{"id":22320,"date":"2013-07-01T22:41:52","date_gmt":"2013-07-02T02:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=22320"},"modified":"2013-07-01T22:41:52","modified_gmt":"2013-07-02T02:41:52","slug":"appropriate-use-of-classical-music-ragas-in-old-hindi-film-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=22320","title":{"rendered":"Appropriate Use of Classical Music Ragas in Old Hindi Film Songs"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n by Gouri Dange <\/strong><\/p>\n

Most of us \u2018old song lovers\u2019 are hooked to and entwined with the songs of SD, Naushad, Madanmohan, Ravi, Shankar Jaikishan, Kalyanji Anandji (and yes, even some LP), RD, Hemantda, Salil Chaudhari, Chitragupt, et al. In our unilateral view, any music directors and singers after that era will need to sit around in vats in some basement until they are appropriately aged and their music survives the test of time.<\/p>\n

There is one school of old Hindi film song lovers\/listeners who defensively and steadfastly refuse to be drawn into any talk about ragas used by music directors. Were you to even tangentially suggest that a particular song is so perfect for the lyrics and the situation in the film because the music director has chosen to cast it in a particular raga, the too-quick response is, \u201cI don\u2019t know about all this ragas-wagas-and-all. I just know it is so melodious.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I for one am endlessly fascinated by how three or seven minute-long Hindi (and other regional) film songs could evoke and etch the personality of an entire raga. There are of course the out-and-out \u2018Classical songs\u2019 from films. They are great numbers, no doubt, usually set to dance performance or mehfil situations in the film itself. The raga-sangeet antecedents of such songs are evident up-front. <\/p>\n

Every music director and singer worth his or her name has rendered many, and every yesteryear actor has worked hard on the picturisation of these songs on themselves. To randomly recall some: Dilip Kumar doing a great job of Rafi\u2019s \u2018Madhuban mein radhika\u2019; Manna Dey\u2019s \u2018Phul-gendawa na maro\u2019 or \u2018Laaga chunari mein daag\u2019. One can again and again watch Mehmood and Shubha Khote\u2019s mischief behind the guru-shishya session in \u2018Ajahun aaye balama sawan beeta jaye\u2019. Or smell the Malhars in \u2018Garajat-barasat sawan aayo re\u2019. The duet \u2018Manmohan man mein\u2019 is virtually a lec-dem. Or there is Asha-Lata\u2019s scintillating \u2018Sakhi ri sun bole\u2019. Many of these songs are originally compositions from the Hindustani classical tradition, on which the lyricist may have worked further to create stanzas. Tablas, tanpuras, sitars, jal tarangs and flutes play in the background or as little interludes in these songs. <\/p>\n

And then there are a whole lot of film songs for which ragas have been used in the most ingenious and creative ways. The scene is rarely one of a classical music or dance setting. The raga\u2019s mukhda or face may become apparent to the person versed in raga-sangeet, but this is simply not a must, for the song to please. The song appeals at first in its own right; only later do its raga underpinnings become apparent, and most times the use is so subtle, so clever, that while the raga base has done its job of creating the mood, hand-in-hand with the lyrics and the picturisation, there is no \u2018classical music\u2019 air about the song. The music director also takes calculated risks and liberties with the raga, rendering the song even more bewitching. <\/p>\n

Some of my favourites (going in no particular order): <\/p>\n

From Anuradha, Ravi Shankar\u2019s \u2018Haye re woh din\u2019in Kalavati. Now a more obvious Kalavati song would be \u2018Kahe tarasaye, jiyara\u2019 from Chitralekha. But it\u2019s the elegiac, nostalgic air of the other song that lingers. (There is some debate about both these songs being in Janasamohini.)<\/p>\n

Kishore\u2019s \u2018Koi humdum, na raha\u2019 \u2014 till recently I never thought about its raga. Then sitar player Shujaat Khan recently played it on his sitar to demonstrate raga Jhinjoti, and I had the \u2018aha\u2019 moment. The song\u2019s pathos and sweetness owes as much to the singer, the picturisation, the words, as to this sombre raga itself. <\/p>\n

While \u2018Jyoti kalash chalake\u2019 is the more obvious devotional Bhoopali, listen out for the same notes declaring themselves in a \u2018Sayonara, Sayonara\u2019! Or in the seductive \u2018In aankhon ki masti. And I suspect that the night-clubby \u2018Aage bhi, jane na tu\u2019, is a Bhoopali too!<\/p>\n

Intriguingly, K.L. Saigal\u2019s dreamy waltz-like \u2018Ae dil-e-bekaraar jhoom\u2019 is powered by the notes of Bihag, which might usually be doing duty in a more classical \u2018Tere pyar mein dildar\u2019.<\/p>\n

The haunting \u2018Ek tu na mila\u2019 is set in a Charukeshi, one realises many years after hearing the song. It is a raga that may be more evident in a \u2018Baiyan na dharo, o balama\u2019, presented in that film as a classical performance.<\/p>\n

The great, purely classical number \u2018Tere naina talaash karen jise\u2019, showcases a Chayanat; but it is the Rafi song for Dev Anand \u2018Hum bekhudi mein tum ko\u2019 that is the more surprising and unusual use of the raga. <\/p>\n

The haunting and mellow Patdeep is used in \u2018Megha chaye adhi raat\u2019 while \u2018Saaz ho tum awaaz hoon mein\u2019 is the more classical version. Haunting Shivranjanis (\u2018O mere sanam o mere sanam\u2019) echo through the hills and valleys of many an old film.<\/p>\n

One last song, which has an equally classical performance (Nutan with a tanpura, after throwing a giant window-breaking tantrum in Seema): the Jaijaiwanti of \u2018Manmohana bade jhute\u2019 \u2014 with Lata\u2019s luminous voice in the lower octaves and quicksilver taans in the higher. This song is as much a film-moment as it is a music-moment. <\/p>\n

Bageshri, Bhairavi, Khamaj, Yaman, Bhipalasi, Ahir Bhairav, Lalit, Malkauns, Jogia, Darbari, Desh\u2026every raga under the sun has been fantastically marshalled and deployed by the stalwart composers of Hindi film music. These are two giant oceans that meet \u2014 raga-sangeet and old Hindi film music. Sometimes the waters collide dramatically, sometimes they merge seamlessly, and anyone standing on a rock watching and listening to all of this can only marvel at the scale and beauty of it all.
\n
\nCOURTESY:THE HINDU<\/em><\/p>\n

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by Gouri Dange Most of us \u2018old song lovers\u2019 are hooked to and entwined with the songs of SD, Naushad, Madanmohan, Ravi, Shankar Jaikishan, Kalyanji Anandji (and yes, even some LP), RD, Hemantda, Salil Chaudhari, Chitragupt, et al. In our unilateral view, any music directors and singers after that era will need to sit around …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Appropriate Use of Classical Music Ragas in Old Hindi Film Songs’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22320"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22320"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22321,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22320\/revisions\/22321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}