DID AMITABH KILL MELODY?

WHAT DO YOUR EYES SEE IN ME?THE POWER OF MELODY IN HINDI SONGS

This morning I played on my music system that brilliantly rendered song ‘JAANE KYA DHOONDTI RAHTI HAI’ from SHOLA AUR SHABNAM . My mind raced to the 1960’s when I started listening to hindi movie songs seriously . As Kaifi Azmi’s lyrics,Khayyam’s masterly composition and Rafi’s dulcet voice rent the air I must confess I was lost in a different world as Rafisaab sang YE WHO DUNIYA HAI JAHAN PYAAR NAHIN HO SAKTA . I fell into a reverie . How the world has changed I thought . Why is there no melody and meaning in hindi film lyrics today? Or am I being unduly nostalgic for what many of the young of today may call the ‘ bad old days’?

I do admit that one has to change with the times or else one is in danger of being left behind.

But a few more thoughts.

I have a few hypothesis in the subject of the lost golden age of melody.

Firstly the lyrics. Lyricists like Gulzar and Javed Akhtar who may be among the last of a breed of poets, say that there are hardly any situations in films these days that can bring out lyricism of a meaningful variety these days. Thus when Gulzar was asked how he could have churned out a song like KAJRA RE he said what else could be do in films like Bunty aur Babli? .Surely, he implied , Urdu shairi would have been totally out of place in such films..

That brings me to the next point. The sad and impending demise or at least marginalisation of Urdu leaves us with the kind of hindi that is spoken on our streets . I am afraid few can bring out love or longing in day to day Hindi the way an Azmi or Sahir could do in a mix of Urdu and hindi . You may agree that

‘Jiski tasvir nigahon mein liye bathee ho,

main who dildaar nahin uski hoon khamosh chitaa’

is best told in a sprinkling of the most evocative Urdu and Hindi words .

I agree that correlation is not causation but I see a link between the rise of Amitabh Bachhan as a mega star and the decline of the very importance of music in Hindi cinema .Though one can recall a few melodies picturised on the Big B surely he cannot match the songs that Dev Anand,Dilip saab.Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt have endowed us with. I am not blaming Amitabh but such was his voice, personality,and dialogue rendering in themes of violence that he really did not need any great songs to carry a film to box office success. I recall here the way Rafi made ordinary actors like Rajendra Kumar, Biswajeet ,Joy Mukherjee seem to act brilliantly. Rajendra Kumar for example had little to do but lip sync with Rafi for Mere mehboob tujhe to leave his audience swooning at the Minerva cinema –I was witness to my aunt doing precisely that! Rafi saab indirectly ensured silver jubilees.

Am I blaming Amitabh? Definitely not. I recall an interview the star gave to All India radio in which he frankly said that he did not consider it his duty to educate or inspire his audience. He was content with giving the public what it wants.One indication of his and the producers’ priorities is the blurb on the LP record of the songs of DEEWAR .

It said in bold words DIALOGUES FROM ‘DEEWAR’ WITH 5 SONGS !!

What about A.R.Rehman? I believe his argument may not be different from Amitabh’s. But there is hope Rehman has said often that when he composes outside films –like the Vande matram song—he feels he has escaped from the ‘ sea of film music’. One hopes he makes such escapes more often.

Meanwhile the song selection of youngsters in contests holds out hope --almost all of them pitch for old melodies.

Reverting briefly to that song Jaane kya dhoondti Khayyam ruefully said that only he knew how much effort he had to put in to get Rafi to sing that song. He along with R.D.Burman were among the very few who had some negative comments to make about Ravisaab. But an all time classic is worth rehearsing dozens of times. Jane kya will never be forgotten as long as lovers anywhere face disappointment !

As I write this piece comes wafting that other unforgettable melody UTHAYE JAA UNKE SITAM .

Silence please.

K.R.RAVI

WWW.KRRAVI.COM