InDepth

A confused boy, early morning wake up calls, he has to go to school. The boy asks his mother, have you put all my books and copies correctly inside the bag? Mom says, yes. The boy goes to school and finds out the books for one of his primary language periods are not there! He comes from a pre-school where this language was not taught. Also he is yet to communicate properly in English - he fails to tell his teacher what happened here. Neither in the mother tongue Bengali, (the reason for which I will state now) and nor in English, which I was just getting to learn.  The above is an incident from my life, it was way back in 1987.  (Back in the age of the dinosaurs - even though I had heard that computers could play chess with humans already back then.) The thing is - language was created as a tool of communication, but it has ended up being a blocker for communication. My struggle with languages started early, from the pre-school. It was a setup where the primary language of com...

[Concluding part]                             So, how can one assess Naushad-Sahab's work and what were the aspects that were his trademarks? Well, to start with, it was his knowledge about the various Indian traditional instruments. His orchestration inevitably contained flavours from these different instruments. While using these, he kept in mind the situational demand as well as the overall musicality of the song. To elaborate more on this, he never composed any song that had a musical instrument that felt out of place with the situation of the song. He never composed any song, the orchestration for which became over-the-top and killed the subtleness of its melody. Next, he had a terrific knowledge and conception on the Indian classical music. The fact that he understood the semantics of various raga- s was beyond any doubt but what strikes me more is the fact that he understood the mood, feel and complexity of the...

The research continues.... 13. Dil mein baji pyar ki (Kohinoor)    A very simple-flowing melody having all the elements of a typical Lata-Naushad combo. On the screen it was the great Meena Kumari with her vivacious presence and charming dance steps. This one, together with " Tere pyar mein dildar " from the movie Mere Mehboob, stands out as two extraordinary tunes by Naushad depicting happiness, charm and frolic. The shehnai interlude, together with nice tabla beats, go very well with the mood and tune of the song. Lata Mangeshkar makes a deliberate attempt to thin her voice so that the rhythm comes to the forefront and the song primarily remains as a dance number. Just listen to the wonderful alaap in the beginning when Rafi lends his voice shortly. Kohinoor is also a nice lighthearted movie, with great acting by Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari. I give you a trivia - like many other Naushad gems, this one too has different tunes for different antara -s!      ...

At the onset, I must say that Dharmendra has been one of my most favourite actors. So, when I now write a memoir, it would turn out to be a fanboy account. But then, can we find at least one follower of Indian Cinema who has not liked his art! Such has been his effect and contribution. I begin with Bandini , a movie made by Bimal Roy, based on a story by famous Bengali writer Jarashandha. He was new, young, a bit lean, but excellent in his projection. He had a side-role, but whenever he would come to the screen, he would infuse dream in the life of Kalyani, the protagonist. More I would not write, but I would recommend the readers to take some hours off on a lazy afternoon and watch the film, only for Dharmendra. In a later interview, he said, he was groomed by Bimal Roy and was personally praised by S D Burman, who was the music composer of Bandini. Dharmendra did a great part in a film by the name Satyakam. The story was written by Narayan Sanyal, who was a civil engineer by professi...

As the research moves on... 9.  Umariya ghatati jaae re ( Mother India )  This is a rare, a very rare gem of a song sung by Manna Dey, singing to the tune of Naushad-Sahab. There are several reasons that make this song exemplary; first, it is the excellent string of words penned by Shakeel. The words are poignant, simple and deeply meaningful, describing the hardship and trouble of rural India to the most accurate possible way. I cannot remember of another song that depicts the same picture in a better way than this song does. Next, it is the quite extraordinary rendition by the legendary Manna Dey; he pours his heart out to give a soulful feel to this song, which takes the narrative of the movie forward. Here I would like to take a short pause and state that even though we have come a long way to achieve the bare minimum necessities of life, but, some basics are still far from reach of some marginal sections of society. The words in this song still feel true - question is, i...

I had heard of Mozart earlier, mostly through his works. An odd symphony tune would come up as an inspiration for a Bollywood song, or would be used as a background score. I had also heard of Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart, in Austria. So, the temptation was there to explore the artist through his works and to try to touch his roots through the city, where he had taken his very first breath. As per schedule, me and my nephew started for Salzburg from Villach in a train. I had mentioned earlier - the trains in Austria ran on time and were clean, neat and in order. Much like the trains of Netherlands. The movie through the train-windows that I had been enjoying for the past few days continued further. Some breathtakingly picturesque views from the train onlooking the ridges and mountains kept our eyes and hearts busy. Those small buildings in between! How do the inmates keep their focus on their chores! If I were there, I would have done nothing but gaze the surroundings. It was a ho...