Gulzar on Making of Meera
Ketan
www.filmfare.com
Geet Gata Chal
ANURADHA CHOUDHARY
Gulzar’s musical memories: Meera was the first liberated woman according to the
eminent lyricist, writer and director
When I set out to make Meera, two artistes were pre-determined for me: one was
Hema Malini; the other, Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Even though I knew I would miss
Pancham, (R D Burman) producer Premji’s proposal was too attractive for me to
turn down. And it was a privilege to work with L-P, with whom I worked earlier
on Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein.
But the most important reason I wanted to do the film was that 1981 was being
celebrated as Women’s Liberation Year and I see Meera as our country’s first
liberated woman. She had high self-esteem, she was knowledgeable, she was
intelligent, she was a poetess. And she didn’t accept her husband’s religion
even though she accepted him.
Obviously, I wanted to retain the spiritual element of her story, but I didn’t
want to contribute to Meera’s mythological image. I wanted to make a historical
film with proper references. When I started my research on her, however, I
discovered that surprisingly nothing was available on Meera even though she
lived just 400 years ago. India has no tradition of writing its history; ours is
an oral tradition. But I found all the material I needed in minute detail in
Colonel Todd’s History of Rajasthan.
After my script was ready, I sat down with Laxmikant-Pyarelal to discuss the
music. We chose about a dozen Meera bhajans for the film, some of which were to
be used in full and some in part. We put out advance ads in the trade papers,
saying that ‘Today’s Meera’ (Lata Mangeshkar) would give the clap for the
mahurat shot of Meera. I’d planned to shoot Mere to Girdhar Gopal first but when
L-P composed the song, Lataji refused to sing it. She told me she’d just
recorded Meera bhajans for her brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar’s album and didn’t
want to sing the same bhajans for a commercial film. I didn’t want to force her
to do so and left it at that. However, when Lataji refusing to sing, L-P backed
out of the film too. Ashaji was our next choice, but she refused too, saying,
“Jahan devta ne paon rakhe hon, wahan phir manush paon nahin rakhte.”
That’s when we panicked, because our set was ready. Pancham was caught in the
crossfire and I could sense he was embarrassed about the whole thing, so I
didn’t want to embarrass him further by asking him to compose the music. We
needed a music director who had a presence and could get the work done without
Lataji and Ashaji. That’s when Pandit Ravi Shankar’s name came up.
But he was in New York and told us he’d decide after reading the script when he
came to India in September-October. It was June and I couldn’t afford the delay,
so I told him I’d come to America to narrate the script. He said, “You sound
very confident of your script. I’d like to hear it. Come over.”
So I made my first trip to the US. Panditji liked the script but he said he
could work on the film only in September. I however requested him to begin work
in the US and told him I’d stay on till he worked on the tunes. He sensed my
restlessness and urgency and agreed. But he was hesitant because he’d heard
about the Lata Mangeshkar controversy.
Luckily for us, Lataji was in the US at the same time. When I called her up she
promptly gave us the go-ahead. Next Panditji wanted to know who was going to
sing the songs. I had Vani Jairam in mind but couldn’t say so to Panditji. So I
told him to choose anyone he wanted. And he asked, “Is Vani Jairam okay with
you?”
Bala main bairagan hoon gi was the first bhajan Panditji composed. I think it’s
the best song in the album. When he was composing the song Eri main to prem
deewani, he paid a great tribute to Roshansaab, who’d composed the same bhajan
for the movie Naubahaar: “Jo tune Roshansaab ne banayi hai, woh dimaag se nahin
jaati. But i’ll try my best to do something different.”
In the evening I’d attend the concerts and in the daytime I’d sit with him while
he composed the tunes.
Then he came to India in September and we finished recording the 12 songs in
just nine days. Panditji was amazingly disciplined as we worked from 9 to 9
because he had to finish the songs and the background score before returning to
the US. One day, however, he looked very tired and told us he’d begin work at
two in the afternoon the next day. He arrived at two, looking absolutely fresh.
When I remarked on that, he said he was feeling much better because he’d played
his sitar for eight hours that day from four in the morning. He had been tired
and restless because he hadn’t touched his sitar for many days!
Panditji was not the only one who made adjustments for Meera. There were many
problems. I once told Hemaji, “Please complete this film. You’ll be proud to
show it to your children one day.” She made many adjustments and so did Vinod
Khanna. He was on the verge of leaving the industry to join the Rajneesh Ashram
and didn’t want to leave any film of his incomplete. He enjoyed doing the film
because he was in a spiritual frame of mind. He even told me,“I identify so much
with Meera’s feelings that I wish I was playing Meera.”
asi...@my-deja.com
Gulzar spake thus:
> But the most important reason I wanted to do the film was that 1981 was being
> celebrated as Women's Liberation Year and I see Meera as our country's first
> liberated woman. She had high self-esteem, she was knowledgeable, she was
> intelligent, she was a poetess. And she didn't accept her husband's religion
> even though she accepted him.
>
..a bit far fetched. There were many women poets who wrote such poems
much before Meera.
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1265.html
Cheers
Arun
Shree
Agree.
Another famous example would be Mahadevi 'Akka', who lived a couple of
centuries before Meera. I consider the former to be more extreme than
Meera, given that she gave up everything, including clothing, despite
being a princess. I don't know if such a feat has been/will be
performed again by a woman, given the social situation at that time
(well, bra-burning feminism is not on the same lines).
--Shree