Sunday, August 3, 2008

SJ,Raag Bhairavi and the music of Basant Bahar(ssmurthy)


It was the considered opinion of musical connosiers then, regarding Naushad, as the master of Bhairavi raga ,with that pathos evoking, all time great composition,
"Mohe bhool gaye sawariyan.. " in Baiju Bawra.

Baiju Bawra goes down as a classic in the annals of Indian films with its music reaching dizzy classical heights, ,by him, who was at his zenith during the fifties and a benchmark for all promising MD's . as this film lit the flame of honour and the syndrome struck, so much, that by the time Mughlai Azam got to the floors , the "Zindabad Zindabad ai Mohabbat Zindabad by Rafi soared into the mighty skies and the earthly filmdom ministrels were receiving the glory and acclaiming "Chalis croredo men ek hi Naushad " The population of India then was 40 crores.


Raj Kapoor, worked with all sincerety, in shaping the Bhairavi lying dormant in SJ and patented it such that, the audiovisual effect, will have an everlasting impression on the listener and the gamble worked out, as it should.


And soon SJ were on the ascendant' putting everyone who came in that line, including the so called stalwarts into the shade.

The SJ patent of Bhairavi has come to stay, and the deluge soon followed such that, the total number of compositions on Bhairavi raaga by SJ, put together summation wise, half of which would not have been composed by all the popular MD's put together, a very logical and convincing eye opening statement.

Jaikishan was an ardent devotee of this Raaga and the success this brought SJ, has gone into Jai's system so much that he named his last child, a daughter, by the name "Bhairavi" and when asked why, wistfully quipped, "the end",

inferring Bhairavi denotes a desirable culmination of events mixed with a kind joy springing from the depth of the soul's grandeur.
...
Bharath Bhooshan having seen the kind of success Baiju Bawra got, obviously set his eyes on another classical buster and would have wished Naushad repeat the same.

The ruling popular classical stalwarts those days were Anil Biswas, Naushad and Chitalkar Ramachandra,and SJ were no where in the orbit of this category, with the only glimpse of classical composition by them in the form of "Lapak jhapak..." in Boot Polish that too depicted in a comical and lighter vein.

SJ through consistent and innovative orchestrisation, potent compositions, by then have developed a firm grip over public pulse and above all captured the imagination and confidence of the Distributors and Financiers who mattered most, and Anil Biswas was replaced by SJ by sheer pressure of these people for music of this Basant Bahar.

Shankar recalls that this added to the pressure and also his penchant for proving their detractors wrong. Much was at stake and the composing beans of Shankar was put on a fiery ordeal the outcome of which stands testimony to this day with the Rafi's solos,"Badi dher bhayi....." "Duniya na bhaye...." a majestic comparision to the already accepted popular numbers like "Hari Om.." and " Oh Duniya ke rakhwale...".

That Mannadey would scale new heights with this film was a dream come true for him and all fans of SJ.

Let us not forget that till then Mannadey was more identified as a Bhajan singer, and it was SJ's ingenuity that gave him those lilting numbers in Boot Polish, Shree 420 and Basant Bahar and later on crstallyzed with Chori Chori, Ujala and so on, establishing him as a romantic singer too.

SJ resented all the snide remarks that went into the air on handling such a complicated and complex theme like Basant Bahar, manifesting with a melodious "Nain mile chain kahan .." score which even Anil Biswas could envy and wished he could compose a score like that.

Shankar later on after the success of their music recalls the insinuations faced by them before storming the formidable citadel held so strongly till then by Naushad, Husnlal Bhagatram, C.Ramachandra, Anil Biswas, S.D.Burman, and their likes,

but it was only C.Ramachandra, Shankar recalls has stated that
"these lads SJ will make us all run and will cause a landslide in Hindusthani film music"

How prophetic, amazing and intuitive forethought.

Rgds
ssmurthy





No comments: