A proper soundtrack at last!
The music of Neeraj Pandey’s Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha is a refreshing original film soundtrack at last—it has three original songs, one of them in three parts, and thus totaling five. The music is by Oscar winner M.M. Kreem, the lyrics by Manoj Muntashir, who clearly got a free hand and a story with depth after long. The singers too have given their all, especially in the raag-suffused ‘Kisi roz’, beautifully rendered by a new talent, Maithili Thakur.
Trivia Tunes: When Anuradha Paudwal replaced Lata Mangeshkar in Subhash Ghai’s Hero
The film also has another example of a song where a dubbing artiste got to sing the final version as well. Amala Chebolu from the South sang a version of ‘Ae dil zaraa’ (the song that is in three versions) and she did it so well that the director and composer decided to retain her voice.
Anuradha’s ‘young’ voice for Meenakshi Seshadri
Until the 1990s, it was a done thing that Lata Mangeshkar was the first playback voice of choice for actresses across generations, from a Saira Banu to a Raveena Tandon. In the early 1980s, Anuradha Paudwal dubbed ‘Tu mera jaanu hai’ for Hero, as Lata was to sing it for Meenakshi Seshadri later—Lata had already sung for Meenakshi’s debut film, Painter Babu. But those who heard the song at the launch event complimented the young voice and filmmaker Subhash Ghai and Laxmikant-Pyraelal took a decision: Anuradha’s voice was retained in the chartbuster title duet with Manhar!
Those rare dhamakas
And speaking of great soundtracks, one can’t help noting and remembering those small but great composers who scored those rare tour-de-forces that got huge acclaim probably just once or twice in their lifetimes. Names like C. Arjun (Jai Santoshi Maa), Ghulam Mohammed (Pakeezah), Prem Dhawan (Shaheed), Daan Singh (My Love), Sapan Chakravorty (Zameer), Jai Kumar Parte (Jaan Haazir Hai), Ismail Darbar (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdas), Dr. Bhupen Hazarika in Hindi (Rudaali) and, comparatively recently, Roopkumar Rathod in cinema (Madhoshi). They may be just the add-on garnish of salt, pepper or pickle in the giant thali that Hindi film music is, but they cannot be ignored!
The evergreen team that was delayed
Debuts can be dicey. Shammi Kapoor made his debut in 1953 with Rail Ka Dibba with music by Ghulam Mohammed. The first film that he signed was S.D. Burman’s Jeevan Jyoti, which released later that year. It was with Ujala (1959), by which time Shammi had hit big time with the 1957 Tumsa Nahin Dekha with O.P. Nayyar’s music, that he got to do his first film with his soon-to-be favourite composers, Shankar-Jaikishan. Four of every five films he did as a big star later had their music all the way to the early 1970s.
But this was destiny’s quirk of delaying the association until a more flamboyant 1960s! Because Shammi’s debut film was to be Main Aur Woh, with the duo, and it never got made!
How a film metamorphoses
In Diwali 1973, the film newspaper Screen announced on the first page that noted filmmaker Mohan Kumar’s brother, Sudarshan Kumar, was to start a huge film with Dharmendra, Shashi Kapoor and Zeenat Aman in the leads. Shammi Kapoor, then directing Manoranjan, was to direct the movie with music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal. But there were production hassles and creative differences and Shammi walked out. Mohan Kumar stepped in.
But the film never took off. Much later, when I met Mohan Kumar, he told me that he finally produced the modified the subject as Aap To Aise Na The (1980), with his assistant Ambrish Sangal directing it. Raj Babbar, Deepak Parasher and Ranjeeta were in the leads, and the film had popular music by Usha Khanna. The Mohammed Rafi version of the three-part ‘Tu jis tarah se’ remains evergreen.
Anand-Milind’s ‘justified’ claim!
Anand-Milind, in witty mode, recently asked me who I thought were the top composers today. Sensing a witty instead of the obvious answer, I asked them their view and they grinned and said, “Anand-Milind”. They cited two recent examples—‘Gore gore mukhde pe kaala kaala chashma’ from Suhaag (1994), which has been re-created in Ishq Vishk Rebound and ‘Sona kitna sona hai’ from Hero No. 1 (1997) used in Crew! “There are other examples in the past as well!” they added, opining that when songs are re-created, the original composer and lyricist, if available, should be first summoned to do the job—and be paid on par with the ‘re-creator’, which is not the case today.
When the originals participated—yet did not!
Anand-Milind may be justified about their view on re-creations, but Rajesh Roshan chose not to “re-create” his own songs (‘Dil kya karen’ from Julie, re-created with the title, ‘Kisi se pyar ho jaaye’ and ‘Saara zamana’ from Yaarana, re-created as ‘Haseenon ka deewana’ in his brother Rakesh Roshan’s production, Kaabil). But he just might have overviewed the songs re-done by Gourov-Roshin. Anu Malik sang one of his two re-creations (done by someone else) in Judwaa 2, and so did Bappi Lahiri in Golmaal 3. It was in Chandni Chowk To China that Bappi re-created his own iconic ‘Bombay se aaya mera dost’ from Aap Ki Khatir as ‘India se aaya mera dost’. And Pritam was the composer again in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 and re-created two of his own songs, one of them with the ubiquitous re-creation man, Tanishk Bagchi!
Also Read: Trivia Tunes: From Pritam letting go of Jawan and Animal to Mahendra Kapoor song being compulsory in BR Films
BOLLYWOOD NEWS – LIVE UPDATES
Catch us for latest Bollywood News, New Bollywood Movies update, Box office collection, New Movies Release , Bollywood News Hindi, Entertainment News, Bollywood Live News Today & Upcoming Movies 2024 and stay updated with latest hindi movies only on Bollywood Hungama.
Source Agencies
