s

The musical genius of Raj Khosla

It’s nine years now since Raj Khosla passed away. Apart from the month of his death - June - he shared some other things in common with the other, more famous RK of filmmaking - Raj Kapoor, though Destiny never engineered a film together for them.

Both shared a real-life fascination for women that spilled over in their work to lend their films a beautiful and compassionate quality. And both shared a passion for music that went beyond an excellent ear for melody. They were musicians themselves, and this led to a special depth and a sublime dimension in their music, irrespective of the composer and lyricist - and the genre of film they were making.

Raj Khosla loved to explain his passion for melody by the fact that his father was listening to a K. L. Saigal ditty when he, Raj, was born. "From then on I was crazy about Saigal as well as music," he told me in those days. "At the age of six, I

Khosla excelled in the filming of songs like Lag jaa gale and Naina barse (Woh Kaun Thi?) and Jhumka gira re and Aap ke pehloo mein aakar ro diye (Mera Saaya). The script was always Raj’s backbone, and the music had to be a part of it

began taking lessons in classical music. When still a student, I joined All India Radio as an anonymous staff artiste, filling in whenever a singer could not honour his commitment.

I began to make the rounds of music directors, all of whom told me that I was very good but never gave me a song. Finally, one music director did call me, rehearsed with me till midnight for the following day’s take, and went ahead and recorded that song with Mukesh! It was the blackest day of my life!" How Khosla joined Guru Dutt as an assistant and graduated to become one of Mumbai’s most successful filmmakers is a story that does not fall within the purview of this feature. But his passion for music ensured that his music was always distinguished, irrespective of the composer.

Although he failed commercially in many of his 27 films (or 28 if you include the little work he did on Sunil Dutt’s Rocky during Nargis’ illness), he rarely failed in the music department despite working with a spectrum of composers like Laxmikant Pyarelal (10 films), R.D.Burman (six including Rocky), S.D.Burman and Madan Mohan (three each), O.P.Nayyar (two films), N. Datta, Ravi, Ravindra Jain and introduced a struggling music teacher from Mumbai, Kamaal Makhdoom in his swan song Naqab (1989).

Khosla said then, "Early in my life, my gurus Guru Dutt and S. Mukerji told me that I was better at my songs than in my films themselves. They told me, "Shoot your films as you do your songs - crisply and to the point." I benefited from this sound advice."

Khosla’s musical foundation, honed by hours of listening to the best of classical and film music, went haywire after Dostana and Do Premee in the 1980s. "I admit that I lost my moorings after my mother’s death and became indifferent to work in general. I could not find the slightest common ground at all with Ravindra Jain in Daasi. In my other films - Teri Maang Sitaron Se Bhar Doon, Meraa Dost Meraa Dushman, Maati Maangey Khoon and Sunny, I take full responsibility for the poor music, even though I had L.P. or Pancham with me."
But before he died, Khosla vindicated himself with the music score of his swan song, Naqab. "I was six flops old," he recollected wryly. "Financial backing was not forthcoming, and I did not want to make Laxmikant Pyarelal compromise on their price for me as a favour. Kamaal was a poor musician who stayed in a chawl and earned his living by teaching music.

I found him brilliant, and I told my assistant Farukh Kaiser, who was a well-known lyricist as well, to write. But luck was not on my side. I gave away the music rights of my film to T-Series who then had problems with Asha Bhosle. They did not market the music at all, and the film’s delay and failure did the rest. Imagine, Asha-ji had prophesied that if the music were marketed well, it would have been another Umrao Jaan!"
The whole contretemps steeled Khosla’s desire for a proper comeback with a genre best identified with him - a musical suspense thriller. "I decided that I would no longer compromise, and so on Diwali New Year (1990), I called up Laxmikant and Anand Bakshi and told them we were working together. My script was almost ready."

But Fate had another gameplan as Khosla’s time had run out. Khosla’s own tastes in melody were first satisfied by Madan Mohan and lyricist Raja Mehndi Ali Khan. "Like Dada, Madan was a genius," he told me. And Khosla excelled in the filming of songs like Lag jaa gale and Naina barse (Woh Kaun Thi?) and Jhumka gira re and Aap ke pehloo mein aakar ro diye (Mera Saaya). The script was always Raj’s backbone, and the music had to be a part of it.

After Anita, Khosla struck a rapport solidly rewarding professionally but even stronger emotionally - with Laxmikant Pyarelal. "After I discovered L.P. I did not need anyone else," he told me. Later R.D.Burman came in only as a trendy change, doing his production Do Chor directed by assistant Padmanabh, and four outside films made by Dev Anand, Sunil Dutt, Shatrughan Sinha and Amarjeet. "Pancham was a colossal talent too," admitted Khosla.

A sentimentalist to the core, Khosla was bowled over when the struggling Anand Bakshi wrote the remaining song for Anita, Hain nazar ka ishara after Raja Mehndi Ali Khan died, and asked Khosla to send the cheque to Khan’s widow. After that, Bakshi was a fixture in all his film, except for Do Chor and Naqab. Khosla’s music lives on, in priceless scores like O.P.Nayyar’s C.I.D, S.D.Burman’s Kala Pani, Solva Saal and Bambai Ka Babu (Khosla’s first production), Ravi’s Do Badan, Madan Mohan’s Woh Kaun Thi?, Mera Saaya and Chiraag, R.D.Burman’s Do Chor, and a long Laxmikant Pyarelal hit parade comprising of Anita, Do Raaste, Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Kuchche Dhaage, Prem Kahani, Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki, Do Premee and Dostana.

Who can forget songs as diverse in genre but as uniform in excellence as Ae dil hai mushkil jeena yahan, Chal ri sajni, Nazar laagi raja tore bangle par, Naina barse, Jhumka gira re, Nainon mein badraa chhaye, Tum bin jeevan, Bindiya chamkegi, Maar diya jaaye, Phool aahista phenko and Main Tulsi tere aangan ki to mention only the creme-de-la-creme?

The Khosla legacy lives on today, as maverick Mahesh Bhatt (his one-time assistant) admits that Khosla’s passion for songs must have rubbed off somewhere on him, and Milan Luthria demonstrates the same flair in the new Kachche Dhaage.

Rajiv Vijayakar