Think of Mahendra Kapoor and you instantly recall `Mere desh ki dharti...’ Even though the singer has sung almost every kind of song, be it the romantic `Neele gagan ke tale...’, the ghazals in Nikaah, or qawwalis and bhajans, his name is synonymous with the frenzied patriotic song from Upkaar, composed by Kalyanji-Anandji. Listening to the song time and again, asserts the belief that only a robust voice like Kapoor’s could have done justice to it. The veteran singer has been awarded with the Padmashree, the National Award, besides the various state awards, and popular awards. One more on the list is the Lata Mangeshkar award given by the Madhya Pradesh government. Screen met the humble and ever-smiling singer on the occasion and re-lived with him his cherished moments...

For a 65 -year-old, Mahendra Kapoor looks quite fit and fine. Touch wood. His agility and alertness has you thinking twice before calling him a veteran. But after four decades on the music scene, that’s the only noun most apt for the singer. His music room in a simple house, in the swank Bandra suburb in Mumbai is full with mememntoes and trophies, and photographs of himself and his son Ruhan (spelling changed for numerology). A picture of the legendary Mohammed Rafi stands out as being the only other singer’s photo. "He was my guru and inspiration," Kapoor explains.

Dressed trendily in a violet shirt and black trousers, Kapoor cuts an endearing picture, smiling that crinkle-eyed smile of his throughout the interview. He lights up when he fondly talks about his grandson Siddhant, a very well-behaved and intelligent kid, whom he dotes on. Though not active on the playback scene, Kapoor is still widely heard thanks to the devotional albums he cuts in huge numbers. We begin the interview with the obvious question:

You have been chosen as this year’s recepient of the Lata Mangeshkar award. Do awards and honours excite you?
Whenever an artiste is given an award, it definitely makes him feel on top of the world. The artiste feels his/her work is recognised. It’s a kind of tonic. I still remember how honoured I had felt when I had bagged the first National award, right after it was instituted, for the Best Singer for Mere desh ki dharti. Later, I was awarded the Padmashree, which was another proud moment in my life. There have been many awards and titles I have got since, and each award helps in instilling the confidence in you that you are good.

The Rashtriya Lata Mangeshkar award presented by the MP government holds special significance because it is in the name of one of the great singers, who’s my senior colleague, and who I have always looked up to. The presentation ceremony will be held in February 17, 2002, wherein I will be presneted with a citation and rupees one lakh.

It’s been 45 years now since you’ve been singing professionally. Are you satisfied with your achievements?
A human being is never satisfied. One always feels there’s a lot more to do. The craving to learn is always there. That’s the case with me too. I still feel I’ve got so much to learn and improve upon. Which is why I am still learning music from my guru, Pt. Murli Manohar Shuklaji. The three of us - that’s me, my son Ruhan, and my grandson Siddhant - sit together to learn classical music, and it feels as if I am just beginning. Siddhant picks up things much faster than me (Smiles).

Yes, if you are asking about material things and fame, then I must count myself as being blessed by the Almighty.

How did you get initiated into a singing career?

Right from the the time I was in school till I went to college, I was regularly singing for all the school and college functions. Alongwith filmmaker Vijay Anand and Ameen Sayani, I was one of the founder members of the Sangeet Mandal in Xavier’s College, which is now Malhar. I also acted in plays with them, though I knew that singing was what I would pursue.

Encouraged by my elder brother Brijmohan Kapoor, and my mother, who was a singer, though she never sang professionally, I was learning classical music under V. Balsara. And it was he who gave me my first chance to sing for a film, though as an amateur. I was in my 10th standard then, and the film was Madmast. Balsara made me sing a duet with the singer S.D. Baatish. Another film I sang was for Lalkaar, followed by Diwali Ki Ek Raat, in which Talat Mehmood was the hero. The song I sang was in the background and composed by Snehal Bhatkar. Another good song I sang as an amateur was for the film Heer which starred Pradeep Kumar. I knew composer Khayyam Sahab well, and he recommended me to Anil Biswas, who was on a lookout for a Punjabi ladka with a powerful voice to sing a heer. After I recorded the heer, Biswasji was quite impressed.

When did you first sing professionally?
After I won the All India Metro Murphy Singing Competition. The judges for the competition were Naushad Sahab, C. Ramachandra, Madan Mohan, Anil Biswas and Vasant Desai. They were to choose one boy and one girl from the whole of India, and it was one of the toughest competitions with 10 elminition rounds. Those taking part had to have a strong classical foundation and be able sing any type of song. So imagine my joy when I was chosen as the winner.

The first song I recorded was with C. Ramachandra for V. Shantaram’s Navrang. The song was Aadha hai chandrama raat aadhi. At the same time I recorded a song with Naushad Sahab for the film Sohni Mahiwal. The song Chaand chhupa aur taare dube, which was almost seven-minutes long, was very difficult for a beginner like me, and I could sing it well only because of Naushad Sahab’s efforts. Chaand chhupa... was released first, followed by Aadha hai chandrama.

What was the response to your first song?
Oh, the response was so good that it established my career rightaway. I’ve been told that when the song was initially played on the radio, there would be bets on whether the song was sung by Mohd. Rafi. To be compared to Rafi Sahab in my first song itself was an honour. What better compliment could I ask for? To date people love to listen to Chaand chhupa taare dube. It’s a beautiful song which tells the story of Sohni going to meet Mahiwal, crossing the river with the help of a ghada (pot).

You were said to be a great fan of Mohd. Rafi right from childhood.
Rafi Sahab has been my inspiration all along. He has been one of my gurus, and I started learning music from him when I was 11 years old.

We didn’t know that Rafi Sahab taught music too!
No, Rafi Sahab didn’t train anybody. I was the only luky one to learn singing from him. Maybe it was because we came from the same place, Amritsar, which explains his affection for me. I still remember vividly how I had almost gate-crashed at his house. All my school friends knew that I was this huge fan of Rafi Sahab since I would always be singing his songs. One fine day a classmate said that he had discovered where Rafi Sahab lived, and gave me the address. He was living in Dongri at that time. Delighted at the thought of seeing my idol in flesh and blood, I just rushed to his house, and introduced myself, and blurted out that I wanted to learn music from him. Rafi Sahab and his elder brother Hamid were very affectionate, and asked me to get the permission of my parents before starting the lessons. My parents were more than happy, and our association grew into a strong bond. We became family friends. Rafi Sahab would regularly visit our house, and loved the Punjabi lassi my mother made. He would take me alongwith him for recordings, which is how I picked up the nuances of playback singing even while I was an amateur.

Who are the others who have contributed to your singing career?
Besides Rafi Sahab and Naushad Sahab, who really honed my singing talent, there was Madan Mohan, who made me realise the importance of classical music. He gave me some beautiful songs, like Chhod ke tere pyar ka daaman, and even the comic Sikander ne Porus se ki thi ladayi. Khayyam Sahab was a major guiding factor in my life, who literally held my hand and taught me the finer nuances of singing. Then there were my gurus Ustad Niyaz Ahmed Khan, Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan, Pt. Husnlalji (of Husnlal-Bhagatram duo) and Pt. Jagannath. It was thanks to these great teachers that I came into the field of playback singing well-prepared, and could sing alongwith mighty singers like Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar, Talat Mehmood. Thanks to them, I could stand the competition, though it was healthy competition.

After Aadha hai... and Chand chhupa..., which were the other songs with which you contended your position?
Recordist Kaushik recommended me to Yash Chopra, who then took me to sing for Dhool Ka Phool. The song Tere pyar ka aasra chahta hoon was my first duet with Lataji (Mangeshkar), composed by N. Datta. After that I established a lasting relationship with both B.R. Chopra and Yash Chopra. B.R. Chopra still asks me to sing for all his productions, even the title songs of his teleserials Mahabharat and Vishnupuran.

Since composer Ravi was also a regular with B.R. Chopra, I struck a good rapport with him, and together we have given most hits. Songs like Na mooh chhupake jiyo, Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jaaye hum dono, Neele gagan ke tale helped me in establishing my identity.

Though all these romantic songs were hits, you really got a fillip with your patriotic song Mere desh ki dharti for Upkaar, right?
Mere desh ki dharti was a very powerful song which charges up every Indian even today. That song did give me a new identity altogether, after which I got a lot of patriotic songs to sing.

I remember the stormy night when we had recorded that song. Manoj Kumar, Kalyanji-Anandji, lyricist Gulshan Bawra and I had reached the Famous Recording Studio in Tardeo, at three in the evening. I had already rehearsed the song more than five times before entering the recording room. We recorded the song after 22 takes. By the time we finished, it was five in the morning. We didn’t even realise that there was a storm outside, and when we came out of the studios, there was flooding on the streets and water had reached the window-level of our cars.

The song clicked in a big way, and after that I was a regular in all Manoj Kumar films. My other big hit with him was the Purab Aur Paschim song, Hai preet jahan ke reet sada.

Besides Sunil Dutt and Manoj Kumar, which are the other actors you have sung for?
I have sung for Dilip Kumar. I enjoyed singing Gentleman, gentleman for him in Gopi. Dilip Sahab would always be present at the recordings and would act out the song during the rehearsals. Bairaag, Shakti, Mazdoor, Mashaal and Kalinga are the other films of Dilip Sahab with my playback. I sang for Jeetendra in the early phase of his career for films like Geet Gaya Pattharon Ne, and even later in Nagin (Tere sang pyar mein). I have sung for Vinod Khanna, Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan (in Saat Hindustani and Ek Nazar), Rajesh Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, and almost all songs for Raj Babbar.

And you were Dada Kondke’s voice too. Didn’t you feel awkward singing his double entendre songs?
Not at all. Because I didn’t look at them that way. For me they were songs sung by a village bumpkin, and I put the emotion of naivete into them. It was fun singing for him. Like Dilip Kumar, Dada too would act out the songs during recording, which helped convey the right emotions. I started singing for him from his second film Ram Ram Gangaram onwards, till the end.

One hardly hears you singing for films now, though you are quite prolific with non-film albums.
I have almost stopped playback singing because I don’t really like today’s style of working. The last film I sang for was Dharmendra’s Dillagi, directed by Sunny Deol. Today playback singing means going to the studio and dubbing your part of the song. The music is already recorded, there’s no live orchestration, there’s nobody to interact. How does one get into the mood then? The live atmosphere earlier would charge you up, and you felt like giving your best. Though I agree that one has to change with the times, I can’t adjust to the present way of working. There are a few directors though who still record in the old style, like B.R. Chopra, Yash Chopra, and Karan Johar, and I do sing for B.R. Chopra.

I prefer keeping myself busy with non-film albums, most of which are devotional in nature. My new Punjabi album is due for release.

You also do a lot of shows.
Yes, shows give me a high even at this age. And I get plenty of requests for stage shows. I have just come back after performing in the US. I usually sing for four hours at a stretch at my shows, and the reaction of live audience makes you feel good. It’s heartening when they demand a particular song or ask for an encore. My son Ruhan loves performing at the shows and you should see how enthusiastic he is. Asians in America recently honoured me with a Lifetime Achievement award and while receiving the award, I got a standing ovation. What more can I ask? Maalik has given me everything.

Do you like today’s music?
Yes, films like Lagaan and Gadar have good music. There should be freshness in music and subject, which was seen in these films. I am all for Indian music, which is more emotional and based on melody. Not that I hate Western music, it has its own colour. When I go for my shows in America, the younger generation wants to listen to old songs. The old melodies had sustaining power because dedication, devotion and hard work was put into them.

How would you compare the present and past music scene?
The need for perfection is lacking today. It’s the chalta hai attitude. After more than 40 years in singing, I am confident that I can sing any type of song. But abhi bhi dar rehta hai. That fear is always there whether the music director, or the producer, or director, will like the way I have sung the song.

Today just about anybody can become a singer. Earlier music directors would test you to see if you knew your music well, and only then give you a chance to sing. Also, today there is too much of dirty politics on the scene.

Your son Ruhan didn’t exactly follow in your footsteps, and opted for an acting career. Don’t you think if he had started out as a singer, he would have been established on the playback scene today?
Maybe. But whatever happens, happens for the best. Ruhan has always been learning classical music and he has got his own singing style. He cut an album Ishq Rab Ki Dua sometime back, and he has also started playback singing. He recently recorded a duet with Richa Sharma for composer Surinder Kohli.

Do you want your grandson Siddhant to take up singing too?
I don’t want to force things on him. He is bright in studies, and always stands first. But he is inclined towards music. He is learning classical music with me and Ruhan, since I believe any kind of knowledge stands in good stead. When he was six, he came home with a prize which he had won after singing Mere desh ki dharti in a competition in school. We were all pleasantly surprised. (Smiles proudly).

In the end, what’s your motto in life?
What you are doing today counts. Resting on past laurels doesn’t help.

—Salma Khatib
salmakhatib@hotmail.com