Archive for the ‘Sanskrit song’ Category
Ehi muraare kunjavihaare
Posted by: Atul on: December 30, 2020
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Today, December 30, 2020 is 7th Remembrance Day of Lakshmi Shankar.
What a musical journey Lakshmi Shankar had in her career spreading over 7 decades! Her journey from a Bharatnataym dancer to Uday Shankar’s ballet dancer, an actress in a Tamil film, a playback singer in Hindi films, a Hindustani classical vocalist and as a catalyst in spreading the Hindustani classical music across the continents is unparalleled. And it is more so for a woman who had to cross the societal barrier. Lakshmi Shankar was really a woman of substance.
In 2009, 83-year-old Lakshmi Shankar received a Grammy Nomination for Best Traditional World Music Album. Although she could not make it to the final list, the Grammy nomination itself was a great event for a woman Hindustani classical vocalist in the Western music dominated award. The irony is that she never got the status of a celebrity in her own country. She did not get any ‘Padma’ awards from Government of India nor any award from Sangeet Academy – whether Central or State levels.
Lakshmi Shankar, was born as Mahalakshmi Sastri (16/06/1926- 30/12/2013) in Jamshedpur where her father Vaidyanath Sastri was employed in Tata Iron and Steel Company as a Chartered Accountant. He was a native of a village in Pudukkottai district. Her mother, Visalaksi was from Palghat (Palakkad) district – both districts being part of the then Madras Presidency. During Vaidyanath Sastri’s stay in Jamshedpur, Mahatma Gandhi made a number of visits to Jamshedpur. The result was that he became attracted to Gandhian ideology. Mahatma Gandhi picked him up to devote time for the upliftment of harijans. He left the job and shifted to Poona (Pune) in 1930 for the assigned work. His other family members, including Lakshmi Shankar, shifted to Madras (Chennai).
At the age of 8, Lakshmi was put under Guru Kandappa Pillai for learning Bharatnataym dance in Chennai. At the age of 11, she performed her arangetram in Bharatnatyam dance. At the age of 13, she joined Uday Shankar’s India Cultural Centre in Almora for training in fusion dances. During her stint in Almora, Lakshmi Shankar got married to Rajendra Shankar, (the next younger brother of Uday Shankar) who was 21 years older than her. Rajendra Shankar, with M.Sc. in Physics and Chemistry was working as a script writer and was handling publicity in Uday Shankar’s Dance Academy. During 1940-43, Lakshmi Shankar travelled across India as one of the dancers with Uday Shankar’s dance troupe. In 1944, Uday Shankar’s India Cultural Centre in Almora was closed down due to financial constraints.
Following the closure of Uday Shankar’s Dance Academy, Lakshmi Shankar with her husband and brother-in-law, Ravi Shankar came to Mumbai. Both the Shankar brothers got associated with Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA). While Rajendra Shankar joined Bombay Talkies (later Filmistan) as story and script writer, Ravi Shankar got his first assignment for scoring music for Chetan Anand’s ‘Neecha Nagar’ (1946) followed by K A Abbas’s ‘Dharti Ke Laal’ (1946). In the first film, Lakshmi Shankar sang for Kamini Kaushal a lullaby so na o nanhi so na. In ‘Dharti Ke Laal’ (1946), she sang beete ho sukh ke din aayee dukh ki ratiyaan.
With these two films, the musical collaboration of Lakshmi Shankar with her brother-in-law, Ravi Shankar started which continued until the latter’s death in December 2012.
Ravi Shankar and his other associates were disillusioned with IPTA as they were not given the freedom in creating the work of their respective fields. Ravi Shankar set up his own artists’ group in which his wife Annapurna Devi, sister-in-law, Lakshmi Shankar and his elder brother, Rajendra Shankar, Zohra Sehgal, Shanti Bardhan etc became the important part of this group.
It was around this time that Jawaharlal’s Nehru’s book ‘The Discovery of India’ (1946) was published and Ravi Shankar felt that this book was a good choice for adapting it as a ballet-cum-opera on the stage. He got the financial backing for the project from Indian National Theatre, the cultural wing of the Indian National Congress. While Ravi Shankar and Annapurna Devi took charge of the music, Rajendra Shankar wrote the script and looked after the production. Lakshmi Shankar and Sachin Shankar became the main dancers to be choreographed by Shanti Bardhan.
The premier of ‘The Discovery of India Ballet-Cum-Opera’ was held in New Delhi in April 1947 in the presence of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The premier of the ballet-cum-opera was highly successful. Later, it was staged at many prominent cities all over India because of which Lakshmi Shankar became a well-known dancer.
In 1948, while the ballet-cum-opera was still being staged, Lakshmi Shankar fell ill and was diagnosed as suffering from pleurisy affecting her lungs. She was taken back to her house in Chennai for recuperation. The doctor advised her to give up dancing as it would be too hard for her weak lungs. With this, her professional dancing career came to an end.
After a complete recovery from illness, Lakshmi Shankar returned to Mumbai where her husband was already working as a story and screenplay writer in Amiya Chakraborty’s film production company, ‘Mars & Movies’. [Lakshmi Shankar’s younger sister Kamala Sastri was married to Amiya Chakraborty in 1951]. In the absence of dancing, she thought of pursuing the playback singing career in films.
Post-illness, Lakshmi Shankar sang jingles in some advertising films and got a chance to sing a bhajan ‘in Aandhiyaan (1952). It was during her rehearsal of the song recording for the film ‘Mastaana’ (1954) when its music director, Madan Mohan advised her to learn Hindustani classical music as he felt that her voice was most suited for thumri singing. Though Lakshmi Shankar liked Hindustani classical music in instruments, she was not keen to become Hindustani classical vocalist.
It was because of Madan Mohan’s persistence that Lakshmi Shankar agreed to give a try. The next day, Madan Mohan came to her house with Ustad Abdul Rehman Khan of Patiala Gharana and with a harmonium. Madan Mohan played on harmonium and Ustad played on his swarmandal. Ustad’s one line of some bandish mesmerised Lakshmi Shankar so much that she resolved to learn Hindustani classical music as a vocalist from him.
Lakshmi Shankar completed her training in three years’ time. In January 1957, she gave her maiden performance at Entally Music Festival in Kolkata which was very much appreciated. With this success, she was invited to many music festivals all over India. She continued learning Hindustani classical music with Professor B R Deodhar and completed her Bachelor of Music degree under him. In the meanwhile, she occasionally sang for Hindi films as playback singer about 30 songs in 20 films from 1946 to 1974. In the Marathi film ‘Pativrata’ (1959), she had sung 2 thumris with Pandit Bhimsen Joshi.
In 1962-63, she got her first opportunity for a 4-month tour to the USA and Europe as a part of Uday Shankar’s group as a lead vocalist and the music director of the ballet orchestra. In 1968, Ravi Shankar organised the Festival of India in the USA in which she was again a lead vocalist along with many eminent musicians from India. In 1970, she travelled to Italy (Rome, Florence and Venice) and the Shiraz Festival in Iran for her solo performance as a vocalist.
Some of Lakshmi Shankar’s notable works included her cross collaborations with George Harrison in 1974. One of her collaborations with him was a Krishna song in English, ‘I am missing you’ which received good receptions in its live performance throughout the USA. This song made her well-known in the Western countries. The English song was written by Pandit Ravi Shankar. She also sang a couple of soulful bhajans in Attenborough’s Oscar winning film ‘Gandhi’ (1982) for which Ravi Shankar was the music director.
Lakshmi Shankar had been travelling quite often on her musical tours abroad either as a part of Pandit Ravi Shankar’s troupe or as a solo performer. For this reason, Lakshmi Shankar moved to the USA along with her family and took permanent residency near Los Angeles in 1984. She cut many discs in the USA and Europe besides India. Later in her life, she started teaching Hindustani classical music to American-Indians in her house in Simi Valley, California.
With the death of Pandit Ravi Shankar on December 11, 2012, Lakshmi Shankar’s collaborations with him of over 7 decades ended. It had started first as dancers in Uday Shankar’s academy in 1939, as a playback singer under his music direction in 1946, as a dancer in his ballet-cum-opera ‘Discovery of India’ in 1947-48 and both national and international collaboration from 1963 onwards with him. After Ravi Shankar’s death, Lakshmi Shankar’s health started deteriorating. Almost one year after her mentor’s death, Lakshmi Shankar passed away on December 30, 2013.
On the occasion of the 7th Remembrance Day of Lakshmi Shankar, I am presenting one of her popular non-film Krishna bhajans, ehi Muraare kunjavihaare (1979). She has rendered this bhajan in Raag Pahadi. Most of the on-line references have accredited this Sanskrit bhajan to Jayadeva. But a section of the listeners has pointed out that this bhajan is not found in Jayadeva’s Ashtapadi.
Lakshmi Shankar recorded this devotional song in the USA which became a part of a Long-Playing Record, ‘Lakshmi Shankar Sings Devotional Songs’ for ISCKKON Golden Avatar Productions in 1979 under the orchestration of L Subramaniam, a renowned violinist supported by Ustad Zakir Hussain on tabla. I feel that Lakshmi Shankar may have composed the tune herself. Later, sometime in the 1980s, she sang live on All India Radio/Doordarshan as part of the National Programme of Music. I personally like her live version because of the audio quality, the clarity of the words, the excellent tabla rhythm and the elaborations with which Lakshmi Shankar rendered the bhajan.
How could Lakshmi Shankar mesmerise her foreign audience with her bhajans? The answer is that she did with her emotive voice as evident in this bhajan.
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Acknowledgements:
1. ‘Poignant Song – The Life and Music of Lakshmi Shankar’ (2019) By Kavita Das.
2. An Interview with Lakshmi Shankar by Shreen Isal, June 2001 published in http://www.associationsargam.com
Audio Clip: (Record version)
Video Clip: (From live concert on AIR/Doordarshan)
Song-Ehi muraare kunjavihaare (Lakhmi Shankar NFS)(1979) Singer-Lakshmi Shankar
Lyrics (Based on record version)
[The equivalent lyrics are written based on the phonetics of Sanskrit stotram].
ehi muraare
ehi mura…are
ehi muraare kunjavihaa…re
ehi praṇata jana bandho
ehi muraare kunjavihaare
ehi praṇata jana bandho
hey Madhava madhumathana vareṇya
Keshava karuṇasindho
raasa nikunje gunjati niyatam
raasa nikunje gunjati niyatam
bhramarashatam kil kaanta aa
ehi nibhṛta pathapaantha..aa
tvamiha yaache darashandaanam
tvamiha yaache darashandaanam
he Madhusoodan shanta
ehi muraare kunjavihaare
ehi praṇata janabandho
nava neeraj dhara shyaamal sundara
nava neeraj dhara shyaamal sundara
chandra kusum ruchivesha
gopigaṇ hṛidayesha..aa
govardhana dhara vṛindaavanachara
govardhana dhara vṛindaavanachara
vanshīdhara paramesha
ehi muraare kunjavihaare
ehi praṇata janabandho
Raadharanjan kansaniṣhoodan
Raadharanjan kansaniṣoodan
praṇatistaavaka charaṇe
nikhila niraashraya sharaṇe
ehi Janaardana pitaambaradhara
ehi Janaardana pitaambaradhara
kunje mantharapavane..ae
ehi muraare
ehi muraare
ehi muraare kunja vihaare
ehi praṇata jana bandh..o
he Madhava madhu mathana vareṇya
Keshava karuṇa sindho
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English Translation (Source: http://www.kksongs.org )
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O killer of the demon Mura who roams in the gardens, come near.
O Mādhava, who is the friend of those who bow upon, who destroyed Madhu, who is desirable, who is Keshva and who is the ocean of compassion, come near.
Hundreds of shiny bumble-bees are continuously buzzing in the gardens of [our] transcendental mellows. O You, who beyond the paths of material standards, come near. We all are craving for the sight of You, O Madhusoodana, who is calm.
O You, who holds a new lotus, who is dark in complexion, who is beautiful, who is decorated with chandrakusuma, who rules the heart of group of Gopī, who held Govardhana, who roams in Vrindaavana, who holds a flute, who is the supreme ruler.
O who gives pleasure to Rādhaa, who destroyed Kamsa, who is complete. I am bowing into Your feet which is the shelter of the unsheltered.
O Janaardana, who has yellow robes, come close to me in this garden.
Shiv stuti
Posted by: Atul on: February 21, 2020
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusaist of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 4235 | Post No. : | 15445 |
Hearty Greetings to all readers, on the auspicious occasion of Maha Shivratri-2020. On this day, I present a special song. Today’s song is actually not a song in the usual sense, but it is “Shiv Stuti”, rendered by Geeta Dutt, Badrinath Vyas and Chorus, in the film Har Har Mahadev-1950.
Har Har Mahadev-50 was a special movie. It achieved the status of a “Flag Bearer”, for Mythological films to be made in the coming decade of the 50s. It is not that Religious films were not made earlier. In fact, right from 1931 onwards such Dharmik films were being made. However, subsequently, when a variety of Genres came to the films, these movies lagged behind. The first attempt of reviving the religious films came when film Ram Rajya-43 became a Hit film, but in the 40s Stunt films dominated, so this chance subsided. Next when Har Har Mahadev became an extremely successful film, the religious films got a realm boost.
If you look at the type of films made in the 40s and 50s, you will notice a clear shift of the tastes of Indian film audience. The decade of the 30s was of the novelty of Talking films, so people saw whatever was offered to them. But by the 40s, the Industry had become a bubbly young one and films were made as per the budgets available, tastes of the audience and lastly on the choice of the producers.
The first half of the 40s was affected by second world war. This decade brought a new class of investors/financers, who had made easy money ( read Black money) in the war period. They were ready to invest/finance in film making, but their motto was “less investment and more profits”. To achieve this, the only way was to make a C grade stunt/action film. Thus, in this decade, there was a whole lot of C grade films, consisting of Stunt/Action films, Costume dramas, Magic based imaginary films and the likes of their ilk. These films could be made in less money ( according to Bhagwan Dada, a stunt film was made in about 30 to 50 thousand rupees only) and almost at a guaranteed profit of sizable percentage. Thus, so many such films were made that we can label the 40s as ‘the decade of stunt films’. During 1941 to 1950, approximately 210 stunt/action and similar films were made, giving a rough average of 21 films per year, for 10 continuous years !
Mythological/Religious films were being made from 1931 itself. They tried to give them a competition. Though only 80 such films were made in the 40s – 1941 to 1950 – two Block Busters from this religious film genre, gave lot of hopes to makers of such films. One was Ram Rajya-1943 and the other was Har Har Mahadev-1950. In fact, the extra ordinary success of Har Har Mahadev was so encouraging, that producers turned again to making Religious films in the next decade. The cost of making a religious film was much more than producing a C grade stunt film, but the turn over and profit was also many times more than the stunt films. The audience of religious films was mainly from Middle class society, who was now earning enough money to see films.
Due to higher cost of production religious films did not have the same number of films produced in the 50s decade. However 125 films were made from 1951 to 1960, giving an average of 12 films per year or 1 film per month for 10 continuous years. In this period the stunt/action film production diminished considerably – slowly walking towards a natural death of this Genre in due course ! The decade was crowded with Musical, Social and Comedy films. Even religious films provided good songs and music, as against stunt films-where it was non existent. The audience taste spurned the Stunt/action films and those producers too turned to producing religious social, musical and comedy films.
In this process, Har Har Mahadev-50 played a major role. Not only the story, acting, direction and production values were good but its music also played a stellar role ( after Ram Rajya-1943), in reviving the wave of religious films. The credit goes to its Music Director, Avinash Vyas (21-7-12 to 20-8-84). He was comparatively new. It was his just the 5th film. Starting with Mahasati Anusuya-43, he did Lehri Badmash-44, Krishna Bhakta Bodana-44 and Gunsundari-48 till then.
The success of Har Har Mahadev-50 was also due to excellent song lyrics by Ramesh Shastri ( 2-8-1935 to 30-4-2010). He was from village Diyor, Bhavnagar dist .in Gujarat. He went to Benares to study and completed Visharad (equivalent to B.A.). He came back to Ahmedabad and studied in St. Xavier’s college. He did his Ph.D in Sanskrit. He served in Ayurvedic colleges of Bhavnagar, Baroda and Ahmedabad.
When Raj Kapoor advertised for songs for his new film, Barsat, Ramesh Shastri responded with his songs and RK selected his song-“Hawa mein udta jaayen mera laal dupatta mal mal ka”, which became an instant hit and very popular too. Same year he also wrote songs for films Ram Vivah, Shaadi ke baad and Usha Haran. In 1950, he wrote 5 songs for film Har Har Mahadev. One song by Geeta Dutt, “Kankar kankar se main poochhoon, Shankar mera kahan hai” became famous and popular. After this he wrote for his last film Jai Mahakali-51 and stopped film activity.
He retired in 1990. Though Raj Kapoor called him several times, he was not interested in films or settling in Bombay and hence he declined every time. He wrote several Bhajans in Hindi and Gujarati, under the pen name of ” Ram Sharan”. These were broadcast over A.I.R. and Radio Ceylon regularly. He suffered from Cerebral palsy and was handicapped for last 10 years. He died on 30-4-2010).
The lead pair for the film Har Har Mahadev-50 was Trilok Kapoor and Nirupa Roy. After this film both became very famous as Shankar and Parvati. They did 18 films together- all religious films. Trilok Kapoor was born at Multan on 11-2-1912 and was educated at Peshawar. He went to Bombay to join his brother. He got his first film CHAR DARVESH-1933. He went to Calcutta and did some films there. He also worked as assistant to Director Hem Chandra. In the 40s and 50s, His patent role was that of Mahadev. He did 7 films in a row for this role and in all those films Nirupa Roy was Parvati. (However, no one could ever beat the divine pair of Ram and Seeta enacted by Shobhana Samarth and Prem Adib in Ram Rajya-1943).
Trilok Kapoor did about 120 films His last film was a TV film Akanksha, which was released after his death on 24-9-1988.
As per HFGK, Trilok Kapoor the actor sang 1 solo in Aaj ki Duniya and 5 duets in Raja Rani-42. After this there are no songs on his name.
NIRUPA ROY she was a versatile actress. To prove my point, I repeat here what I had said about her few years back. Nirupa Roy (4-1-1931 to 13-10-2004) was an enigma of Hindi Cinema. An ordinary lower middle class housewife turned into an actress due to a need to survive. Funny thing was that it was her husband who had visited the studio to get a job as an actor and the studio selected his wife instead ! Nirupa Roy who acted in over 250 movies has been variously branded as a Goddess of Mythological films, a suffering wife of a poor farmer, a troubled housewife of social films, an acclaimed quintessential mother of Bollywood and even a Stunt film actress !
She has been a Heroine in 110 films, a mother in over 50 films, has been a Goddess in 50 Mythological films, a suffering wife in over 30 films and a Stunt girl in about 8 films. She sang Bhajans, romantic songs, Comedy songs, qawalis, sad songs and peasant folk songs on the screen.
She changed her Heros like “Badalate huye saathi”. She did 18 films with Trilok Kapoor ( 50-65), 12 films with Balraj Sahni ( 53-72), 16 films with P.Jairaj ( 53-78), and 21 films with Ashok Kumar ( 56-89). She was Amitabh’s mother in 12 films and stunt Girl in 8 films. She even wrote a popular film song for film Samrat Chandragupta-58 ( Mujhe dekh chaand sharmaye – Lata).
I had seen this film,not once but many times.it was full of trick scenes and It had become a cult film. Trilok Kapoor,who acted the part of lord Shiva was rumoured to have a real snake around his neck during the film shooting. Nirupa Roy who played the role of Uma,was quite scared of snakes and it became a problem. Finally,an artificial snake was used,when their joint shots were shot.
HAR HAR MAHADEV-1950 was produced and directed by Jayant Desai under the banner of Jayant Desai Production. With this one film alone Jayant Desai became a millionnaire in those days.
It was also the FIRST film where the pair of Trilok Kapoor and Nirupa Roy became a hit as Shankar-Parvati and they played this role in 6 subsequent films.
This is a story, when Tarakasur, the king of demons invades the land of gods, to avenge the insult meted out to his mother by Indra. Tarakasur wins the war and all Gods are kept in captivity-including the offender Indra.
Lord Vishnu and Bramhadev know, only Lord Shiva can defeat Tarakasur but he is in Tapascharya(Meditation). Kamdev is sent to lure Shiva from his meditation, but Shiva is so angry that, opening his Third Eye, he burns Kamdev. Now only Uma, the daughter of king Himalaya can save the world. Uma(Nirupa Roy) starts penance to propitiate Shiva(Trilok Kapoor).
Due to her earnest Bhakti and devotion, Shiva relents and breaks his Meditation. Shiva and Uma get Married and later lord shiva destroys Tarakasur, releasing all the Gods.
On this auspicious day of Mahashivratri, the marriage of Shiv-Parvati is solemnised in the midnight.
Film Munimji-55 has a very nice song depicting the marriage details. It is also posted in this blog, already.
Today (21 February 2020), on this auspicious day of Maha Shivratri – when Lord Shiv ji weds Devi Parvati, here is Shiv Stuti from film Har Har Mahadev-50. Jai Mahadev !
Editor’s note– The lyrics are in Sanskrit. Our knowledgeable readers are requested to help fill in the blanks/ suggest corrections in the lyrics.
Song-Shiv stuti (Har Har Mahadev)(1950) Singers-Geeta Roy, Badrinath Vyas, MD-Avinash Vyas
Lyrics
jai gangadhar
har har jay Girijadheesha
har jay Girijadheesha
twamam paalay nityam
twamam paalay nityam
kripya jagdeesha
har har har mahadev
kailashe giri shikhare
kalpdramvipine
?? kalpdramvipine
gunjati madhukar punje
gunjati madhukar punje
kunjavane gahne
tasmilalitsudeshe sheela manirachita
?? sheela manirachita
?? deshi sheela
tanmadhye harnikate
tanmadhye harnikate
gauri ??
har har har mahadev
vibudhvadhu bahu nrityat ?? karitam
?? karitam
kinnar gaayan kurute
kinnar gaayan kurute
sapt swar rachitam
?? mridang vaadyate
har mridang vaadyate
kuru kuru lalitam venum
kuru kuru lalitam venum
madhuram naatayate
har har har mahadev
har har har mahadev
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Devnagri script lyrics
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जय गंगाधर हर हर जय गिरिजाधीशा ।
हर जय गिरिजाधीशा ।
त्वं मां पालय नित्यं
त्वं मां पालय नित्यं कृपया जगदीशा॥
हर हर हर महादेव
कैलासे गिरिशिखरे
कल्पद्रमविपिने ।
हर कल्पद्रमविपिने ।
गुंजति मधुकर पुंजे
गुंजति मधुकर पुंजे
कुंजवने गहने ॥
? ललितसुदेशे शीला मणिरचिता ।
हर शीला मणिरचिता ।
तन्मध्ये हरनिकटे
तन्मध्ये हरनिकटे गौरी उपवीता ? ॥
हर हर हर महादेव
विबुद्धवधू बहु नृत्यत ?? करितम
हर ?? करितम ।
किन्नर गानम कुरुते
किन्नर गानम कुरुते सप्त स्वर रचितम ॥
?? मृदंग वाध्यते ।
हर मृदंग वाध्यते ।
कुरु कुरु ललिता वेणुम
कुरु कुरु ललिता वेणुम
मधुरम नाट्यते ॥
हर हर हर महादेव
हर हर हर महादेव
Tava Virahe Vanamaali Sakhi Seedati
Posted by: skapur01 on: September 5, 2019
- In: Classical composition | Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | expression of love | Feelings of heart | Guest posts | Kavitha Krishnamurthy Solo Songs | Kavitha Krishnamurthy Songs | Lord Krishna related songs | Lyrics contributed by readers | Post by Sadanand Kamath | Sanskrit song | Songs of 1990s (1991 to 2000) | Songs of 1994 | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 5 Comments
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
4066 | Post No. : | 15201 | Movie Count : |
4178 |
Today, September 5th is 24th Remembrance Day of Salil Chowdhury (19/11/1925 – 05/09/1995), the legendary music director who was the pioneer in fusion music – blending Indian melodies with the orchestration of western classical music. As he himself admitted during an interview on All India Radio, Salil Da was greatly influenced by the music of Beethoven and Mozart because his father used to play gramophone records of their music which he had listened during his childhood.
Salil Da’s musical legacy has been carried forward by the likes of RD Burman, Ilaiyaraaja and AR Rahman. I will come back later the organic connection of Ilaiyaraaja and A R Rahman with the music of Salil Da. It is the irony of fate that while the followers of his musical legacy have attained the top slots in the film industry, Salil Da could not get such recognition in Hindi film industry. Perhaps, he was quite ahead of time and those who mattered in the Hindi film industry (producers and distributors) failed to realise his potentials.
Salil Da has to be a genius person in the making if I go by his various activities during his childhood and younger days. At the age of 6, he learns piano. As a student, he writes and compose songs for the school’s plays. As a teenager, he gets actively associated in the Peasants Movements in his village. In the midst of such activities, he completes his high school and later graduation from Kolkata University. He becomes a member of Communist Party of India and gets actively involved with Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) while he is simultaneously doing his post-graduation studies. He is a playwright, song writer, composer and sometime actor in IPTA plays. Salil Da participates in the peasants’ uprising and goes underground for a couple of years. During this period, he writes and composes ‘chetonaar gaan’ (songs of awakening). He learns almost all the important musical instruments like piano, flute, esraj, sarod, sitar, guitar, percussion which is in most cases self-thought. He is the first to set up Bombay Youth Choir and later Calcutta Choir Group which he personally conducts in the 1950s. He is a poet, story writer, lyricist and music director.
With so much of his multifarious activities in around Kolkata, how did Salil Da get involved with Hindi film music in Mumbai? I quote below, in his own words during an interviews on All India Radio:
I came to Bombay by stroke of luck. I was writing script (of my story ‘Rickshawaala’) for a Bengali film. When Hrishikesh Mukherjee heard the story, he liked it. He said that he would narrate the story to Bimalda (Bimal Roy) who was expected to come to Kolkata from Mumbai. So, I took the appointment of Bimlada and read out the entire script to him. Bimlda did not show any reaction to the story but advised me to meet him the next morning.
When I went to meet him the next morning, I was told that he had left for Mumbai by the morning flight on some urgent work. Within a week, I got the telegram from Bimalda that he had decided to make a Hindi film based on my story and I should come to Mumbai with the script. That’s how I landed in Mumbai for ‘Do Beegha Zameen’ (1953).
After the success of ‘Do Beegha Zameen’ (1953), Salil Da was employed in Bimal Roy Productions as a music director. He did many films for the banner like ‘Biraj Bahu’ (1954), ‘Naukari’ (1954), ‘Amaanat’ (1955), ‘Parivaar’ (1956), ‘Aparadhi Kaun’ (1957), ‘Madhumati’ (1958), ‘Usne Kaha Thaa’ (1960), ‘ Parakh’ (1960).‘Kabuliwaala’ (1961), and ‘Prem Patra’ (1962). During this period, he also did many other films outside the banner of Bimal Roy Productions. Song compositions in almost all these films are outstanding. Some of the songs from Bimal Roy’s films are evergreen and they are still remembered. For instance “Aaha Rimjhim Ke Ye Pyaare Pyaare Geet Liye” (from ‘Usne Kaha Tha’) and “O Sajnaa Barkha Bahaar Aayi” (from ‘Parakh’).
In ‘non-Bimal Roy’ films, Salil Da composed excellent songs in films like ‘Jaagte Raho’ (1956), ‘Aawaaz’ (1956), ‘Ek Gaon Ki Kahaani’ (1957), ‘Honeymoon’ (1960), ‘Chhaaya’ (1961), ‘Maaya’ (1961) etc. The songs like “Zindagi Khwaab Hai” (‘Jagte Raho’, Mukesh’s first song under Salida), “Dhitang Dhitang Bole” (‘Awaaz’), “Raat Ne Kya Kya Khwaab Dikhaaye” (‘Ek Gaon Ki Kahaani’), “Mere Khwaabon Mein Khayaalon Mein” (‘Honeymoon’), “Koi Sone Ke Dilwaala” (‘Maaya’), and “Itna Na Mujhse Tu Pyaar Badha” (‘Chhaaya’) are some of my favourites of Salil Da.
Despite scoring beautiful songs in the films of early 50s, Salil Da was still regarded as a flop music director in the eyes of film distributors. The box office success of‘ ‘Madhumati’ (1958) and the high popularity of its songs enabled Salil Da to shed the tag of ‘flop music director’. I remember that not a single day will pass without one or two songs from ‘Madhumati’ (1958) being played on the radio after the release of the film. Salil Da got his first Filmfare Award for the best music director for this film.
It is difficult to pin point the best song from ‘Madhumati’ as all the songs were outstanding. Because I am a trekker, I may be biased in my liking for “Suhaana Safar Aur Ye Mausam Haseen“. The sound of chirping of the birds in the prelude creates a natural atmosphere in the scene for the song. Incidentally, adding in the prelude the chirping sounds of the birds was suggested by SD Burman. Salil Da used folk-based melody from Bengal, Assam, Nepal and also from Poland for almost all the songs in the film. He requisitioned the services of Dattaram for playing dholak in all the songs (as revealed by Dattaram in his TV interview). One can hear Dattaram ‘thekas’ prominently in the song “Ghadi Ghadi Mora Dil Dhadke“.
With the tremendous success of ‘Madhumati’ (1958), Salil Da got more film assignments such as ‘Chhaaya’ (1961), ‘Poonam Ki Raat’ (1965), ‘Chaand Aur Sooraj’ (1965), ‘Pinjre Ke Panchhi’ (1966) (which he also directed), among many others.
During his second phase of the musical career, he did some notable films like ‘Mere Apne’ (1971), ‘Anand’ (1971), ‘Annadaata (1972), ‘Rajanigandha’ (1974), ‘Chhoti Si Baat’ (1976), ‘Anand Mahal’ (1977) etc. Some of the popular as well notable songs of Salil Da of this period are “Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli Haaye” (‘Anand’), (note the choir singing in the interludes), “Raaton Ke Saaye Ghane” (‘Annadaata’) (song may not have become popular but it is an intricate composition which only Lata could do justice), “Kai Baar Yoon Bhi Dekha Hai” (‘Rajnigandha’) (my favourite and whenever I wish to listen to this song, I prefer to watch on the video clip) and “Na Jaane Kyun Hota Hai Ye Zindagi Ke Saath” (‘Chhoti Si Baat’) (again, I prefer to listen to the song by watching the video clip of the song).
I know, I have missed some more of popular songs composed by Salil Da . I will end with one more song from the stable of Salil Da which did not become as popular as it should have been. The song is “Koi Hota Jisko Apna” from ‘Mere Apne’ (1971). It is a complex composition which Kishore Kumar has ably rendered. The mukhda tune was inspired from the background score of ‘Anand’(1970).
After about 1975, his Hindi film assignments came down that too was limited to small banners. On the other hand, his assignments in Bengali and South Indian films were on the rise. Also, he had shifted his base to Kolkata in mid 1970s as he had planned for setting up of a modern recording studio in Kolkata. During about 25 years of his active association with Mumbai, he composed about 300 songs in about 65 Hindi films.
Discussion on Salil Chowdhury’s musical career in films will not be complete unless we take into account his sojourn to South Indian films especially the Malayalam films. He was introduced to Malayalam films by Ramu Khairat, the Malayalam film director who was a part of IPTA delegation along with Salil Da to an East European country in 1960. Their IPTA background and the common interest in films made them friends. When Ramu Khairat finalised the making of Malayalam film, ‘Chemmeen’ (1965), he selected Salil Da as the music director. The film received tremendous response from the cinegoers. This film is regarded as the first successful ‘arty’ film in South India.
The highlight of the film was the popularity of its four songs. The extra-ordinary success of the songs changed the complexion of the South Indian film music. Salil Da set his firm footing in the South Indian film industries. He did 25 Malayalam films and 10 films in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. In addition, he was also associated with about 40 Bengali films as a lyricist and music director.
One of the innovative ideas Salil Da experimented with his music was that he composed new songs based on his earlier songs as well as from the background score by giving a different structure to the new songs. For instance, in an interview, Salil Da gave an interesting example of his song “Aaja Re Pardesi Main To Kab Se Khadi Iss Paar” from ‘Madhumati’ (1958). The mukhda tune was based on the melodic background music of ‘Jaagte Raho’(1956). This background music is played whenever Raj Kapoor is about to drink water to quench his thirst but the circumstances makes him to run away from the scene without drinking water. In the same song, Salil Da has used the mukhda tune of “Ghadi Ghadi Mora Dil Dhadke” as the interlude music.
Another example I had noted many years back and worth mentioning is the comparison of the song “Baag Mein Kali Khili Bagiya Mehki” from ‘Chaand Aur Sooraj’ (1965) with “Saathi Re Tujh Bin Jiya Udaas” from ‘Poonam Ki Raat’ (1965). Salil Da has used more or less the same tune for the antaras of both the songs. Salil Da’s different melodic and orchestration structures makes these two songs sounding different. Hence, first song sounds like that for a growing up girl waiting for her fiance and the other one as a haunting song. Also note in the latter song how the mukhda tune of the former song converted into the interlude music and gets merges with the antara tune.
I had mentioned earlier that there is some organic connection between Salil Da, Ilaiyaraaja and AR Rahman. During his assignments in the South Indian films, especially in Malayalam films as a music director, Salil Da had in his orchestra, Ilaiyaraaja as a lead guitarist and RK Sekhar (father of AR Rahman) as his Assistant and Arranger. AR Rahman joined Ilaiyaraaja’s troup as Keyboard player. Incidentally, Salil Da had predicted that one day Ilaiyaraaja would become the top most music director of India. His prophecy has come true.
A music analyst in his article in The Hindu has opined that in his early years of music direction, Ilaiyaraaja seemed to have been influenced by Salil Da in using fusion music which he improvised a lot in his later years. The same music analyst also felt that Salil Da was influenced by the music of Ilaiyaraaja in composing Bengali songs in his later years.
On the occasion of 24th Remembrance Day of the legendary music director, Salil Da, I have chosen a rarely heard Sanskrit song ‘tava virahe vanamaali’ from the film ‘Swami Vivekanand’ (1994). The music for the song has been composed by Salil Da in a classical raaga, Yaman. The song is written by the famous Sanskrit poet of the 12th century AD – Jaidev. It is rendered by Kavita Krishnamurthy. It is a classical dance song which is picturised on Shobna (Pillai), a well-known Malayalam and Tamil film actress and a Bharatnatyam dancer. She is the niece of Padmini and Ragini.
I took the song’s lyrics from Geet Govind. English translation of the lyrics is embedded on the audio clip of the song. This is the song I liked best out of 8 songs in the film.
There is long history about the film ‘Swami Vivekanand’ (1994). The film was directed by GV Iyer a khadi-clad barefoot Gandhian who has been known for making films based on spiritual themes. He was the first to make a feature film in Sanskrit, ‘Adi Shankaracharya’ (1983) which won 4 National Film Awards including the award for the Best Film. This was followed by ‘Madhvacharya’ (1986) in Kannada, ‘Ramanujacharya’ (1989) in Tamil, ‘Bhagvad Geeta – The Song of the Lord’ (1993) in Sanskrit. In addition, he has acted in and directed many Kannada films since 1954.
‘Swami Vivekanand’ (1994) was GV Iyer’s first foray into Hindi film which also falls under the spiritual theme. The film was produced by T Subbarami Reddy, a parliamentarian and a well-known Telugu and Bollywood film producer. The main characters in the film, Swami Vivekanand was played by Sarvadaman Banerjee and that of Ramkrishan Paramhans by Mithun Chakraborty. Tanuja, Pradeep Kumar, Debashree Roy were some of the other actors in the film. Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Hema Malini, Rakhee, Jaya Prada, Manmooty, Meenakshi Seshadari and Anupam Kher did some minor roles as guest actors.
The film took about 5 years to complete and further about 3 years to get released for public viewing. Naseeruddin Shah who was selected to play the role of Ramkrishna Paramhans had to be dropped due to pressure from right-wing activists. The role went to Mithun Chakraborty despite having an image of disco dancer at that time. There were many objections from various quarters including Ramkrishna Mission. When issues were being addressed by the director, someone filed a suit in the high court which after sometime, cleared the film with about 20 cuts. The film was premiered on National Channel of Doordarshan on August 15, 1998 and thereafter it was released in the theatres. The film was a disaster at the box office.
‘Swami Vivekanand’ (1994) was Salil Da’s last Hindi film. Salil Da was regarded as an expert in background music but this was the only his Hindi film for which he could not give background music due to his sudden death on September 5, 1995.
Audio
Video
Song – Tava Virahe Vanamaali Sakhi Seedati (Swami Vivekanand) (1994) Singer – Kavita Krishnamurthy, Lyrics – Jaidev (Traditional), MD – Salil Chaudhry
Lyrics
tava virahe vanamaali
sakhi seedati
tava virahe vanamaali
sakhi seedati
tava virahe vanamaali
dahati shishir-mayookhe
maranam-anukaroti
patati madan-vishikhe
vilapati vikalataroti
aa aa aa aaa
aa aa aa aaa
aa aa aaa
aa aa aaa
aa aa aa aa aaa
dahati shishir-mayookhe
maranam-anukaroti
patati madan-vishikhe
vilapati vikalataroti
vikalataroti
tava virahe vanamaali
sakhi seedati
tava virahe vanamaali
aa aa aaa aa
aa aa aaa aa
dhvanati madhupa-samoohe
shravanam-api dadhaati
manasi valit-virahe
nishi nishi rujam-upyaati
dhvanati madhupa-samoohe
shravanam-api dadhaati
manasi valit-virahe
nishi nishi rujam-upyaati
vasati vipin-vitaane
tyajati lalitdhaam
luth’ti dharani-shayane
bahu vilapati tava naam
vasati vipin-vitaane
tyajati lalitdhaam
luth’ti dharani-shayane
bahu vilapati tava naam aa
tava naam
tava virahe vanamaali
sakhi seedati
tava virahe vanamaali
sakhi seedati
tava virah..ae
vanamaali..ee
———————————-
Devnagari script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————–
[Ed Note: The complete text of the original song (song no. 10 in the book) consists of 8 verses, which appear in the 5th chapter of this epic poem, placed between the 34th and the 35th shloks in the book. For the purpose of the film, only the first four have been adapted. There is a lead in verse which is a part of this song. It reads as,
वहति मलयसमीरे मदनमुपनिधाय ।
स्फुटति कुसुमनिकरे विरहिहृदयदलनाय ॥ ]
तव विरहे वनमाली सखि सीदति ॥ १॥
तव विरहे वनमाली सखि सीदति
तव विरहे वनमाली
दहति शिशिरमयूखे मरणमनुकरोति ।
पतति मदनविशिखे विलपति विकलतरोऽति ॥ २॥
आ आ आ आ
आ आ आ आ
आ आ आ
आ आ आ
आ आ आ आ आ
दहति शिशिरमयूखे मरणमनुकरोति
पतति मदनविशिखे विलपति विकलतरोऽति
तव विरहे वनमाली सखि सीदति
तव विरहे वनमाली
आ आ आ आ
आ आ आ आ
ध्वनति मधुपसमूहे श्रवणमपि दधाति ।
मनसि वलितविरहे निशि निशि रुजमुपयाति ॥ ३॥
ध्वनति मधुपसमूहे श्रवणमपि दधाति
मनसि वलितविरहे निशि निशि रुजमुपयाति
वसति विपिनविताने त्यजति ललितधाम ।
लुठति धरणिशयने बहु विलपति तव नाम ॥ ४॥
वसति विपिनविताने त्यजति ललितधाम
लुठति धरणिशयने बहु विलपति तव नाम
तव नाम
तव विरहे वनमाली सखि सीदति
तव विरहे वनमाली सखि सीदति
तव विरहे॰॰ए
वनमाली॰॰ई
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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