The music of Raj Kapoor - Nalin Shah
asi...@my-deja.com
To preseve this article, I've cut and pasted it in RMIM from:
http://www.studio-systems.com/Playback&Fastforward/PlayBack/1988/July/JulyContent.htm
A Raj Kapoor film without music will look like an ornate frame without
a portrait, or like of the face of Mona Lisa without her bewitching
smile. Even the films that did not fare well at the box office ( 'Aag '
, 'Mera Naam Joker'), were remembered for their memorable musical
score, comments NALIN SHAH on the music of India's master showman.
The popularity of music in R K Films was not accidental but by design.
Raj Kapoor was not a composer but, by his own admission, a music
director. He supervised music, suggested tunes and inspired his
composers to give their best. He made music an integral part of the
stories and used it as an expression of his innermost thoughts and
emotions as in 'Main zindagi mein hurdum rota hi raha hoon' ('Barsat'),
'Awara hoon'(Awara), Dost dost na raha'('Sangam'), Vina yahan, mama
yahan'and 'Jane kahan gaye woh din' (both from 'Mera Naam Joker'). Even
when he turned preacher, he used musical expression as in 'A a ab laut
chale'('Jis Desh Mein Ganga Baheti Hai'). It was Raj Kapoor, the lover
and the philosopher, hiding his disillusionment and dejection behind
the mask of a joker, when he sancy ' Ye bhai zara dekh ke chalo', and
'Kaheta hai joker saara zamana'. The grand finale was the joker summing
up his philosophy in the song 'Kal khel mein hum ho na ho, gardish me
in tare rahenge sada'.
The box-office failure of the mo st ambitious project 'Mera Naam
Joker' followed by jaikishan's death disillusioned Raj Kapoor. Neither
his films nor his music were the same ever after.
Music had a dominating influence on Raj Kapoor. As Prithviraj I s son
he had an opportunity to come close to K L Saigal and the master
composer Rai Chand Boral, when Prithviraj worked in New Theatres.
Even while in Bombay, Saigal was his neighbor at College Street in
Matunga.
His ambition to be a filmmaker did not allow Raj Kapoor to pursue
his passion for music, though he did learn its rudiments from Pt
Jagannath Prasad who was closely associated with Khemchand Prakash and
K L Saigal and also taught music to Premnath, Mukesh and the members of
the Kapoor clan.While visualising a song situation Raj Kapoor showed
remarkable judgement in selecting the right tunes. He never hesitated
to adapt tunes (such as 'Is libe dis, I love you' and 'Dost dost na
raha', both in 'Sangam') which had appealed to him,without worrying
about the sources from where they came.
Shanker-Jaikishan were an invaluable asset to the R K Films. With
Shailendra and Hasrat added they made a formidable team. Shanker, an
expert tabla player and a disciple of HusnalalBhagatram, was a talented
composer. But the talent did nothing enough to endear him to producers.
He was uncouth, short-tempered and had a vituperative tongue. Raj
preferred to deal with Jaikishan with whom he vibed well. The death of
Jaikishan ended a glorious chapter in the history of R K Films. From
'Barsat'to'Mera Naam Joker' they had scored in eight films and had
repaid their debt to Raj Kapoor with compound interest. His ambition
to be a filmmaker did not allow Raj Kapoor to pursue his passion for
music, though he did learn its rudiments from Pt Jagannath Prasad who
was closely associated with Khemchand Prakash and K L Saigal and also
taught music to Premnath, Mukesh and the members of the Kapoor clan.
While visualising a song situation Raj Kapoor showed remarkable
judgment in selecting the right tunes. He never hesitated to adapt
tunes (such as 'Is libe dis, I love you' and 'Dost dost na raha', both
in 'Sangam') which had appealed to him, without worrying about the
sources from where they came. .Shanker-Jaikishan were an invaluable
asset to the R K Films. With Shailendra and Hasrat added they made a
formidable team. Shanker, an expert tabla player and a disciple of
Husnalal Bhagatram, was a talented composer. But the talent did nothing
enough to endear him to producers. He was uncouth, short-tempered and
had a vituperative tongue. Raj preferred to deal with Jaikishan with
whom he vibed well. The death of Jaikishan ended a glorious chapter in
the history of R K Films. From 'Barsat' to 'Mera Naam Joker' they had
scored in eight films and had repaid their debt to Raj Kapoor with
compound interest.
Shanker eagerly hoped to return to the R K fold. But it was not to
be. He never expected Laxmikant-Pyarelal to match the success of their
idols, Shanker and Jaikishan. His hopes were dashed when Ravindra Jain
replaced LP. The fact is Raj Kapoor rated obedience (to his ' whims' in
the matter of music) in a music director higher than mere competence as
a composer. By the time 'Satyam Shivarn Sundaram' was completed Laxmi
Pyare had recovered from the R K spell sufficiently to start asserting
themselves which annoyed Raj Kapoor. The break was inevitable.
The tiff between Raj and Laxmikant took place at the Mehboob
recording studio. A poet who was once close to Raj Kapoor and who was a
witness to the incident, told me, that R K expressed his annoyance to
Laxmikant for not according priority to a R K film. Laxmikant had
replied that unlike Shanker-Jaikishan they were under no obligation to
look after R K films at the cost of other producers. Raj Kapoor was
piqued. He needed a composer who was not only competent but also had a
sense of belonging to the R K banner. His search for such a music
director ended with Ravindra Jain.
When I asked Laxmikant about the unpleasant incident he denied it.
But I did not put much credence to his denial because he also had
denied that they ever accepted Raj Kapoor's suggestions while composing
music. When asked about the song 'Yashomati maiya se bole Nandalala',
he had said that it was he who had sung it to Raj Kapoor on telephone.
The fact is it was Raj Kapoor who had insisted on. retaining the
notations of 'Aal gorl Radhike Brij men bal khati' (from his own
starrer 'Gopinath' 1948) for 'Yashomati maiya se'. Raj did it without
compunction, nor did he care to hide the fact.
A year ago while in a private concert the host introduced singer
Kaumudi Munshi to Raj Kapoor. When told that she was the wife of Ninu
Majumdar (music director of ' Gopinath') he teasingly asked her if she
remembered 'Aai gori Radhike'. Then he told the gathering how he was
inspired to use the 'Gopinath' tune for 'Yashomati maiya se 'In 'Satyam
Shivam Sunderam'.
Notwithstanding Raj Kapoor being' the most musical producer' they
ever encountered, Laxmi-Pyare resented his constant 'Interference' in
the matter of music.
If it was 'interference' on the part of Raj Kapoor, well, it always
paid off. As if his mind was a mirror of public taste; if something
appealed to him, it was bound to prove popular. When Lata gave credit
to Raj Kapoor for the success of the music of 'Ram Teri Ganga Maili '
she did not mean to undermine Ravindra Jain's efforts, but merely
wanted to highlight Raj Kapoor's contribution to the success of music
in his films. Raj often needed a music composer to polish and improvise
tunes that came to his mind for the song situations he visualised.
If Raj Kapoor had not been a filmmaker he would have been an
excellent composer and a good singer as well. He proved his ability as
a singer early in his career, when he sang 'Hum babu naye nirale
hain'(Music: Ram Ganguli/N 2666 1) in Prithvi Theaters' stage-play '
'Deevar '. He displayed an admirable sense of Theatres' stage-play
'Deevar'. He displayed an admirable sense of rhythm and melody in the
song. With a little more effort he could have been a successful singer.
He also sang in'Chitod Vijay' (1947/S D Burman)'Jail Yatra' (1947, Ninu
Majumdar),'Dil Ki Rani'(1947/S D Burman),Neel Kamal'(1947/B Vasudeo)
and 'Gopinath'(1 948/Ninu Maiumdar/record not released).Eventually Raj
preferred the sonorous voice of Mukesh from 'Aag'('Zinda hoon is tarah
ki ghame'/ 1948) to'Mera Naam Joker' ('Jane kahan gaye woh din'/1970).
The death of Jaikishan in 1971 and Mukesh in 1976 created a ,void
which he found difficult to fill. Nargis, Shailendra , Jaikishan and
Mukesh had all 'deserted ' him. With each of them a part of him had
died, but the showman within him refused to quit.
Raj Kapoor's films in many ways were a reflection of his own self. He
expressed his romanticism in the music that he loved the most - a
sentimental melody titled 'Danube Waves'. This piece of music expressed
his intense feelings. He played it on violin in 'Barsat' and repeated
the same in most of his films.
Nargis remained his magnificent obsession in life. The vision of
Nargis as she was when he met her for the first tI me remained engraved
in his mind. When Raja Babu stands transfixed looking-at Bobby for the
first time at her doorstep in 'Bobby' we see Raj reliving his own
past Raj Kapoor could express the intensity of his emotions only in
music -on the strains of 'Danube Waves'- which too remained one of his
obsessions in life.
What remains now is the fond memories of Raj Kapoor as a
romanticist, a loveable tramp, a friend of the downtrodden and a
vagabond. Whatever he was at heart he always remained a fanatic lover.
His life can be summed up in the lines he sang in'Awara'
'Yeh diljojala ek aag lagi
Ahsoonjo bahe barsat hul
Badal ki tarah awara the hum
Rote bhi rahe hanste bhi rahe'.
His smiles and sorrows found expression in music - music that could
be sung and remembered by common men.
-NALIN SHAH
Loony Tunes
<asi...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:1120958039.8...@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> To preseve this article, I've cut and pasted it in RMIM from:
iirc Prof Sahab has all of these articles from this site (all editions I
presume) on his computer. That's one more archive source for you.
asi...@my-deja.com
Darn. :-(
I should do a search of the RMIM archives next time.
Cheers
Arun
Loony Tunes
<asi...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:1120962925....@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Oh, I didn't know that. I spent an hour compiling a list of links.
> Darn. :-(
I had done the same some months ago and posted a couple of links. Prof Sahab
responded saying that he had those archived already. :-)
vijay...@my-deja.com
Majumdar),'Dil Ki Rani'(1947/S D Burman),Neel Kamal'(1947/B Vasudeo)
and 'Gopinath'(1 948/Ninu Maiumdar/record not released).
Which songs from Neelkamal have been sung by him? Although Mukesh
sings some songs in Neelkamal, they are not on Raj Kapoor.
Vijay