Lockdown Legends ( Day 20) : Booming Beginnings

Over the years, so many music directors have worked int he film industry. All artistes, including composers, have a career graph from debut to swansong, which has a pattern, generally. In most cases, rather 90% of them, the debut is not spectacular. Actors are launched, specially if they are star kids and only a few of them vindicate the effort.

In case of music directors, the first few films are generally seen to be lukewarm and if they persist, they do get to have projects , some of which my result in their songs to become popular. Thereafter, it is a mix of hardwork and luck.

However, there have been music directors, at least one in each decade from the 40s, who have had an explosive debut and have continued their success in latter years. Today we shall examine the cases of 3 such composers.

1940s: In late 40s, Raj Kapoor , fresh from one film under his belt( Aag) was planning his next big project. Ram Ganguly had composed music for Aag and was also working in the new project. Difference crept up after purported leakage of a couple of tunes and Raj bade Ram goodbye.

The replacement was the composer duo, who were assistants in Aag and went by the names of Shankar jaikishan and the film was....yes, of course...Barsaat, released in 1949.

Like all things with the Showman Raj kapoor, scale of the film was extravagant. The music had to keep pace with the grandeur of the project. The lead pair Raj and Nargis were having a great chemistry and the songs had to reflect the same. Added to this was the second heroine Nimmi who had an important role with songs picturised on her and songs on Nimmi also had to be effective.

All the 10 songs in the film very popular and the film itself was the highest grossing films of 1949.

Let me recall the ten songs  ( one better than the other)  and one songlet, with an extended alaap.

1. Hawa mein udta jaaye 
2. Jiya beqarar hai , chhayi bahar hai 
3. Barasat mein, hamse mile tum  
4. BichhaDe huye paradesi  ik baar  
5. O o o o mujhe kisii se pyaar ho    
6. Meri aankhon mein bas gayaa  koi re 
7. Tirchhii nazar hai patali kamar hai 
8. Main zindagi  mein hardam rotaa hi raha hoon
9. Ab meraa kaun sahaaraa 
10. Chhod gaye baalam mujhe haaye akela chhod gaye  and
    
     the songlet 
    Prem nagar mein basane vaalo  
    
    

Lata Mangeshkar dominated the parade ( Except the Rafi solo at No.8, all songs had Lata's vocals) and never looked back. Interestingly, this was the year Lata actually arrived. Statistically speaking,, she had sung 66 songs from 1945 to 1948 and she sang 161 songs in 1949 !

Barsaat competed with the music of Andaz ( Jhoom jhoom ke naacho aaj and others by Naushad), Mahal (Aayega aanewala and others by  Khemchand Prakash), Dillagi( Tu mera chand , main teri chandni and others  by Naushad) , Badi behen ( Chup chup kahde ho and others by Husnlal-Bhagatram)  and Dulari( Suhani raat dhal chuki and others by Naushad) , to name a few. Barsaat outshone almost all of them in terms of both quality and quantity, as well as giving the competition a run for their money !

This has been the most impressive debut by any composer ever, in Hindi film music.

Listen to the songlet, for a change, and marvel on the ethereal Lata !

The 50s was a period when the maximum number of music directors, who became popular in the 60s had debuted. But none of them were able to have a debut which would shake the   Hindi film fans to sit up and take note of the greenhorn.

Except one, probably...
And she was Usha Khanna !

Female music directors in Hindi films were not known to occur except Saraswati Devi, way back  in the 30s. Actually, Jaddanbai  ( mother of actress Nargis) was he first female music director when her film Talash-e-haq was released in 1935. Saraswati Devi's film Jawni ki hawa followed, close on heels, in 1935.   

Almost 25 years later, another female music director handled the baton for the film Dil Deke Dekho ( 1959). Usha's  father, Manohar Khanna, was a lyricist and singer,who  started to write  Ghazals for Hindi films by the name, Jaaved Anwar when  Jaddanabi offered him Rs. 800 for 3 ghazals   for Jaddanbai's home production  Romeo and  Juliet (1947), starring Nargis. .  

The popular music director O.P.Nayyar introduced Usha Khanna to Sashadhar Mukherji .  She sang a song for Mukherjee, and when he realised that she had composed the song on her own, he  signed her as the composer for her debut film, which also introduced the actress Asha Parekh.She was pitted in a screen test with another newcomer - Sadhana. Asha Parekh clinched the role when did well in the audition while Sadhana didn't turn up for it.

The film had 10 songs, out of which 4 were very popular. By this time Binaca Geetmala had been on air since last 5 years and was a barometer of popularity of Hindi film songs.
Three songs of Dil Deke Dekho notched up slots in Binaca Geetmala ( Dil deke dekho in 1959 and Bade hain dilke kaale and Pyar ho to kehdo yes in 1960 edition). Rafi's yaar chulbula hai was also popular, making the album a sell-out and Usha Khanna , an instant celebrity.

                                        

The 60s saw the debut of Laxmikant Pyarelal, one of the most successful composers of all times who had a great debut in Parasmani (1963) 

After the death of his father, Laxmikant  was advised by his father's friend, a musician himself,   to learn music. Accordingly, Laxmikant learned to play the mandolin. He spent two years in the company of the well-known mandolin player Hussain Ali. He began organising and performing in Indian Classical instrumental music concerts to earn some money. Later, in the 1940s, he also learned mandolin from Bal Mukund Indorker and violin from Husnalal (of theHusnlal-Bhagatram  fame). He was discovered by Lata Mangeshkar at the age of 10 and he met Pyarelal at Sureel Kala Kendra, an academy run by Lata’s family.

Pyarelal, the son of a renowned trumpeter Pandit Ramprasad Sharma (popularly known as Babaji), who taught him the basics of music. He started learning violin at the age of 8 and practised it 8 to 12 hours daily. He learnt to play violin from a Goan musician named Anthony Gonsalves.

Laxmikant–Pyarelal's first film as music directors was not released. The first released movie which featured them as music directors was Parasmani (1963), which was a costume drama. All the 6 songs of the film became immensely popular,  . "Hasata Hua Nurani Chehara", "Wo Jab Yaad Aaye" ,  "Mere Dil Main Halki Si". " Ui maa Ui maa ye kya ho gaya"," Roshan tumhi se duniya" and " Chori chori jo tumse mili to log kya kahenge", all were played on Vividh Bharti incessantly and this was one of the most explosive debuts. 

In the later decades, the best debuts were Rajesh Roshan ( Kunwara Baap in the 70s), Shiv Hari ( Silsila in the 80s) and A.R.Rahman( Roja  in the 90s)
Wo kahani phir sahi...