The Composers’ Composers

MUSIC1

The Composers’ Composers

In a fiercely competitive world, music directors do not - especially today - take pains to praise colleagues, or rivals as they are considered nowadays. At the same time, it is also true that each composer does hold specific composers in high esteem. Most of these are their seniors. If the composer concerned is past his prime, then he mentions some juniors, preferably those who came in after he quit and were not instrumental in his downfall!

In my extensive interactions with present-day composers, I have found a strange dichotomical approach to AR Rahman. Some of today’s composers (like Nadeem) run him down mercilessly. The others sing hosannas about him. I strongly suspect that it’s more convenient to praise him as he is not a regular Mumbai rival!

The late Rahul Dev Burman occupies high place amidst the bratpack brigade. Composers as diverse as Rahman himself, Vishal, Shaarang Deo, Nikhil-Vinay, Sandeep Chowta and Anand Raaj Anand declare him as their top favourite. Laxmikant-Pyarelal have openly declared that they considered him much more talented than his father.

Kalyanji-Anandji rave about RD the person as much as they praise the musical prodigy Pancham was. OP Nayyar had once called him the most innovative composers Hindi films will ever see.

Strangely and strategically enough, the music directors who established themselves by following him to a greater or lesser extent prefer to mention other names! In one of his earlier interviews, Bappi Lahiri professed to admire SD Burman, Madan Mohan and Laxmikant-Pyarelal. And Jatin-Lalit do lightly mention him, but keep denying the inspirational similarities to his music. When I first interviewed them for a film monthly in 1992, Jatin said that he adored Laxmikant-Pyarelal, while Lalit declared his affinity to Shanker-Jaikishan and Madan Mohan!

And who did RD Burman himself rate high? In my sole meeting with him, he raved about Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Kalyanji-Anandji, his immediate contemporaries.

Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen are more open and admit that because they admired LP, SJ and the Burmans, most and so one could see a lot of their colour in the Sen music. Viju Shah admits to being a greater fan of Laxmikant-Pyarelal ("Their orchestral grandeur is something I like to emulate in my own style") than of his father and uncle, Kalyanji-Anandji.

The other second generation composers, however, cannot stop raving about their own fathers. Anand-Milind are amazed at the ‘modernity’ in dad Chitragupta’s compositions - that being so, they would do well to be as delightfully original as he was. Anu Malik keeps on and on about how his hugely-talented father Sardar Malik never got his due. Rajesh Roshan would love to be a fraction of what Roshan Sr. was creatively. Sanjeev-Darshan feel Nadeem-Shravan are the ultimate.

Ismail Durbar considers all the old-timers as fantastic composers. Naushad talks of RC Boral, Anti Biswas and Timir Baran and juniors like Madan Mohan and Vasant Desai and says that "Inn logon ke saamne main kuch nahin hoon, aur main sach keh rahaa hoon!" OP Nayyar adds Kamaldas Gupta, Ghulam Haider and Khemchand Prakash to the old timer list and states that Shanker-Jaikishan, C Ramachandra, SD Burman and Roshan did fabulous work. Among today’s composers he likes Jatin-Lalit and even has a kind word for Bappi Lahiri and Anand-Milind.

Nadeem-Shravan, OP’s counterparts today in more than one sense, have individualistic opinions. Shravan mentions LP, SJ and most of the seniors, Nadeem categorically lists SD Burman and Kalyanji-Anandji as his favourites. Raam-Laxman considers SJ, LP and Ka as ‘pillars’ of our film music. Anu Malik hovers between three composers as per his mood of the moment - Shanker-Jaikishan, RD Burman and less frequently - Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

It is a known fact that Shanker-Jaikishan tremendously respected C Ramachandra, and Mahendra Kapoor once revealed to me that Shanker promised him songs in his struggle phase merely because C Ramachandra had given Kapoor a major break in Navrang. Recalled Kapoor, "He got up from his piano while talking his name and said, Woh hum sabka baap hain!"

Ira Roshan, the late Roshan’s wife, remembered how the same C Ramachandra banged at her husband’s door at midnight when he got stuck midway over a tune, which now ranks among his greatest hits. "Over scotch and soda," she told me, "My husband and he worked out the final shape, and for years, he would tell people that it was Roshan saab who was responsible, because he held him in great esteem!" The huge-hearted Anna was fond even of Laxmikant-Pyarelal, whose meteoric rise did affect his fortune.

"When we won our first award for Dosti, we used to stay close to his house. He rushed to our house at 8 am and woke us up with the words, Utthha gadhwanon! (Wake up, you asses!) You have won an award!" the late Laxmikant recounted to me once. "Shanker-Jaikishan and he were the only music directors we really admired! They were so versatile and prolific. In our young days, Pyare and I would even dress, walk and talk like S-S!" Pyarelal too declared that SJ we the most original of our composers!" Among the young lot, Laxmikant called Rajesh Roshan ‘The last of the originals! and Pyarelal also likes Rehman, though he feels that Hindi filmmakers do not allow him to be at his best.