InDepth

Before we reached the venue, we did not know much about them; how they organize a festival, or how they decorate the idols, or how they bring in a family-like feel, or how they greet all the devotees. So it was a classic case of ‘no expectations’, really! As each unexpected thing brings, this one too did – yes, it brought lots of surprises, and I assure you, they were all fascinating ones. A young boy and family of two were present to greet us, hold our hands and let us in. The smiles on their faces were very pure, almost pristine. For us, it felt like we had come out of our homes in Malmö, and we were just entering into a new home in Copenhagen, where the Bengali Cultural Association, who were hosting Durga Puja (the most important and the most awaited festival of the Bengalis, notwithstanding the part of the world they are living in) in the heart of the Danish capital, were welcoming us to the very center of a celebration, which by all means, they wanted to celebrate with all – y...

Shakti Films and O.P.Nayyar Incidentally, Kashmir Ki Kali was not the first film where O P Nayyar collaborated with Shakti Samanta. There was previously another film,  Howrah Bridge (1958) , a thriller where O P gave music to Shakti Samanta. Ironically, Howrah Bridge was also the first film under the banner of Shakti Films -  a production house that Shakti Samanta launched and which, with the passage of time, and thanks to various sparkling hits that came in the years to follow -  became a big brand within the Indian Film Industry. Today, it is needless to say how much O.P contributed to the initial days of Shakti Films. The film was a runaway hit and Shakti Samanta started to make his mark among the other star directors of that era. I have mentioned about “Aaiye meherbaan” already before but there were other lilting tunes in the soundtrack of Howrah Bridge. One of them was the beautiful “Yeh kya kar dala tune” sung by Asha Bhonsle; a breezy tune that grows i...

O.P.Nayyar's amazing run at the box office was somewhat halted by the Shakti Samanta failure “Kashmir Ki Kali” . Despite the fact that the movie had some of the most exquisite songs ever composed for Indian cinema, it failed to do well on the business front [Contrary information also exists which states that the movie was rather a big success].  The songs have a very special place in my heart. Back in my childhood days, I had a friend in my school who was a big fan of Rafi and he used to tell me about songs from this film. I, on the contrary, was growing up more listening to Bengali songs and some Bhajans (devotional songs) and had little exposure to Rafi’s song until one day the Doordarshan (India's national TV channel, and the only one present those days) decided to telecast the movie Kashmir Ki Kali on TV! I watched the entire movie and liked all the songs in that.  The effect that those songs had in me was just fantastic. I kept on humming the song “Kisi na kisi se kabhi ...

Nayyar-sahab followed his tremendous success of “ Aar Paar ” with another gem of a soundtrack in the film “Mr and Mrs 55” . I think I should write some more words about the songs of these two films. “Babuji dheere chalna” was my mom’s favorite song for a long time. It was one of those songs that had my most favorite actress of all time, the great Madhubala and it was sung by my grandmother’s most favorite playback singer, the late Geeta Dutt. I have been hearing Geeta Dutt since my childhood. Listening to her songs has given me immense satisfaction. Over here, in this song, several great things come together. First, it is the masterful presence of Madhubaala and her acting on screen. Next, it is the excellent piece of cinematography by V K Murthy, a legend in his field. The camera captures the mood of this song in the absolutely correct way. Then, it is this amazing orchestration that is so intelligent and way beyond its time. Finally, it is the cupid-struck facial expressions of G...

                   Music is definitely one way to attain self-containment and it does have some kind of spiritual quality to emancipate oneself from the shackles of prosaic, incumbent surroundings. I have no doubt in my mind that the strongest motivation behind the creation of all these century-old Indian Raaga-s comes from the fact that the saints and hermits in those days wanted to attain some kind of “Nirvaana” in an uncomplicated way and hence they selected music as an instrument. What fascinates me more is the fact that these Raaga-s (a patterned collection of certain notes) are very well thought out and designed to accommodate several aspects of human life like laughter, anguish, pain, sorrow, joy etc.  Musicians like Naushad utilized this inner core quality of Indian Raaga music in the best possible way together with such minds like Mehboob Khan and K Asif. While all this was happening across the music scene, there was a par...

In today’s edition I take great pleasure in opening a few rather unknown chapters of a book named “Indian Film Music”. The chapters are quite interesting. In these chapters, I will tell a little story, mention about a few incidents, and put forward a few views. The end is going to be abrupt because there is no need to draw any deep inference – they are just for reading and feeling good. Chapter 1 In his entire career the seminal music composer Sachin Dev Burman used very little voice of singer Mukesh. Mukesh was S.D. Burman’s choice and voice in such films as  Bambai Ka Babu  ( Chal ri sajni…. ),  Bandini  ( O jaanewale ho sake to laut ke aana… ). Clearly, as we can see, only these two come to my immediate recollection. There were a few others during the same time – in films like  Dr Vidya . So far so good. But this chapter is not meant for the S.D-Mukesh combination, it is rather for the S.D-Mahendra Kapoor one. The ace playback singer Mahen...

Mysteries are man-made in most cases. Mysteries that are solved are remembered across generations, but those that are not become a part of legend. In due course of time, unsolved mysteries acquire the status of folklore. They mirror a simple fact – man was not able to solve a problem created by man himself. Today’s theme focuses on the notoriety, and very often the cruelty, that an unsolved mystery thrusts on a normal human society. The theme is carried forward through two instances – a Japanese movie Rashomon made in 1950 and an Indian movie Talvar released in 2015. Though the age-gap between the two is more than sixty years, yet Rashomon and Talvar are similarly mounted, crafted, and executed – at least thematically. Rashomon: The story of the movie goes like this: a murder happens in broad daylight, in the middle of a jungle, and there comes three or four different versions of what led to the murder. There is a woodcutter, a priest, a commoner, a bandit, a samurai and a qu...

If writing a poem is a difficult task, reviewing it is even more difficult! Very few people can do poetry while many people can love poetry. Since the appreciators are many, one would think that it is quite easy to note down some appreciatory thoughts and remarks. However, putting these very thoughts in a neat and sequential manner and coming up with an effective review can be as hard as correctly expressing a sudden joy, or ecstasy. In today’s edition, I present to you an unpublished work of an excellent poet of my generation – his name is Dr. Rabinarayan Dash. Dr Dash is a medical practitioner by profession and a poet by passion. The poem that I am sharing with you propagates so much love, and so much fragrance inside me that, despite facing a lot of challenges, I hope to come up with a good salutation in the end. Such is the power of this piece of marvel! I start from where I ought to start. The entire poem is first shared. After that there will come a short appreciation...

Teacher:  "All my alms, all my doles I must bestow, /In me lies a human who has wealth to sow." What do you make of it? Student:  Yes Sir, I get the point. One must spread and distribute what one has in order to get happiness. Happiness lies in sharing. [The student looks rather unconvincing when he says these words.] Teacher:  Hmm, you do not seem to be very convinced my boy. What are you thinking? Student:  Sir, it is all very fine - this sharing and caring thing. But one must look at the world today. Don't we need to be rich? If we are not wealthy, who will care for us? Who will respect us? [The teacher is unaffected, smiles a bit and then replies...] Teacher:  I tell you one thing. This is fact and I am not lying. I am sixty years old and have been seen more than five decades of society. I have seen its ups and downs. I have read newspapers, tried to understand events. From the days of telegraph and telegram, I have come to the days of sma...

Today’s post is a monologue on Indian film music. An early chapter in its history. A famous music composer, creative person and an early exponent of playback singing. His name was Anil Biswas. He was probably the first music composer for Hindi films who popularized the genre called light music. The art of playback singing – with its overall grammar, craft, emotions and techniques – was popularized by him. Singers like Talat Mahmood, Lata Mangeshkar, Mukesh and Mohammad Rafi sang some classic songs under his guidance. He was fondly called “Anilda”.                 Though initially he was a freedom fighter who listened to the call of the Indian nationalist movement, Anil Biswas' shift from his early base of East Bengal to Bombay was somewhat destined. He was inclined towards music from a very early age and he started to show his talent at composing music. Eventually he became a part of the great league of musicians in Kolkata that includ...

Scene 1 - A young man with lots of dreams in his eyes comes to a new city. And a big city it is. He has lived in some other big city before. Therefore, he knows how it works - a city is as good as the people you meet there. It is as homely and welcoming as the friends you make there. When there is shortage of new friends there is shortage of everything. Long weekends are indeed very lengthy and very much unwanted. What can be done? Someone suggests to watch a film. The film's central theme is Kolkata, which is the big city where he lived before. He buys a single ticket, enters the theater and a narration starts. A rich baritone takes him back to his olden days of street food, Durga Puja, banks of Ganges and strikes and unrest - things that symbolize his Kolkata. Parineeta , the Hindi movie is based on a novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopaddhyay, a literary monument from Bengal; the boy had never read the text before. Few scenes into the rushes and he gets to hear an iconic Tagore so...

I have always believed in the fact that a country is not just a landmass, or a boundary, or a piece of geography, rather, it is a constellation of people, a collection of culture, and a slice of history. Likewise, a golden era is not just a spell of time, rather, it is a record of excellent acts created by excellent individuals. If an era is not a golden one, it is due to the fact that mediocrity ruled during that era. This also means that those who arrived and flourished in a golden era had to be excellent! If the period from 1950 over to 1980 be called the golden period of Indian film music, name after name will start to show up here and memories after memories will start to align with us. Among those names comes the name of a composer who was a bit unique. Unique in the sense that he could compose, he could sing his own compositions and he could write soulful poetry to fit his unparalleled compositions.                       ...

Art is a flow of creativity from one mind to another. Sensibility and craft in right proportions create an object of art. A true object of art – if it manages to become so – becomes inspiring. As it becomes popular, it reaches far and wide.  Some genius mind picks up the object, gets inspired and creates another phenomenal object – partially aligned and partially unaligned with the original. Today, in this edition, we shall look at a song created in the early sixties. We shall try to appreciate the beauty of the original composition and then move over to another song created in the late sixties. The second one is inspired by the first. We shall appreciate the qualities of both, and try to understand what inspiration means – especially in the field of creative art. Original composition:                                       Elvis Presley was a household name in many parts of ...