The genius of Diego

 

I wrote this while I was flying back from Buenos Aires in Feb’20 but never got around to publishing it. My procrastination meant that on his sad day for soccer and a generation of us who have been blessed with watching the genius of Maradona; this gets published as the news of his death is filtering through. 

Napoli won the Scudetto in 1987.  The sign in front of the cemetery the day after they won the Scudetto read - you don’t know what you missed.   If you haven’t seen Diego play you don’t know what footballing genius is. He was God in Naples and when I visited Naples the first time; I went across town to check out the Church of San Gennaro. The nurse who took his blood sample for a test left his blood phial next to Virgin Mary at the church of San Gennaro in Naples.  I figured my visit was merited! If you haven’t seen the madness you wouldn’t know what hero worship is all about. He was no less than a Demi God in Argentina, in Naples…yes he was addicted to cocaine. He lied. He cheated, on the field and with his wife. He was human. 

He was the greatest footballer that ever lived. 

As a Calcuttan, football was always in the blood; Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal was the version of the local el Classico with days of discussions leading up to it and days of discussion dissecting the game.  But Diego showed us what football could be, rather should be; and the local el-classicos paled in comparison. 

Put the genius of Messi and the single-minded drive of Christiano Ronaldo, the vision of Luca Modric and the insane pace of Mbappe - all into one footballer - you start to gets an understanding of what Diego Armando Maradona was. In buenos Aires you cannot miss his presence.  Everyone knows of him, some even claim to know him. His pictures adorn several shops especially in the Boca area. You walk into La Perla the old crumbling quixotic bar in old Boca township and you may even find locals dressed up as Maradona. He in omniscient. The closest to God there was - at least on the football field. 

Consider this - at the end of every World Cup the critics and journalists vote for a team of the tournament. Usually the winning team gets 3, sometimes more players in this imaginary team. After Mexico, ’86; the English despite being at the receiving end of Maradona's genius with the foot and with his hand in the quarter finals had three.  The Belgians at the receiving end of a Maradona special where he dribbled past seven defenders in a small space to score an incredible goal one I rate even superior to his fabled run against England had two. The Germans defeated in the finals had three. Argentina despite being the winners had one. No guesses who.  No one individual not even the great Pele in 1958 was as dominating as Maradona was in 1986.  For a Puskas in ’54 one had a Hideguti or a Koscis amongst a galaxy of stars - the magical Magyars. For Pele in ’58 one had a Zagallo. Or Garrincha.  Or in ’70, Pele formed part of perhaps the finest all round footballing team the world has ever seen, with folks like Rivelino, Tostao and Jairzinho who scored a goal in every match in the tournament.  Beckenbaur had a Muller in ’74 or a Seeler in ‘70. 

Argentina had Maradona. Yes, there were 10 other Argentines on the field but how many of us remember Burrachaga? Or Valdano? Or Jose Luis Brown the lanky defender who headed Argentina’s first goal in the final. 

I put my neck on the line to say Maradona is (was) the finest footballer the world has ever seen. Sadly, we need to now say, the world HAD ever seen.

Yes, better than Eusebio. Better than Cryuff. Better than Puskas. And yes, better than Pele.

It’s indeed a sad day - one of my heroes from my childhood is no more. May his soul attain Sadgati / eternal peace, something he seemed rather bereft of while alive.

Rafi on his 40th Death anniversary

July 31 2020 recognises 40 luckless years without the peerless voice of Rafi - the finest male singing voice of all times - at least in my considered opinion. He was just 56 years old when someone up there decided that they needed his voice more than all of us did. After all, C Ramachandra who was the pivotal musical director during his formative years lavishing some of his finest creations on a fledgling Rafi as he was finding his feet in a musical market dominated by the great Saigal in the forties, had retired by then and found his eternal home a couple of years later. We had by then lost Jaikishen (of the Shanker Jaikishen fame) in 1971 - his good friend and who was the man behind some of the finest Rafi classics during the fifties and especially in the sixties. We had also lost Vasant Desai in 1975 who put Rafi through the classical paces in Goonj Uthi Shehnai (1959), a movie where Vasant’s musical knowledge bowled over the shehnai maestro Bismillah khan. We had also by then lost S D Burman (also in 1975) who noted that he would not been able to deliver a Guide (1965) without the sonorous voice of Rafi. 

July, 1980 was a pivotal month / year in Indian when we had lost Uttam Kumar a few days before Rafi and Sanjay Gandhi, the heir apparent to the dynastic Congress party then ruling India after a brief dalliance with the Janata party.

Rafi’s death left a hole the music industry never really recovered - even though the quality of Bollywood music was rapidly approaching its nadir - the eighties, with the pelvic thrust of Disco Dancer with ‘music’ by Bappi Lahiri is enough to make a music lover wake up in cold sweat. So let’s hark back to the fifties and sixties when melody was queen and some of the finest songs were composed and sung. And when Rafi stood tall as the finest singing voice working with and delivering quality songs for Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar and the triumvirate of Raj Kumar and Dilip Kumar amongst others.

In one of my previous posts I had wondered why it took a decade for Shanker Jaikishen, as our preeminent music directors during the golden era of Bollywood music to decide on Rafi as their primary male voice while it took them no time at all to decide in Lata as their Numero uno female voice.  It must be noted that once SJ decided on Rafi they proceeded to lavish some of their finest melodies on the incomparable voice. And SJ - unlike with some other singers - never had a fall out with the genial Rafi and in fact Rafi was the arbiter when the hyphen between S and J was at threatening to break. The gentleman Rafi, the pugnacious Shanker and the classy Jaikishen delivered hits after hits through the sixties in the process creating and embellishing the onscreen persona of Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Joy Mukhejee, Biswajit and many others .

So if I’m banished to a rocky outcrop - probably on account of my political views expressed unambiguously - what are those dozen or so Rafi numbers singing for the peerless SJ I would like to keep with me? Interesting question...

A self-imposed ban on tandems means I cannot choose great songs like Rafi’s brilliant riposte - aji humse bachkar (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFzTQ1qJyag) - to Lata’s incredibly high pitched aji roothkar ab (Arzoo 1965 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJAx_2ZmiuM in which Lata complained to Jaikishen on the demands they were making on her voice), fails you find a suitable place. Not even the incredible Room jhoom ke bajao Bansuri from Pooja (1954) when SJ composed in Raag Maduvanti (here it here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlP_wxO3f7s - only one of the two occasions when this raag was used for a Bollywood song) for Krishna Rao Shankar and Rafi. And not even the David lip syncing Rafi duet from Boot Polish (1952) Nanhe munhe bachchey (sung by equal verve with Asha) that made my then eight year old niece tap her feet to the beat when she heard the song for the first time - hear it here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJvcbkxG20A. So here goes my choices:

1. Teri pyari pyasi surat ko (Saural, 1961) - legend has it that Jaikishen was a loss when Hasrat presented the lyrics to him and asked plaintively - how can I compose to such words? Chashme badoor indeed! Hasrat replied - just let Rafi work his magic. And what magic he wove! Romantic.  Ethereal voice with romance dripping through every pore! Hear it again (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiWqgA5srHM) and watch Rajendra kumar woo a demure Byrappa Saroja Devi with the Rafi charm!
2. Dhere chal dhere chal Ye bheegi- (Boyfriend 1960) This Shammi - Madhubala starrer didn’t set the cash registers on fire - one of the rare SJ flops and some of the songs don’t get recognition either, amongst the sheer quality and quantity of great numbers picturised  on Shammi sung by Rafi but this - for me symbolises everything Shammi stood for. Fast with a beat, expressive and with just the right amount of mischief thrown in. Hear it again if you don’t believe me! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cW0x0qorV4
3. Main zindagi mein hardam rota hi haha hoon (Barsaat 1949)- the sole Rafi song from the movie that started it all. Barsaat marked a musical watershed in the annals of Indian Bollywood music and I have argued elsewhere it is probably - along with Awara (1951) - the  critical movie that made Hindi film music what it is today. And Barsaat had the incredible  voice of Rafi lending evocative pathos to Raj Kapoor’s on screen persona pining for Nargis. In a musical album dominated by Lata and Mukesh (both singing for the two leading men and ladies), Rafi leaves his imprimatur in his sole song in the breathtaking musical. Hear it again (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC4i1ECsee8)and let me know how SJ and Rafi were made for each other - they however took a decade more to realise it! 
4. Tumne Kisiki jaan ko (Rajkumar 1965) - My father always rated the other Rafi melody ‘Is Rang badalti duniya ko’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMbHY5S7WUs) in Rajkumar, again written by Hasrat as the superior composition in an album filled with chart busters, but for me the romance Rafi infuses when he sings ‘usakii judaaI dil par, nashtar chalaa rahii hai’ - is what makes this song what it is. And when Rafi gives a parting accent to the last ‘r’ in ‘wo dekho mujhse roothkar’ ! The best of Rafi signing for Shammi with music by SJ! Hear it again and let me know if Rafi and Shammi weren’t made for each other even for the soft and sentimental songs- with the nonpareil SJ giving the musical notes. Hear it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwfqaXbobDI
5. Ye mera prem patra padhkar (Sangam 1964). The song that almost ended the hyphen between S and J, this Jaikishen composed classic broke a rule SJ had to never divulge who composed which song. Controversies aside, Rafi and Jaikishen needed to bring something spectacular to match the depth and pathos in Mukesh’s Dost dost na raha (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY5AMJtMY3A) - the other pivotal song in a movie resplendent with some of the finest music delivered in Bollywood movies. And did Rafi bring all his singing mastery into the ‘Meherban likhoon’ start of this Rajendra Kumar lip synced classic! And the history of this song where Hastrat used the first couple of lines Jaikishen used to propose to Pallavi to create this classic ode to romance makes this number even more memorable! The king of romance - hear him here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuaFmVz3dr8
6. Aaye Bahaar Ban Ke Lubha Kar Chale (Rajhath 1956). 1955-56 were stellar years for the SJ duo when they became firmly the numero uno music composers overtaking Naushad and C Ramachandra on they way.  In ’56 for example, 4 SJ movies jostled with each other for musical prominence - each better than the other, to wit - Chori Chori, Raj Hath, New Delhi and Basant Bahar. Basant Bahar demonstrated SJ’s firm grip on the classical music genre where Rafi and Manna jostled with each other to give notice of their prodigious classic music expertise, New Delhi gave evidence of their versatility in the Kishore starrer and Chori Chori won SJ the first of their 9 Filmfare awards. In the midst of all these, it was a tough choice for me to pick one number and I plonked for the high pitched, pathos laden Rafi singing for Pradeep Kumar in the Shorab Modi classic RajHath. Hear it again let me know if anyone but Rafi could have hit those heights! The heights of pitch and pathos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WTFX75Z4fM
7. Tin Kanister peet peet kar, gala fad ke chillana (Love Marriage, 1959). By the late fifties the sole challenge for the SJ juggernaut came from the pugnacious, abrasive, creative Onkar Prasad Nayyar who was disrupting the music industry by a combination of earthy Punjabi folk with rumbustious rock’n’roll. SJ created this masterpiece ostensibly to point out to OP - 'Udhar se lekar idhar jama kar/ kab tak kam chaloge' - pointing that he cannot carry on for ever by copying from Western music and Rafi kept virtuoso pace flirting between classical music, incredibly high pitch and sheer melody.  Worth a hear! Hear the riposte to rock’n/roll - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo-pgebzQIg
8. Baharon phool barsao (Suraj 1966).  A BBC poll a couple of years earlier rated this as the finest Bollywood song of all times. And while I may beg to differ, it does come somewhere very close to the finest of all times! The romance in the voice allied to the melody created magic - so much so that Jem was inspired to create her own version half a century later! And for many of us who thought it was only Bollywood that shamelessly aped the West, here is news and here the proof  - these songs were released 4 decades+ apart! The Jem inspiration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4-k2nWywzg and the original   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMk9oVh1r6c
9. Main gaaon tum so jao (Brahmachari 1968), this dual sided Rafi number (one sad and the other a lullaby) lit up the album along with Chakke pe Chakka, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od5y7t2QPpM) Dil ke jharoke mein (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55Q4wry987Y) and Aaj Kal tere mere pyaar ke charche (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGfCyG9qgC0 -the last with Suman Kalyanpur doing her bit to prove she was more than a poor man’s Lata Mangeshkar) winning SJ another filmfare award and Rafi the best singer award. On another day I could have picked Dil Ke Jharoke mein where Shanker’s piano recital leading the song is a work of art but Main gaon tum so jao for me was just that bit sweeter, melancholic and Rafi’s voice as he sings ‘sukh sapnon mein so jao’ was suitably hypnotic to put you to sleep! As a quality lullaby should! Hear it again to rock you to sleep - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II1_eTlHcHA!!
10. Chahe koi mujhe junglee kahe (Junglee 1966) - And once Rafi and SJ drive you to a sweet slumber, who else but the Junglee himself will be needed to wake you up! Prakash Raj lip synced the famous Yahoo! in the song but Rafi sang it as if his life depended on it! Technically a duet, yes… but then when Shammi is prancing around the hills of snow-clad Kashmir, with the beauteous Saira Banu making her storied debut, who cares for trifles! Shanker Jaikishen defined the music for most of the fifties and sixties and for a generation of Indians, this song defined their identity! Hear it again! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ0NVhUUfwY

The Mahanayak on his 40th death anniversary

In the midst of the coronavirus / Kung Flu / Chinavirus, I missed thinking of and noting the 40th death anniversary of the late, great Uttam Kumar, which was a couple of days ago. The word ‘great’ is often loosely used without necessary care and regard, it's not a word one should use lightly. However, in Uttam Kumar’s case; it’s use is completely justified, even imperative; as he was the biggest star the Bengali movie industry has ever produced.

I remember watching his old movie reruns at nondescript movie halls like Alaya (still remember I used to pick up old books at the crossing of Fern St and Rash Behari Av prior to entering the movie hall) and Bunty (not far from the old Garia bus stand) as a young, school going brat in cosmopolitan Calcutta before the city transformed into a narrow minded version of itself as a Mamta-ruled Kolkata, the Mamta I’ve used here is the proper noun & not the adjective to denote kindness and empathy in both Hindi and Bengali!.

Uttam was an effortless actor, holding his own opposite the co-stars of his era - Soumitra, Chhabi Biswas, Anil Chatterjee and others. While most of my family members were fans of Soumitra Chatterjee, the other great Bengali star of the sixties; for me, it was always Uttam, always debonair, smart, stylish, suave, especially when he played the anti-hero (not often I must say) in Sesh Anka opposite a demure Sharmila Tagore, which was loosely based on To Chase a crooked shadow. And in Baghabondi Khela (1975) the normally charming Uttam played the role of a crooked debauch with aplomb. His onscreen pairing with the gorgeous Suchitra Sen in movies like Saptapadi (1961) shot lovingly in black & white was amazing, in which the song ‘E Poth jodi na shesh hoi’ remains a clarion call for young sweethearts in Bengal after 60 years of its release! But the defining Uttam for me will remain the mischievous middle aged, elder brother to a young Ranjit Mullick in the classic comedy Mouchak (1974)!

A couple of his days after his 40th death anniversary & on a Sunday evening in Sydney, I found one of his classics on Youtube and took pleasure in the watching the subtle talents of Uttam Kumar as Prasanta Roy / Hriday Horon opposite a young and beautiful Tanuja in Deye Neya (1963). I once again ruminated on what a classy actor Uttam was especially when compared to a usually staid Rajesh Khanna who played the same role a decade later in a Hindi remake - Anurodh (1977)! Time fell off and I was once again transported to Alaya where I had watched a rerun of this movie as a 14 year old boy!

Once again, Charming, Classy Calcutta played host to the suave, stylish Uttam, only this time it was in my fertile imagination!

Innovators, disruptors and more in Hindi Film Music

On December 24th, on the great Rafi’s birthday; I was wondering about his career as I was driving from Melbourne to Lakes Entrance, a few days before the bush fires decimated the thriving, beautiful countryside. My thoughts turned to folks like C.Ramachandra despite never really tuning with Rafi, gave him some of the finest songs in the early part of his career in the mid to late 1940s (Sajan, Nadiya ke paar, Duniya); a qualitative and quantitative increase over what Naushad lavished on Rafi in the same period (24 Rafi numbers for CR vis-a-vis 15 for Naushad). And when we speak of Rafi our thoughts immediately go to Naushad erroneously thinking it was Naushad who ‘made’ Rafi the giant he became while it was actually CR who played a more important role during his initial years. 

However, in the fifties, despite some classics (Ye hasrat thi ki is duniya mein, Nausherwan-e-Aadil; 1957), CR began to prefer Talat as his male voice; besides using himself as Chitalkar for some of his best known songs (Kitna haseen hai mausam; Azaad 1955); while Naushad, perhaps appreciating the depth and verve in Rafi’s voice after Dulari (Suhani Raat Dhal Chuki, 1949) began using him as his primary male voice.

Chitalkar Ramachandra, for me; was a true all rounder, perhaps the first in the Hindi music industry.  He almost singlehandedly brought Bollywood music from its deep rooted classicism bringing it screaming and kicking into the modern era. He could, and did compose everything; from the zany Eena Meena Dikka (Asha 1957) to the funny Meri jan sunday ke sunday, (Shehnai, 1947); from the melodious Aaja ab to aaja, (Anarkali 1953) to the rhythmic Shola jo bhadke,(Albela, 1951), from the patriotic Kadam kadam badhaye ja,(Samadhi, 1950) to the devotional zara zor laga de zaalim (Nastik, 1954); from the farcical Shola jo bhadke, (Albela, 1951) to the poignant Ab wo hamare ho gaye iqraar karen ya na karen, (Safar, 1947), the last one in very-young Rafi’s sonorous voice. His command over the dance music composition was second to none (Appalam chappalam, Azaad, 1955 pictured on the electric Sai-Subbalakshmi sisters) and proved to be the only real competition to Shanker (Jaikishen) in that particular composition genre in the 1950s. It is one of the lesser known facts that CR composed the music for the magnificent dance sequence, Kannum Kannum Kalanthu - with Padmini and Vyjayanthimala in the Tamil movie Vanjikottai Valiban (1955). CR with his command over the musical idiom was the original trendsetter, paving the way for the likes of OP Nayyar and RD Burman to disrupt the music industry even more.

There is no doubt that CR was one of the few innovators in the Bollywood music industry - a handful of them turned Hindi film music into the most popular media in India. So who are the others?

AR Rahman did something unthinkable - he made the singer just about redundant in Hindi film music. And some can argue, he even made the lyricist redundant - Telephone dhun mein (Indian, 1997) anyone? The younger generation often and erroneously credit AR for Bollywood music popularity in the West - Jai Ho (Slumdog Millionaire, 2005) was undoubtedly an epoch making song with India’s first Oscar award for music awarded to the talented AR; but fifty years before that Indian music was popular in large parts of Europe and Middle East. While AR brought in a significant change in the way songs were orchestrated, the first innovator in orchestration after Shanker Jaikishen and their 100 piece orchestra in the early sixties; his tunes often became repetitive as the great Manna Dey pointed out in one of the last interviews he gave before his death. His orchestration borders on the very best heard in the Hindi Film industry and often hides the paucity of true creativity in tune-smithing.

If AR made the lyricist redundant, RD Burman made the need for poetry redundant. Combining with the creative Gulzar, he proceeded to create incredible music and tunes with minimal orchestration (Jis mod pe jaate hain, Andhi 1975) using simple prose as the backbone. His ability to create tunes was remarkable as was his penchant for re-using his, and some may claim with reasonable truth; others’ tunes to create a rich body of melody and rhythm, the likes of which Bollywood music hadn’t seen till his emergence in Nasir Hussain’s Teersi Manzil (1967). RD made his debut much earlier (Chhote Nawab 1963) but despite the success of Bhoot Bangla (1965), he never achieved the recognition till Teesri Manzil and moving out of his father’s home after the success of Aradhana where he had a significant role to play when Dada Burman was seriously ill. Do you know what these four songs - Aap Ke kamare mein koi rahta hai, (Yadon ki Baraat 1973); Pyaar diwana hota hai (Kati Patang, 1972), Ye kya hua (Amar Prem, 1971), Yeh jawaani hai deewaani (Jawani Diwani 1973) have in common? They are all rehashed from RD’s own tunes from Rajkumari (1970); a Bengali classic starring Uttam Kumar and Tanuja. Ei ki holo became Yeh kya hua;  Bandha dwaarer andhkaare was reused to Aapke kamre mein koi rehta hai; Aaj gun-gun-gunje aamaar was turned into Prem deewaana hota hai and Ke ji bhabi elomelo was recast as Yeh jawaani hai deewaani! Despite his penchant for the inspiration from other sources (Tera mujhse hai pehle ka naata koi,  Aaa Gale Lag Ja; 1973 is a straight lift from The Yellow Rose of Texas' by Elvis Presley, Meri jaan, Do Chor; 1973 is a straight lift from Cliff Richard’s Fall in Love…plus many many more), RD was a true original; creating some of the finest music and unleashing the phenomenon of Kishore Kumar on an unsuspecting India! His popularity today - a good 25 years after his untimely death bears testimony to his vision and his music has stood the test of time. Today’s iPhone-loving public often seems to believe that RDB rules the roost as our Numero Uno music director in the seventies  and the eighties - however nothing can be further than the truth. RDB never took the No 1 spot - after the untimely death of Jaikishen (Sep 1971) - part of the great Shanker-Jaikishen duo, it was actually Laxmikant Pyarelal who took over the top spot from SJ! It is an unfortunate fact that LP rarely disrupted, they spent most of their career trying to be the next SJ! And thus they don’t find a spot in this list of disruptors, despite dominating the seventies till Bappi Lahiri decided India needed more disco in its music. And I really do not want to comment on the man who succeeded LP as the numero uno, his claim to fame - as far as I am concerned, is limited to being the protagonist in Raj Kumar’s joke on his jewellery.

OP Nayyar, though, was a true jewel, he combined the earthy Punjabi beats with jazz, blues, rock to first create the phenomenon of Shammi Kapoor in Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957), Shammi’s first hit coming after over a dozen consecutive flops. OP was the true innovator in the mid to late fifties and the sole challenger to the SJ juggernaut by 1961, when SJ composed the famous Teen Kanister peet peet kar (Love Marriage, 1964), as a dig into OP’ musical style. At the same time OP could also compose the exquisite melody of a Pyaar par bas to nahin hai lekin (sone Ki chidiya 1957) and Aana hai to aa raah mein (Naya daur 1957). OP’s initial days were a mixture of lilting tunes often sung with verve by Geeta Roy (Dutt) for Guru Dutt’s movies like Baaz (1952), Aar Paar (1953), Mr & Mrs 55 (1955), CID (1956) and for other lesser known movie makers creating exquisite melodies in movies like Musafirkhana (1955) with the Johnny Walker pictured classic (Thoda sa dil laga ke dekh). His use of the lilt in Geeta’s voice was remarkable and until Naya Daur (1957)  and Asha Bhosle happened, she was the principle female voice in OP’s musical firmament. Rafi continued to remain the primary male voice till a falling out in the mid-sixties but Asha replaced Geeta and every other female voice completely in OP’s musical output, creating classics like Jaayie aap jahan jaayenge (Mere Sanam, 1963). Geeta’s last song for OP remains perhaps the best known today where Helen kept musical beat with an entertaining dance to Geeta Dutt singing Mera Naam Chin Chin Choo (Howrah Bridge 1959) becoming the leitmotif to OP’s incredible command over lilt, verve and melody the likes of which has never ever been seen in Hindi film music - before or since. OP’s musical output can never be complete without a mention of Asha - he was the man who recognised the immense potential in a raw Asha in the mid-fifties and turned her into the diva she became by the time they split winning the Filmfare award for the best female voice  for OP’s last creation on her (Chain se humko kabhi, Pran jaaye par vachan na jaaye, 1974).

OP’s only real competitor during the the heady late fifties and early sixties as an innovator par excellence were the incredible duo of Shanker-Jaikishen. SJ took a fledgling film music industry by the bull of its horns and created an empire out of it, for the first time people realised the power of music as an economic force. Barsaat (1949); SJ's debut movie, heralded music as never heard before where even sad songs (Main zindagi main hardam) had music, lilt and rhythm, it featured the first cabaret (Patli kamar hai) and one singer (Lata Mangeshkar) singing all the songs for three seperate ladies, including the two leads on screen. Awaara (1951) was the first Indian movie to make waves outside India, its music became a global phenomenon; Raj and Nargis the lead stars mobbed from Moscow to Beirut when they went on their tour. SJ lit up the early fifties with their constant experimentation - from the innovative dance music (Ille bele aa re, Kali Ghata; 1951), counter melody for sad songs (Andhe jahan ke andhe raste, Patita; 1953); using Manna Dey for romantic songs (Chori Chori, 1955); using Subir Sen for soft sentimental numbers (Manzil wohi hai pyaar ki, Kathputli; 1956) and at the same time demonstrated their command over classical music with gems like Sur Na Saje (Basant Bahar, 1955), Manmohana bade jhoote (Seema 1956), Jhoom jhoom ke gao (Pooja, 1954) - the last one in Raag Madhuvanti; a little used raag. In no time they were the highest paid music directors overtaking stalwarts like Husnlal Bhagatram, Anil Biswas and even Naushad in the popularity stakes by 1955. Their impact on music was probably the most significant in the annals of Bollywood music - I daresay, if SJ hadn’t innovated the way they did, music in Hindi films would have remained a mere footnote to the actors and directors. Even to this day, hear a song from the fifties or sixties and easy to know an SJ number, when they were at their distinctive best, their imprimatur was so unique!

I am cognizant I may have missed a few more, SD Burman for example comes immediately to mind as do Naushad, Kalyanji Anandji and Anil Biswas. My only caveat is - they never really disrupted the music world, great music directors they indeed were (not sure about the epithet 'great' for KA). SD, despite being one of the finest tunesmiths Hindi film music has ever seen; rarely attained the name and fame till Pyaasa (1957) a complete decade after making his debut; even at the Filmstan Production house where CR was providing the hits year after year. KA spent their career playing catch up to SJ and then LP, despite some incredible music in movies like Safar (1972) in which I rate Kishore's Jeevan se bhari teri aankhen as one of the finest ever sung by him. Naushad was probably the most classical of the Indian music directors along with Vasant Desai but he rarely moved out of his comfort zone - even in 1973 when in the face of the ‘young’ India wave led by Rajesh Khanna he composed Naiya teri chalti jaaye (My Friend) for a Rafi desperately looking for succour and confidence. Just another classical based tune - when the need of the hour was for Rafi to sing the kind of sings Kishore was singing and India was demanding. It needed an Usha Khanna (Teri galiyon mein na rakhenge kadam; Hawas 1974) to give Rafi the much needed super-hit song and bring him right back into contention after 4-5 years. But then that is another story.