Dance with Dad, Sing with Son

Hema Malini had a great achievement of working as a heroine opposite to Raj Kapoor, his two younger brothers and his two sons! Now, that was indeed covering three generations of heroes on the silver screen. Right from Sapno ka Saudagar(1968) opposite Raj Kapoor, she featured against the youngest brother Shashi in Abhinetri(1970), middle brother Shammi in Andaaz(1971) to Raj’s eldest son Randhir in Haath ki safai(1974) and then much later in the 80s against Raj’s second son Rishi in Ek chadar maili si.

Alarming Decline in Periodical Patriotic Movies

In 2001, Gadar and Lagan were released on the same day, with the similar patriotic doses and still became super duper hits without eating each other’s pie out. Kargil war was just over and the patriotic sensation in the country was very high. The spirit continued for a couple of  years more with a string of Bhagat Singh movies released and some more genuine patriotic doses like LOC Kargil(2004), Swadesh(2004) and Mangal Pandey(2005).

It is very obvious now that periodical patriotic movies are at the ebb currently. Even though there had been some major attacks in India post-2005, like the Pune blast, The Mumbai attacks etc, the number of patriotic movies made were very thin and number of them running successfully, even thinner. Rather, NRI lifestyle, post-marital love stories or even sometimes justifying terrorism (New York) or befriending enemies (Main Hoon Na, Ek Tha Tiger) have become the order of the day. Genuine attempts of depicting sacrifices during the freedom struggle stumbled at the box office- Khele Hum Jee Jaan Se(2010) and Chittagong(2012)- both based upon the Great Chittagong Uprising of the 1930s against the British- failed to create any movement at the box office whatsoever. One may argue about the quality of them as movies, but, then, I fail to see anything more special in the older lot of J P Dutta and Anil Sharma movies which made bucks at the B.O on patriotism.

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:

Emperors of Playback- Kishore and Rafi Duets

The first time Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar shared the microphone together was in 1949, both in their twenties and yet to achieve superstardom. The song was by and large a duet of Rafi and S D Batish-“Duniya mein ameeron ko aaraam nahi milta”, where Kishore gave some fillers with yodelling and gabbles.

The first proper duet these two legends sang together was in 1953- two duets in the movie Mallkin, music directed by Roshan Lal Nagrath or Roshan. Both fun filled duets- “Kahin se oonchi kahin se neechi” and “ Dhoti aur patloon mein” are not remembered much these days. Composition wise, there is nothing great in them, just occasional peppy numbers.

Throughout the fifties, Kishore and Rafi came together for male duets in quite a few movies like Mastana(1954, Madan Mohan), Paisa Hi Paisa(1956, Anil Biswas), Fifty Fifty(1956, Madan Mohan), Bhagam Bhag(1956, O P Nayyar), Naya Andaz(1956, O P Nayyar), however barring those of Naya Andaz, the rest all can safely be forgotten. It is important to note that, post-Baiju Bawara(1952), as Rafi grew stronger and stronger as a playback singer throughout the fifties, Kishore gained ground more in acting with his singing taking a clear backseat. So, in most of the cases, the duets were either picturized on Kishore for funny songs (obviously) or on some other comic actors to whom Kishore gave playback.

Sixties belonged to Rafi. Mere figures cannot explain the mammoth like impact he had on the industry. In the sixties, in Hindi playback singing, 1 to 10 were Mohammed Rafi and it remains an achievement of its own! Even if some competitions were there for the top spot in the fifties with Talat and Mukesh, Rafi ensured there was none in the sixties. With rock and roll and rhythm getting more importance, Rafi proved to be the only true blue versatile singer out of the lot, and the rest remained in their niche as specialists. Hemant Kumar slowly moved out of Hindi music fraternity, Talat was into hibernation by mid-60s and Mukesh was called for special sad numbers only. Mahendra Kapoor, even though his lifetime collection would consist of mainly 60s songs, in terms of impact, he was nowhere close. And Kishore Kumar was virtually jobless by mid-60s. His movies were not doing well, his problem with income tax and Madhubala shattered him further and he had far too distanced himself from playback singing by then.

Sixties had hardly any significant Rafi-Kishore duet to talk of. They came together in some sporadic instances like Krorepati (Shankar Jaikishen, 1961) and Akalmand(1966, O P Nayyar)- both Kishore Kumar starrers.

With the advent of seventies, Kishore Kumar as a playback singer grew large, very large.  And this marked the decade where Kishore and Rafi sang significantly remarkable male duets.

My all time favourite remains “Yaadon ki baarat” title song-1973. While Kishore sang in his inimitable full open throated singing style, Rafi gave his signature soft touch and made this duet very memorable indeed.

Both Kishore and Rafi had been the mainstay of the compositions of legendary Sachin Dev Burman. But, somehow, SD could never make a Kishore-Rafi duet before, until in 1975- in one of his last released movies, Chupke Chupke. Kishore was all over the duet and Rafi aptly supported him for the sweet “Saregama masarega” duet.

Composer duo Laxmikant Pyarelal needs a special mention here. Here was a duo who had no clear cut preference of one over the other, unlike many other MDs in the 70s, and equally distributed their creations to both of them throughout. They kept on bringing these two stalwarts together throughout the 70s, with memorable duets in Humjoli(1970), Parvarish(1977), Ram Balram(1980) and Deedar-e-yaar(1982). My personal favourite remains “Mere dildaar ka baankpan” from Deedar E Yaar, penned by the great Sahir Ludhianvi.

Shankar Jaikishen also recorded some popular Kishore-Rafi duets in Ek Naari Ek Brahmachari(1971), Jungle mein mangal(1972) and Love in Bombay(1975).

During the late 70s, double hero concept became very popular, and two different but prominent voices were required for two heroes, ahem, angry young men! Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi recorded maximum duets in that period of 1977-1980. Rajesh Roshan recorded as many as 4 K-R duets in a single movie called “Aap ke Deewane”(1980). One of my favourites “Tum ko khush dekhkar” belongs to that movie.

Silence Mightier Than Words- Chaplin in Talkies

Charlie Chaplin stuck to his theories for a long time. In the talkies era, he made two silent movies- City Lights (1931) and Modern Times (1936); although the latter had some talkies part, including a song and dance scene by the genius himself, it can safely be clubbed under the silent movies.

Chaplin made 5 talkie movies in his lifetime, out of which in 4 of them- The Great Dictator(1940), Monsieur Verdoux(1947), Limelight(1952) and A King In New York(1957)- he was the protagonist and one- his last movie and the only colour movie of his lifetime-A Countess from Hong Kong(1967), he directed and played a small cameo.

Following the path of a Genius- Exploring Kishore Kumar's Unfading Popularity

In the highly competitive arena of Hindi film music, to leave a mark of your own itself is such a huge task, leave apart becoming the Numero Uno. And to maintain the top position for years together is even tougher. With the industry studded with innumerable musical talents in the Golden Era of Film Music- from 50s to 70s- there had been a privileged few who, with the Good God’s Grace, were distinctly genius.  

Who can be called a Genius? Can we safely define him as a person who can perform a task to the perfection without ever learning the general and widely acknowledged process of performance and developing a new process of his own! So, if sending a cricket ball outside the boundary with a Willow Bat is a task, Sunil Gavaskar learnt the process of accomplishing that task traditionally by studying and practising, while Viv Richards developed a process of his own! And the path followed by the Genius is also very difficult to follow by others- resulting in limited number of genius and more number of traditional students, as a law of nature. Not that Sunny is lesser than Viv by any circumstances; we can still safely give the crown of a “Master” to the former and the crown of a “Genius” to the latter.

Never follow the path of a non-conformist- warn the traditionalists! You might mess it all up and end up at nowhere. And people to be on the safer side, follow that instruction also.

So, when Pandit Ajay Chakraborty of the Patiala gharana mentions in an interview that he was highly influenced by the singing style of Kishore Kumar and Manna De, you can't help getting stunned! As the latter can be safely called the Sunil Gavaskar or Rahul Dravid of Hindi playback singing, the former has always been a Viv Richards or Virendra Sehwag- people awed at him in appreciation sometimes and criticizing him outright some other times.

But the fact is what Ajay Chakraborty depicts indirectly- Kishore Kumar and his style of singing is present generation’s obsession. What do they follow about Kishore- a man who sang more than 3000 songs in a career of 40 years without having any formal musical training? What aspect of this amateur singer’s singing could have attracted people like Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Ajay Chakraborty, Prince Rama Verma to Satyajit Ray, Lata Mangeshkar to an entire generation of young and aspiring singers? Even a trained Rabindrasangeet singer Suchitra Mitra, who had taken training under the Great Poet himself, sent a letter full of praises to this maverick singer after listening to his album of Rabindrasangeets?

National Award winning director Sandip Ray made a comprehensive documentory on Kishore Kumar

                            

Ek raasta hai zindagi... Tribute to Yash Chopra-Sahir Ludhianvi

I should start writing this obituary very honestly here- I have never been a great fan of Yash Chopra school of movie making. Not that I am against it or I do not watch them, in fact I have watched all his films except Faasle and Nakhuda, but my take home has been minimal. However, some of his works have spellbound me alright; Deewar, Doosra Aadmi and Silsila were all top class works and enlightened me.

25 Hidden Gems with 25 Hidden Composers- With youtube links

25 years have gone by since Kishore Kumar has left us. I dedicate this article to all his fans worldwide and explore 25 Hidden gems from his illustrious career which he sang under 25 not so popular MDs of his time, but they are all worth listening if you want to delve into Kishore's singing prowess. Thankfully, I have checked up and found that the youtube links of all these songs are very much available. So, I will post the links for your reference here as well.  Music director's name is mentioned alongwith the song. I must say, each and every song is a gem!

Gulzar and Kishore Kumar- Deep Poetry and Deep Voice

* The article was already published on www.yoodleeyoo.com on 04.08.2010. I am reproducing it here with some modifications*

Jhuki huyi nigaah mein kahi mera khayal tha….”
Those “Khayals” or “thoughts” of Gulzar sahab had always been depicted with a serene voice on screen by a person called Kishore Kumar. The impact of Kishore Kumar and Gulzar on the movies are everlasting and unforgettable. The deep voice of Kishore Kumar coupled with the words of Gulzar has always been special. Be it the music of Rahul Dev Burman, Salil Chowdhury, Hemant Kumar, Khayyam or Rajesh Roshan- the resultant output has been mesmerizing.
Their association can be traced back to 1968, with Bimal Roy’s “Do Dooni Char”. Gulzar sahab’s thoughtful lyrics of “Hawaon pe likh do hawaon ke naam, hum anjaane pardesiyon ka salaam” coupled with Hemant Kumar’s melodious tune and an open throated soulful Kishore Kumar’s voice leaves a memorable song dedicated to the nature. The breezy, wild lap of Mother Nature was never been depicted in such a detailed way- “Yahan subah se khela karti hai shaam…”- how true! Makes you travel through a village road, twisted and turned, to take you to the bank of a river with green grass and huge shadows of trees.
Sit alone on a boat at the dusk, and the first song which you would love to grasp on is “Woh shaam kuchh ajeeb thi, yeh shaam bhi ajeeb hai, who kal bhi paas paas thi who aaj bhi kareeb hai”… Feels like taking an aloof ride on a boat on a flowing river and thinking and getting immersed in the beauty of the twilight with bygone thoughts enveloping your mind. Who did a better job?,Gulzar with his pen, Hemant Kumar with his tune or Kishore with his vocal?? I would say, all of them. A symmetry amongst those three makes this song from “Khamoshi”(1969) one of the most beautiful soulful songs in Hindi films.

Gulzar’s expression on life has mostly been indirect.. Be it grief, be it happiness, be it loneliness or be it appreciation to beauty, he has often been indirect in expression. But a direct expression by Gulzar could create history with “Koi hota jisko apna hum apna keh lete yaaron, paas nahi to door hi hota lekin koi mera apna”.. Compare this with other poetries on loneliness by this poet, you can feel there is that direct expression which makes this song plain and simple and everlasting. Gulzar had earlier worked with Salil Chowdhury for quite a few films, but this song of “Mere Apne” was special.. Special to many.. For Kishore, it was a ladder to prove his mastery of singing a 12 matra composition from the rhythmic master Salil Chowdhury… How wrong was Salil 17 years back on Kishore! Spellbound by the rendition and capability of Kishore, Salil lost no time to admit “he had underrated Kishore earlier”.. Gulzar’s direct lamentation on loneliness with words “Koi to gham apna tha, koi to saathi hota”, coupled with deep and heavy voice and sensational tune, this song is a landmark..
Rahul Dev Burman’s association with Kishore and Gulzar has always been special.. Take the tune of a vagabond -“Musafir hoon yaaron na ghar hai na theekana, mujhe chalta jaana hai, bas chalte jaana”.. Gulzar is never systematic.. His beauty lies in his thoughts breaking shackles of constraint.. His views had that “dhundlapan” or fogginess which no other poet could express with such confidence. Coupled with rhythmic tune of Rahul Dev Burman and the vocal of Kishore, this number of “Parichay”(1972) stands out in uniqueness.
And what about the directionless beauty in “O Majhi re apna kinara”? A boatman has his understanding of the river, where to anchor and where to sail.. The person does not. A contradiction in approach if the river is the life and the person is the boatman.. He expresses it openly “Koi Kinara jo kinare se mile woh apna kinara hai”… This indirect approach of Gulzar on direction or the lack of it, is what he is known for and what was expressed earlier. This song of “Khushboo”(1974) is again a gem. Amit Kumar once said that RD Burman had broken down into tears after listening the final output on Kishore’s voice in the recording room.. Was it only for Kishore’s voice? Or was it because it was coupled with a poetry which could make people think that in all our lives , however systematic we may be, there comes a junction , where we feel “apna kinara nadiya ki dhara hai”..
“Jaane kya sochkar nahi guzra, ek pal raat bhar nahi guzra…” renders that isolation of Gulzar poetry, which he used to come back from time to time… The pain of the hours of aloofness again sewn in melodious notes by Rahul Dev Burman and vocal by Kishore, makes us feel, has there ever been a better narrator of aloofness than Gulzar?? A gentleman said once “Gulzar can never be imagined in a group photograph, Gulzar cladded in white, bespectacled, sporting a pair of brown chappals, standing and smiling alone”.. Perhaps, he is right. Kinara(1976) had other gems of Gulzar and Pancham and along with others, this special gift from Kishore’s voice is the most memorable.
How can you express the aspirations and requirements of people belonging to the middle-class better than “Thoda hai thode ki zaroorat hai, zindagi fir bhi yahan khubsoorat hai”… ? Gulzar in simple words has just explained what the simplicity of middle-class is and what aspirations they have.. They dream but with constraint, they aspire but not detached from the ground… So when someone says “Main chhune zara aasmaan chali” , the other warns “Badal pe udna hoga…”. Khatta Meetha(1977). Composer:Rajesh Roshan.
Ghar (1978) is very speacial. I can’t pick any, between the nostalgic “Phir wohi raat hai” or romantic “Aap ki aankhon mein kuchh”.. Rahul Dev Burman again creates two masterpieces where Gulzar describes the beauty of a lady with “Aap se bhi khubsoorat aap ki andaaz hai” and then makes the man nostalgic with “Raat bhar khwab mein dekha karenge tumhe”…
The isolation depiction takes a new turn with “Hazaar rahein mud ke dekhi kahi se koi sada na aayi….” This time Kishore and Gulzar teams up with Khayyam- the ghazal master. Both isolated beings want to reunion again, but something, some ego or some hindrance is again creeping in their minds and they are unsure who should approach whom and finally says “Tumhe yeh zid thi ke hum bulaate, humein yeh umeed who pukaare../ Hai naam hothon pe ab bhi lekin, awaaz mein pad gayi dararein..” This indirect expression is a signature of Gulzar always.
The two songs with which one can further explore this wonderful journey of these two talented artists are:
1. Aanewala pal jaanewala hai..
2. Raahon pe rehte hai yaadon pe basar karte hai..
Both coming again from the tunes of Rahul Dev Burman, the first one makes you feel the importance of every passing moments in life and the other takes you to a ride of time where the person does not bother where the time is going, but only to bother how much road is traversed. Contradiction? But then, Gulzar is all about poetry which defies all norms and all shackles of tradition..

These are only a handful of songs which I have discussed.. I have left out many also, so a special mention to some gems:

1. Gulmohar gar tumhara naam hota(a verse on beauty)
2. Chand churaake laya hoon( a peppy track with touch of fun)
3. Kabhi kabhi sapna lagta hai( a melancholic depiction of a strange relationship)
4. Sa re ke saare ga ma ko lekar( a breezy children song)
5. Aankhon mein humne aap ke sapne sajaye hai( a lovely interpretation of love and lust)
6. Ladkhadane do mujhe( A rare drunken solo of this combo)

Three unreleased gems, all composed by R D:

1. Main thak gaya hoon ( A masterpiece solo on a tired, lonely person)
2. Kaise dekhoon meri aankhon ke ( A romantic duet with Lata with tender poetry)
3. Phoolon ki zubaan khubsoorat ho gayi (A rhythmic duet with Asha)

And then, those three eternal duets of Aandhi to conclude with:
1. Tum aa gaye ho.
2. Is mod se jaate hai
3. Tere Bina zindagi se koi shikwa nahi

The last three songs of “Aandhi” need a special mention here, as it is not only Gulzar-Kishore, but Lata Mangeshkar beautifully teaming up, and Pancham indeed! While “Tum aa gaye ho..” is a simple rendition of love, “Tere bina zindagi se shikwa..” is perhaps the most sensitive duet from the golden age of music. Lata carries off the first two stanza with soft and soothing touch and Kishore enters late with the heavy impact rendering “Tum jo keh do to aaj ki raat chand doobega nahi”- making one of the most memorable late entries in the duets ever!!. A complex relation, broken long back but united temporarily knowing very well it  would break again, how desirous the man sounds in that line where he wants to stop the time so that the momentary accompanying does not get lost.
Just as I had started with the thoughts of Gulzar, I end with a nostalgic feeling and that tenderness in poetry and rendition, which makes Gulzar and Kishore so special..


Ek door se aati hai, paas aake palat ti hai..

Ek raah akeli si, rukti hai na chalti hai…


They move on but always it seems in their movements, the time has come to a standstill.

Dont Worry, Barfi!

So, the bubble has burst! After all, Barfi is not an entirely genuine movie. Now, that is a true disappointment to many after all the hype built around it on release. By the way, on a brighter note, it should not take away any credit from this well made movie at all, since, many of the blockbusters/classics of the past, which now enjoy cult status, were, ahem, either inspirations or remakes or copies.

“Original in Oblivion, Remake a Rage”

The movie which made Humphrey Bogart, “The Maltese Falcon”(1941) – considered a classic now, by Warner Brothers, was in fact the third attempt on the same story, with the same title. The earlier two versions went into oblivion, with one of them even featuring Bette Davis as the leading lady notwithstanding!

When Hitchcock was going great guns in the Hollywood in the fifties, with consecutive hits like “Strangers on a train”(1951), “Dial M for Murder”(1953) and “ Rear Window”(1954), he decided to remake one of his earlier movies, “ The man who knew too much”(1932)- which he made in England- in Hollywood. While the British version was not very successful, the Hollywood version made after 25 years, was a runaway hit.

There have been some other Hollywood remake ventures like this, significant mentions include Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde(1941) and Gaslight(1944)- two critically acclaimed movies, both featuring Ingrid Bergman, already having an earlier forgettable counterparts. There was a Titanic made in 1955 also, however with entirely different story than that of the iconic Titanic of 1998.

In our desi Bollywood, the movie which defined Indian woman to the world, Mehboob Khan’s “Mother India” was basically the remake of the director’s own earlier venture- “Aurat”, with some script changes here and there. However, Aurat was also a successful movie in its time, but Mother India attained a classic fame.

“ A Classic Copy”?

Movie of the Millennium “Sholay”, can be called an improvisation and sophisticated version of an earlier Hindi movie “Mera Gaon Mera Desh”(1971) by Raj Khosla. The concept, an old man hiring a criminal to tame a dacoit who creates nuisance in his village, was further modified in Sholay, with two criminals, the old man being handicapped and the Dacoit more ferocious! And of course, the names of the Dacoits also sound strikingly similar- Jabbar Singh and Gabbar Singh!

Gumnaam was a superhit Hindi movie of 1965, taken straight out of Agatha Christie’s play version of her classic “ And then there were none”(There was a movie made also with that script with the same name in 1944), with prem kahani of Nanda-Manoj Kumar and song and dance added as Indian ornamentation.  Christie was later again copied in Hindi cinema unaccredited (as usual) in B R Chopra’s “Dhund”(1974), a poor adaptation of “An unexpected Guest”, which we have duly forgotten. In Bengali, Premendra Mitra had once made a movie “Chupi chupi aashe” taken from the plot of Christie’s “Mousetrap”.

While there have been quite a few unsuccessful Hindi movies copied from English ones- Benaam from The man who knew too much, Chakravyuha from The Thirty Nine Steps, Ek ruka hua faisla from Twelve Angry Men, Armaan from Casablanca, Kohra from Rebecca and so on and on; two popular, successful and good copies I remember right now are Satte pe Satta from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Parichay from The Sound of Music. Of late, Raaz(2002) seemed to be highly inspired of What lies beneath and Koi Mil Gaya of E.T.

And once you watch Raj Kapoor-Nargis starrer "Chori Chori"(1956), or much later "Dil hai ke maanta nahi"(1991) of the Bhatts, you know where the inspiration came from! Roman Holiday(1953) is still un matched. Chori Chori and DHKMN were successful, but some other copies like Manpasand(1981) from My Fair Lady(1962), Mann(1999) from An Afair to Remember or Yeh Dillagi(1994) from Sabrina(1954) were not fortunate enough! However, the Bengali copy of My Fair Lady, Ogo Badhu Sundari, released in 1981 was a commercial success and the Bengali superstar Uttam Kumar's final venture as an actor and released after his death.

Inspirations? You must be kidding!

While there can be no doubt about the greatness of Pyasa, its poetry, its music, it directional excellence, the obvious inspiration cannot be overlooked from Charles Chaplin’s “Limelight”. However, Guru Dutt had taken Pyasa to a different spectra altogether after a shade of resemblance of his character with Calvero in Limelight. Years later, Mahesh Bhatt’s “Daddy”, also seemed have taken a good leaf out of Chaplin’s masterpiece, but the movie could not level up to the classic mark.

I wont go into the inspirations of Chopras and Johars here, as they only know what hotchpotch they create by taking each other’s ideas..! J

Some good inspirations, which could qualify to be classics on their right, coming out of the “copy” shadow were “Bees Saal Baad”(1962) with the story taking faint inspiration from Arthur Conan Doyle’s book “The Hound of the Baskervilles” featuring Sherlock Homes.

And finally, Mani Ratnam’s Guru(2006), can there be a better execution of the Citizen Kane as an inspiration, than this?

So, Barfi, don’t worry, you can still be a classic!!

Give it up, Shahrukh!!!!- 4FTTFJF67TVG

As the whole media is trying its level best to create the best possible hype for King Khan’s “ Jab tak hai jaan”, I wholeheartedly feel that Shahrukh Khan should now retire from these romantic hero roles. I had been a SRK fan, and my college days were filled with this dreamy eyed man’s love stories. I was quite surprised to watch his “Swadesh” in which he truly proved himself to be a versatile actor. But then, things started deteriorating. His productions, business acumen, IPL all seemed to have taken over the actor Shahrukh and presently I feel by doing or rather trying to do the same old typecast lover boy roles, he is spoiling his legacy and spoiling my sweet nostalgia of him as well!



What you were



What you are

Shahrukh, here are the five reasons why you should quit movies:

Reason 1: You are a superstar first, actor second now.

Try to understand those poor directors- they cant even ask a retake from SRK now!! Lest you get hurt!! You are a superstar but acting like an amateur! Have you seen your own expressions in that Ra-One song “Dildara”?Man, you are not “involved” in acting now also! You are perhaps totally occupied in the back of your mind with the anticipated opening day collection of your movie or the endorsements of your IPL team when giving a romantic shot.  Come on, Shah rukh, your eyes were so expressive and innocent and now, they have lost that raw innocence altogether. That is because, you are a superstar now and more concerned to maintain your superstar image than to doing justice to the characters which you are playing as an actor.

Reason2: You Cant Handle too many things at a time.

This is not your problem, this is a human problem. We cant handle too many things at one time. Either you concentrate on IPL or your business or your acting!! You are ambitious everywhere and expert nowhere. You have lost your acting shine like a blunt axe which has not been sharpened since ages. You know your business well, but you are impatient!! You cant tolerate failure or cant compromise profits. So, even more than making a good movie, you are more interested in marketing the merchandizes of that movie and only achieving an opening day collection figure of Rs 100 Crore. How would future remember you SRK? As a great actor turned reckless businessman?

Reason 3: Your heroines are all gone!!

Your successful movies were not your own credit definitely! There were significant contributions from your heroines- mainly, Kajol, Juhi, Madhuri and Aishwarya. All of them are happily married and hardly doing any mainstream cinema now. Only Rani Mukherjee is remaining from your era and she is also seldom seen on the screen nowadays. You have to be paired with girls who were diaper-worn toddlers when your first TV serial “Fauji” was aired on Doordarshan. I think, enough is enough!

Reason 4: You have become too competitive with others

Definitely you are neither the first one nor the only one to start groupism in film industry. But you have definitely given it a new dimension. See your limitations- out of Johar and Chopra camp, you are very alone! You are less concentrating on your own work and more interested in Salman Khan’s new releases. Grow up, dude! Do something substantial like Swadesh and make us- your old fans, proud.

Reason 5: You have lost your look

You used to stammer, excessively overact in your nineties movies, but you had a charm. You were young, so all your nonsense could still be received with wide applause from the youth. You have grown old, but you could not find a different segment of audience for you. You still have to rely on the youth, and they have already found Hrithik or even younger, Ranbir- who is clearly a megastar in the making! You are trying to keep media in your hold, but isn’t this stunt exposing your insecurities more? When you made six pack abs, you looked like a roadside daily wage earner more, than a hunk which you wanted to look like. You did a stupid double role in that Chopra banner; still the specs and moustache avatar was better, but that spike haired, goggled look? Yaak…!

Give it up, Shah rukh! Concentrate on your business. You have that business acumen, only add some

 patience and you can leave a great business empire for your children.

4FTTFJF67TVG

Musically Yours- R D Burman and Mohd Rafi

A combination producing around 110 songs would have been otherwise highly discussed; alas, with Mohd Rafi and R D Burman it was not to be. Again, a classic case of the fan groups of the singer and the MD constituting two entirely separate sets.

Even before Chhote Nawab happened in 1961, RD had already chosen Rafi for his first independent assignment under Guru Dutt Productions’ Raaz in around 1957. A 18 year old Pancham had selected Hemant Kumar, Geeta Dutt and Rafi as his first set of singers for his first film. Unfortunately, the movie was not released. Chhote Nawab was an album all full of Lata Mangeshkar and Mohd Rafi. Three beautiful duets and an overtly emotional song was what RD had to offer for Rafi. “Ilaahi tu sunle” was the solo but my personal favourite is “Matwali aankhonwale”- the amazing Lata-Rafi duet in that movie.

It wont be an understatement to say that Rafi was RD’s main voice in the sixties. Rafi, in the helm of his career and ruling the industry like a colossus , featured in almost all the movies of RD in the sixties, except - Bhoot Bangla(1965), Pati Patni(1965) and Padosan(1968).

Teesri Manzil(1966) was the movie which happened to be the career changer for Pancham.  Shammi Kapoor, an otherwise SJ loyalist, worked for the first and as an hero last time, with R D Burman. A musical extravaganza, Teesri Manzil revolutionized Indian cine music with ultra modern sound and arrangement. Electric Guitar, sax, trumpet soared the sky and made the entire youth of India dance to its tunes. And all the songs went to Rafi- Shammi’s official voice. It is of no use to discuss the songs of TM, as they have been discussed umpteen number of times. My only observation is I have hardly seen Rafi going so unconventional as he did in “Aaja aaja main hoon pyar tera”- I so wish he had done some more of such stuff! Amazing shivering of voice, absolute perfection by the great singer.

My personal favourite Rafi solo under RD came next year- “Tumhe dekha hai” from Chandan Ka Palna(1967). Dharmendra had still not started drinking the blood of the Dogs that time, and an absolute soft, tender composition from Pancham to suit the then image of Chocolaty Dharmendra rendered superbly by Rafi in his more comfortable domain- the Nazms. The composition has shades of Madan Mohan influence in the early Pancham, and again it was observed in the Lata solo of “Sharm aati hai magar” in the following year.

1967 also saw “Zamane ne maare jawan kaise kaise”, yet another beautiful solo composed by Pancham for Rafi in Baharon ke sapne(1967). Following just after Teesri Manzil the previous year, this was an entirely contrast to the jazzy theme of TM with the same producer- Nasir Hussain. A true blue versatile composer after Shankar Jaikishen, had arrived in Indian cinema.

Abhilasha(1968) saw RD using Rafi and Manna together in a duet under him- Ek janeeb sham-e-mehfil. The same year, RD had created the immortal and the first Kishore-Manna duet under him in the other movie- Padosan. Abhilasha also saw arguably the best RD-Rafi solo “Wadiyan mera daman”- a song which had a Lata solo version also, but clearly the Rafi version landing up as the winner by a substantial margin.

Pyar ka mausam(1969)- yet another Nasir Hussain musical saw RD-Rafi in a high again. Rafi was all over the album with three versions of the evergreen “Tum bin jaaoon kaha” on the lip of the hero- Shashi Kapoor. Also a beautiful duet with Lata “Ni sultana re” and the solo “Che khush nazare”- rafi rocked the album! In the same year, Waaris(1969) was released and Rafi again was there in three songs- one solo and two duets.

1970 saw RD first time switching from Rafi’s prime voice with Kati Patang. However, in the same year, he had already recorded for the same hero, Rajesh Khanna, another album with Rafi as the voice- The Train. “Gulaabi aankhein”- a breezy and typical Pancham rhythmic track- was a runaway hit. In Ehsaan(1970), Pancham used Rafi for Joy Mukherjee in a beautiful Asha-Rafi duet “Aaj tere naina”. A forgettable “Raaton Ka Raja” was also released that year, which had Rafi as the prime male voice again with three songs. The title track “Mere liye aati hai sham” was a treat.

Nasir Hussain made Caravan in 1971. An album mainly an extravaganza with Mangeshkar sisters with the elder sister having one solo and two duets and the younger three solos and one duet; what Rafi had to do was accompany the sisters in their duets. All the Rafi duets in that movie with varied moods and rhythms were chartbusters. Apart from Caravan, Mela was another movie released in the same year where Rafi was the main voice for a RD movie. “Rut hai Milan ki” is a highly melodious and memorable Lata-Rafi duet from the movie. Amitabh Bachchan’s early days as hero in “Pyar Ki Kahani” released that year, saw RD using Rafi as his voice and Kishore as the supporting hero Anil Dhawan’s voice in that movie. “Koi aur duniya mein tumsa haseen” is yet another lovely solo from RD-Rafi combo. In 1971, RD-Rafi combo produced some other popular numbers in Laakhon mein ek and Adhikar .

By 1971, RD had created Paraya Dhan, Amar Prem and Hare Rama Hare Krishna with Kishore as the prime voice, and was divided in his choice. With the big success of each of those soundtracks,by 1972, his preference started getting a lot more prominent. However , he did give a beautiful duet to Rafi with Asha in Parchhaiyan(1972)- Saason mein kabhi.

Nasir Hussain never lost his loyality- neither to RD nor to Rafi. Yaadon Ki Baraat(1973)’s two most popular songs went to Rafi- the evergreen Chura liya hai and the title song. Also, in Chhalia in the same year, we could hear Rafi croon to RD’s beautiful tune “Ae jaan e wafa”.

But Rafi was evidently missing in the more touted works of RD in that period with Shakti Samanta, Gulzar, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Dev Anand. Between 1974-1976, RD recorded a beautiful duet of Rafi with Lata in Bundalbaaz- Naghma humara gayega yeh zamana, a philosophical gem in Mukti- Pyar hai ik nishaan qadmon ka and the famous Qawalli of Aandhi with Bhupinder Singh and Amit Kumar- Salaam kijiye ali janab aaye hai.

Speaking of Qawallis, RD did utilize this shade of Rafi beautifully with some filmy qawallis- “Hai agar dushman zamana”( Hum kisise kum nahi) and “Pal do pal ka saath”( The Burning Train) .

Hum kisise kum nahi was definitely the turning point of Rafi’s career in the 70s and made him start his second innings afresh. An album with youthful music and peppy tracks, Rafi brought the serious depth with “Kya hua tera wada” and romanticism unlimited with “Chand mera dil”. Rafi’s voice texture, which had taken a slightly husky touch by then, brought the exact emotions out of “Kya hua tera wada”.

Between 1978-1980, Pancham continued to use Kishore as his main voice with making good space for Rafi in every film and making him use more after the lapse in association between 1972-1976. Most memorable RD-Rafi songs that period were “ Jab kisi kaza se guzro”(Devta-1978), “Pyar mein aji kya”(Fandebaaz, 1978), “Maine poochha chand se”(Abdullah, 1980), “Poochho na yaar kya hua”(Zamane ko dikhana hai, 1981) and “Dukh such ki har ek mala”(Kudrat, 1981).

Rafi passed away in 1980, creating a vacuum in the film music industry. A great singer who had a marathon career of 36 years in the industry and gave us some of the evergreen melodies ever, left a legacy we cherish even today. R D Burman, also has left us a treasure of melodies to spend our lifetime with, and a good chunk of that treasure was contributed by Mohd Rafi’s voice as well!

Songs with "Hatke" Formats

If I ask you what is the similarity amongst these three beautiful songs, viz, “Phoolon ke rang se dil ki kalam se”, “Dil aaj shayar hai gham aaj naghma hai” and “Ek ladki ko dekha to” apart from being Dev Burman Family Productions, what would be your answer? I know, many of you know- in each of these three songs , mukhda lines are never repeated throughout the song, or, rather there is no bifurcation between mukhda and antara. All the verses are independent . While “Phoolon ke rang se “ does reciprocate around the lines “badal bijli chandan pani…”, so does “Ek ladki ko dekha to”, reciprocating around these initial few words only(although none of them ever repeating the complete mukhda anywhere in the songs), “Dil aaj shayar hai” is absolutely unique and consists of verses absolutely independent of one another.

There have been quite such interesting songs in the old Hindi Film Music with quite unique formats- especially with the traditional mukhda-antara format- which we can discuss here.  The above example discussed here is one such instance of “No repetition of Mukhda”.

Antara Tune to start with and then Mukhda:

One such example is “Khwab ho tum ya koi haqeeqat”, where the song starts with bare vocal Kishore Kumar rendering the antara tune first- “subah pe jis tarah sham ka..” and then picking up the mukhda tune “Khwab ho tum ya koi haqeeqat”.

Another such example is “Dekho yeh mere bandhe haath” from the movie “Bandhe Haath”, where the song starts with “Kya janoo main hoon kaun…” which is again the antara tune and then comes the mukhda tune which is  “Kaise miloon tumse chahonn to mil na sakoo main” .

Sanchari Format in Hindi Songs:

Sanchari format is quite common in Bengali traditional songs, in fact in many Tagore songs. Sanchari is mainly used in the second antara, where before repeating the tune of first antara, a separate tune is created for an extra couplet before. Very few music directors tried to replicate this in Hindi songs, with the exception of Salil Chowdhury, who composed some very beautiful “Sancharis” (her daughters were also named Antara and Sanchari by the way). One example is “O sajna barkha bahar aayi” from Parakh(1960), where the Sanchari part is “Aese rimjhim mein O sajan, pyase pyase mere nayan tere hi khwab mein kho gaye”, which is used before the common antara tune of the song is used in the second stanza. Also, there was “Na jiya lage na” from Anand(1970), where sanchari part comes again before the start of second stanza as “ Na jiya lage na, piya teri bawri se raha jaye na”. So strong was Salil’s hold on Sanchari making that very few other Bengali MDs dared to implement this format lest they got compared with him. Bhanu Gupta- a long time associate with R D Burman, once told me that he had asked RD as to why the latter did not compose Sancharis in his songs(he did once though, in a Bengali song “Jete daao amaye deko na”), to which RD replied that the day he would feel confident that he could make a Sanchari as good as that of “O sajna”, he definitely would.

Varied Paces of Mukhda Antara with Varied Moods:

Burmans again! J One of the classic examples is S D Burman’s “Kaisa hai mera dil tu khiladi” from Gambler, where Papa Burman makes the mukhda tune sad and slow and then suddenly picks up the tempo and the mood in the antaras , only to come down again while repeating the mukhda tune.  Amazingly done by Kishore Kumar in terms of switching frequent moods.

Not so much from the elite groups, Bappi Lahiri did try out this format a decade later with Kishore and Asha in “Imtihan ho gayi intezaar ki”, which starts with slow and sad pace, continues one full antara in the same mood, after which the heroine appears and the whole mood and pace of the song go jazzy! Not a bad job from the Disco Deewana by the way.

R D did this trick in “Sapna mera toot gaya”, where the overall mood of the song being sad is reflected in the mukhda, and in the antaras, when the girl starts recollecting her romantic past, the antara tunes and moods take a romantic twist, only to bring her back to the sad present while converging again into mukhda.

Three antaras with Individually different tunes

“Jab dard nahi tha seene mein” from Anurodh(1977) composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal had an innovative concept where there were three antaras in the song, each being distinctly differently composed in tune. The first “ Yaaron ka gham”, the second “Aese to thes na lagti thi” and the third “ Is qadar pyar to”- all are entirely differently composed and written in structure with no similarities. While I recall many instances where in a three antara song, there have been two antaras with one tune and third one with a different tune, all three antaras being distinctly composed is quite unique. Full marks to Laxmikant Pyarelal for pulling this off brilliantly.

Songs with no antara

No couplets to start with, no verses in the middle to be independent or converging whatever, there  is only one verse with multiple lines- more like a descriptive poetry, a long continual verse- very challenging to give tunes to them. Kishore Kumar composed and sang “ Mujhe kho jaane do” from Door Ka Rahi(1971); those who have not heard this, please listen. It would give you goosebumps for sure, a great creation from a true genius.

Top 5 Music Directors of Hindi Film Music

Even before I publish this article, I know pretty clearly that this is going to be my most criticized article, hugely because there is “comparison” in this which my earlier articles did not have. So, at the very outset, let me clarify that “this is not a judgemental article” as I am not at all qualified enough to judge the Greats but merely a “personal favouritism” which is highly dominated by subjectivity. So, in stead of putting criteria and judging people, I would rather try to put down the artistic shades of the 5 people for which I “like them more than the others”.  Also, they were all great MDs and given us great melodies, so, quality of songs is never a criteria as each of them has enough of them.

5. Shankar Jaikishen:

If I need to describe in one word what SJ were, then it would “versatile”. They ruled the industry for 2 long decades which is nothing less than a Herculean achievement. They could compose all sorts of music, and had shades of brilliance in each of the segment. They never confined themselves to any genre or gambit, and created music for the mass as well as class. Their music was equally popular in Pan Shops as well as Musical concerts.

Also, I like the kind of adjustments they maintained in their selection of movies. For Raj Kapoor movies, they had a set of theory which was entirely different to what they applied for Shammi Kapoor movies. Even for Dev Anand, they gave music to around 8 movies! And all were with success.

Their consistency is another feature I like a lot. To give hits after hits for 2 continuous decades is not a matter of joke! That too, considering that they were a mainstream composers and not like Naushad or Roshan, who were highly selective in their assignments. Definitely, working in more movies and maintaining consistency is more creditable for me than working in limited movies and giving regular good music; as the earlier stuff needs much more creative stretch.

The musical arrangement for SJ has been for me, both their positive as well as negative point. Positive point is, they were so fresh in their orchestration and arrangement when they arrived. They made accordion and harmonica popular in Hindi movies. They iconized violins and guitars and I have never found a better utilization of Hawaiian Guitar than in “Ajeeb daastan hai yeh”. However, down the line, from mid-60s, their orchestration became a bit too predictable for me. Violins were going higher and higher, sometime disturbing your audiometric tolerance also.

Also, a shade of low marking goes to SJ due to their choice of singers. No, not Sharda Rajan choice only, a topic which has been beaten to death! J But, because barring a few numbers, I think, they did not explore the beauty of Talat Mehmood, Hemant Kumar, Geeta Dutt , Shamshad Begum and even to some extent Asha Bhosle also- all of them were contemporaries. However, they did explore talents in Sharda, Subir Sen and Suman Kalyanpur- which is audible job! So, some plus and some minus marks on this aspect.

Overall, SJ for me, were Giant music directors and one of the top 5 to have ever graced the industry.

 Points:

• Longevity. – 8/10.
  (Would deduct some points for post-Jaikishen death period).
• Consistency. – 8/10. (Post-1965, would deduct some points, but not much looking at their volume of work).
• Versatility. -10/10.(No doubt.)
• Experimentation and Arrangement.- 7/10. (Although they have popularized many concepts, in terms of experimentation- which we would elaborate with 2-3 MDs later, SJ lags behind a bit. It is more like innovating concepts or trying out different things).
• Genius component/Out of the Box stuff- 6/10. ( We would discuss later why some MDs have scored over a bit here).
• Use of singers- 8/10.
• Originality- 8/10.(Except some here and there scores, SJ have been out and out original composers).
• The “X” Factor- 7/10.- A subjective quotient which describes or specifies a MD. This can be in terms of his universal appeal, popularity, contemporariness and overall charm of his music. SJ is quite high on these criteria as well, as many of their tunes are still evergreen, they still enjoy a great popularity from the current generation and some of their tunes have retained great freshness as well.

Total= 62/80.

4. Madan Mohan:

It might surprise a bit to some, as I had put so much of importance on versatility while discussing SJ, and now I have put MM a notch above them in my personal favouritism. Well, yes, I do deduct marks from Madanji for not being too versatile, but, leaving apart this one point, he has scored superbly well in many other criteria.

First is his consistency. If you remember, while discussing SJ, I did not discuss what happened ater the demise of Jaikishen when Shankar alone was the composer. Also, they were a group of 2 people, so, the talents of both could be shared over the years resulting better consistency. Madan and the other MDs discussed later were alone.  And then, Madan did not have the blessings of working under Big Banners and Big Stars. He majorly worked with average filmmakers with average budgets, except, Raj Khosla and Chetan Anand. So, with lots of resource limitation, Madan gave superb numbers in his career of 25 years.

Madan Mohan never sounded repetitive.  People say he was not comfortable with Western tunes, but listening to “ Ae haseeno nazneeno” or “Tum jo mil gaye ho” or the unreleased “Aaj mujhe jal jaane bhi do”, you know pretty well that this gentleman was really erudite in Western sound and arrangement.

And of course, Lata-Madan combo! What if MM failed to explore too much out of Lata gambit, this one association has taken film music to an altogether different level. Of course, as an impartial assessor, we must deduct some marks for him being too partial with Lata, but should give some extra marks also for exploiting the “Voice of India” so brilliantly. And for male voices, he judiciously extracted good out of many- Rafi, Talat, Manna, Kishore , Mukesh and Bhupinder have all got their fair share of gems from MM.  

• Longevity. – 9/10.
  (Although never been on top, MM was very much there at the helm throughout his career).
• Consistency. – 10/10. (Absolutely no doubt).
• Versatility. -7/10.(Shades of brilliance could be seen in bits and parts everywhere, but thorough delving lacked )
• Experimentation and Arrangement.- 7/10. (It would be wise to say MM’s true beauty lied in him being a puritan and traditional. He was mainly a “solo” composer as 80% of his classics are solo songs).
• Genius component/Out of the Box stuff- 6/10. (Cant call him a genius but he was a maestro in all possible ways. We will explore this genius component later and try to justify why SJ and MM scored a notch low here).
• Use of singers- 7/10. (Recovered some marks for extremely brilliant use of Lata Mangeshkar)
• Originality- 9/10.(Truly original composer, very  few inspirations in his career).
• The “X” Factor- 8/10- MM’s charm remains very much in present generation and so his legacy. His compositions, especially those for Lata, are evergreen. Even a Veer-Zara, a twenty first century film with MM’s music, turned out to be a chartbuster. It tells a lot about his rich legacy.

Total= 63/80.

3. Salil Chowdhury:

Here is an ideal musician on whom I can explain the Genius Component the best. He was one of his kind and one of his kinds. He innovated some concepts which were unparalleled, he brought in things which were unique and he showed some experimentations which were utterly his own. Truly speaking, he was an unconventional music director who could bring beauty in unorthodox music as well.

He was a great perfectionist. Being a Bengali, he brought Bhangra into Hindi films for the first time with “Jaagte Raho”. He introduced the fusion music for the first time when he coupled Raga Bhairavi with Mozart’s 40^th symphony in “Itna na mujhse tu pyar bada”. Saxophone was introduced with Salil Chowdhury in Indian film music. Latin American folk music got its entry with Salil Chowdhury in Indian films. The concept of introducing “Sanchari” in a song( O sajna barkha bahar aayi) was first introduced by Salil and replicated by none thereafter. He was the master of experimentation, innovation and fusion.

He use of singers was very judicious. Except Lata, no other singer could record more than 100 songs with Salil. Yet, talk of Mukesh, Manna, Kishore, Rafi, Yesudas , Talat or Hemant- all have got beautiful songs from Salil.

His sense of rhythm was unputdownable. Although Salil never enjoyed the mass popularity like say, SJ, he was quite versatile with expertise in folk, classical and western. He was mainly a Urban composer, and hardly ventured into any devotional or historical movies. So you never really know how Salil would have responded to a project like Amrapali or Jahan Ara. This was a bit low scoring for him in versatility.

• Longevity. – 7/10.
  (He had a good longevity starting from mid 50s to mid 80s. Thereafter, there was a decline. Both in terms of popularity and creativity. Started recycling his old tunes too much later. Also, even in his prime, Salil was never amongst the top demanded MDs., although being very much in the contention).
• Consistency. – 8/10. (Very consistent, but since his assignments were low, it was a bit easier task for him..:) .
• Versatility. -7/10.(Shades of brilliance could be seen in bits and parts everywhere, but thorough specialization in genres like Ghazal and Qawalli snatched away some marks)
• Experimentation and Arrangement.- 9/10. (Salil was a pioneer in many techniques, sounds and melodies in India.).
• Genius component/Out of the Box stuff- 9/10. (The difference between a maestro and a Genius is a Maestro has handhold on all that is traditional and a Genius creates and masters something which is never defined as traditional. Fusion, Arrangement, Rhythm and Sound- Salil Chowdhury has given a clear cut impression of his genius).
• Use of singers- 8/10. (Considering his limited assignments, I can safely conclude that his rotation of singers was better than Madan. He never overdid with any singer. However, sometimes I felt that he had given some songs to wrong singers)
• Originality- 8/10.(Would give him a notch lower than Madan Mohan here, there have been some inspiration and ahem, copy as well).
• The “X” Factor- 8/10- Salil’s tunes are fresh, modern and never sound out of date. His tunes have got a sort of addictive qualities. He had a contemporary sound and arrangement.

Total= 64/80.

2. Rahul Dev Burman:

A music director who scores amazingly above all in the “X” factor. The RD magic just denies to die even with this generation. A revolutionary composer and a genius, R D Burman, to many of the youth in India, iconizes the Golden Era of Indian music and sometimes, synonymous also. Of course, this is not true, as RD was definitely not the only Great that time, but at least this perception talks volumes of his school of music.

Equally comfortable in all sorts of music- folk, Western, ghazals, qawallis, comic, romantic, philosophical- R D Burman was a phenomenon and his popularity can only be compared to that of Shankar Jaikishen in their prime.

But with all these, I have deducted quite a few marks from RD for being too much inspired sometimes. Although, his inspirations more than often bettered the originals, but still, you must give more marks to those who have invented something entirely original.

But RD definitely gets very good marks for creating some amazingly original tunes with melody maximum. His choice of singers has been most of the times, judicious. He used Asha, Kishore and Lata in huge quantity, but considering his total amount of work- around 350 movies- this can be considered as matter of fact. Also, Rafi, Amit Kumar, Manna De and Bhupinder have got their fair share of gems from RD. But, of course, in female category, Pancham failed to see anything  beyond Lata and Asha, except a few occasions mostly towards the end of his career.

• Longevity. – 8/10.
  He rose to fame in 1966 with Teesri Manzil and his last film, released after his death, again enlivened his true brilliance. I would have deducted some more marks on longevity for Pancham, as his last years were not professionally very amazing, but 1942 ALS makes it look a bit different.
• Consistency. – 7/10. (He had a loss of touch between 1986-1992, I have deducted some marks, but not much, considering his volume of work) .
• Versatility. -9/10.(There is hardly any genre where RD has not ventured, apart from music in mythological movies J)
• Experimentation and Arrangement.- 10/10. (Absolutely path breaking. Concepts like twin track recording, fast breathing between lines, fast forwarding record to make it sound like a child voice, usage of bottles, glasses, water etc to create different sounds of music, fusion with Guitar rhythm in Indian classicals- RD is all about experimentation and arrangement ).
• Genius component/Out of the Box stuff- 9/10. (RD was a genius. He could experiment and get away with it with flying colours. In spite of being a lover of Western music, he has given some sensational classical songs as well).
• Use of singers- 7/10. (Volume of work being huge, RD’s usage has been quite good. Although amongst female singers, he did not explore Suman Kalyanpur, Vani Jairam, Sudha Malhotra,Hemlata etc too much apart from some here and there songs. )
• Originality- 6/10.(You would give him some and take out more. RD has been more than occasionally taken help from Western tunes. Not that SJ or SC have not done that, but Rd’s proportion has been unnecessarily high ).
• The “X” Factor- 10/10- I don’t think this requires a lot of explanation. RD is without fail the most talked about MD of the bygone era and gets full marks for keeping his legacy intact even in the Twentyfirst century.

Total= 66/80.

1. Sachin Dev Burman:

He is the Numero Uno for me, scoring thinly above his illustrious son for the most favourite position. Amazing melody maker, a talent which his son inherited from him.

SD was one music director, who died at his helm. He and Madan Mohan were very much in demand when they expired, but SD was undoubtedly more sought after. From 1946 to 1975, SD had only one challenge to the top spot- his own health. Apart from that, nobody could stop this old man, who in spite of being generations older than the other MDs we have talked of here, gave cut throat competition to them.

Sachin Da’s major talent which some of the MDs lacked was to adjust with the change in generation. He changed his music with time. His music kept on changing, retaining their melody and simple structure but changing the presentation. One big reason why SD was never outdated, not even for a day!

Amazing consistency. I can hardly recall any bad album of SD. Forget bad, even a mediocre album is hard to find. And it is not that he had limited work like Naushad, Khayyam, Jaidev or Roshan that he could maintain quality, he had more than 100 movies released in his career, with non film albums and Bengali movies also having their shares. So, a full marks to this man to maintain such great quality in his career.

The best MD, if you consider the selection of singers. No lifetime compilation of Kishore, Rafi, Lata, Asha, Talat, Hemant, Manna or Geeta can be complete without having at least two songs of S D Burman.  Speaks volumes of his contribution in the biodata of Great singers.

Equally good in different genres, Dada however lost a few marks in versatility as I cannot readily recall any of his Qawalli or his music in any mythological or historical album(What was “Chittor Vijay”?)

• Longevity. – 10/10.
  (No doubt. Always amongst the Top right from 50s to 70s- right until his death)
• Consistency. – 10/10. (Very consistent) .
• Versatility. -7/10.(Shades of brilliance could be seen in bits and parts everywhere, but some genres he absolutely avoided J)
• Experimentation and Arrangement.- 7/10. (Not a great unorthodox school like Salil or Pancham. But his arrangement was quite fresh and served the evergreen purpose).
• Genius component/Out of the Box stuff- 7/10. (Cant call him a genius, as I can hardly remember any concept in music/rhythm/sound which Dada had introduced or innovated. But he was a perfectionist and brought in some new techniques like conversational duets and popularized folk music in Hindi movies).
• Use of singers- 10/10. (Again, a point where he would get best marks. Never overused any singer and composed songs keeping the singer in mind.)
• Originality- 7/10.(Again, like his son he loses some marks. ).
• The “X” Factor- 9/10-SD music is evergreen. The songs he composed are very popular. Clear examples are the songs of Aradhana, Guide, Abhimaan, Jewel Thief, Pyasa etc.  

Total= 67/80.

My Final Favouritism:

1.       S D Burman- 67/80.

2.       R D Burman- 66/80.

3.       Salil Chowdhury-64/80.

4.       Madan Mohan-63/80.

5.       Shankar Jaikishen- 62/80.

	Longevity	Consistency	Versatility	Experimentation	Genius Component	Use of Singers	Originality	The X Factor	Total
S D Burman	10	10	7	7	7	10	7	9	67
R D Burman	8	7	9	10	9	7	6	10	66
Salil Chowdhury	7	8	7	9	9	8	8	8	64
Madan Mohan	9	10	7	7	6	7	9	8	63
Shankar Jaikishen	8	8	10	7	6	8	8	7	62

Some highly deserving people not included:

         Khayyam, Jaidev, Vasant Desai, Hemant Kumar and Roshan- Not too many films.

Again, to conclude, this was only my favouritism and justification behind it and in no way an attempt to rank these legends. I am not at all qualified enough to do that. So, this will only be my viewpoint.