Age was just a number- S D Burman's marathon success

Retirement age of a Government officer is 60. The same for corporate personnel is sometimes even a couple of years less. There is no retirement age for a creative person though, but his creativity  again gets restrained by the growing age and grey hairs. Gulzar sahib, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, M F Hussain, Satyajit Ray had constantly challenged this fact, but perhaps, they themselves would have agreed to the fact that the creative work of their later years were not upto the supreme standards they had themselves set up in their younger to middle age.

Sachin Dev Burman would have vehemently disagreed to this theory though. What else, he might have taken this as a personal insult as well! Not only this musical wizard kept competing with peers half his age, he outlived all of them in terms of longevity in career as well! Had death not taken him away at the age of 69, this maestro  surely would have continued to outperform contemporaries and set new standards in creative world.

Ek hi mara par solid mara...

There have been many albums which were dominated by a single artist. Talk of Ijazat where none but Asha Bhosle was the only singer with a string of solos to her credit. You will also find albums like Teesri Manzil where you will find Mohd Rafi in each and every song, some solos and some duets with Asha Bhosle. There are some albums, where in spite of being various artists, one artist emerged out as the dominant voice- Lata Mangeshkar in Madhumati, Manna De in Basant Bahar, Mukesh in Anand or Kishore Kumar in Safar are just some of the examples.

However, there have been certain instances where a singer had only one song in a whole album but that song emerged out to be the winner out of all the other songs in that album. In Hindi, we term this as “Ek maara par solid maara”. Can you think of such instances in Hindi film music? Let me help you a bit in your thinking process:

Ghazals with Kishore Kumar- 5 Gems from the 50s(Edited)

Undoubtedly 1950s and 1960s don’t belong to Kishore Kumar, the singer. There were at least 5 other male singers who ranked better than him in playback singing demand. Whatever be the reasons, it took time for the industry to assimilate the genius called Abhas Kumar Ganguly. Or, did it not? Because there were at least half a dozen music directors also that time, who had shown great confidence on Kishore Kumar way back in the 50s, giving him assignments many would consider as their supreme also.

We would slowly shift our focus to a genre to which Kishore is readily not associated with- Ghazal. Ironically, in the 50s, a decade in which Kishore sang around 200 songs altogether, there have been some beautiful Ghazals studded in his portfolio highly dominated by comedy and fun songs.

My personal favourites have been five of them- true masterpieces. Although Kishore sang some beautiful ghazals in his later and more productive years of 70s and 80s, his early ventures had nonetheless, been very productive. On the auspicious occasion of Eid today, let us have a relook into his earlier ghazal masterpieces.

5. Marne ki duayein kyun mangu.  Film :Ziddi(1948). Music: Khemchand Prakash. Lyrics: Professor Jazvi.

His first solo in Hindi films and that too a Ghazal. A  traditional ghazal of couplets, Khemchand Prakash- a super established music director that time, showed a great faith on 19 year old Kishore, to hand him this beauty. There are two different versions of Marne ki duayein- an audio version and a different video version picturized on screen- one with heavy Kundan Lal Saigal influence(giving me an impression that it was recorded first) and the other more like natural Kishore. Kishore showed amazing modulation of voice in the second stanza which had some tricky murkis. Wonder how some people had junked this rendition that time, I mean, this was a real good ghazal rendition by a youngster!  Ranked No.5 for me amongst the Ghazals of Kishore in the 50s, considering 1948 as part of 50s only.

4. Hum Hai Rahi pyar ke. Film: Nau Do Gyarah(1957). Music: S D Burman. Lyrics: Majrooh.

Don’t get surprised- this superhit song is nothing but a Ghazal by poetry. The whole song is spun into five couplets- one mukhra and four antaras- sticking very much to the Ghazal pattern! Yes, the treatment S D Burman gave to it, a happy-go-lucky tune with soothing whistling incorporated, made it sound different. S D did that earlier also, converting a ghazal into a club song with “Tadbeer se bigdi hui”(Geeta Dutt, Baazi-1951) and a peppy love song with Jeevan ke safar mein rahi(Kishore, Munimji-1955)-both Sahir Ludhianvi works. Hum hai rahi pyar ke is rhythmic, melodious and wonderfully rendered number of Kishore and perhaps one of his best known songs as a playback singer in the 50s, picturized on Dev Anand.

3. Apna to Zamane Mein bus itna. Film: Naya Andaaz(1956). Music: O P Nayyar. Lyrics: Jaan Nisaar Akhtar.

Superb song to say the least! Not a very well-known song, but if you have listened to it, you would admit the beauty of it. Poetry wise, it sticks to the Ghazal norms, and composition wise it had been given a "Baithaki" style by the composer. Four couplets or "shers"  as the antaras are finely weaved to merge again to the mukhda sher brilliantly.

2. Woh dekhe to unki inayat. Film: Funtoosh(1956). Music: S D Burman. Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi.

My all time favourite- a duet with Asha Bhosle. Those who have not given it a consideration, listen to it again! I bet, Kishore had done certain stuff in this song which could give classically trained singers also Goosebumps! And what a marvellous composition by S D Burman- man, he really understood the genius of Kishore. Sahir’s poetry is very Sahirish- bringing dilemma to the approach to love with two self contradictory couplets- one by Kishore and one by Asha. And when Kishore gives a solid twist to the word “Baazi”  in the second stanza, you feel carried away! This song is often forgotten due to the more popular and soulful “Dukhi man mere” from the same film, but for me, this is The Song! I would also keep it amongst the top 10 duets of SD in the 50s!

1. Husn bhi hai udaas udaas. Film: Fareb(1953). Music: Anil Biswas. Lyrics: Majrooh.

This is the best of the lot, not only the best ghazal from the 50s but also the Best Ghazal of Kishore in his whole career, in my honest opinion. It is known to all nowadays that Anil Biswas always revered Kishore Kumar as a singer very high, in spite of working with him only in 2 movies for 11 songs. The reason is this fantabulous piano based Ghazal. A song, which I feel, truly belonged to Talat Mehmood gambit, Kishore simply caught the correct mood and moulded himself like Talat and delivered! The poetry of Majrooh sahib also needs a special mention here, both the couplets were lovely but my all time favourite is the couplet used in the first stanza- Hothon se chin gayi hansi, khil na saki koi kali/ Kehne ko baagh mein bahar aayi hui zaroor hai- the days of pure, flawless poetries are really gone, just like Anil Biswas, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Kishore Kumar.

Burmans- Exchanging each other's shoes...

When it comes to music, Sachin Dev Burman and Rahul Dev Burman have been the ultimate for me. In fact, both the Burmans- the father and the son, have been amazing me for the last 25 odd years of my Hindi Film Music following.  As rightly put by one of my acquaintances, their appeal lies in their contradiction. The way both of them had taken their schools of music separately but with equal élan is learning! Traditionally, the senior Burman has always been regarded as the one belonging to the conservative school- inspirations from Indian classical, folk, Tagore songs; whereas the Junior Genius is considered from a rebel group of Westernization, bringing in concepts like Jazz, Bossa Nova, Samba and Hard Rock into Indian music. Well, ahem, this generalization can be nothing but FALSE.

It is so unfortunate, that almost always, even by luminary Film critics, this generalization between the Burmans always occurs. And slowly but steadily, this has given rise to a discretely different type of fan followings for both the father and the son. I have seen many people who consider SD to be the greatest MD in Hindi films (and rightly so) and junking out RD saying “loud” and “cacophonic” (wrongly so). Vice versa, RD group has also hailed RD as the biggest genius in the industry (and rightly so) and ignoring SD saying his songs were slow and old schooled (wrongly so).

The entire idea of this article is to “put things straight”. The idea of SD being “old schooled” is as bizarre as the idea of RD being “cacophonic”.

I discuss six albums here, yes, that’s all- three each from each of the Burmans- just to show the believed notion a twist. RD could be as conventional as the best goes and SD could be as modern, as effervescent as you can think of.

S D Burman- the Modern Man:

Come out of flute, sitar and violin and listen to one of my all-time favourite SD album- Jewel Thief.  Yes, he took necessary influences from David Lean’s Bridge on the River Kwai and some arrangement supports from his son, but JT is so SD-ish to the core!! The beautiful Raag Pahadi based duet of Lata-Rafi or the melancholic “Rulake gaya sapna” or the sizzling dance extravaganza “Hothon pe aesi baat”,the sensual “Raat akeli hai” and the signature Dev Anand from the colour era “Yeh dil na hota bechara”- you could never miss SD!! And he used plethora of instruments to give the cult album a treat- you have trumpets  and sax blowing, Guitars giving lead, along with his favourite flute and violins retaining their identities. JT was a cult album in the late 60s, and I must say, a proper response from the grand old man(he was 61, when JT released) to tose who had signed him off due to his poor health then.

Much before JT, had come Paying Guest. The old man (yes, even then, in 1957) created a new trend of conversational duets with the evergreen “Chhod do aanchal”. Melody with rhythm, sweetness with mischief and romance with fun- SD created a garland of melodies in that movie. The Kishore-Asha duet of “O nigahein mastana” had Kishore deliberately hushing up his voice in the third stanza for one line only to raise up his baritone once again in the following- a concept SD repeatedly used with KK in many songs later on ( Pyar ke is khel mein, Sa re gama, Meet na mila re man ka etc) and giving a beautiful contradiction with the Genius’ voice.

Has anyone heard the new year theme music of the album Gambler? Trust me; it would give Goosebumps to even the strongest RD fan… So modern, so well ahead of time and yet so less discussed.  I paste here the link of the whole album, so that, everyone can understand that SD was equally inheriting the sense of arrangement and sound as his son.

http://gaana.com/#!/albums/gambler-hindi-1971

Gambler also saw SD using Kishore Kumar in a super-contrasting mood song “Kaisa hai mera dil tu khiladi”- one of the most underrated song from the combo. Just like, no one else could have sung the song with so much justice other than Kishore, the compositional brilliance of SD is unmatched here as well. The mood switching happens throughout. And he gets traditional with Rafi with equal swiftness in “Mera man tera pyasa”- a soft romantic genre where Rafi was definitely the best. And the improvisation with “Dil aaj shayar hai” is exemplary. A ghazalish song, treated with so much of modernism, it simply changed the way sad songs were being sung in Hindi films. No over emotion, no sobbing, no melodrama- pathos expressed with dignity and yet conveyed meaningfully and passionately!

R D Burman- the Traditional:

He changed the entire gambit of Hindi Film Music in the early 70s. The foundation he had created with Teesri Manzil (1966) was enhanced further and further in the early 70s. RD happened to be the musician Modern India had been waiting for- a person who could mix melody with rhythm. A sad thing is that the next generation took inspiration only from RD’s rhythmic experimentation and very little from the amazing melodies he had given to us to spend our lifetimes.

RD was very much captivated in his experimentation till Amar Prem(1971) happened. Ironically, getting traditional was the ultimate experiment for Pancham. If Shakti Samanta- the maker of the film is to be believed, Pancham had to plead to get the assignment. Amar Prem successfully completed the trilogy of Woman centred movies by Samanta, preceded by Aradhana (1969) and Kati Patang (1970)- both musically chartbusters.

Pancham showed his grasp on Indian classical to the audience. Even if we leave out “Doli mein bithaike kahar” and “Bada natkhat hai re”- songs composed unaccredited by SD in that movie, the balance 4 were mesmerizing. RD exploited the vocal genius of Kishore like never before- a true Bhairavi (Chingari koi bhadke) with another Kalavati-Khamaj mix (Kuchh to log kahenge) and a timeless pathos (Yeh kya hua), RD, as mentioned by Ganesh Anantharaman in his book “Bollywood Melodies”,  singlehandedly ended all the doubts on whether Kishore Kumar cold be a complete singer or not. And not an end yet, even if today we get a lifetime album of Lata Mangeshkar, “Raina Beeti Jaaye” can hardly be missed out. A supreme Khamaj composition with Guitar rhythm instead of  traditional Tabla thekas, RD showed his mastery over rhythm and Indian classical simultaneously.

The following year-1972- saw a whole new partnership of RD-Gulzar in Hindi films. With Gulzar, Pancham delivered what he could not otherwise do in the then –on-going commercial masala flicks. And with excellent outputs in Parichay, Aandhi, Khushboo and Kinara, happened Ghar (1978).  A masterpiece, to say the least, Pancham did wonders with the voices of Lata and Kishore, just like Amar Prem. Both the Lata solos-  Aaj kal paaon zameen par and Tere bina jiya jaye na(a portion at the end sung by Kishore, retained in the movie but removed in the records), had Pancham utilizing the sweetness of Lata to the extreme. Both the compositions reminded us of Karta- his father, who had left for heavenly aboard three years back that time. Coming right after his Western chartbuster Hum kisise kum nahi(1977) a year before, Ghar had shocked the musical society with a Pancham punch of traditional Indian music. The duet of Kishore-Lata (Aap ki aankhon mein kuchh) and the Kishore solo(Phir wohi raat hai), excelled brilliantly in terms of singing, poetry and compositional achievement.

It seems Satyajit Ray had asked Kishore Kumar to do something about the former’s protégée Anup Ghoshal (information source: RD- the man, the music by Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vithal) in Hindi film music. The request was transferred from the Big K to the Big P. The result was Masoom(1982)- in my opinion, the best experimental album of Pancham in the 80s. Yes, Lata was there for a solo but that’s all!! The whole album was done by RD with unorthodox singers like Anup Ghoshal, Aarti Mukherjee (winning a National award for a song in the movie), Suresh Wadekar, Bhupinder and children. No Kishore, no Asha, no instrumental extravaganza. RD created simple soothing melodies with maximum effect.  Masoom is a underrated album of RD filled with his musical genius. Each and every song was tenderly created with utmost melodic achievement.

Not that, these are the only albums showing deviations from the Burmans’ perceived images. There have been many more modern albums from the Papa Burman(Chalti ka naam Gaadi, Aradhana, Prem Pujari, Teen Deviyan) which had absolute modern treatment, modern arrangement and orchestral genius. So did Pancham show his orthodox calibre in all the Gulzar movies and many Rajesh Khanna, Hrishikesh Mukherjee or Basu Chatterjee movies.

Both the Burmans, for me, were a boon to the music industry and carry forward a legacy which made many more people’s lives. To constrain them by labelling is not only uncalled for, but also unethical!

S D and his changing preferences

What was going through in the mind of the young Kumar Sachin Dev Burman, when he took the microphone to record a song in Yahudi Ki Ladki in 1933? Sources say, although not validated, he wanted to become an established singer in Bengal. What he turned out to be was the best music director in India. And, I have chosen my bold letters very carefully. S D was a great singer himself, even the lack of recognition as a singer in Bengal might have been one of the major reasons that he moved to Bombay. Another reason could have been to come out of the image of a folk singer and to try out something different. Whatever be the reason, it is a fact today that S D Burman had been the longest standing music director in the history of Hindi Film Music, who died right at the top , giving competition to his own genius son at the age of 69.

The writer admits right at the beginning that he is no scholar on the vast subject of S D Burman. There are far too many people who are delving deep into this man's work and exploring newer things everyday.

Owing to his standard as a vocal performer, S D knew his singers very well. Although he was older to most of the first generation music directors in Hindi films, IE, Khemchand Prakash, Anil Biswas and Naushad- SD started his innings as an independent musician in Bombay late, in fact pretty late, at the age of 40. And the first achievement he got was to come out of his Bengali background and create partnership with people who did not even know Bhatiyali and Dhamail. His first patron was late K C Dey- the blind singer, to whom SD had assisted for a long time in the 40s and then Ashok Kumar of Bombay Talkies, who had given him the first break in Hindi films with Shikari and Eight Days(both in 1946).

SD's peak period cannot be determined in mere periodical figures. He was one of the top three in the 50s, 60s as well as the 70s. This article looks at the various combinations SD had formed with the singers throughout his careers, and interestingly, with all his top 5 singers- SD had a fallout, sometimes or another.

It hardly mattered to the grand old man. His top 4 singers were- Lata Mangeshkar(around 175 songs), Asha Bhosle(around 135 songs), Kishore Kumar(around 122 songs) and Mohammed Rafi(around 100 songs). Tell you what, you can simply count the number of movies where SD had used all these four together( Teen Deviyan, Jewel Thief, Aradhana- all falling in the mid to late 60s , come to the mind immediately). Clearly shows the shift of preferences SD always had.

SD's most famous rift perhaps was that with Lata Mangeshkar. Facts say, he stopped recording with Lata in 1957 and then resumed again in 1962- a gap of five years, whereas, theoretically, Lata had releases with SD right up to 1958- Seetaron se Aagey- which might have been recorded earlier, and resumed again in 1962 with Dr. Vidya. Considering 1961 to be a year when SD had no releases, SD-Lata stood blank only for 2 years..!!!!, quite contradicting to the fallout which have been hyped so much in Hindi film music- 1959 and 1960. SD had three releases in 59- Kagaz ke Phool, Insaan Jaag Utha and Sujata-all sans Lata and six releases in 60- Ek Ke Baad Ek, Kala Bazaar, Bombai ka Babu, Akalmand, Apna Haath Jagannath and Manzil- again all without Lata. He had some more albums which did not have Lata , like Nau Do Gyarah(1957) and Chhupa Rustam(1973), but they fell either sides of the famous fallout period.

So, Lata Mangeshkar- the primary female singer under SD's baton, had a fallout with the Grand Old Man for a couple of years, and still SD kept on going good. Then, almost converging with the same period, SD had a rift with his most used male singer- Kishore Kumar. Although, cannot be termed as a "rift" in true sense, from 1958-1964, SD used Kishore only in four movies- Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Bewakoof, Apna Haath Jagannath and Naughty Boy- all featuring Kishore himself as the hero. This was quite contradicting to the fact that between 1951-1957, Kishore was the number one male singer for SD singing 33 songs in 17 films. The result for SD, however, was the same- unaffected.

The reason for the fallout of Kishore and Lata were mostly on personal grounds, as the trivia goes. However, there were three serious fall outs which SD had, and all three were taken judiciously by SD with his professional senses proving too strong to his personal likes. The first casualty was Geeta Dutt(ne'e, Roy)- who had given SD his first hit song- Mera Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya and his first hit album- Baazi. Geeta-SD were the first superstar singer-MD combo in Hindi Film Music and rocked the arena with hits like Do Bhai(1947), Pyar(1950), Baazi(1951), Jaal(1952) and Pyasa(1957). But when SD decided to call it a day with Geeta, post-Kagaz Ke Phool(1959) , there were hardly any personal grounds behind it. It was as if SD could read the writings on the wall that Geeta was too tired to carry on the baton and hence Asha should be the first substitute of Lata for his ventures.

Asha also had an end to her dream run. 1958, 1959 and 1960 saw Asha Bhosle featuring as the leading female singer in all the movies of SDB, doing full justice to her role of a substitute to Lata Mangeshkar in SD camp. While Asha did full justice to whatever SDB had given her in that period, when SD patched up with Lata, Asha was simply put to second position yet again. Post-Bandini, Asha Bhosle had hardly anything serious to sing under SDB. Although, with her true genius, she could convert a peppy "Raat Akeli hai" into a timeless classic.

And then, there was Rafi- SD's last fallout. Mohd. Rafi was like an esteemed guest in the recording studios of SD until 1957. He sang for SD in Do Bhai, SD's first major hit and since then he had been sporadically there in movies like Ek Nazar(1951), Naujawan(1951), Jeevan Jyoti(1953), Society(1954), Devdas(1955) etc singing occasional numbers. Things changed in 1957 with Pyasa, when Guru Dutt insisted SD to go for Rafi as the primary singer. Rafi obliged with elan and since then for the coming 7-8 years, SD denied to see anything beyond Rafi. SD-Rafi created some of the most memorable songs in that period like Beechhde sabhi bari bari, Khoya khoya chand, Saathi na koi manzil, Hum bekhudi mein tumko, Dil ka bhanwar kare pukar, Sunle tu dil ki sada, Aese to na dekho, Kahi bekhayak hokar, Din dhal jaye, Tere mere sapne etc. What more, it was S D Burman, who played the major role to patch up the long rift between Lata and Rafi and not the latter's other more touted partners like Shankar Jaikishen, Madan Mohan or Naushad.

The late years of the 60s were not good for SD. He had no releases in 1966 and 1968 and only one in 1967. The good work he had done with Guide(1965) was on the verge of getting marred. 69 was crucial for him and he was back with a bang with Aradhana. Kishore, after many years, proved to be the trump card for SD again, and Rafi- his primary singer for the last 12 years, took a backseat. No personal grudge, no singing fault, no artistic difference- SD placed aside Rafi, just like what he had earlier done to Geeta for Asha and Asha for Lata- reading the writings on wall, that the time was changing...

And with all these changes, what remained unchanged was his music, his melody. If he could do a Jayein to jayein kaha with Talat in 1954, so he could a Din dhal jaye with Rafi in 1965 and so he could a Badi sooni sooni hai with Kishore in 1975.