Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Lockdown Legends ( Day 8) : Castaway Composer


This is the story of a maestro who saw good and bad times, despite being one of the celebrated musicians in the 60s. I am referring to Ramlal and if the name still did not strike a chord, it will...in a few moments.

Ramlal Chaudhary, skilled in playing flute and shehnai,   came to Mumbai in 1944 and got a job in Prithviraj Kapoor's Prithivi Theatre Group as an assistant to music director Ram Ganguly. With Ganguly, he played the flute in popular songs such as 'Dekh Chaand Ki Oar' Sung by Shamshaad Begam and Shailesh ,  'Zindaa Hoon is Tarah Ki Ghame Zindagi Nahin ' sung by Mukesh and 'Kaahe Koyaliyaa Shor Machaae Re', sung by Shamshaad Begum.
As a full-fledged music director, he first landed a film  with producer P L Santoshi's  Raj Kapoor-Vaijayantimala starrer 'Tangaawalla' in 1950. He recorded six songs for this film. Unfortunately, the movie was never released. In between, he played continued to play the flute and shehani in various films.He got a few films, beginning with Husn Banoo( 1956) in which he used  the Tangawala compositions. In 1960, he gave a  score in  Maya Machhindra , which had melodious, if not popular songs. This song was completed in just 15 minutes as Lata Mangeshkar had to go for another recording and Ramlal promised her to record the song in that period only !


Ramlal was destined for fame , which was came to him after 3 more years of struggle,  with the release of his film Sehra ( 1963). Produced and directed by V.Shantaram , who had an  ear for music, had confidence in the ability of Ramlala. He was right because Sehra is one of the iconic scores in the annals of Hindi film music with the songs Taqdeer ka fasana jaa kar kise sunaayein , Tum to pyar ho sajna and Ja ja re tujhe hum jaan gaye. But the piece de resistance was this Lata solo, which will certainly go down as one of the 10 most melodious songs in Hindi film music, ever ! 






Close on the heels of Sehra, Ramlal got repeated in V.Shantaram's Geet Gaya Pattharon ne ( 1964) , which again had path-breaking melodies. Kishori Amonkar the vocal exponent in classical music performed the title song of the film , which had  other popular ( and equally melodious ) songs. 
This was the first Hindi film song sung by Kishori Amonkar. She would work in only one other Hindi film after this, when she composed the music and sang songs for "Drishti" (1991).The title song sung by her was one of the top ten hit songs ( and easily  the most melodious out of them )  in the Annual Hit Parade Binaca Geetmala, the only such programme in those times.




It is indeed, surprising that this was the last film of Ramlal. Whether he was under a contract with V.Shantaram which prevented him from composing films for other producers or he just didn't get any offers , the moot point is that this was his swansong, as far as composing music is concerned.
Some say, he found himself out of the industry due to the machinations of some powerful music directors and renowned producers. 

He decided to produce his own film. With a partner, Charles, he started the film, 'Tyagi' under the banner, 'Panna pictures.' but after some time, the partner left him stranded. Ramlal lost about Rs 60,000 in the project and a whisper campaign started in the industry that as producer, he could not do justice to his films.

He got no more films.


In 2007, he died at the age of 85, a broken and penniless virtuoso.

Leaving you with his song which became prophetic, as far as he was concerned.


PS: You can listen to his interview at the following link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lltKRbUp9-c
































Then came producer-director V Shantaram's 'Sehara'.It was a superhit film. 'Pankh Hoti to Udd Jaati Re O Rasiya Jaalimaa' sung by none other than Lata Mangeshkar, 'Takdeer Ka Phasaana Jaakar Kise Sunaaen' sung by Mohammad Rafi, 'Tum To Pyaar Ho Sajana' rendered by Mohammad Rafi and Lata and other songs brought Choudhary international fame.
One more feather was added to his cap with V Shantaram's 'Geet Gaaya Pattharon Ne' released in 1965. Mr Choudhary recorded 'Tere Khayalo Mein Hum' sung by Asha Bhosale, 'Saanson Ke Taar Par' and 'Dhadakan Ki Taal Par' sung by Asha Bhosale and Mahendra Kapoor were all popular numbers of those days.

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