Of stubbles and nasal voices
13 Jul 2007, 0000 hrs IST,SUBHASH K JHA ,TNN
From Madan Mohan to Himesh, what a journey our film music has made!
WAS it just a coincidence that a beautifully-illustrated book by Vishwas Nerurkar and Bishwanath Chatterjee tiltled Ultimate Melodies, encompassing the reminiscences and recollections on composer par excellence Madan Mohan and dedicated to The Nightingale Lata Mangeshkar, came out a week after Himesh Reshammiya's acting debut?
From Madan Mohan to Himesh, what a journey our film music has made! If Madan Mohan were alive today I wonder what he would think of the rock-stadia tracks that pass off as phillum music!
Mushqil hai jeena bedardon ki duniya mein???? Madan Mohan would have probably made his muse Lata Mangeshkar sing the classic about displaced emotions all over again.
But even Madan Mohan would have recognised Himesh for what he is€India's first and only singing star.
Face it guys, and cleanse your souls; Himesh is, at present, the biggest superstar in the country. His popularity far exceeds that of any other acknowledged Fridaycrowd-puller .
Himesh, on the other hand, has always been at the receiving end. Everyone from Sonu Nigam, who tried being a leading man and failed miserably, to Asha Bhosle who once wanted to slap Himesh, saw him as cap-tune upstart; the typical Johnny-come-yodelling who needed to be spanked for his gumption.
'How dare he?' was the catty mantra to shoo Himesh off the charts. Himesh hung on. He silenced his critics. But, er, he couldn't silence THE critics.
Himesh can't act for nuts€. But he isn't acting for nuts. Himesh represents the triumph of the nonglamorous everyman who proudly eats his dinner with his fingers and sings Mohd Rafi's songs loudly in the bathroom. That's what his reinvention from chubby Gujju dhoklaboy with a perpetual bad-hair day - who stuck around Salman Khan composing assignments - to a guru-kool dude with stubble and attitude to match.
Someday I'd like to write a book about your rise, Himesh.
It's amazing what stubble and the accompanying attitude can do for a guy's career. Ask Abhishek Bachchan, the day he acquired both (stubble and attitude) his personality and career changed forever . Ask Gulzar Saab, the master of constant stubble trouble.
I think stubborn stubble did the trick for Himesh far more than the nasal voice.
Nasal singing is nothing new in Hindi films. KL Saigal and Mukesh did it decades ago. And Sonu Nigam goes discernibly nasal on the higher notes. So what's new about Himesh?
Well, Himesh has made the nose a tool of erotic expression. In his hands, the nose attains a near-phallic status, akin to Jimmy Hendrix's guitar or Ravi Shankar's sitar.
Who 'nose' , his naak-naakwho's-there status in the charts may be enshrined in a museum some day. For now, we could stop making ourselves look ridiculous by questioning and ridiculing his rock-star status.
I've seen youngsters in cinemahalls wearing Himesh caps throwing off their shirts in wild frenzy when he starts singing. I've seen his fans identify with his brooding sultry attitude to life to the extent that they've given up smiling. "Because Himeshbhai doesn't smile" what else?
From Asha Parekh to Sanjay Leela Bhansali to Himesh Reshammiya , the Gujju invasion of Bollywood is complete. It's time Himesh wasn't made to feel constantly apologetic about his superstardom . It's time we recognised the sheer marketing genius of the man.
Yup, the chokra-next-door has arrived . He can't act. And according to the cynics, he can't sing either. But watch him do both without the fear of falling.
Forgive the critics father, they've sinned against the singing. As for Himesh's acting abilities? Really, who cares? Does anyone of those youngsters jumping out of their seats on a sweltering Sunday afternoon when the magic of the matinee manoeuvres Himesh's stardom to dizzying hypes, really care if Himesh can act or can't act?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kanpur_Times/Of_stubbles_ and_nasal_voices_/articleshow/2198745.cms