Entertainment (FilmyMag)

The wonder of a small orchestra that won’t be forgotten

You can say that like a big orchestra, a small orchestra, i.e. very few instruments, can also be effective enough for a tune or a voice or a special occasion or certain words. The number of instruments probably depends on the imagination of the musician.,Lyrics written by NeerajThe garden of life will smell If you listen carefully, you will feel many things. One is that such a great song can be made with just three instruments. The second is how many different sounds and melody can be produced from the flute. And third, how much we have lost in film music.

V. Shantaram’s 1943 film ‘Shakuntala’ and 1946’s ‘Dr. Jayshree was the heroine in Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani. Both these films were very successful. She was also the second wife of Jayashree V. Shantaram. Kiran Shantaram and Rajshree are his children. Kiran has been the Sheriff of Mumbai while Rajshree settled in the US after getting married after doing films like ‘Geet Gaya Patharon Ne’, ‘Janewar’, ‘Brahmachari’ and ‘Around the World’. These same Jayshree did a film ‘Mehndi’ which came in 1958. Ajit was his hero in this. Ravi had music in this film. But there was a song picturized on Jayshree and sung by Lata Mangeshkar which had very little music. This song was written by Khumar Barabankvi, ‘Pyaar ki Duniya Lootegi, we didn’t know.’ Despite very few instruments, this song was very much liked in those days.

Then came 1960’s ‘Barsaat Ki Raat’, a film which is known for the longest qawwali ever. Actually these were two qawwalis. ‘Na To Caravan Ki Talaash Hai’ and ‘Yeh Ishq Ishq Hai Ishq’, and the two were combined in such a way that their total length was about twelve minutes. There is no match for this qawwali in our films in which attempts were made to touch the extra height of the notes. But unlike this, there was a Ghazal in this film which was sung by Mohammad Rafi with very less music. Filmed on Bharat Bhushan and written by Shakeel Badayuni, this ghazal was ‘Kya gum jo andheri hai raatein’. The film had Roshan’s music and Rafi sang it in a tune that Roshan must have given, even though the music was short.

You can say that like a big orchestra, a small orchestra, i.e. very few instruments, can also be effective enough for a tune or a voice or a special occasion or certain words. The number of instruments probably depends on the imagination of the musician. There was a Nazm of ‘Haqeeqat’ which came in 1964, in which there is music, but the instruments are very less. People can still shudder after listening to the music of Madan Mohan and written by Kaifi Azmi, ‘I woke up from my heart’. Rafi sang it with very little music. Yet that tune and his voice waving at it were etched in people’s memories forever.

But many years before this, an even bigger experiment was done in this matter. Mohammad Rafi sang two ghazals in ‘Pyaasa’ without any music. The film is from 1957 and these two ghazals of Sahir Ludhianvi were ‘Tang aa chuke hai kashmakshe zindagi se hum’ and ‘Gum increased so much that I drank in panic.’ Many people say that Rafi has recited both these ghazals in the same way as Sahir himself used to read. But the texture of the lyricism of both the ghazals is such that it is unlikely that the music composer of this film, SD Burman, would not have given any instructions to Rafi. By the way, these two ghazals are not heard on radio or TV like other songs. Maybe because they didn’t have music, so they didn’t become that popular.

Be that as it may, ‘Pyaasa’ was the last film to feature Sahir Ludhianvi as the lyricist and Sachin Dev Burman as the composer. It is said that while working for this film, the egos of both collided on some issues and both decided that they would never work together after this. Thus the couple broke up forever. But both of them were huge personalities and while working separately, both remained at their respective heights of creativity and popularity.

It was a rainy day in 1970. It had been raining all night in Mumbai and the city’s transport system had collapsed. Since morning SD Burman had booked a studio for the recording of a song. But when they somehow reached there they found that only Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar and a tabla player could come to the studio. There was no hope of getting access to other people. Had he wanted, Burman sahib would have postponed the recording for some other day. But he changed his music plan and requested his friends Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Hari Prasad Chaurasia, who lived somewhere nearby. Within no time they both reached the studio and the song was recorded properly. The song has only tabla, santoor and flute accompaniment with the voices of Lata and Kishore. Only three instruments. This song was from Dev Anand’s film ‘Tere Mere Sapne’ which released in the next year i.e. 1971. If you listen carefully to this song ‘Jeevan Ki Bagiya Mehkegi’ penned by Neeraj, you will feel many things. One is that such a great song can be made with just three instruments. The second is how many different sounds and melody can be produced from the flute. And third, how much we have lost in film music.

Sahil Kothari

Sahil Kothari is a Senior Journalist at youthistaan.com Follow him on twitter @sahilkothari21
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