Interesting facts about bollywood MD's - Page 2

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Kalyanji-Anandji Music director Kalyanji's father owned a grocery shop in Mumbai and young Kalyanji used to look after the shop. One day, one customer could not pay for the grocery bills and instead of making the payment, the customer made a deal with Kalyanji that he would teach him music in lieu of the payment. Young Kalyanji agreed and learnt basic lessons of music from this customer. In later stage of his life, Kalyanji made music as his profession and, along with his brother Anandji, became a famous music director.

When Kalyanji was composing music for his first Hindi film Samraat Chandragupt, producer Subhash Desai used to visit recording studios with some of his sycophants. Kalyanji had composed the first song 'Chahe paas ho, chahe dur ho' very well. When Subhash Desai and his sycophants heard the tune of this song from Kalyanji, Subhash Desai did not like the tune and remarked to Kalyanji "Is gaane me 'Vo' waali baat nahin hain" (This song does not have that special quality). This was Kalyanji's debut film. Kalyanji did not know how to convince Subhash Desai. Kalyanji began to think, "Ab ye 'Vo' waali baat kahan se laaye?" (From where can I bring this special quality?) Suddenly Kalyanji got an idea, he gave money to the beggars who used to beg outside Subhash Desai's house and told them to sing the song 'Chahe paas ho' in chorus whenever Subhash Desai stepped out of his house. After listening to this song from beggars several times, one day Subhash Desai came to Kalyanji and told him that his songs have become popular even before the release of the film. Interesting fact was that the song was not even recorded. Sometimes, music directors have to deal with the producer's whims in this manner.

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Kalyanji - Anandji

Biography

Kalyanji and Anandji were born to Virji Shah, who migrated from Kutch to Mumbai to start a Kirana (provision store) business. The two brothers began to learn music from a music teacher, who actually knew no music, who taught them in lieu of paying his bills to their father. One of their four grand parents, was a folk musician of some eminence. They spent most of their formative years in the hamlet of Girgaum (a district in Mumbai) amidst Marathi and Gujarati environs — some eminent musical talent resided in the vicinity. The brothers were known for their humility and easy-to-approach nature. They also were well known for their love songs and poetry readings.

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Kalyanji died on Aug. 24, 2000. Songs

Their songs repeatedly entered top popularity ratings of Binaca Geet Mala and topped the list many times. Some of their notable compositions, by song title, are as follows:

• "Bekhudi Mein Sanam" (Haseena Maan Jayegi, 1968)
• "Chahe Paas Ho" (Samrat Chandragupta, 1959)
• "Chandan Sa Badan" (Saraswatichandra, 1968)
• "Chhalia Mera Naam" (Chhalia, 1960)
• "Dum Dum Diga Diga" (Chhalia, 1960)
• "Jeevan Se Bhari Teri Aankhen" (Safar, 1970)
• "Main To Ek Khwab Hoon" (Himalay Ki God Mein, 1965)
• "Mere Desh Ki Dharti" (Upkar, 1967)
• "Mera Jeevan Kora Kagaz" (Kora Kagaz, 1973) — this soundtrack won a Filmfare Award and topped in Binaca Geetmala for the year 1974.
• "Mere Toote Hue Dil Se" (Chhalia, 1960)
• "Phool Tumhe Bheja Hai Khat Main" (Saraswatichandra, 1968)
• "Qasme Wade Pyar Wafa" (Upkar, 1967)
• "Tirchi Topiwale" (Tridev, 1989)
• "Zindagi Ka Safar Hai Ye Kaisa Safar" (Safar, 1970)

Laxmikant- Pyarelal

When Laxmikant was about 10 years old, he once played mandolin in a Lata Mangeshkar concert in Radio Club, Colaba. Lata was so impressed that she talked to him after the concert.

Laxmikant and Pyarelal met at Sureel Kala Kendra, a music academy for children, run by the Mangeshkar family. After she came to know about their financially poor backgrounds, Lata recommended their names to music directors like Naushad, Sachin Dev Burman and C. Ramchandra. Similar financial backgrounds and age made Laxmikant and Pyarelal very good friends. They used to spend long hours at the recording studios, sometimes getting work for each other and even playing together whenever they got the opportunity.

Laxmi-Pyare worked with almost all reputed music directors (with the exception of O. P. Nayyar and Shankar-Jaikishan) of the 1950s. In 1953, they became assistants to Kalyanji-Anandji and worked with them as assistants till 1963. They worked as music arrangers for many music directors including Sachin Dev Burman (in Ziddi) and also for his son Rahul Dev Burman (in his first film Chhote Nawab). Laxmi-Pyare and R D Burman remained very good friends, even when Laxmi-Pyare started giving music independently. R D Burman played mouth organ for all songs of Dosti. Laxmikant once made a guest appearance playing role of himself as a Composer of Song "Dil Ki Baat" in Teri Kasam (1982), which had music by R D Burman.

In their early days, Laxmi-Pyare's music was very similar to Shankar-Jaikishan's music, as Laxmikant was a great fan of theirs. Once Shankar even changed his orchestration to make sure that his music did not sound like Laxmi-Pyare's. Laxmi-Pyare's first film as music directors was not released. The first released movie which featured them as music directors was Babubhai Mistry's Parasmani (1963), which was a B-grade mythological film. Throughout their tenure as music directors, Laxmi-Pyare only used A-grade singers. Their mentor Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammad Rafi agreed to sing for them in spite of low budgets, and Laxmi-Pyare always remained indebted to them. In fact, Lata has sung the maximum number of songs in her career for Laxmi-Pyare. When Rafi's career was sidelined due to Kishore Kumar's ascending star, Laxmi-Pyare continued to give patronage to Rafi, sometimes against filmmakers' wishes.[citation needed> Of course, they had a great rapport with Kishore Kumar as well.

Laxmi-Pyare hit the big time with Rajshri Productions' 1964 film Dosti. The film had two newcomer heroes who never became popular, and the film was a success due to its music. Songs like Chahoonga main tujhe shaam savere and Rahi manava became very popular. At that time, many used to think that there was a single person by the name of Laxmikant Pyarelal. Laxmi-Pyare won their first Filmfare Best Music Director Award for the movie, ahead of stalwarts like Shankar-Jaikishan (for Sangam) and Madan Mohan (for Woh Kaun Thi).

The team of Laxmi-Pyare and lyricist Anand Bakshi churned out some of the most popular songs in Bollywood history. The combo composed songs for more than 250 movies. Anand Bakshi was the lyricist who wrote the maximum number of texts Laxmi-Pyare gave music to. He was actually the lyricist for all the films for which Laxmi-Pyare won Filmfare Awards, except their very first award. LP have been accused of 'buying' Filmfare awards frequently.

Naushad
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The journey from being a struggler in search of an identity in 1937 to being the god-father of film music was a long and eventful one. Naushad in his days was widely acclaimed as a composer par excellence. To him music was more of a mission than a commerce. Even when he reigned supreme he never accepted more than one or two assignments at a time. As a consequence he composed only 652 songs in 66 films during the career spanning 60 years. But what is significant is that much of what he composed is still remembered and fondly cherished. The public adulations over the years have kept him in the news although he is no longer a part of the music scenario in films. It is his impact on the course of film music in his times that has made him unforgettable.

After he made his debut in Prem Nagar (1940) Naushad was first noticed in the film Station Master (1942) wherein he introduced 13-year-old Suraiya to sing and act in a juvenile role. In the same year, he tested his first big success in the song Panchhi ja peechhe, Raha hai bachpan mera (Sharda) and so did 'baby' Suraiya. It was in this song that the matka (earthen pot) was used for the first time for rhythmic effect. The overwhelming success of Rattan (1944) catapulted Naushad to fame. In this film he popularised the folk music of UP (Ankhiyan mila kejiya bharma ke'/Milke bichhad gayi ankhiyan hai Rama) and earned the enviable reputation as a trend-setter. He introduced Mohamed Rafi in Pahele Aap (1944), and groomed Lata Mangeshkar (Chandni Raat/1949) which changed the face of film music. Naushad rose like a meteor amidst the highly creative composers of the time. When the film Baiju Bawra (1952) came his way, he proved the efficacy of the classical music by refashioning it to suit the time. His innovative use of the vibrophone in the song Mohe bhool gaye sanvariya lent a rare lustre to the sadness in the raag 'bhairav', Baiju Bawra became a landmark film in the annals of film music and a high water-mark in the composer's career.

Naushad appeared in a new 'avtaar' in the film Amar (1953). Though the film failed, the music left an indelible mark on listener's minds. His insistance on the use of the classical music in films eventually led to the establishment of Naushad Academy of Hindustani Music for the propagation of the traditional art. Despite his disenchantment with film music in the recent times it is not easy for Naushad to breakaway from the colourful past which earned him the epithet 'Maestro with the Midas-touch'. His reputation mainly rests on the songs such as Dharti ko aakash pukare (Mela), Uthaye ja unke sitam (Andaaz), Milte hi aanken dil huva diwana kisika (Babul), and Jab Dil he toot gaya (Shahjehan).

Salil Chowdhury - The Writer and the Poet

Not many people are aware that Salil was an exceptional writer. Even in Bengal, majority of the Bengalees do not know that he was a writer and a poet besides being a composer. When he composed a song in Bengali, he almost always wrote the lyrics. During the '40s and '50s his Bengali songs expressed his anti-colonial feelings, his love for the people of his country and the poor and oppressed landless peasants. His songs were revolutionary. After the independence, his lyrics very often expressed his deep feelings about the social injustice and the unfairness present in our society. He never wrote the typical romantic Bengali lyrics which were quite common in those days. One of his close friends was the then famous poet 'Sukanto Bhattyacharya'. Salil set some of his poems to music. These songs, like 'Runner' and 'Abaak Prithibi' have become part of the Bengali culture.

Salil also wrote poetry. His poems are quite unusual in the sense that they are in one hand quite simple to read and on the other hand they are very direct and really hit you. In fact, his poems are like simple dialogs. He uses the common man's language. No difficult or complex words. Just plain Bengali. But the effect is dramatic. He wrote numerous poems, some published and some not. Often he would write at the back of an envelope and then lose it.

Different situations and events prompted him to write poems. During the 300 years celebration of Calcutta he wrote a poem which questioned and challenged the festivities. It was controversial to say the least. None of the magazines would publish it ! After his death 'The poems of Salil Chowdhury' was published by Sabita Chowdhury. This book doesn't have all his poems, but most of them.

In 1983 his only album of his poems was released. He recites his poems with background music composed by him. A collector's piece.
For a full discussion of Salil as a poet and to get a taste of some of his poems please go to the page Poems of Salil.

When he wrote his first Bengali short story 'Dressing Table', it caused a sensation. Since then he wrote several short stories and plays. His other famous short story 'Sunya Puron' was about a midget's fight to overcome his shortness. His first staged play was 'ChaalChore'. Unfortunately the scripts of two of his later plays 'Janaantik'(1948) and 'Sanket'(1949) can't be traced. Salil also translated the well-known Irish play 'At the rising of the Moon' in Bengali. It was called 'Orunodoyer Pathey'. After 23 years he wrote 'Aapni key ? Aapni Ki karen? Apni Ki korte chaan?' - literally meaning 'Who are you ? What do you do ? What would you like to do ?' This was staged by 'Theater Unit' of Calcutta and was directed by the late Shekhar Chattyopadhaay in 1972 at the 'Rangana' stage.

Salil wrote for films as well. His first film script was 'Rikshawalaa' in Bengali. Due to it's success, he was invited by Bimal Roy to Bombay, where he wrote it's Hindi version 'Do Bighaa Zameen'. Later he wrote the stories for 'Pinjre Ki Panchhi', 'Parakh' and 'Minoo' . The Kannad film 'Chinna Ninna Muddaduwe' was later filmed based on one of his stories. In the late '70s he wrote the story of a Bengali film 'Ei Ritur Ak Din' and was about to direct it himself. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

Salil's poetry and songs became a subject for the post graduate Bengali students in the 'Rabindra Bharati' University of Calcutta. In fact, Salil did give some talks at the university on 'Music and Poetry'.
Salil moved effortlessly between the music and his literature. Equally creative and brilliant.

Narayan Gangopadhaay, the famous Bengali writer once said ' If Salil became a full time writer, we would lose him as a composer and lose his wonderful songs, but we hope that Salil doesn't stop writing'.