Jaane kahan gaye voh din!
Dost Mittar March 22, 2007
Tags: music , movies , Naushad , O.P. Nayar , tribute , bollywood
The recent deaths of Music Direcors Naushad Ali and O. P. Nayar reminded one of the golden era of Indian film music; an era when the sangam of meaningful lyrics and melodious music by artists well-versed in their respective arts artists well-versed in their respective arts produced songs which are remembered more than half century later. These two directors represented two completely different genre of film music, yet produced hits after hits with songs with filled us with pathos and ecstacy.
Music is an integral part of the sub continental life. We sing when someone is born, we sing when we learn counting or alphabets in the school, we sing when we work, we sing when we play, we sing during our festivals, we sing for days at weddings, we sing when we worship and, in the old days, our women even used to mourn in a sing-song voice, as the Shias still do with their marsias when mourning the death of Imam Hussain. It is not surprising therefore that music and songs are a vital part of Indian entertainment and of the Indian cinema, which is a substantial part of that entertainment. A hit song or two can often make the difference between a flop and a box office hit.
Indian films had a rich tradition of music to draw from various theatre forms, such as Nautankis, Ram Leelas and Raas Leelas of U.P, Swangs of Punjab, Kathakali of Kerala or Jatras of Bengal . The first talking film, Alam Ara, released in 1931 had seven songs. The very first song of the film, "De de khuda ke naam pe pyare, taqat ho gar dene ki; Kuchh chahe to maang le mujhse, himmat ho gar lene ki." became a hit. The first film song was sung by Wazir Mohammad Khan who also acted as a beggar in the film. The popularity of the songs set the tone for films to come for all times - Indra Sabha, made in 1932, had 71 songs, a record which remains unbeaten to this day.
The first, and arguably, the greatest film singer, Kundan Lal Sehgal, was introduced by Calcutta's New Theatres. This school dropout, who had earlier tried his hand as a typewriter salesman, soon became a great hit with his masterpiece songs in Devdas (1935) like "Dukh kay ab din beetat naahin" and "Balam aaye baso meray man mein", which are relished by music connoisseurs even today. Each film studio in those days had its exclusive actors as well as music composers. One of the earliest music composers was a woman, Sarswati Devi (real name: Khurshid Homji) who composed music for Bombay Talkies and composed songs for stars like Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani and songs like "Main ban ki chirya ban ke ban ban doloon re" and "dheeray dheeray aa re baadal dheeray dheeray ja, mera kaanha so raha hai, shor-o-ghul na macha", which became instant hits.
During this period, songs were recorded live, in a single shooting, with microphones, harmonium and tabla hidden from the camera. I remember an interview with music director Naushad in which he reminisced how during outdoor shootings in earlier years, the tabla and harmonium players were sometimes asked to climb up a tree and play their instruments while hidden from the camera. In 1935, Nitin Bose of New Theatres introduced pre-recording of songs, which were later picturized on actors. This innovation opened up the possibility of play-back singing so that the producers did not have to restrict themselves to actors who could sing, and also use the talents of singers who were not considered suitable material for acting.
The year 1935 also saw the introduction of a famous child star, Noor Jehan, as a singer/actor. Her first hit film song was in Punjabi, "Shaala jawaaniaan maanain" in Dilsukh Pancholi's 'Gul Bakavali'. Noor Jehan soon left behind all other singers and attained a unique position. Mehboob's 'Anmol Ghadi' brought Noor Jehan together with music director Naushad and the songs they produced, such as 'Jawaan Hai Mohabbat', 'Awaaz de kahaan hai' have a haunting quality even today. And when Punjab was divided in 1947, people were singing her song from 'Zeenat', 'Aandhiyaan gham ki yoon chaleen, baagh ujad ke reh gaya' with sad tears in their eyes.
The decade of 1940s saw the emergence of a number of music directors and singers who went on to dominate the film music scene during the 1950s and 1960s. Perhaps the most memorable of the music directors was Naushad Ali. A Muslim from Lukhnow, he is the finest example of the syncretic Hindu-Muslim culture produced by the Ganga-Jamuna plains. He was steeped in the classical Shastriya Sangeet as well as the folklores of U.P and MP. Although from U.P, he got his first break in a Punjabi Film, Mirza Saheban. His first big hit was 'Rattan' (Saawan ke baadlo, un se ye ja kaho) and 'Anmol Ghadi' started his long association with producer-director Mehboob for whom he gave immortal music in such films as Andaaz, Aan, Amar, Mother India and Mughal-e-Azam. Naushad can take credit for bringing to limelight, both Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar. Rafi got his break with 'tera khilona toota balak' in Anmol Ghadi but rose to new heights with his ever-popular song in Dulari, 'Suhaani raat dhal chuki, na jaane tum kab aao gay'. When Lata Mangeshkar tried to enter films as a singer, she was at first not very successful as her voice was considered 'thin' compared to the heavy voices of the ruling popular singers like Noor Jehan, Shamshad Begum and Zohra Bai Ambalvi. In fact, in some of her earlier films, she tried to emulate earlier singers, like Zora Bai Ambalvi. It was Naushad's 'Andaaz' and 'Dulari' which gave Lata such popular songs as 'meri laadli' and 'uthaaye ja un ke sitam'.
Naushad found a perfectly compatible song-writer for his music in Shakeel Badayuni. Like Naushad, Shakeel was a practising Muslim (no alcohal, unlike most other Urdu poets) and a fine product of Ganga-Jumni culture. If he could write pure Urdu ghazal like "Ai mohabbat teray anjaam pay rona aaya", then he could also write songs giving local flavour, such as "Nain lad jai hain to manava mein katak hoyee be kari"; if he could write a soulful naat like "Bekas pay karam keejiye sarkaar-e-madeena,", then he could also write soul-lifting bhajans like "Man tadpat hari darshan ko aaj" and "Madhuban mein raadhika naachi re, girdhar ki muraliya baaji re". But he was in his real elements when composing lok-geets, such as "aaj meray man mein sakhi baansuri bajaaye koyee" or "gao taraane man ke ji aasha aayee dulhan banke, naacho naacho man ki taar pay".
Film songs went through a significant transformation during the late 1940s and early 1950s. New music directors like Hemant Kumar, Salil Chaudhry, Shankar-Jaikishan, Vasant Desai and O. P. Nayar joined old and established directors like Naushad and S. D. Burman, Roshan and C. Ramchandra. Two innovative films from two fledgling producers introduced new musical teams, in addition to new actors. These were Raj Kapoors 'Barsaat' and Dev Anand's 'Baazi'. Barsaat was Raj Kapoor's second film (the first, Aag, was a flop) and in it, he introduced for the first time the haunnting background of mountains and the romance of visitors with the local belles. The film introduced new actors in Nimmi and Prem Nath and, importantly, a new music team of Shankar-Jaikishan as composers and Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri as lyricists. All songs of the film, such as 'barsaat mein' and 'mera laal dupatta malmal ka' became hits and established the foursome as a formidable team, which powered many a Raj Kapoor films. Baazi, too, was Nav Ketan's second film as a producer (the first, Afsar, was a flop) and introduced for the first time the story-line around a Night-Club run by a Jekyl-and-Hyde character, which was followed by numerous other films. It introduced new actors like Johny Walker and Dev Anand's wife-to-be, Kalpana Kartik as actors, Guru Dutt as a Director and Balraj Sawhney was introduced to the film industry as a script-writer. More importantly, it introduced Kishore Kumar as the background voice of Dev Anand (Meray lubbon pe sada dekh le taraane hain) and the poet-musician combination of Sahir Ludhyanvi and S. D. Burman which went on to give several musical hits, like Jaal, Taxi Driver, Chalti Kaa Naam Gaadi and Pyaasa. Unfortunately, the egos of the two titans clashed in Pyaasa and they never collaborated after that film.
The Indian film industry, especially its songs, was transformed by an event that happened in 1934 in a far-away hotel in London, England. A group of Indian intellectuals, led by the 'blasphemous' writer Sajjad Zaheer, decided to form an association of progressive writers called 'Indian Progressive Writers Association', which had the blessing of such stalwarts as Munshi Prem Chand and Mulk Raj Anand. Many of its members were Urdu writers, such as Munshi Prem Chand, Sardar Jaafri, Saadat Hassan Manto, Upendra Nath Ashk, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Krishan Chander, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Firaq Gorakhpuri. Some of these writers migrated to Bombay and started to write for films, producing songs which were rich in poetic content as well as popular message.
Perhaps no other film poet had as much influence over Indian films as Sahir Ludhyanvi. He was truly a people's poet. He captured the romantic mood of the youth with songs like "Jo vaada kiya vo nibhaana padega" and "Yeh raat yeh chaandni phir kahaan, sun ja dil ki daastaan"; he captured their frustrations and hopes with lyrics like "in kaali sadiyon ke sar se, jab raat ka aanchal dhalkega, jab dukh ke baadal pighalenge, jab sukh ka sagar chhalkega, jab ambar jhoom ke naachega, jab dharti naghme gayegi, vo subah kabi tau aayegi, vo subah kabhi tau aayegi"; he preached secularism with songs like "tu hindu banega na musalmaan banega, insaan ki aulad hai insaan banega" and "Allah tero naam, ishwar tero naam"; he was a perfect mascot for delivering Nehru's socialist message with songs like "Saathi haath badhaana".
Indian film music has provided music for all genres, from classical to folk music. The earliest music directors, like Punkaj Mullick and Baran were all trained in classical music and their compositions had a classical flavour. Bhajans and ghazals also found their way into films from the earliest times, with S.K. Dey singing bhajans and Sehgal singing both bhajans and classical ghazals. Filmi bhajans are so popular that many of them, like "Ai maalik teray bande hum", "Jyoti kalash chhalke" and "Jyot se jyot jagaate chalo" have found their way into temples. Ghazals found their real singer in Talat Mahmood whose faultless Urdu diction, combined with a voice that conveyed pathos made him a natural choice for ghazal singers by most music directors. But the ghazals perhaps attained a new height when Madan Mohan provided music to Rajendar Krishan's lyrics and sung by Lata Mangeshkar in Adalat with songs like, "Yoon hasraton ke daagh" and "Unko ye shikayat hai ke hum kucch nahin kehate". Madan Mohan used lyrics of poets like Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, Kaifi Azmi and Rajendar Krishan and the voice of Lata for several memorable ghazals. Qawaali was traditionally used for spiritual purposes but it proved to be a perfectly suitable vehicle for filmi-competitions. The Qawaali was started in the film Zeenat with Noor Jehan's 'Aahen na bharin shikawe na kiye, kucch bhi na zubaan se kaam liya' and reached its zenith in 'Barsaat ki Raat' with songs like "Naa tau kaarvaan ki talaash hai".
A refreshing addition to the list of illustrious music directors during the 1950s was O.P. Nayar. His first few films did not click at the box office but he scored a huge success with Guru Dutt's "Aar Paar" with songs like "Kabhi aar kabhi paar" and "Ai lo main haari piya". He used mostly western musical instruments and his songs oozed with a lilt and oomph all his own, frequently using good use of Punjabi folk music.
The era of great music directors slowly came to an end during the 1960s although music directors like Khayaam and lyricists like Kaifi Azmi continued their brave efforts with music in films like Umraao Jaan, Kabhi kabhi and Pakeeza. But a new generation of the young and restless cine fans had replaced the old generation and they had neither the time nor the taste to savour the slow intoxication of the old style of music. They much preferred the instant satisfaction provided by loud bass instruments, synthesisers and large orchestras. The razzle-dazzle of artificial ornaments, however, has not been able to be a complete substitute for the real beauty of meaningful songs set to melodious tunes; the result has been an ever-increasing number of remixes of old songs in new music-video formats with semi-clad girls swaying their hips to the old numbers.
Anupamaa
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
