The man behind "aayega aanewala"
Ashok
in the Music: Nostalgia section.
Ashok
------------------------------------
Khemchand Prakash: The Man Behind Aayega Aanewala...
Nalin Shah
To the present generation of music lovers the name
Khemchand Prakash, also known as Khemraj, might
sound Greek.
But he was the man who raised Lata Mangeshkar's
popularity to a new high with just one compositionm
"chandaa re jaa re jaa re" in 'Ziddi.' He was the
composer behind the memorable score of 'Mahal,'
highlighted by the immortal song, "aayega aanewala."
He was the one who launched Kishore Kumar's career
as a playback singer in 'Ziddi,' where he sang
"marne ki duaayen kyon maangu" for Dev Anand. Known
popularly as 'guruji,' Khemchand Prakash dominated
the Hindi film music scene in the forties and was a
source of inspiration to men like Naushad, Bulo C.
Rani, and Bhola Shreshta, who worked as his
assistants in pursuit of the rudiments of film
music. One of the earliest to effectively adapt
Rajasthani folk music to Hindi film songs, Khemchand
has to his credit such memorable films as 'Tansen',
'Bharthari', 'Sindoor', 'Ziddi', and 'Mahal', among
others.
Hailing from Sujanghar in Rajasthan, Kemchand
Prakash was an accomplished Kathak dancer and a
classical singer. The earthy music of Rajasthan
flowed in his veins and helped him infuse
irresistible charm into his compositions.
He learned Dhrupad *gaayaki* from his father
Govardhan Prasad. He then went to Nepal and lived
there for eight years under the patronage of the
Maharaja. His career in films began when, on his
return, he joined New Theatres (Calcutta) as an
assistant to Timir Baran on a monthly salary of Rs.
120. When he left New Theatres in 1939 he was
drawing Rs. 500 p.m.
As Baran's assistant he was said to have composed
Saigal's "baalam aaye baso more nam me.n" (in Raag
Kafi) and "dukh ke ab bitat nahin" (Raag Des) in
'Devdas.' He even enacted a comic scene and sang a
song "lo khaa lo madam khaanaa" in 'Street Singer'
at the suggestion of the director, Phani Majumdar.
Khemchand migrated to Bombay with Prithviraj Kapoor
and Kidar Sharma in search of independent
assignments and joined Ranjit Movietone. With 'Meri
Ankhen' (1939) he proved himself as an independent
composer. Followed 'Pardesi', 'Shaadi', and 'Umeed'
in 1941 which gave him a firm foothold in the Bombay
industry.
One of the most popular songs composed by him during
the early phase was sung by Khurshid: "pahele jo
mohabbat se inakaar kiyaa hotaa." "But Khurshid,"
recalls Pandit Jagannath Prasad, a cousin and close
associate of Khemchand, "was reluctant to sing the
song." And an angry Khemchand gave her the
ultimatum: "Sing or get out." Unwilling to offend a
composer of Khemchand's calibre, Khurshid finally
gave in and rendered the song. Khurshid had her own
reason for hisitating to sing the song, which was a
recognizable rehash of Begum Akhtar's famous ghazal,
"deevaana bannana hai to." She didn't want to risk
a comparison with the great Begum, for she was never
really sure of her own calibre as a singer.
Ironically, "pahele jo mohabbat" brought her
unprecedented laurels!
Khemchand had more hits in 1942--like 'Chandni' and
'Khilauna.' But it was 'Tansen' (1943), which sent
hsi stock soaring. Based on the immortal singer's
life, 'Tansen' inspired Khemchand to come out with a
veritable feast of light classical songs, which
please both the connoisseur and the uninitiated.
The film paired Saigal, who had been lured to Bombay
by monetary considerations, with Khurshid. And
Khemchand gave them a wide range of hummable songs
to sing. "more baalaapan ke saathi" (Khurshid,
Saigal), "dukhiyaa jiyaraa" and "baraso re" (Raag
Megh Malhar--Khurshid), "ghata ghan ghor ghor" (Raag
Sarang--Khurshid), "rumjhum rumjhum chaal tihaari"
(Raag Shankara--Saigal), "diyaa jalaao" (Raag
Deepak--Saigal) and "sapt suran teen graam" (Raag
Hameer in Dhrupad--Saigal) were all brilliant
compositions, which contributed in a big way to the
film's commercial suceess.
Khemchand's sway over the Hindi film music scene
continued unabated even after the influx of the
robust Punjabi brand of music. He stuck steadfastly
to classical and Rajasthani folk music and ghazals.
His compositions in 'Bharthari' ("chandaa des piyaa
ke jaa"--Amirbai), 'Bhanwara' ("ham apanaa unhe
banaa na sake"--Saigal) and 'Shahenshah Babar'
("mohabbat me.n saara jahaan jal rahaa hai"--
Khurshid) became a rage.
Khemchand was in trouble when the Ranjit bss,
Chandulal Shah, started disapproving of his
association with outside producers. (Prakash
Pictures' 'Samaj Ko Badal Dalo' and Filmistan's
'Sindoor.'). The rift came to a head when Shah
refused to let Khemchand use a raw voice for a song.
"I don't want an unknown voice in my film." Shah
told off Khemchand. And Khemchand walked out of
Ranjit Movietone. The "unknown voice" was young
Lata Mangeshkar's! (Lata had been recommended to
Khemchand by Anil Biswas, and he took an instant
liking for her mellifluous voice.)
From Ranjit, Khemchand went to Bombay Talkies to
score the music for 'Ziddi.' The success of the
film vindicated his stand on Lata. Lata's rendering
of "chandaa re jaa re jaa re" based on a Rajasthani
folk song "kaagaa re jaa re jaa re" was unanimously
acclaimed.
'Ziddi' launched another eventful career--that of
Kishore Kumar's. In spite of his reputation as a
'master yodeller' and a singer of the frothy, light
numbers, Kishore invariably excelled as a singer of
sad songs. Khemchand Prakash was the first to
discover this talent in Kishore. Besides the sad
'Ziddi' number ("marne ki duvaaye.n kyaa maangu"),
he gave him another pathos-ridden song in 'Rimjhim'
(jag mag jag mag kartaa nikalaa chaand poonam ka
pyaara").
A line in the song--"meri chaandani bichhaD gayi
mere ghar me.n huaa andhiyaara"--proved ominously
prophetic a fortnight after he'd composed the song,
when his wife died. Which made him a sad, lonely
man, and perhaps accounted for the pathos recurring
in his later compositions.
Nevertheless, Khemchand wore the facade of a ready-
witted jovial person. He had an incorrigible
weakness for good food and liquor. In his while
dhoti and silk kurta, he was often mistaken for a
rich Marwari, while he actually led a frugal
existence. At Ranjit Novietone, Khemchand was paid
Rs. 100 p.m. When he composed music for his last
film at Bombay Talkies, he drew a salary of Rs.
1,500. Producers for whom he freelanced seldom paid
him his dues in spite of making the best use of his
exceptional talent. Once, to collect the two
thousand rupees Kishore Sahu owed him, he told the
producer-director that he needed the money
desperately to peform the last rites of his
grandmother. When lyricist Bharat Vyas heard of
this 'bereavement', he went to Khemchand to offer
his condolences. The composer smiled wryly and
said, "My grandmother is 90 and fit as a fiddle. I
have 'killing' her again and again only to collect
my dues from the producers."
In spite of his meagre earnings, Khemchand was a
large-hearted man. He went out of his way to
present a radio set to the general ward of Bombay's
K.E.M. Hospital where he had once undergone
treatment. ("The antique piece is still working,"
says his now physician, Dr. Hindlekar, now 85-years
old.)
Khemchand never allowed his financial worries to
affect his creativity. He exhibited his versatility
in every composition of his of his--whether it was
based on a classical raag ("kukat koyaliyaa kunjan
mein"/raag Sarang/Kajjan/'Bharthari'); a Rajasthani
folk tune ("silvaa de re sajanavaa mohe/Paro, Sushil
Sahu/'Sindoor'); a ghazal ("dil lagaane mein kuchh
mazaa hi nahin"/Khurshid/'Shahenshah Babar'); a
bhajan ("prabhu ke gun gaaoon main"/Khurshid,
chorus/'Shadi'); a romantic song ("ye kaun aaj aayaa
re"/Kishore, Lata/'Ziddi'); or a heart-redning
musical vail ("o roothe hue bhagavaan tum ko kaise
manaaoon"/Amirbai/'Sindoor'). Even as his stock
went up as a musician and he came to be acknowledged
as one of the best ever composers the film industry
had known, Khemchand suffered an acute feeling of
loneliness towards the later stages of his career
after his wife's sudden demise, and he began
drowning himself in liquor.
During this phase, when he was hospitalized for am
abdominal ailment, he fell in love with a pretty
nurse, Sridevi, who was to be his inspiration in
times to come. Khemchand was in poor health when,
unexpectedly, Kamal Amrohi assigned the music of
Bombay Talkies' 'Mahal' to him. Ashok Kumar had just
come back to take over the reins of Bombay Talkies
in a desperate attempt to prevent a great
institution from crumbling. But the choice of
Khemchand as the music director raked up a
controversy, as doubts were raised about his about
his ability to meet the needs of a changing breed of
filmgoers. The music scene in the Bombay film
industry had begun to change with breezy, catchy
tunes taking over from the slow, classically
oriented numbers. The rhythmic, rustic and fast-
paced Punjabi folk music was becoming immensely
popular. Would the 'slow' style of Khemchand suit
the changing scene? When he heard the *mukhda* of
"aayega aanevaala" in its formative stages, one of
the producers of Bombay Talkies, Savak Vachcha, lost
his temper, and asked Khemchand, "But when will it
(the song) come?" (referring to "aayega" which is
repeated five times in the song.) In his faltering
Hindi the genial Parsi is said to have asked, "Aap
to 'aayega, aayega' karte hain, vo aanevaala kidhar
hai?", which provoked the composer to walk out of
the room in a fit of fury.
Sometime ago when I asked Kamal Amrohi (who directed
'Mahal') as to what had influenced the choice of
Khemchand Prakash for the film, the 69-year old
veteran said, "I'd been greatly impressed by
Khemchand's talent when he was with Ranjit. There
was always an undercurrent of pathos in his music
which reminded me of *marsia* (a dirge) and *noha*
(the mournful songs of Moharrum). But he was
reluctant to work with me because of my abusive
tongue. Whe I wrote the first part ("khaamosh hai
zamaane..") of "aayega aanevaala"--the rest of the
song was written by Nakhshab--and showed it to him,
he instantly moved his fingers on the harmonium and
played a tune... and I approved it on the spot.
Though Nakhshab was angry with me for accepting the
very first tune, Khemchand was relieved that I
wasn't so difficult a person after all! Nobody at
Bombay Talkies, barring me, was confident of the
success of 'Mahal' or its songs."
The film and its music, however, went on to make
history. "aayega aanevaala", based on a Rajasthani
folk tune, not only became the film's major draw,
but has remained a perennial favourite of music
lovers. The song also opened floodgate of
opportunities for Lata Mangeshkar.
Rajkumar, Khemchand's favourite singer, also sang
five memorable songs in 'Mahal' (including
"ghabaraake jo ham sar ko" and "haaye mera dil").
Though, unfortunately, one of them ("suno mere
nainaa") had to be deleted from the film.
When 'Mahal' was released on October 13, 1950 at
Bombay's Roxy cinema to overwhelming response,
Khemchand Prakash wasn't alive to see the fruits of
his labour. He had died two months earlier at the
Harikisondas Hospital--on August 10, 1950--at the
younge age of 42.
At the time of his death, Sridevi was beside him.
As she wasn't married to Khemchand and had no logal
rights over what he'd left behind, she was left high
and dry.
Today, 37 years after Khemchand's death, nothing
seems to have changed for Sridevi. She still lives
in the past, on the pavements of Borivli.
Khemchand's old physician, Dr. Hindlekar, still
treats her with great care, but she's no longer in a
position to respond to anybody's sympathy. The only
sound which brings her back to 'life' is the strains
of "aayega aanevaala." Whenever she hears the song
she stands still on the road, clutching at her only
possession--a small sack of clothes and memories of
a 'melodious' time.
Time, which isn't hers anymore.
Box: The Best of Khemchand Prakash
1. pahele jo mohabbat se inkaar kiya hota
Khurshid
Madhok
Pardesi (1941)
2. rumajhum rumajhum chaat tihaari
Saigal
Pandit Indra
Tansen (1943)
3. kaahe gumaan kare ri gori
Saigal
Pandit Indra
Tansen (1943)
4. diyaa jalaao jagamag jagamag
Saigal
Pandit Indra
Tansen (1943)
5. more baalaapan ke saathi chhailaa
Khurshid, Saigal
Pandit Indra
Tansen (1943)
6. ab raaja bhaye more balam
Khurshid
Dina Nath Madhok
Tansen (1943)
7. baraso re kaare badaravaa
Khurshid
Pandit Indra
Tansen (1943)
8. o dukhiyaa jiyaraa
Khurshid
Dina Nath Madhok
Tansen (1943)
9. ghaTaa ghan ghor ghor
Khurshid
Dina Nath Madhok
Tansen (1943)
10. ham apanaa unhe banaa na sake
Saigal
Kidar Sharma
Bhanwara (1944)
11. kyaa ham ne bigaaDaa hai, kyo.n ham ko
Saigal, Amirbai, chorus
Kidar Sharma
Bhanwara (1944)
12. cha.ndaa des piyaa ke jaa
Amirbai
Pandit Indra
Bharthari (1944)
13. bhikshaa de de maiya pingala
Amirbai, Surendra
Pandit Indra
Bharthari (1944)
14. mora dhire se ghoonghat haTaa de piyaa
Amirbai
Pandit Indra
Bharthari (1944)
15. mohabbat me.n saaraa jahaa.n jal rahaa hai
Khurshid
Shams
Shahenshah Babar (1944)
16. nainaa ro ro ke rah jaaye
Amirbai
Roopdas
Samaj Ko Badal Dalo (1947)
17. koi roke use aur ye kah de
Amirbai
Qamar Jalalabadi
Sindoor (1947)
18. o duniyaa banaanevaale kyaa yahi hai
Amirbai
Qamar Jalalabadi
Sindoor (1947)
19. o rooThe hue bhagavaan tum ko kaise
Amirbai
Qamar Jalalabadi
Sindoor (1947)
20. ye kaun aayaa re kar ke solah singaar
Kishore, Lata
Prem Dhawan
Ziddi (1948)
21. cha.ndaa re jaa re jaa re
Lata
Prem Dhawan
Ziddi (1948)
22. tujhe o bevafaa ham zi.ndagi ka aasaraa
Lata
Raja Mehdi Ali Khan
Ziddi (1948)
23. chali pee ke milan, ban than ke dulhan
Shamshad Begum
Prem Dhawan
Ziddi (1948)
24. marane ki duaaye.n kyo.n maa.ngoo.n
Kishore
Prem Dhawan
Ziddi (1948)
25. jagamag jagamag karataa nikalaa
Kishore
Bharat Vyas
Rimjhim (1949)
26. na tum aaye na neend aayi tumhaari yaad
Shamshad Begum
Bharat Vyas
Rimjhim (1949)
27. nahi.n fariyaad karate ham
Shamshad Begum
Bharat Vyas
Sawan Aya Re (1949)
28. ey dil na mujhe yaad dilaa baate.n puraani
Rafi, Shamshad Begum
Bharat Vyas
Sawan Aya Re (1949)
29. pahele pili ra.ng saari
Amirbai
Chaturvedi
Sawan Aya Re (1949)
30. aayegaa aanevaalaa
Lata
Kamal Amrohi, Nakhshab
Mahal (1950)
31. mushqil hai bahut mushqil hai
Lata
Nakhshab
Mahal (1950)
32. dil ne phir yaad kiyaa bevafaa
Lata
Nakhshab
Mahal (1950)
33. mai.n vo haseen hoo.N
Rajkumari
Nakhshab
Mahal (1950)
34. ek teer chalaa...., haaye meraa dil
Rajkumari
Nakhshab
Mahal (1950)
35. ghabaraa ke jo ham sar ko Takaraaye to
Rajkumari
Kamal Amrohi (credited to Nakhshab)
Mahal (1950)
----------------------------