Rajesh Roshan on his father
Archisman
Kaustubh Pingle
KCP
Composer Rajesh Roshan carries on the musical legacy, though being
merely 13 when his father passed away.
His musical influences do not derive from his father, who gave us
unsurpassed numbers like Man re tu kaahe na dheer dhare, Yeh ishq ishq
hai ishq ishq or Paaon chu lene do phoolon ko inayat hogi, Mujhe sach
sach bata de etc.
Rajesh Roshan relives moments with his father.
"I recall dad and his colleagues only worked in the morning. He'd
wake up early, have his tea, listen to a radio channel called Voice of
America. By 9.30, he was in the music room. By 1 or 1.30 he'd wind up
his work.
For him the morning work was like doing 'pooja' at the right time.
My father was very close to his singers and lyricists. It was not just
a professional relationship.
Roshanlal Nagrath
They loved spending time with each other. I remember he and Mukeshji
used to sit right here on the carpet. They'd meet and abuse each
other and I'd sit in the corner and play with my cars. They'd joke
about their private lives and then start work. Mukeshji would say,
'Arre yaar for a change you've made a good tune' and dad would
say, 'For a change you are singing in tune!'
After work they'd hit the bottle and play cards. That was the
environment in which they lived and worked and that's perhaps why
they could create such unforgettable music. There were times when
he'd get stuck on a tune.
At these times he'd phone Anil Biswas, the legendary composer and
he'd come over and ask, 'What's the matter?' Dad would say
'This antara is stuck, I am not able to move ahead.' Then, they'd
work on it together."
"Many a time I felt that the singers did not do full justice to his
compositions. There was so much more pathos in his compositions.
The only singer who actually translated his emotion into the song was
Mukesh - he did full justice to dad's songs. He sang in several
films for dad. Films like Malhar, Devar, Anokhi raat, Dil hi to hai.
Mukesh sang as dad had visualised his composition. Others did their
best, but to my young mind that was less than dad's composition asked
for. But I never told him that. I was very young but I could guage that
the singer hadn't done justice. Dad was not at all envious of his
peers. When he passed away he didn't even know. He was sitting at a
party with Mr Hari Walia.
Rajesh Roshan
There was the premiere of Jewel thief. He told me to attend it. I took
his beautiful white Chevrolet and went with Rahul Rawail and his
sister. Meanwhile at Hari Walia's party dad took a drink and was just
sitting silently smiling.
Someone called out to him, 'Roshan!' but there was no reply. They
touched him and he fell, his eyes were open and he had just collapsed.
This was such a beautiful way to go - it was unheard of. There was no
pain nothing - he just vanished. I don't know what good things he
must've done - it seems God really loved him."
"He gave music in about 50 films. There was a tough competiton
between Dad's 'Zindagi bhar nahin bhoolengi woh barsaat ki raat'
and Ravisaab's 'Chaudhvin ka chand ho.'
Both released at the same time and both were striving for No 1 position
on the Binaca geetmala. Zindagi bhar - Dad's song won. Binaca
Geetmala was like the Filmfare award in those days."
"He loved food, particularly non veg. He liked peace at the dining
table. If for any reason there was any argument between mum and us,
he'd get so furious that he'd throw all the plates and food on the
carpet and we had a tough time cleaning the carpet. He was very hot
tempered. He wanted everyone at the dining table by 9.30.
Rakesh was a real swinger, he'd be out with friends, at jam sessions
at Gazebo on Linking Road. He'd come running home at the nick of
time, sweating, with no time to wash his face and freshen up.
There were no words exchanged; we were like a British family having
food in grim silence. Rakesh was scared of him but I wasn't. He was
more fond of me.
He was very strict with Rakesh and I used to feel terrible about it.
Rakesh was outgoing, outspoken, a flirt and bad at studies.
He used to get thrashed by both parents and was sent away to Sainik
School at Satara because we couldn't handle him. He had several
girlfriends and he'd say 'I want to marry this girl or I like that
girl.' "
"Sahir (Ludhianvi) and he were good friends. They argued and fought
but never kept any ire in their hearts. Sahirsaab would say 'Why
should your name come before mine?
Rakesh Roshan and Rajesh Roshan
What would you create if my words were not good?' They'd vent their
spleen and get to work. If they were very angry with anyone, they used
to fix up a date to fight.
Once they were very upset at the Binaca Geetmala. Amin Sayani was a
good friend of theirs. So they decided that all three of them would
have a party.
They drank a bit, then Sahir saab asked Sayani, 'What is the matter?
Why are you giving that song top position?' Sayani replied, 'It's
popular.' He said, 'How do you know it's popular?' Sayani
replied, 'People are saying so.' Sahir said, 'Which people are
you meeting?' they'd go and thrash it out like that.
You couldn't argue with Sahir saab. He had such a gift of speech.
They were real geniuses with their own peculiarities. They were vibrant
company. Today nobody has such aura."
"SD Burman used to walk on the pavement below and shout out,
'Roshan, oye Roshan - Accha music deta hai, style accha hai. Darna
nahin. Kamti picture se kuch nahin hota hai. Jo aata hai wohi dena,
copy nahin karna Roshan!' And he'd stroll off. Shailendraji used to
strangely park his car across the road and shout, 'C'mon yaar
let's go for a walk.' "
"Those were really the days! When these gifted people were allowed
their individuality and their peculiarities - a freedom which
resulted in eternal and lasting work."
Ketan
Pingle says...
>At these times he'd phone Anil Biswas, the legendary composer and
>he'd come over and ask, 'What's the matter?' Dad would say
>'This antara is stuck, I am not able to move ahead.' Then, they'd
>work on it together."
Ahh..so while Roshan was having a "heart-attack" it was Anil Biswas doing all
his work. Now we know :)
>"Sahir (Ludhianvi) and he were good friends. They argued and fought
>but never kept any ire in their hearts. Sahirsaab would say 'Why
>should your name come before mine? What would you create if my words were not
>>good?'
Was there any MD with whom Sahir did not have this argument?
>"SD Burman used to walk on the pavement below and shout out,
>'Roshan, oye Roshan - Accha music deta hai, style accha hai. Darna
>nahin. Kamti picture se kuch nahin hota hai. Jo aata hai wohi dena,
>copy nahin karna Roshan!' And he'd stroll off.
SDB cracks me up. What a character.
>"Those were really the days! When these gifted people were allowed
>their individuality and their peculiarities - a freedom which
>resulted in eternal and lasting work."
And today we have MD's with 1/10th the talent bashing each other and accusing
each other of lifting tunes. :(
Ketan
Archisman
Ketan wrote:
> >"SD Burman used to walk on the pavement below and shout out,
> >'Roshan, oye Roshan - Accha music deta hai, style accha hai. Darna
> >nahin. Kamti picture se kuch nahin hota hai. Jo aata hai wohi dena,
> >copy nahin karna Roshan!' And he'd stroll off.
>
> SDB cracks me up. What a character.
>
For a fleeting while, this remark of "copy nahin karna roshan!", made
me think of 'thandi hawaaen' and 'rahe na rahe hum' (chuckle!)
To digress a bit, reading SD's verbatim-quotes, I can't help but have
Kishore's voice ringing in my mind - 'Arey Awshok! Yeh bilkool meraa
copy kawrtaa hai' etc. (chuckle!)
> >"Those were really the days! When these gifted people were allowed
> >their individuality and their peculiarities - a freedom which
> >resulted in eternal and lasting work."
>
> And today we have MD's with 1/10th the talent bashing each other and accusing
> each other of lifting tunes. :(
>
I think the present audience (& I include myself) deserve it. Hindustan
Times' Sunday magazine of Bombay, (Brunch) carried an opinion poll on
the best female playback singer among it's readers (a couple of months
ago) and the results were 1) Lata M 2) Shreya Ghoshal 3) Sunidhi
Chauhan 4) Asha B 5) (IIRC) Alka Yagnik
I still cannot fathom what evaluation-parameters did the respondent
use. I feel that the two sisters should have been named in succession,
irrespective of their rank. Any inputs on this?
>
> Ketan
Regards-Archisman.
Afzal A. Khan
Some six years back, an article on the late composer
was published in a Marathi magazine (Sakal ?). At
my request, an English translation was furnished by
Mr. Hrishi Dixit. I am giving below the entire
translated article. There may not be much here that
is not known about Roshan, but the article is worth a
read, if only for the beauty and fluency of the
translation.
------------------------------------------------------
Written by Dr Prakash Kamat
This is an account of a programme on Roshan's organized by "Survihaar"
of Pune, in remembrance of the music director's 50 years in Hindi
Cinema.
It was the year 1950. Producer/Lyricist Kidar Sharma's "Bawre Nain",
starring Raj Kapoor and Geeta Bali had just been released. The
heartwarming 'khayaalon men kisi ke...' in the voices of Geeta Dutt and
Mukesh had become immensely popular. Listening to this song, with which
Roshan had, in the truest sense, emblazoned his name (made his name
'roshan') on the landscape of Hindi cinema, got me contemplating on the
unique talent this composer possessed. March 26 marked the fiftieth
anniversary of the release of this movie, and the every song in the
movie contributed to the popular acclaim of this composer's debut.
Their respective voices would be identified as the distinguishing
features in their repertoire for actress Geeta Bali, the eminent
classical musician from the Kiraana gharana Pandit Feroze Dastur,
singer/composer C Ramchandra and Hridaynayth Mangeshkar. However,
creating the desired effect with minimal orchestration, enrapturing
music lovers with evocative compositions inspired by folk tunes woven
artfully into classical music structures, and, right to the end of his
career, bringing to us music of the very highest quality would be the
hallmark of the righteous and soft-spoken [I threw that in for balance]
Roshan Lal Nagrath, known to the music world as composer Roshan.
Roshan came to Bombay in 1948 to try his luck in the cinema world.
There, he met eminent producer/director/lyricist Kidar Sharma, who was
in the process of producing "Neki Aur Badi" (1949). Roshan, who was
adept at playing the dilruba and the sarangi, impressed Sharma with some
of his compositions, and Sharma entrusted him with the score for "Neki
Aur Badi". This marked Roshan's debut in music direction in Hindi
cinema, and he scored the music for seven of Kidar Sharma's movies
including 'Neki Aur Badi', 'Bawre Nain', 'Bedardi', 'Gunaah', Chhora
Chhori', 'Rangeen Raaten' and 'Chitralekha'. Geeta Bali was the heroine
of the first six of these seven movies. In fact, for 'Rangeen Raaten'
(1956), she had even sung a duet with playback singer Shamshad Begum -
"main ek shola, aag babola". The credit for Geeta Bali's first and only
effort at singing thus goes, obviously, to Roshan [huh... what??].
Real-life couple Shammi Kapoor and Geeta Bali were the leading pair for
Roshan's 'Rangeen Raaten' and 'Coffee House'. The peculiarity of the
Geeta Bali, Madhubala and Kidar Sharma starrer 'Neki Aur Badi' was the
voice of the eminent classical musician from the Kiraana gharana Pandit
Feroze Dastur, who sang two duets in the movie - one with Raj Kumari
("jamunaa tat par natavar giridhar") and the other with Amirbar
Karnataki ("kyuun ji set lagaaya hai.."). Even more noteworthy is the
qawwaali he sang with Amirbai - "hamen na roko hamen unke paas jaane
do".
Pandit Feroze Dastur became the first and only classical vocalist to
have rendered a qawwaali in cinema. Feroze Dastur acted and sang in
about 18 films (in the third and fourth decades). He also composed the
music for 'Sunehra Baal' (1935) and 'Gul Bakavli' (1948). Roshan's 'Neki
Aur Badi' was his (Dastur's) last movie as a singer, though he did not
act in it.
The second movie in Roshan's repertoire was the Raj Kapoor-Geeta Bali
starrer 'Bawre Nain' (1950), which was also, in the real sense, his
first hit. Songs like "sun bairi balam...", "mujhe sach sach bataa
do...", "teri duniya men dil lagta nahin", etc. became huge public
favorites at the time. Slow, heart-warming tunes can be identified as
Roshan's forte, though in his musical career, he handled a wide variety
of musical styles. For example, the light, breezy notes of Asha's
"mehfil men jo aaye tum ('Vallaah Kya Baat Hai'), the folk strains of
the Sudha-Suman duet"kaune rang mungva kaune rang..." ('Heera Moti'),
mujra-style (thumri) compositions like Lata's "bedardi nazren
milaake..." ('Aji Bas Shukriya') [isn't this from 'Chandni Chowk'?], the
dance music-based "chham chham geet sunaaye" sung by Asha ('Deep Jalta
Rahe'), ghazals like "salaam-e-hasrat qabool kar lo" by Sudha in
'Baabar', classical compositions like Lata's "aeri aali piya bin"
('Raagrang'), qawwaali-based tunes like Asha's "nigaahen milaane ko ji
chaahta hai" ('Dil Hi To Hai'), romantic tunes like Geeta's "jhoom jhoom
ke jaam choom ke" ('Coffee House'), humorous compositions like "phul
gendva na maaro..." by Manna Dey ('Dooj ka Chaand'), sad, emotive tunes
like "kahaan hai tu kahaan hai" by Lata ('Naubahaar'), devotional songs
like "ab to raam bhajan kar le" by Sudha and Batish ('Ghar Ghar Men
Diwali'), prayer-oriented(?) songs like "usko nahin dekha hum ne" by
Manna Dey and Mahendra Kapoor ('Daadi Maa'), unusually worded songs like
"bogi bogi bogi" by Shamshad and Durrani ('Hum Log'), choral tunes like
"oh re taal mile..." by Mukesh ('Anokhi Raat'), loris like Lata's "le
chal ri nindiya" ('Baap Bete'), etc.
Hridaynath Mangeshkar, at age 12, sang the song "badlegi ye duniya ek
din" for the movie 'Sanskaar' at Roshan's place. If renowned lyricist
Shailendra is associated primarily with composers Shankar Jaikishen, S D
Burman and Salil Chowdhury, Roshan's name brings to mind names such as
Sahir Ludhianvi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kidar Sharma, Indeevar, Prem
Dhawan, etc. [what a generic statement!]. But the interesting fact is,
Shailendra penned the lyrics for a total of 13 Roshan soundtracks, as
opposed to eight by Sahir, six by Majrooh, five by Indeevar, six by
Kidar Sharma and seven by Prem Dhawan. Despite this, Shailendra's name
does not come readily to mind when discussing Roshan's repertoire.
About 45 lyricists penned the lyrics for the 57 movies that Roshan
scored the music for. Renowned lyricist P L Santoshi wrote the songs of
'Anhonee' and 'Raagrang', but strangely, the songs for the
Santoshi-directed 1960 release 'Barsaat Ki Raat' were all penned by
Sahir. Lata first sang for Roshan in 'Hum Log' (1952) [shouldn't that be
1951?], and it is worth noting that in subsequent Roshan releases like
'Neki Aur Badi', 'Bawre Nain', 'Bedardi', 'Deep Jalta Rahe', 'Agra
Road', 'Aangan', 'Coffee House', 'CID Girl', 'Maine Jeena Seekh Liya',
'Baabar', 'Commercial Pilot'[??], 'Officer', 'Vallah Kya Baat Hai',
'Bedag', 'Nai Umar Ki Nai Fasal', Lata did not sing a single song.
On the topic of Roshan collaborating with another composer to score a
soundtrack, the movie 'Firdaus' (1953) had three songs composed by
Roshan with five others by Robin Chatterjee. 'Gunaah' (1953) had a
single song composed by Roshan - Talat Mahmood's beautiful "mere
khayaalon men aakar gale lag jaa". The remaining six were composed by
Snehal Bhatkar. 'Mehbooba' (1954), on the other hand, had four songs by
Roshan, along with five by O P Nayyar.
One also often experiences the beauty of Roshan's instrumental frills on
the fabric of the song. Listening to "aeri aali piya bin" from
'Raagrang' one is as mesmerized by Roshan's instrumental prelude as by
Lata's mellifluous rendition following it. Besides this, the
instrumental music in 'Naubahaar', 'Barsaat Ki Raat', 'Taj Mahal',
'Anokhi Raat' and especially 'Mamta' deserves special mention. Composer
C Ramchandra expressed his respect for Roshan by singing the solo "dhak
dhak kare dil" and the duet "teri nazron ne humko chheda hai' with Asha
for Roshan's 'Baraati' (1954). Roshan's music was simple to understand
and hum, yet innately sweet at the same time [as I'm sure Vish disagrees
:-)]. Being able to simplify this superficially simple but inherently
complex artifact is a testament to Roshan's undeniably laudable talent.
This can be experienced even today while listening to his songs.
Roshan's celebrated career ended with Sanjeev Kumar and Zaheeda's
'Anokhi Raat'. Just before that, Roshan got the 'Sursingaar' award for
"man re tu kaahe na dheer dhare", rendered by Rafi for 'Chitralekha'.
From Roshan's repertoire, 104 solos were sung by Lata, 47 by Asha, 30 by
Rafi and 24 by Mukesh, in addition to which Roshan composed about 120
duets. The qawwaalis he composed for movies like 'Barsaat Ki Raat', 'Taj
Mahal', 'Dil Hi To Hai', etc. begot him the title of 'Qawwaali Samraat'.
In addition to these, Roshan's qawwaali tunes can also be experienced in
movies like 'Ghar Ghar Men Diwaali', 'Dooj Ka Chaand' and 'Bahu Begum'.
( To revive memories of this bygone era, the 'Survihaar' organization in
Pune has arranged a programme based on recordings of songs from the
repertoire of this beloved composer at the Amphitheatre in Fergusson
College, Pune [my alma mater! :-)] this Sunday evening. )
Dr Prakash Kamat
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afzal
UVR
>
> >"Those were really the days! When these gifted people were allowed
> >their individuality and their peculiarities - a freedom which
> >resulted in eternal and lasting work."
>
> And today we have MD's with 1/10th the talent bashing each other and accusing
> each other of lifting tunes. :(
Methinks you're being grossly unfair!
-UVR.
PS: To Roshan. What did you think I meant?
Hrishi Dixit
Oo, blast from the past! You are too kind Afzal-bhai.
Hrishi.
Ketan
says...
>Ketan wrote:
>> >"SD Burman used to walk on the pavement below and shout out,
>> >'Roshan, oye Roshan - Accha music deta hai, style accha hai. Darna
>> >nahin. Kamti picture se kuch nahin hota hai. Jo aata hai wohi dena,
>> >copy nahin karna Roshan!' And he'd stroll off.
>>
>> SDB cracks me up. What a character.
>>
>
>For a fleeting while, this remark of "copy nahin karna roshan!", made
>me think of 'thandi hawaaen' and 'rahe na rahe hum' (chuckle!)
Well I was going to mention that in my post, but decided not to, cause from
everything I have read on Roshan, SDB really did like him and his music a lot,
despite he(SDB) being the far superior composer. *Grin*
>I think the present audience (& I include myself) deserve it. Hindustan
>Times' Sunday magazine of Bombay, (Brunch) carried an opinion poll on
>the best female playback singer among it's readers (a couple of months
>ago) and the results were 1) Lata M 2) Shreya Ghoshal 3) Sunidhi
>Chauhan 4) Asha B 5) (IIRC) Alka Yagnik
>
>I still cannot fathom what evaluation-parameters did the respondent
>use. I feel that the two sisters should have been named in succession,
>irrespective of their rank. Any inputs on this?
If I may forward one theory: Lata's songs(or the way she sings them) are
considered pure and simply heavenly by the vast majority and difficult to
replicate. Shreya who sings mostly those kinds of songs is therefore being seen
as the natural successor to Lata. Asha sadly gets slotted as a singer of fast
paced, raunchy, naughty, cabaret songs and that is something many singers today
can replicate. Hence she suffers in comparison. Again this is IMO.
Ketan
Afzal A. Khan
> Oo, blast from the past! You are too kind Afzal-bhai.
>
> Hrishi.
>
> Afzal A. Khan wrote:
You are most welcome, particularly if you continue your
contributions (as in the past) !
Here is one more article on Roshan, posted about six
years back (courtesy Ashok).
--------------------------------------------------------
Remembering Roshan
Nalin Shah
Offtrack column in Midday, 15-11-1996
It is an irony oc commercial cinema that Roshan's mediocre (by his
own standard) works in 'Taj Mahal' (jo vaada kiyaa vo nibhaanaa
pa.Degaa) won wide recognition, whereas his truer classic compositions
done earlier did not get the exposure they deserved.
It is sad that many of his songs which can be described as connoisseurs'
delight are rarely heard, especially the Lata songs like "kahaa.N hai tu,
kahaa.N hai, meri duniyaa looTanevaale" ('Naubahar'), "yahi bahaar hai
duniyaa ko bhool jaane ki" ('Raag Rang') and "kisi ki aa.Nkh ke aa.Nsoo
hai, sitaare na kaho" ('Aagosh').
Sarangi maestro Pandit Ram Narayan, who played for most of the composers,
has always considered Roshan as a composer par-excellence. But competence
and saleability are two different things in the world of music.
Roshan, unlike some of his high profile contemporaries, was not so lucky
in the matter of banners. Many of his Lata songs had inherent charm and
finesse which would have grown on listeners, if only his films had fared
better. It is creditable on the part of Roshan that some of his songs
did become popular despite the failure of films like 'Malhaar' ("ba.De
aramaano.n se rakhkhaa hai balam teri qasam" and "kahaa.N ho tum zaraa
aavaaz do" both Mukesh-Lata duets) and 'Mashuqa' ("dil naa lagaanaa,
jeene na degaa ye zamaanaa" Mukesh). Roshan first drew attention with
the film 'Bawre Nain' ("sun bairi balam sach bol re tujhe"/Rajkumari
and "khayaalo.n me.n kisi ke is tarah aayaa nahi.n karte"/Geeta Roy and
Mukesh) early in his career which incidentally remained his crowning
glory.
'Hum Log' ("chalija chalija chalija chhoD ke duniyaa"/Lata, "bahe
a.Nkhiyo.n se dhaar jiyaa meraa beqaraar"/Lata) which followed soon
after had no star-cast to boast of. It ran only on the strength of the
music. It is significant to note that in the face of competition from
formidable rivals, Roshan proved himself different and carved a niche
for himself in the hall of fame. Unlike some of his rivals in music
he was more of an artist than a showman. Orchestration in his songs
was always subservient to melody and was never flashy.
Judging his songs in their entirety, one is compelled to draw the
inescapable conclusion that he had thorough knowledge of every
instrument, and a faultless sense of orchestration. Not once was he
tempted to play to the gallery.
He could lay bare the intrinsic beauty of a traditional bandish
("ayri aali piyaa bin" in raag yaman/'Raag Rang') with the orchestral
dressing to make it all the more alluring. His successes in films like
'Naubahar' ("aeri mai.n to prem divaani mera") and 'Raag Rang' were not
flukes. His grounding in the classical music earlier, under Pandit
Ratanjankar at Lucknow had stood him in good stead.
Roshan believed more in creating the desired atmosphere than in
impressing the masses. Hence at times, songs like "duniyaa kare savaal
to ham kyaa javaab de.n" ('Bahu Begum') and "tum ek baar mohobat kaa
imtehan to lo" ('Babar') which sound more like verses than traditional
film songs, but succeed in creating the desired impact.
Roshan, like Madan Mohan, might have been unlucky in the matter of
business, but his music will remain a subject of close study for anyone
hoping to make mark in the situational melody and the proper use of
orchestra to enhance its impact. The song "aa ke ab aataa nahi.n dil
ko qaraar" ('Mehbooba') is a classic example of Roshan's craftsmanship.
His use of rhythm in the song reminds one of Ghulam Haider and the way
he made Lata negotiate the words "intezaar", "beqaraar", and "ye bahaar"
proclaims Roshan's sensitivity and creativity.
It is not without reason that Lata's choice fell on Roshan when she
herself planned a film 'Bhairavi' in the mid-50s. If the song "aa ke
ab aataa nahi.n dil ko qaraar" is the most memorable, then "aa jaa
aye jaanevaale" from 'Chandni Chowk' is no less significant. While
talking of orchestration as an integral part of songs, one must mark
the finishing orchestral touches in the song "kiski mast nazar ka
ishaara hai zi.ndagi" ('Raag Rang') and the use of flute (almost
imperceptible) in "teri duniyaa me.n dil lagataa nahi.n" ('Bawre Nain').
If Mukesh ("dil ki pareshaaniyaa.N"/'Hum Log' and "sataaegaa kise tu
aasamaa.N"/'Sheesham') dominated in the earlier part of Roshan's career,
Rafi ("zi.ndagi bhar nahi.n bhoolegi vo"/'Barsaat Ki Raat', "paa.nv chhoo
lene do phoolo.n ko inaayat hogi"/'Taj Mahal' and "man re tu kaahe na
dheer dhare"/'Chitralekha') with his soft caressing touch became
inevitable in the latter half.
Roshan never wasted a voice. If Talat sang the popular "mai.n dil hu.N
ek aramaan bharaa"/'Anhoni', he also got to sing one of the most memorable
songs of his career in "mere khayaalo.n me.n aa kar gale lagaa jaa
mujhe"/'Gunah'.
Many earlier composers might have influenced Roshan, but the end result
showed him at his creative best. He was inspired by Mubarak Ali and Fateh
Ali in the three-part qawwaali "ye hai ishq hai ishq" in 'Barsaat Ki Raat',
but it also carried the unmistakable Roshan stamp. Anil Biswas has still
not forgotten how Roshan used to sit behind him listening intently, while
he was composing.
Once Biswas heard a muffled sound of sobbing when he was composing "kahaa.N
tak ham uThaae gham" ('Arzoo'). As he looked back, he saw Roshan in tears.
"Dada," he said in an emotion-charged voice, "When will I be able to compose
something like this?" "Shut up," shouted Biswas, in a fit of rage. "Don't
say such a thing. Who knows you might create something even better than
this."
Biswas's eyes were moist when he narrated the above incident to me last week
in his house in Delhi. "What a master composer he turned out to beQ" he
exclaimed. Anil Biswas's influence is perceived in a number of Roshan's
songs in the voice of Lata, including "vo paas nahi.n majboor hai.n ham"
('Naubahar').
It is rather unfortunate that many of Roshan's songs including "yahi bahaar
hai duniyaa ko bhool jaane ki"/'Raag Rang', "dil bhi teraa, ham bhi tere"/
'Taksal', "dard-e-dil tu hi bataa"/'Jashn', "mohabbat ek sholaa
hai"/'Aghosh'
now adorn the dark recesses of collectors' libraries, preventing listeners
from assessing Roshan's worth as a composer in its true perspective.
Roshan was a jovial man in life. His wife Ira once narrated an incident to
me, to illustrate his sense of humour. He had an appointment with Satyajit
Ray. Roshan was short in stature and Ray exceptionally tall. She jokingly
asked him if he would feel embarrassed to stand before such a tall man.
Roshan replied matter of factly that it was Ray who would have to 'bow down'
while talking to him. And fate too willed Roshan to die laughing, of a
sudden
heart failure while in the midst of a party, at a friend's house on November
16, 1967. He was 50.
Considering the many creative years that lay ahead of him, he died young.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The latest article/interview doesn't seem to be in line with what
has always been written (and believed) about the circumstances of
Roshan's death. His sons claim that he just passed away all of a
sudden and quite peacefully. The story at the time was that he
had a massive heart attack while laughing uproariously at a joke
narrated by Pran.
Afzal
irfan
Yes Afzal Saheb, you are right. I read the same story
shortly after his death.
In one of his earliest interviews, Rajesh said that till his
father's death he was not serious about film music and he
even didn't know that Rajkumari sang, sun beri balam, as
he thought it was sung by Lata. In that interview he said
that
at the time of father's death he was 18(or 19). And only
after Roshan's death he started assissting Madan Mohan.
About Jewel Thief's premier, how can a thirteen year old
kid drive a Chevrolet ?
Regards,
Irfan
Shalini Razdan
"Ketan" <Ketan_...@newsguy.com> wrote in message
news:e678k...@drn.newsguy.com...
I beg to differ. Lata's songs/style of singing is easier to replicate than
Asha's. This seems to be borne out by the fact that while several singers
in the Lata-mold (Suman, Anuradha, Hemlata, Alka, Shreya) have emerged over
the years, there has been no real successor to Asha.
I think the explanation for the poll results are simpler than you suggest.
In the minds of most HFM listeners Lata is in a league of her own and will
always be numero uno. My guess is that people aren't voting for Lata based
on how she sounds now, but the how she used to in her heydays. Asha doesn't
evoke the same reverence and is judged alongwith other contemporary singers
like Shreya, Sunidhi, etc., and in her current avatar, found less appealing
(rightfully so, IMO) than them.
Shalini
>
> Ketan
>
Archisman
Shalini Razdan wrote:
> "Ketan" <Ketan_...@newsguy.com> wrote in message
> news:e678k...@drn.newsguy.com...
> > In article <1149698235.2...@j55g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
> Archisman
> > says...
> >
I thought on similar lines as well. One sister slotted as a timeless
legend already while the other gets evaluated on current form. Pretty
interesting, considering the fact that Asha's voice withstood the
ravages of time more defiantly her sister's.
Thanks to all for your feedbacks.
Afzal A. Khan
> Afzal A. Khan wrote:
>
>>Hrishi Dixit wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Oo, blast from the past! You are too kind Afzal-bhai.
>>>
>>>Hrishi.
>>>
>>>Afzal A. Khan wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> You are most welcome, particularly if you continue your
>> contributions (as in the past) !
>>
>> Here is one more article on Roshan, posted about six
>> years back (courtesy Ashok).
{Article deleted}
>>
>>
>> The latest article/interview doesn't seem to be in line with what
>> has always been written (and believed) about the circumstances of
>> Roshan's death. His sons claim that he just passed away all of a
>> sudden and quite peacefully. The story at the time was that he
>> had a massive heart attack while laughing uproariously at a joke
>> narrated by Pran.
>>
>>
>>
>> Afzal
>
>
>
> Yes Afzal Saheb, you are right. I read the same story
> shortly after his death.
> In one of his earliest interviews, Rajesh said that till his
> father's death he was not serious about film music and he
> even didn't know that Rajkumari sang, sun beri balam, as
> he thought it was sung by Lata. In that interview he said
> that
> at the time of father's death he was 18(or 19). And only
> after Roshan's death he started assissting Madan Mohan.
> About Jewel Thief's premier, how can a thirteen year old
>
> kid drive a Chevrolet ?
>
> Regards,
>
> Irfan
Irfan Bhai,
I happened to be in Bombay at the time. And came to know
about his death through a report in an eveninger. In those
days, the Times of India Group used to publish a tabloid
called "The Evening News of India". And if memory serves me
right, there was a reference to the incident involving Pran
and Roshan's (consequential) death. Later on, I have come
across reports that Pran was so full of remorse that he
foreswore telling any jokes at parties.
Of course, there have been instances of people passing away
peacefully, and even in their sleep. One such instance
concerns George VI of England, who died in his sleep in
1952. Around the same time, Pataudi Sr. (Nawab Iftikhar Ali
Khan) also died of a heart attack while playing a polo
match.
The description given by Roshan's son reminded me of a scene
in the Raj Kapoor starrer "Aashiq" where character actor
Raj Mehra died in the same circumstances. But enough about
deaths and death scenes !
Afzal
Ritu
Ketan wrote:
> In article <1149698235.2...@j55g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, Archisman
> says...
>
> >Ketan wrote:
> >> >"SD Burman used to walk on the pavement below and shout out,
> >> >'Roshan, oye Roshan - Accha music deta hai, style accha hai. Darna
> >> >nahin. Kamti picture se kuch nahin hota hai. Jo aata hai wohi dena,
> >> >copy nahin karna Roshan!' And he'd stroll off.
> >>
> >> SDB cracks me up. What a character.
> >>
> >
> >For a fleeting while, this remark of "copy nahin karna roshan!", made
> >me think of 'thandi hawaaen' and 'rahe na rahe hum' (chuckle!)
>
> Well I was going to mention that in my post, but decided not to, cause from
> everything I have read on Roshan, SDB really did like him and his music a lot,
> despite he(SDB) being the far superior composer. *Grin*
Ketan, I think you'll have to sleep without dinner tonight. Unless
ofcourse you pledge to name your second born Roshan :)
Anyway, we all seem to forget 'Tera Dil Kahan Hai'. Which pre-dated
'Thandi Hawayen IIRC. One of the rare occasions when Asha is really
sublime.
>
> >I think the present audience (& I include myself) deserve it. Hindustan
> >Times' Sunday magazine of Bombay, (Brunch) carried an opinion poll on
> >the best female playback singer among it's readers (a couple of months
> >ago) and the results were 1) Lata M 2) Shreya Ghoshal 3) Sunidhi
> >Chauhan 4) Asha B 5) (IIRC) Alka Yagnik
> >
> >I still cannot fathom what evaluation-parameters did the respondent
> >use. I feel that the two sisters should have been named in succession,
> >irrespective of their rank. Any inputs on this?
>
> If I may forward one theory: Lata's songs(or the way she sings them) are
> considered pure and simply heavenly by the vast majority and difficult to
> replicate. Shreya who sings mostly those kinds of songs is therefore being seen
> as the natural successor to Lata. Asha sadly gets slotted as a singer of fast
> paced, raunchy, naughty, cabaret songs and that is something many singers today
> can replicate. Hence she suffers in comparison. Again this is IMO.
I agree. That's what it is. Though a lot of it is Asha's own doing.
Cheers
Ritu
sara
> Shalini
>
I think Lata has always been more popular, and that makes MDs choose
singers who sound similar or sing in a similar style. Just the fact
that there are more singers whose style is similar to Lata's indicates
her popularity. This fact might have nothing to do with how
easy/difficult it is to replicate her. It is probably very hard to
evaluate that...how would go about determining how difficult it is to
replicate a singer? And what do you mean replication here?
Kaustubh Pingle
> One of the rare occasions when Asha is really
> sublime.
It would be a worthwhile experienceto find out that there are many
songs in the 50's and 60's of Asha, where she IS sublime. These "many"
songs, can be equivalent to the total number of songs, that a few
singers have sung in their entire career
KCP
skalr...@yahoo.com
Ritu wrote:
> Ketan wrote:
> > In article <1149698235.2...@j55g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, Archisman
> > says...
> >
> > >Ketan wrote:
> > >> >"SD Burman used to walk on the pavement below and shout out,
> > >> >'Roshan, oye Roshan - Accha music deta hai, style accha hai. Darna
> > >> >nahin. Kamti picture se kuch nahin hota hai. Jo aata hai wohi dena,
> > >> >copy nahin karna Roshan!' And he'd stroll off.
> > >>
> > >> SDB cracks me up. What a character.
> > >>
> > >
> > >For a fleeting while, this remark of "copy nahin karna roshan!", made
> > >me think of 'thandi hawaaen' and 'rahe na rahe hum' (chuckle!)
> >
> > Well I was going to mention that in my post, but decided not to, cause from
> > everything I have read on Roshan, SDB really did like him and his music a lot,
> > despite he(SDB) being the far superior composer. *Grin*
>
> Ketan, I think you'll have to sleep without dinner tonight. Unless
> ofcourse you pledge to name your second born Roshan :)
>
> Anyway, we all seem to forget 'Tera Dil Kahan Hai'. Which pre-dated
> 'Thandi Hawayen IIRC. One of the rare occasions when Asha is really
> sublime.
Not so, Ritu. naujawan's thandi hawaayen was in 1952, and Chaandani
Chowk's teraa dil kahaan hai came in 1954.
But we all seem to forget that 'thandii hawaayen..' itself was
taken/inspired from a Western number which used to be heard often on
Radio Ceylon's Englsih service broadcast in the early 50's.
Happy Listenings.
Satish Kalra
Srinivas Ganti
Afzal A. Khan wrote:
> Roshan, like Madan Mohan, might have been unlucky in the matter of
> business,
Whenever Roshan and Madan Mohan are taken in the same breath, I
remember Harish Suvarna's comments made way back in 98. I don't agree
with him though.
"Unlike Madanmohan's, Roshan's music seeps in to us slowly.
It is like rich instant nescaffe vs the south indian
filter coffee. The first time I hear many of his songs, they
sound normal. But a few more rounds, the songs just get absorbed
in to heart like the digested food in to intestines."
Ritu
Roshan is Rich Instant 'Necaffe' whist Madan Mohan is South Indian
Filter Coffee? Or Vice-Versa?
I too used to get confused between Roshan and MM. Their latter day
output esp. with Lata is in the same mould. But Roshan's earlier output
is quite different.
Infact I wanted to address this question to Shalini. I would be curious
to know what part of Roshan's output makes you a Roshan fan?
CHeers
Ritu
Shalini Razdan
"Ritu" <ritucha...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1149823765.7...@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com...
All of it. The aspect of Roshan's music that I enjoy the most is his
unmatched astutness in exploiting the voices of the singers available to
him. And that part of his music didn't change even as his overall style
evolved. In evaluating an MD, one of the things that I look at is the
quality of his non-Lata output. The quality of Roshan' non-Lata oeuvre is
extraordinary. To my way of thinking it doesn't take a genius to compose a
gem in Lata's voice, but it does take one to create a masterpiece in Kamal
Barot's.
Shalini
> CHeers
> Ritu
>
Ritu
So by your logic it does require genius to compose a gem in Asha's
voice. Right? :)
I was actually curious to know what part of Roshan's output you relate
to on an instinctive level. I mean songs that you would really care for
even if you did not know that the man who composed it was a had a vast
repertiore etc.?
I ask because, Roshan has never touched me as deeply. I did not care
for him much till I discovered some of this earlier Anil Biswaseque
output which I really relish. Most people who I know to be Roshan fans
also tend to relish this output. Knowing your proclivities I just
became curious.
Cheers
Ritu