Tuesday, September 22, 2009

HASRAT JAIPURI


Raja of romance
He was the uncrowned king of romantic numbers. But Hasrat Jaipuri, whose 10th death anniversary fell on September 17, was also much more than that. And perhaps he never got his due in a milleu where flowery shaayari ruledHasrat Jaipuri was the underdog of the legendary Shankar-Jaikishan-Hasrat-Shailendra quartet that ruled from their joint 1949 debut Barsaat till the late ‘60s and is unanimously considered as the fountainhead of modern film music.
The legendary lyricists can be broadly split into three groups: the kavis, the Hindi-based writers whose work often had deep philosophical insights, the Urdu-based shaayars whose special strengths were romance, the craft of flowery verse and later even cynicism, and those who balanced Urdu and Hindi with equal felicity. Among these, Hasrat Jaipuri was a bit of a rebel - he never wrote high-flown Urdu, nor was he into philosophy. And so he suffered. His supple romantic numbers seemingly stood low in comparison to the depth of a Shailendra.
And yet a Doctorate from the World University Round Table and the Josh Mahilabadi award from the Urdu conference for his literary work seemed to be vindication enough for Hasrat’s all-round calibre along with the Dr Ambedkar award for the song Jhanak jhanak tori baaje payaliya from Mere Huzoor, written in a blend of Hindi and Brijbhasha for a Muslim social! But when one of his eminent contemporaries wrote him off as a mere tukbandi karnewala (a cheap rhymester), one bristled at the injustice.
Hasrat Jaipuri’s real name was Iqbal Hussain and he had acquired taalim in Persian and Urdu from his grandfather Fida Husain in hometown Jaipur. It is said that romantics are born, and Hasrat was just 20 when he fell in love with a girl called Radha and wrote the poem Yeh mera prem patra padhkar that was immortalized by Shankar-Jaikishan, Mohammed Rafi and Raj Kapoor in Sangam.
Hasratsaab never discriminated between religion or languages. “Hindi and Urdu are like inseparable sisters!” he would say. And about Radha, he said eloquently, “It is not at all necessary that a Muslim boy had to fall in love only with a Muslim girl!” Hasrat’s struggle in Mumbai ended when Prithviraj Kapoor heard his verse at a mushaira and introduced him to son Raj Kapoor at the Royal Opera House
canteen where the former would stage his plays. The result was Barsaat. But Hasrat continued with his job - as a bus conductor! - even though Raj Kapoor predicted that both Hasrat and Shailendra would be flooded with work. “Rajsaab had more confidence in Shailendra and me than we did in ourselves!” the lyricist had told me. “What he said came true!”
Hasrat wrote over 2000 songs in over 350 films in a career that lasted 50 long years. He worked very infrequently towards the end because of a combination of factors - the lack of need to work (because he was financially comfortable) and also because he was not called to write often by the new breed of music directors (which included his nephew Anu Malik) and filmmakers. “I did not have to run after music companies or anyone else for work!” said the master-lyricist. Saazish (Jatin-Lalit) and Sher Khan (Bappi Lahiri) were his last releases in 1998. His last memorable songs were Rahaa jo dil mein (Mohabbat Ki Arzoo/ Laxmikant-Pyarelal) and Paas woh aane lage zara zara (Main Khiladi Tu Anari/Anu Malik).
Such was the volume and range of S-J’s work with Shailendra and him that Hasrat Jaipuri’s work outside them was restricted due to practical aspects. And yet he hit towering highs under other composers from the biggest to the smallest names, among them being films like V.Shantaram’s Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (Vasant Desai), Sehra and Geet Gaya Pattharon Ne (Ramlal), Ziddi and Tere Ghar ke Saamne (S.D.Burman) and Bhoot Bungla (R.D.Burman) and landmark songs like Aansoo bhari hain in Parvarish (Dattaram), Aisa na ho ke (Aakhri dao/Laxmikant-Pyarelal), Samaa hai suhana suhana (Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani/Kalyanji-Anandji), Jiske sapne hamein (Geet/Kalyanji-Anandji), Tu mere saamne hai and Tumhi to meri pooja ho (Suhagan/Madan Mohan), Mohabbat aisi dhadkan hai (Anarkali/ C.Ramachandra), Sun sahiba sun (Ram Teri Ganga Maili/Ravindra Jain) and many more.“I worked with the most number of composers,” revealed the poet. “From Khayyam and Sajjad through O.P.Nayyar and all the way till Jatin-Lalit I did films with them all. But there was no one to beat the four of us - Shankar, Jai, Shailendra and I - for 20 long years!”
Posted: Sep 18, 2009 at 1429 hrs IST

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Srigopal Shroty's tribute to Shailendra, Mohd Rafi & Mukesh


TODAY is Shailendra’s birthday, 30th august….it is coincidence when there are two friends, and something similar happens between them, which breaks the hearts…..Jaikishan and Shailendra….Jaikishan composed in 1971 ”maut aani hai aayegi ek din, jaan jaani hai jayegi ek din, aisi baaton se kya ghabarana, yehan kal kya ho kisne jana” and Shailendra wrote 5 years later ‘’sajan re jhooth mat balo, khuda ke paas jaana hai, na hathi hai na ghoda hai, vahan paidal hi jana hai”…..and see the irony, both went untimely, one after composing the song and another after writing the song….
Shailendra’s story is also like his many colleagues–from rag to riches….here comes the word ”genius” and it was not an easy go….it was like all sweating in rains…..then emerged the words from his pen ”raaten dason dishaon se kahengi apni kahaniya, geet hamare pyar ke dohrayengi jawaniyan”…yes when this came on the radio some 40 years back and now on tv after 53 years of its creation, the feet stops automatically and eyes on tv screen to see that grandeur created by his mentor Raj Kapoor and his colleagues Shankar Jaikishan with violins echoing the RIMJHIM of rains….then the mind goes to Shailendra to congratulate him on this immortal wordings ….Oh, but is he there? can we say ”happy birthday to you”? the question mark is the DESTINY.
Shailendra was poet by heart, who cud write ”dil pe marne wale marenge bhikhari, sach hai duniya walon ke ham hain ANARI”….He did not write these lines for Raj Kapoor, but for himself, otherwise he would not have ventured to produce ”teesari kasam”, despite persuation by Raj sahab and others who knew soft corner of his heart and his naive nature against producing a film, to avoid the project or let others take the production charge, secondly the name of the story by Renuji was coincidentally again heart-breaking ”MAARE GAYE GULFAM”…..nay, destiny wanted him near Jaikishan, in whose Gobind Mahal, he used to go daily at 10 am with cigarette in one hand….this was his routine….remember again his philosophy on the end of life in his own songs ”naiya teri majhdhar, hoshiyar”…”yaa gardish mein bhi aasman ka taara hoon”..”khamoshi ka yeh afsana reh jayega baad mere”,…… ”ke marke bhi kisikoyaad aayenge, kisi ke aansuon me muskerayenge”…….”der na karna kahin ye aas toot jaaye, saans choot haye”…”.ai mere dil kahin aur chal, gham ki duniya se dil bhar gaya, dhoondh le ab koi ghar naya”…..”tum se to patanga achchha hai jo hanste hue jal jata hai, voh pyar mein mit to jata hai per naam amar kar jaata hai”…..”bahut diya dene wale ne tujhko, aanchal hi na samaye to kya keejei”…..”jeena yehan marna yehan, iske siva jaana kahan”…..and ” ham to jaate apne gaon, sabko ram ram ram, apni ram ram ram…..”( A tribute with countless more songs from his pen)………


As versatile were S-J, so was the great singer Mohd Rafi, in hindi film music….he wud adapt to any type of song, serious, lori, light or other boisterous songs to be filmed on different heroes….therefore the image remains in mind of the hero who lip-synchronised his voice….he was God gifted singer and Shankar Jaikishan fully utilised his potential to the extent, that for them it was Rafi all around, besides Mukesh and Mannada.
I remember his lori in ‘beti bete’, ”aaj kak mein dhal gaya”, which he sang in so soft a voice that it was difficult for any singer to copy him….he excels Lata in voice, as she also sang the same lori in that film….how beautiful that time was when a song heavenly made was repeated in the male or female voice and that were Rafi and Lata. Rafi saab made many heroes immortal and when that song comes on radio, the hero’s image comes to mind….may be they are raj kapoor, dilip kumar, dev anand, rajendra kumar, bharat bhushan, pradeep kumar, mehmood, shammi kapoor, rajesh khanna, dharmendra, amitabh bachhan, rishi kapoor and many more. His tuning with S-J was great as recalls Shammi Kapoor….’’so distinct was his style when he sang for me….there were a number of songs which were not sung for me but i liked them very much…in fact i wud have loved to sing them! one of these is TERI PYARI PYARI SURAT KO. When Jaikishan composed the song, I said, ’stupid! u are giving that song to rajendra kumar to sing! next he is to sing it to B Saroja Devi! my god!”…”Then there was ‘baharon phool barsao mera mehboob aaya hai’. I wud say, my god, what are you doing, these are my songs! And there were other songs that were not made for me but came to me finally. For the film Suraj, there was a duet. Rafi sahab sang it, but Rajendra Kumar said, ‘nahin, it doesn’t go with this picture, I don’t like it’. Jaikishan was sitting at my place and we were having a drink. Jai said to me, ‘for the first time in my life, a song of mine was rejected’, ‘i said i would like to hear it’. It was lying in his car. he brought the song and i heard it and said ‘it’s mine! i have taken over’ I put it in Brahmchari. the song was -aaj kal tere mere pyar ke charche har zabaan par- that was the song i took from Suraj. it was a superhit song! and Rafi sahab hadn’t sung that for me.” Generally Shammi Kapoor was present at the recording of his songs by Rafi Sahab, but when he was busy in shooting, he wud phone to Jaikishan to request Rafi sahab to sing the song ”like this…and like that” and when he heard it later, it was hundred percent of his imagination that Rafi sahab turned it to his style…



The voice that has no end…still when we hear Mukesh, the golden era comes alive…even there are thousands of youngsters fans of his voice.
We have not found a replacment for him..The imitators are many. But the sound of music and magic made by the original Mukesh endures as never before. HIS SONGS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES. There was something languorously lingering about Mukesh’s voice. Humulity was his hallmark…It left him with an open ear to all composers, may be Shankar Jaikishan, Anil Biswas or Kalyanji Anandji. He cud adjust to all.
THIS IS MY HUMBLE REMEMBRANCE ON HIS BIRTHDAY i.e.22 JULY.MUKESH DETRACTORS WERE MANY. THAT too many top composers like C Ramchandra did not tune with him at all. But then Anil Biswas was C Ramchandra’s mentor and Anil B iswas presented Mukesh at his sonorous best, starting with Saigal-style ”Dil jalta hai to jalne de”(in pehli nazar). What a surpassingly resonant experience it was to hear Mukesh in ”tal mile nadi ke jal mein” (anokhi raat-Roshan).
Not for nothing did Raj Kapoor pick MUKESH up as the voice reflecting his Atma. Take Raj K apoor playing DIWANA (opposite saira banu). Take in that movie, Jaikishan’s ”Ai sanam jisne tujhe chand si surat di hai” and Shankar’s ”ham to jaate apne gaon, sabko raam raam raam”. The two compositions belong to the two antithetic genres – to two composers diametrically different in their tuning outlook even in the face of going by the label of the inseparable Shankar-Jaikishan. Yet Mukesh’s approach was exactly as indicated by Shankar for ”ham to jaate apne gaon”, exactly as required by Jaikishan for ”Ai sanam jisne tujhe”…….to continue

When the Filmfare Best Playback Singer Award was first introduced in 1958, both male and female singers had to compete for the same award. The competition was thus doubly keen in the years 1958 and 1959. Lata won the award in 1958 for ‘Aaja re perdesi’-Madhumati-Salil Chaudhary number. Next year in 1959, the Award went to Mukesh, who put all rival voices, male and female in the shade with the runaway hit by Shankar Jaikishan, starring Raj Kapoor……?….song ‘Sab kuchh seekha hamne na seekhi hoshiari’ film Anari.
-There was a spell during which Lata did not sing for Shankar. Yet Mukesh managed to persuade Lata to sing for Shankar in ‘Sanyasi’. This is inspite of the fact that his duets with Lata in the film offerred him little scope as a singer. Pl recall the Lata-Mukesh ‘SANYASI’ duet with which Lata began singing for Shankar again?…..”Sun baal brahmchari main hoon kanya kunwari’.
-A Mukesh number composed by Shankar came to be an all time classic which was filmed on Dilip Kumar. But Dilip wanted Talat Myhmood to sing it, while Shankar wanted Mukesh, since he has composed the tune for his voice. At the toss of a coin it was decided Mukesh wud sing the song……song and the film?….’ye mera deewanapan hai ya muhabbat ka suroor’-Yahudi.
-Mukesh has gone on record as saying that most of the themes songs of the Shankar Jaikishan duo were composed by Shankar. Yet there were three theme songs filmed on Raj Kapoor and sung by Mukesh that were composed by Jaikishan….songs and films? …’Awara Hoon’(Awara), ‘Main aashiq hoon baharon ka’ (Aashiq), ‘Mere man ki ganga’ (Sangam)…….

Srigopal Shroty's tribute to Shailendra on his birth day on 30th August 2009


TODAY is Shailendra’s birthday, 30th august….it is coincidence when there are two friends, and something similar happens between them, which breaks the hearts…..Jaikishan and Shailendra….Jaikishan composed in 1971 ”maut aani hai aayegi ek din, jaan jaani hai jayegi ek din, aisi baaton se kya ghabarana, yehan kal kya ho kisne jana” and Shailendra wrote 5 years later ‘’sajan re jhooth mat balo, khuda ke paas jaana hai, na hathi hai na ghoda hai, vahan paidal hi jana hai”…..and see the irony, both went untimely, one after composing the song and another after writing the song….
Shailendra’s story is also like his many colleagues–from rag to riches….here comes the word ”genius” and it was not an easy go….it was like all sweating in rains…..then emerged the words from his pen ”raaten dason dishaon se kahengi apni kahaniya, geet hamare pyar ke dohrayengi jawaniyan”…yes when this came on the radio some 40 years back and now on tv after 53 years of its creation, the feet stops automatically and eyes on tv screen to see that grandeur created by his mentor Raj Kapoor and his colleagues Shankar Jaikishan with violins echoing the RIMJHIM of rains….then the mind goes to Shailendra to congratulate him on this immortal wordings ….Oh, but is he there? can we say ”happy birthday to you”? the question mark is the DESTINY.
Shailendra was poet by heart, who cud write ”dil pe marne wale marenge bhikhari, sach hai duniya walon ke ham hain ANARI”….He did not write these lines for Raj Kapoor, but for himself, otherwise he would not have ventured to produce ”teesari kasam”, despite persuation by Raj sahab and others who knew soft corner of his heart and his naive nature against producing a film, to avoid the project or let others take the production charge, secondly the name of the story by Renuji was coincidentally again heart-breaking ”MAARE GAYE GULFAM”…..nay, destiny wanted him near Jaikishan, in whose Gobind Mahal, he used to go daily at 10 am with cigarette in one hand….this was his routine….remember again his philosophy on the end of life in his own songs ”naiya teri majhdhar, hoshiyar”…”yaa gardish mein bhi aasman ka taara hoon”..”khamoshi ka yeh afsana reh jayega baad mere”,…… ”ke marke bhi kisikoyaad aayenge, kisi ke aansuon me muskerayenge”…….”der na karna kahin ye aas toot jaaye, saans choot haye”…”.ai mere dil kahin aur chal, gham ki duniya se dil bhar gaya, dhoondh le ab koi ghar naya”…..”tum se to patanga achchha hai jo hanste hue jal jata hai, voh pyar mein mit to jata hai per naam amar kar jaata hai”…..”bahut diya dene wale ne tujhko, aanchal hi na samaye to kya keejei”…..”jeena yehan marna yehan, iske siva jaana kahan”…..and ” ham to jaate apne gaon, sabko ram ram ram, apni ram ram ram…..”( A tribute with countless more songs from his pen)………