/11 events and dot-com crash meant that I had to go back to the university and the quest began for a more stable place. And as I found out, it was right across the border.

“You can come to my place and stay. I will charge you one rare Lata song per night” Anant Rege said when I was planning to visit Canada to get my visa stamped. Although Toronto was closer, Anant’s offer was irresistible.

I landed at Anant’s place in Ottawa and after a round of introductions and refreshments, Anant took me upstairs into a room filled with neat wooden closets. He opened one and stocked in it were dozens of tapes. He removed them one by one and his expressive eyes lit up when he saw the label ‘Gul Sanobar’ on one of them.

He then picked the following song for my listening pleasure.

‘Ise na aur luutiye, ye dil bahut gariib hai nasiib se main khya kahuun, nasiib to nasiib hai’

(7) Ise na aur luutiye (Gul Sanobar, 1953)

The song starts with a fast paced prelude with the piano being the prominent instrument. As the prelude ends, the rhythm slows down slight pauses between notes creating a “suspense” filled ambience. Lata then starts with almost a hush ‘ise na aur luuTiye’ and by the time it comes to ‘kya kahuun’ her voice is elevated to a high pitch only to come down with ‘nasiib to nasiib hai’. These pitch and pace undulations made the song an instant favorite. Kaif Irfani’s lyrics deserve a special mention here for fitting snugly with the ebb and flow of Bulo C. Rani’s tune. The trip to Canada greatly influenced me and I decided to immigrate there.

tum chaand ke saath chale aao..

The “chaand” of my life was my music collection and once I found a job in Toronto I moved there along with it among other essential things.

(8) Tum chaand ke saath chale aao (Ashiana, 1952)

The favorite Madan Mohan composition is notable for its use of matka. The composer was an emotional person and he even used to cry when a note struck a deep chord. In ‘tum chaand ke saath’ one gets the impression that these emotions are locked in between matka beats and are trying to break free. As the song progresses with ‘leharon men ravaani ho jaayen’ it imparts a crescendo effect uncorking the emptiness.

‘Kaamosh kinaare soye hain’

Also the emphasis on ‘aa~ ~ in “tum chaand ke s*aa*th’ creates an impression that the protagonist wants her beloved to get the “moon” along. Rajinder Krishan’s lyrics capture the subtle feelings so well.

Kaamosh kinaare soye hain, chup-chaap hain nadiyaa kii leharen

ithalaate hue tum aa jaao, laharon men ravaanii ho jaaye

My favorite pass time in Toronto was to walk on the banks of Lake Ontario marveling at the waves and I had a wonderful time there.

(9) Sapne hue saanche (Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, 1954)

Back in the university days, I befriended a gentleman named Dr. Khawar Sohail Siddiqui. It was the pre-YouTube era and rare songs were hard to get by and he was extremely gracious. Almost every morning I used to get up, login and find a mail from him with a collector’s item as an attachment. 

Khawar Sahab had several favorite composers but he was crazy for the man whom connoisseurs revere as the father of Hindi film music; Rai Chand Boral. RC Boral’s body of work with Lata is limited to just 2 movies and a huge chunk of that is from Shri Chaintanya Mahaprabhu. Khawar Saheb was desperately looking for songs of this movie. He had heard those songs on Radio Ceylon and exclaimed “Lata ke saare gaane ek taraf aur Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ke gaane ek taraf”. I never heard about the movie at that time but Khawar Saheb’s taste was like a gold standard for me. I used to call Khawar Saheb every other week and he used to inevitably say “Shri Chaintanya mahaprabhu ke gaane talash karo yaar”.

So the search began, went on for a few years, and finally Shri SN Chari based in Chennai kindly sent us the tape. Given this huge buildup, I had very high expectations about the music. RC Boral, Lata and Bharat Vyas didn’t dissapoint.

The opening aalaap ‘baaje muraliya baaje’ followed by a wonderful interlude and the use of khol in the background shows the influence of Bangla Keertan.

It was literally ‘sapne hue saanche’ for me, as I finally landed upon a goldmine at the end of a long journey, musically or otherwise as I became a Canadian citizen. That phase abroad of 15 years abruptly came to a halt as I had to move back to India due to family reasons. The first days and months were tough as those memories haunted me.

(10) Beeta hua ek saawan (Shokhiyan, 1951)

In the mukhda, there is an interlude just after the second instance of ‘beeta hua’. I identify with this a lot as I feel like a lot of water has flown down the drain but you got to move on. It was a passing phase in my life and with time things became better.

Coming back to India also gave me an opportunity to meet several record collectors thanks to Ajay Deshpande. Most notable among them is Shri Vijay Nafde whose efforts in making ‘beeta hua ek swaan’ available is noteworthy. The song was recorded for Kedar Sharma’s Shokiyan but was never used in the film. In the 80’s it was included in his TV documentary ‘pehla qadam’.

Life became very busy and active and the number of hours I listen to recorded music in general and Lata in particular drastically came down. I no longer needed music to help me fall asleep. This gave an opportunity to revisit songs of all moods without any preference or bias to a particular genre. And the fast paced SJ songs that my uncle loved so much started appealing to me like never before.

(11) Humko chhedta hai dil kaun jaane kya hua (Aas, 1953)

A recent discovery, thanks to Ajay Deshpande, captures my mood perfectly. The lilting “accordion prelude” makes one literally dance along.

It’s almost like life has come a full circle to the point where I am back to ‘mera salaam lejaa’ days. The only constant in this turbulent journey has been the voice of Lata, a voice for all seasons. Here’s wishing a Happy Birthday to the Melody Queen.

 

Barkha Ritu

Dark clouds hovering over, gulmohar branches stooping down, chirping sounds seeping in and gentle breeze blowing through. All we had to do was to open the doors and windows, to let nature peep into the living room. Monsoon songs didn't need a figment of imagination to paint a picture. A glance into the balcony was enough.

 Arnab, Sundeep ji and Anand were the first arrivals and we started with some early 50's Asha Bhonsle suggestions from Anand. "Kai din se sawan barasta hai rim jhim", a rare duet with Shailesh Mukhrejee and composed by Arun Kumar Mukherjee was well appreciated. This was followed by Vinod's composition from Anmol Ratan "kaale kaale badalon men paani". We also enjoyed "Barkha ki raaton men dil jalta jalta jalta hai" from Shreematiji.

Bakshish ji, R.K Agarwal Saab and Rupesh joined us and we kicked of with the raaga that is associated with rain; Malhaar. Garjat barsaat bheejat aayilo and garjat barsat saawan aayo re made the audience demand for more of Roshan.  Arvinder ji arrived at the door and said that strains of "pade barkha puhaar" helped him navigate."ghir ghir ke aasmaan par" and "sharabi sharabi saawan ka mausam" concluded the Roshan selection. Meanwhile Pradeep Sharma joined us and we were thrilled that we could hear some live singing. Javed Bhai was next to arrive.

The two Garjat Barsat variants promted Agarwal saab to mention two "badarva barse" variants of Salil."The Hemant & Lata duet "jhir jhir badarva barse" was followed by the Lata solo "rim jhim jhim badrava barse". Salil compostions continued with "thandi thandi sawaan ki puhaar", "sawan ki raaton men" and "hariyala saawan".

It was time for food and chai. Arvinder ji got Samosas, Kachori and Masala Idli which along with my stock of Osmania Biscuits and lovely Chai prepared by Anand whetted our appetite. The only thing still missing were sweets and the person getting them; Sudhir Kapur !

Anand pointed out that Vasant desai's "umad ghumad" is equally good as "hariyala saawan" and poined a few Vasant desai compositions that covered the Malhar family; Megh Malhar; Gaud Malhar etc. "jhir jhir barse sawani akhiyan" was also enjoyed. We then turned our attention to some Non-filmy songs. Hridaynath's "giri ghataayen aasmaan par" and Anilda's"naach re mayura" followed. Arnab pointed out that most of these were part of Varsha Ritu compilation and several were composed by Murli Manohar Swaroop.

Arnab then requested for "ye neer kahaan se barse" which was followed by Anand's farmaish for another Jaidev compositon "mitwa..badra chaaye re". There was a farmaish for the Bandini number "ab ke baras"but I chose to play a Sudha Malhotra non-filmi number based on the same traditional tune "nimbuva tale". Finally Sudhir Kapur arrived and Arvinder Ji commented "We were all waiting for the sweets" :)This prompted another round of Chai.

As Anand and myself we busy in the Kitchen, Sudhir ji took over with some numbers from the 30's and 40's. "manbhavan lo sawan aaya re" by Leela Chitnis from Bandhan "sawan ke badalon" from Rattan and "sawan ke nazare hain" from Khazanchi among them. Continuing in that vein we enjoyed S. Rajeshwara Rao composition from Chandralekha "man bhaavan saawan aaya"  by Uma Devi and Jagmohan's "o varsha ke pehle baadal" under the baton of "Kamal Das Gupta".Jagmohan's rendition reminded me of his composition from Sardar "barkha ki raat men he ho ha" which we all enjoyed.

Satage was now set for Pradeep Sharma and he regaled us with "barkha raani zara jam ke barso". Bakshish ji then said "kuch mere zamane ke gaane ho jaaye" and i played " hum tum ye bahaar" and followed up with "rim jhim ke giit saawan aaye" as a representative of Sundeep ji's era.

As "kaise bhaaye sakhi rut sawaan ki" was being played Sundeep ji commented "These are the songs I expect from you" and I retorted " I can play these kinds of Lata songs day in and day out. Thanks to Anand we get to hear lot of Asha too". "boondaniyan barsan laagi re" prompted Anand to say that he was expecting "barse boondaniyan saawan ki" in the non-film section and then added; both are from 1958 ! Agarwal ji requested for the song from Shikast "kare badra na jaa na jaa".

"phir se aaiyo badra bidesi" was the next number followed by the Asha & Varha duet from Junoon "saawan ki aai baahaar re". We concluded with some evergreen duets "tara ri ara ri", "ghir ghir aaye badarva kaare" and the perennial "rim jhim ke taraane leke aayi barsaat".

We didn't have to play "zara thum jaa tuu ai saawan" to stop the rains for easy commute of the attendees. We had a respite from the incessant rains during the event. History repeated itself too as we had a similar experience on Aug 10, 2014 when we had a "monsoon raga" theme. Here's hoping that we continue to be blessed by the heavens.

Celebrating Popular Songs

The event hosted by Kushal was much more than a music session. It was a walk down the memory lane and stoked the embers of nostalgia. This was perhaps inevitable considering the almost impossible task for attendees to select "3 popular songs" and justify their choice. Musical analysis interlaced with anecdotes ensured that we didn't get lost in the technicalities and added a personal touch to the proceedings.

We sampled the entire canvas of HFM and our choices spanned over 5 decades; ranging from "suhani raat dhal chuki" to "lambi judaaai". To put them into perspective, we drew comparisions with an outlook magazine poll conducted in 2006.

We took turns to play 1 song and throw it open for discussion. Once everyone got the opportunity, we moved on to the next song. Round 1 began with Kushal's "ye havaa ye raat ye chandni" and he explained his fascination for the song ever since he was a kid. Talat's remedition and Sajjad's composition have made this song immortal. Kushal mentioned that his appreciation of the song increased after he saw the picturization. Javed saab added a few anecdotes about the eccentric nature of Sajjad Hussain.

"tehariye hosh men aa luun" was the choice of Arvinder Sharma. He added that it was only the second instance when Khayyam used the Rafi & Suman combination. The humming "uuhuun" after "chale aayega" by Suman was highlighted by Kushal. Bimal Chaddha added that the song epitomized "Lucknawi Tehzeeb".

Naveen Anand sang his choices. His first was "kya karuun sajni" from Swami. Roshan's influence on Rajesh Roshan was discussed. Kushal pointed to the documentary that I sent him in which Rajesh Roshan mentions that in the initial days he did not like Roshan's music but started appreciating it later. Yesudas's singing abilities were praised but we debated on why he could not make a bugger impact in HFM.

Bakshish ji narrated a fascinating story from the 60's. HE used to hear a song from radio ceylon but the movie name remained elusive for over a decade till Gopal Sharma of radio ceylon gave him the answer. The song was "tum jo saath raat bhi haseen hai" from Mohar. Bakshish ji went on to add that the song is saved as a  ringtone in his phone and reserved for his wife.Kushal added that the prominent instrument used in the prelude is Univox played by Lucila Pachecho. She played this instrument as well as Harmonium extensively for Hemant Kumar and rest of the industry.

Bimal ji chose "seene men sulagte hain armaan" and we marvelled at the Anil da composition. Naveen ji was delighted that Talat had a strong representation.

Sundeep ji told an incident from his childhood when his neighbor was Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and he used to often listen to the riyaaz. He also recalled that even before he spoke any words he used to say "mera dil ye pukaare aajaa" which was his choice for round 1. Kushal pointed out that so called "been music" in this song as well as movie was a combination tone of Kalyanji's Claviolin and Ravi's Harmonium.

We then broke for lunch and were joined by Mishra ji, Suanshu Khurana & Sudhir Kapur. Kalakand was the delicacy of the day and we gleefully lapped it up.

We still had to finish round 1 and I introduced my favorite with "charming wave like motion" and "damped oscillations" in intrerlude music while referring to the House No. 44 stunner "phaili hui hai sapnon ki baahen".

Suanshu's choice was the Madan Mohan version of "mai ri". She followed it up by singing it and added that her mother used to sing it for her when she was a kid. She added that years later she got an  opportunity to sing it before Laxmikant while he was playing the harmonium.

Sudhir Kapur added that it is quite interesting to note the choices of the generation that grew up in the 30's and 40's. We all agreed that Saigal would have dominated. He recalled a conversation with Radio Ceylon and VOA announcer Vijayalakshmi ji. When he mentioned about a song from Neki Aur Badi she immediately began to sing it taking him by surprise. It was "kyuun ji scent lagaya" by Amir Bai, Feroz Dastoor and a third voice with some similarity to Mukesh.This song used to air frequently on radio ceylon.

Since Naveen ji had to leave, we started second round with him. He sang "suhani raat dhal chuki" and narrated an unforgettable experience of reharsing it in Naushad sahab's house for Ibadat Program on Shakeel.

Kushal's choice "kuchh dil ne kahaa" was the next number. Sundeep ji asked who if at all wold get an extra point in such a perfect song and Kushal had no doubt in giving it to Hemant Kumar for conceiving the thoughts of the director.

Sundeep ji's second choice was also associated with an old memory. He recalled about his dad's love for Mukesh that rubbed on to him and added that whever they went for excursions, he used to sing "hari hari vasundhara..ye kaun chitrakaar".

With everyone recalling their salad days, I went back in time too to the first hindi film I had vivid memories of seeing in theater. The flute pieces in this song still haunt me and they were played by Hariprasad and the voice was Reshma's. I am of course referring to "lambi judaai". Kushal added how L-P wanted a flute piece and picked the very flute piece that Hariprasad was rehearsing when they went to meet him. This in fact became the theme music of the movie.

Baksish ji's second choice was from Nadaan "accha hota jo dil men tuu aaya" and we wondered if it was a popular song. We also enjoyed Arvinder ji's choice of "hai kali kali ke lab par" and Bimal ji's minimal instrumentation pick "tum kya jaano".

There was so much discussion (interspersed with Vadapav and ice cream) that we ran out of time to accommodate Arnab's picks . Neither could we take the remote entry from Asad.

Attention now turned to ourlook magazine poll form 2006. Sundeep ji has preserved a copy of this and we took turns to read articles from this special edition of the magazine.The poll concludes that the best decade in HFM is 60's but our preference was 50's. This was attributed to the age bracket in which majority of the members fall in.

It has to be pointed out here that instant popularity is quite different from everlasting popularity. I recalled that I used to listen to "ek do teen" day in and day out during school days but it has faded out. "pyaar hua iqraar hua" retains its appeal even after 6 decades.

Another important aspect to be considered is the "attention span" of generations. Naveen Anand pointed to a fascinating survey in which the attention span of "15-20" years olds reduced form 60 mins to 8 mins over a span of 4 decades. Just like we normalize for inflation when comparing box office returns of movies across decades, should we take attention span into account ?

There is enough material left to stoke the embers a few more times. Time to "cool off" for now.

Rabindra Sangeet and Adhunik Gaan concert

On Sunday evening, I was transported to Bhadralok and Boston in that order thanks to a Rabindra Sangeet and Adhunik Gaan concert. While my fascination for Rabindra Sangeet goes back to school days in Hyderabad, it was in Boston that it exploded thanks to "Amra Kojon". All those memories came back as I got engrossed in the singing of Samik Pal.

Samik started the session with "mamo joubano nikunje gahe pakhi" and when he came to "jaago jaago" the voice soared like a "pakhi" in full flight. The program was advertised as "Char Kobir Gaan" covering Tagore, Atul Prasad, DL Roy, Rajanikanto but a Nazrul Geeti shudn't be considered out of place. And the choice was impeccable with "patho cholite, jodi chokite".

"tai tomar anondo amar por" was the next number. The heavy Hemanto flavor finally gave way with "O keno eto shundori holo", a perennial Manna Babu favorite. Samik talked about magnificent rythm of Salilda and announced "no prizes for guessing" as he started singing "duronto ghornir".

By the time the turn of Monihar came, my excitement got the better of me. I started singing along "ki jeno go dekheche amay..." and caught of the attention of the gentleman sitting next to me. As the singer gave clues (in bengali)to identify the next song; the gentleman said something to the effect " do you recognised this". I didn't and just smiled and shook my head without admitting that I understand only a little bit of Bengali :)

V.Balsara's orchestration got a special mention in Talat's "jetha ramdhanu uThe heshe". Meanwhile famarish'es started coming in, and a few pieces of paper were handed over to the singer. On looking at the first one the singer refused saying "it was out of syllabus". I cudn't figure it out as the original scope of the program was already expanded to cover other Adhunik Poets.

Satinath Mukherjee's "Amar e gaane swapno jadi ane" and Hemant's "keno duur e thako" followed. Subir Sen's irresistible "noy thakle aro kichukon" was next on the agenda.

It has to be noted that while Samik sang songs of wide variety of singers, he came close to matching their voices. The exception was "mono dilo na bodhu" but then again Sachin Deb Burman's inimitable style and voice are very hard to reproduce.

Hemanto flavor returned with "tumar bhubhone" and "tapur topur brishti jhore". Hemanta & Tarun Majumdar's association was recounted before the latter rendition. Shyamal Mitro's "Sediner Sona Jhora Sandhya" by Shyamal Mitro and  Hemant's "ai raat tomar amar" rounded off the incredible evening.

It will take some time before I get out of this hangover. While I am at it, let me wish "shubo noboborsho" to all of you.

An evening of Ghazals

It was a privilege to be at IIC this evening to attend the concert of my friend Swati and her Guru ji; maestro Pandit Vithal Rao; the last court singer of the Nizam of Hyderabad.

 The cultural event was held in conjunction with Celebrating Karnataka and showcased the erstwhile Sultanate ruled part of Karnataka - i.e Bijapur, Bidar and Gulbarga. In line with the theme, works of several shayars from Deccan was highlighted.

Octogenarian Pandit ji still has immaculate control of his voice and he began with a devotional naaT. Wonderful "sarangi" accompaniment added to the "sufiana mahaul". The only thingout of sync was the mike which was finally set right but not before a witty remark "zor se taaliya bajaiye taaki technicians ka hausla baDhe".

Swati then took over with the Hafeez Hoshiarpuri's "mohabbat karne waale kam na honge, teri mehfil mein lekin hum na honge" which has been made quite famous by Mehdi Hassan among others. It was a poignant renedition which also delighted Pandit ji.

Quli Qutub Shah's name is taken in high esteem when we talk about dakhani shayars. His kalaam, "piya baj piyala" was presented next by Pandit ji. With the mike co-operating, Pandit ji was now in full flow; soaring voice accompanied by trademark gestures including waving and clapping which was infectious and the audience followed suit.

Sunil Rao followed with a Makhdoom Ghazal and a fabulous rendition of "maula mere maula". A sufiana kalam of Safi Aurangabadi was rendered by all the three singers of the evening and was very well received.

Another great dakhani poet is Saeed Shaheedi who is known for his ashaar in "choti beher". His "Zindagi ka wo kuch bhi lutf utha nahi sakte intehaa-e-gham mein jo muskura nahi sakte" sung by Swati had the audience in raptures.

Pandit ji fired the final salvo, or so we thought, with "chaap tilak" but ended up saying "ab biTiya tum gao" prompting Swati to end the evening with the perennial finisher "aaj jaane ki zid na karo".

Historic monuments in the background and chaste urdu compering provided the right ambiance.The singing was interlaced with a tour of these monuments. A pleasant evening with gentle breeze added to the pleasure of this open air extravaganza.

Bees Saal Baad - RMIM meets conquer newer frontiers

The 2014 meet as it unfolded, augurs to be a watershed moment in history of RMIM meets. Here's a look back into the magical and mystical journey capturing some of those moments.
There were the US meets that began in 1994 and the Indian version followed in 2006. While a few friends have been part of both the events, the distances and logistics never made it possible for both the sets to meet. This dream of a grand meet finally turned into reality thanks to telepresence.20 years into our meet history, a new chapter has unfolded. On a personal note it perhaps shredded the biggest challenge that was presented to me in terms of chronicling "An imaginary account of what would transpire if RMIMers from across the oceans came face to face".

The hangout concept sent out ripples and by Friday evening (PST), there was a buzz around the event. As Vijay Kumar (Pragyapati) started posting updates, pictures and a video of the proceedins, the million dollar question on everyone’s mind was “When would the hangout begin?”. Meanwhile, I opened a hangout with the remote attendees and Sudarshana wittily termed it as (g)Anti-meet hangout.

Eventually I called Balaji to find out the hangout times. And that call turned to be a hangout in itself as I was put on speaker phone and everyone took turns to speak. All sorts of questions popped up and here are a few.
"Was Rajinder Krishan a Sardar"?
"Which part of the world do you live in"?
"That was the first company I ever worked for".
"Can we have an RMIM meet in Delhi"?
"Do they do home delivery in India"?
"How many songs have Gulzar and SD Burman have collaborated on"?
"You are visiting all of my addas in Delhi".
It is left to the readers imagination to match the statements / questions with the people; Ashok, Balaji, Malini, Guri, Vish, Pradeep, Deepak and Vijay.

The hangout times were tentatively fixed as 12 noon and 7 Pm PST on Saturday. I absolutely had no idea that once the hangout began it would stay that way. Perhaps it was dictated by the number of remote participants. The noon hangout was initially joined by Neha, Sudarshana and yours truly. We could only hear Sudarshana and only see Neha. Sudarshana was able to fix the problem later by swapping his laptop and Neha who joined while driving had to deal with echo and had to be muted. She had to reach home and connect through another device.
Meanwhile Pavan joined and on Guri’s request sang the lesser known verison of “raahi tu mat ruk jaana” that goes “hote hain mausam ke phere” followed by “ruk jaana nahiin tuu kahiin haar ke”. Gajendra, Kalyan and UVR soon joined. As soon as Gajendra joined, pat came the question “Is Rajinder Krishan a sardaar ?”. The theory from Guri was that since he was from Duggal family and a Khatri, he was likely to be a sardaar. Vish added “His son was named Bobby” which increased the likelihood.

Gajendra did a quiz by playing a song from the 40’s and the audience was asked to guess the singer. We then figured out that since Gajendra was playing from the same device as the hangout, the song was getting muted. So he had to play the song from another device and the audience had to guess the singers. “main to lehanga nahiin pehanungi”, “vo nazron men samaate jaa rahe hain” and “dil pehluu men uchaltaa jaaye, samajh nahiin aaye haay kya”. The audience were not able to guess and the answers are Zeenat and SD Batish; GM Durrani and Jyoti. By now it was already 1 am IST and India folks said good night.

I rejoined at 5:30 am IST and noticed that Archana Gupta, Ketan and Shalini, Neha, Vandana Vidwans are on the hangout. Apart from the gang of 8 RMIM regulars who came on Friday, there were a few locals; Murali, Raksha, Mani. Balaji’s mother was also present.
A few events including Neha’s chitrahaar quiz and introductions finished by this time. The introductions should also include the first song liked by the audience they can recall. UVR’s pick was “chaudavi ka chand ho”, Balaji recalled “tum gar saath dene ka vaada karo”, to name a few. While a wide set of replies came from the audience, there were a lot of Talat songs and some popular Salil Chowdhury numbers among the picks. Someone fill in regarding the details of Neha’s quiz.

By the time I joined, Vijay Kumar‘s (ISB Wallah) quiz was about to end. Google docs, talk of team work and scrambling at the left over task make me feel like I was at work till I noticed a message on the hangout by Kalyan , “Hema the kiddo is here”. For a minute, I got transported into the past. We all have added a bit of grey hair, a few ounces of flesh and a little bit of pragmatism that we cannot do night-outs any more but even after all these years we probably are the same from inside.

Coming back to the quiz, it’s a sequence of songs for which the music director, lyricist and singer information is provided. The song and the movie have to be guessed. The relation between successive songs is that a word from the mukhda of the first song is the movie of the second song. The members attending in person were split into 2 teams and the hangout folks formed the third team. By the time I joined there were only 3 clues that were still to be answered. Hafiz Khan, Shevan Rizvi and Talat combo caught my attention and I immediately thought of “zindagi ke dhadkan pe gaa” and UVR corrected it to “dil ki dhadkan ke gaa”..Although the song did match with Hafiz, Shevan and Talat, we cudn’t fit it with the predecessor. The clues for that were K-A, Qamar and Lata which had to be matched with its own predecessor; with Hansraj Behl, Prem Dhawan and Rafi-Shamshad being the anchors. This Hansraj Behl number was guessed as “bheega bheega pyar ka samaa” which supposedly had the word Chhalia although folks said it was Baliya. There was a lot of debate after our “answers” were turned over but it didn’t matter since the “remote folks” cracked all the other questions to emerge winners.

A singing session followed with Barun Saha on Guitar. Barun sang several popular Kishore and Rafi numbers including “musafir yuun yaaron” and “suhani raat dhal chuki”. Hema commented that some of the Rafi’s songs being sung are in the “kuchh kuchh hota hai” category for her.
The next event was Guri's video quiz that he had done back in 2011 in Bangalore. This had song clips and their corresponding audio’s mismatched. You have to identify the songs in the order of the video clips. Again the remote attendees formed one group. While we were able to crack most of the songs, 2 numbers featuring Dilip Kumar eluded us. Based on “ call to join Indian army poster” we identified the first Dilip kumar number to be from Arzoo and after much back and forth nailed it to be “kahan tak ham uThaayen Gam”. The next one had Dilip Kumar in a coat sitting in a chair and a heroine doing a “face palm”. We all agreed that heroine was “Nalini Jaywant” and the movie must be Anokha Pyaar. The song aluded us and we guessed it as “jeevan sapna TuuT gaya” although “yaad rakhna chaand taro” was the right one. Vish’s team got all the songs correct.

It was getting late for East Coasters and Hema, Ketan and Shalini signed off. But India folks started joined in ensuring that there were enough remote participants in all the events. Nishant joined briefly from Ahmedabad and left for his Sarangi class. Pavan also made a short entry. Kalyan’s appearance or rather lack was quite amusing.. We could see Kalyan’s son playing, Kalyan’s wife calling their son, and even Kalyan’s maid sweeping but no Kalyan expect for partial glimpses of his eyes, ears and earphones hanging out of them “naam gum jaayega, chehra ye badal jaayega, meri *harkat* hi meri pehchaan hai” ! Gajendra also soon joined and it was now time for discussion on commemorative.

Commemorative:
Guri and Vish were in their usual form especially during the analysis on the meet commemorative. Referring to Beher and other technicalities of a Ghazal he went on to add that he initially enjoyed some of those songs in a different way but revisiting the song knowing the finer nuances gave an added dimension. He compared it to a meeting with a old friend and discovering a new aspect of your friends personality that enhances the relationship. Vijay commented that Guri is the new UVR and UVR has to find a new niche. Vish said that there is no commemorative CD this time and the theme is a blog about a blog on Ghazals in films.
After finishing the intro, Vish asked the audience a few questions. Who is the lyricst who wrote the most number of Ghazals. We all took turns to answer, and when Vish turned to Vandana there was no response and he said “she has turned her San Franscisco screen saver and gone somewhere” .My guess was Sahir and UVR said the same. Gajendra said Pandit Indra and Guri interjected “us duniya se niklo”! Surprisingly the correct answer was Shakeel. The guesses for composer who scored most Ghazals also wrong with Anil Biswas, Naushad, Roshan and Mandan Mohan occupying the top slots. I am surprised that no one guessed CR and wonder where he stood. The lyrcist-Md combo had Shakeel-Naushad at the top. Several of us guessed the top combo to be Sahir- Roshan.

The very definition of Ghazal was debated with answers ranging from “conversation with the beloved” to Deepak quoting his friend that all Ghazal Lovers belong to “Heart Break hotel”. Vish asked Gajendra to take the Ghazal research into 30’s and 40’s and when Gajendra pointed out a few singers to start with. Vish reasoned that since the RMIM brain has been tuned to composers since the beginning that would be the best “key word” to start the query with.
Vish mentioned a few songs which are not tuned like Ghazals and added a few like; “tadbiir se bigDi hui”, “hum aap ki aaNkhon men” and went on to add that his favorite in this category is “vo dekhen to unki inayat”. The Ghazal output of SDB and Majrooh was discussed and Guri started reading a list of Ghazals from a compilation and when a CR song came up, paused and said “Written by Rajinder Krishan Sardaar”! While there was no commemorative CD, the fascinating discussion more than made up for it.

It was now time to distribute some goodies and DVD’s of past film fare magazines compiled by Surjit Singh and Shekhar were distributed. It was time for some casual conversations and Vish talked about his Dilraj Kaur moment. It was October 3, 1976 and Vish was in the organizing committee of a musical event at IIT. Vish went on add that he had to ask one of the performers to sing next due to a change in schedule and she introduced herself as Dilraj and sang a lovely number. She later became famous as Dilraj Kaur and Vish says that the only other time he met the singer was in a hotel in Bombay.

Gajendra’s quiz was the next item on the agenda. RPM versions of songs were played and we had to guess the singer. The first song “kisi ne apna banaake mujhko” had several wrong guesses and I correctly picked it as “Madhubala Jhaveri”. This actually reminded me of my own “Jai Santoshi Maa” moment from a meet in the 90’s Vish guessed “kabhi aar kabhi paar” to be by Suman and when Pavan Jha joined we realized that he had several of the songs and didn’t have to listen to the vocals to guess the singer. Aankhon men kya ji by Ambar Kumar and Suman Kalyanpur; Ye raat bheegi bheegi by Bhushan and Geeta; Babuji Dheere Chalna by Sudha Malhotra; Ye hansta hua caravan by Mukesh were some of the other songs played.
Finally it was time for singing session. Vish sang “mujh se pehli si muhabbat” , ‘ aaye kuchh abr” and there were a few background discussions going on. There was some talk aout singing a bhairavi and I could see our very own Sardaar, came into form. I always love Guri’s interjections his singing goes like “chup hai dharti chup hai chand sitaare”…taara rara rarara with humming replacing the actual words . By now the video feed was shutoff but I could imagine some carefree gyrations accompanying the singing.

Finally I said goodbye to everyone round 1 am PST but the hangover of the hangout remained. It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to think of this meet as a reunion. There hasn’t been one for the last 3 years and it’s been even longer since we had an East Coast meet. But that strong sense of belonging to the group was very much evident as several moments of the past meets in deep freeze became warmer and fresher while a few more bytes got added to the memory bank. Thanks a bunch to Balaji and Malini and the attendees for making the meet and the hangout so enjoyable. It’s now time to put the magical moments in freeze mode and wait till the flood gates open again next year.