What a Gesture!

It was a moment when tears of joy (call it some “very strange happiness”) bordered on every eye-lid and threatened to flow. Lata Mangeshkar had just completed singing one more song for Dev Anand (“whose fan I have always been”) and his company, Navketan, in Navketan’s fiftieth year. The song written by Dev’s favourite poet Neeraj (who writes only for Dev and Vijay Anand and then leaves the city because he cannot work with anyone else, with the ways the system works in Mumbai). Lata rehearsed the song for days “because I have always wanted to give my best to Dev Sahab who is undoubtedly one of the nicest men in the industry”. The 77-year old Dev inspired the 70 year old Lata to sing for the sixteen year old Heeni, the leading lady of Dev’s film Censor and Heeni sat in a corner and wondered if what was happening was true, was not a dream. “I could never in my greatest dream dream of working as the heroine in Dev Sahab’s film. And now the unbelievable has happened. The greatest ever Lata Mangeshkar is singing for me. I really don’t know what to do to believe in all these happenings,” Heeni said and Dev said, “work hard, work sincerely, work with all your heart and you will see some greater dreams come true.”

The love song about a beloved waiting for her lover was recorded by music director Jatin (of Jatin and Lalit) in Lata’s voice and Lalit in just two hours and then taken for some “sophisticated technical work at Sunny Sound Studio to make the song much more effective because one rarely finds a chance to record a song with Didi (Lata) these days”.

Then came that moment which comes but once in a life-time. It was time for Lata to be paid her fee. Dev had told his accountant to keep her cheque ready but Lata refused to accept the cheque. She told Dev that since she was singing for Dev during his fiftieth year as a filmmaker she would charge him only Rs.51, and in cash. Dev refused. He said she had done her job and she should accept her full fee. Lata said she would take nothing “less or more” than Rs.51. Dev was trapped in an emotional dilemma. He didn’t know what to do. The others just kept watching because they had never seen something so emotional happening in these modern money-minded times. Lata said she was lucky that she was chosen to sing some of her most memorable songs for Dev and Navketan. Dev tried to divert her attention while he talked about the early days, fifty years ago, when they sat on the ground and rehearsed some of the best songs. Lata sighed and wondered if those days would ever come again. Dev just shook his head. Then it was back to talking money. Lata said she would take just Rs.51 in cash and didn’t want any cheque or “anything in writing”. The emotional tussle continued. Dev is a well-known believer in paying all his artistes and technicians, his entire unit and paying them in time whatever the fate of his film. When Dev couldn’t win over Lata he gave her his blank cheque book, signed a cheque and gave her the freedom to fill in whatever figure she wanted. Lata stuck to her Rs.51 only in cash system. The event was getting more and more emotional and even embarrassing for the great legends. Just imagine the greatest ever singer, the Nightingale of India, determined to charge Rs.51 only for an entire song which she had sung with the same dedication and devotion that she put into every song she sang and made memorable. Lata finally escaped from the recording room with the cheque book in her niece Rachana’s hand and Dev was relieved. But his relief was not to last long because within minutes Rachna, Lata’s niece who is her companion at all her recordings returned and handed over the cheque book to Dev Sahab. Dev was too smart. He had already written out a cheque, her fee and signed it. The cheque was not acceptable to Lata, she sent a message to Dev . She stuck to her Rs.51 only demand. Dev asked Rachana to take the cheque back to Lata who was sitting in her car. He too rushed down with the cheque book. A crowd surrounded Lata’s car. When would they get an opportunity to see two of the greatest living legends in real life, talking about something only they knew of? Dev finally used his emotions to a level which moved Lata. He told her “a little sister never disobeyed her elder brother”. Lata didn’t know what to say. She accepted the cheque from him and drove away after waving out to him but I am sure she will return it again and stick to her Rs.51 only demand.

Dev came back to the recording room and said: “I can’t believe this. The graciousness of the great woman is something that is never heard of these days. Our working relationship has lasted full fifty years and but for one or two Navketan films she has sung for all of Navketan films and believe me, she is seventy today but her voice is still as fresh as it was when she first sang for Navketan fifty years ago. Incidentally, Lata reminded Dev of a promise she had made to Dev some time ago. She said she would score the music for the first time only for a Navketan film produced by Dev. Dev said he had never forgotten her promise. He never forgets such glorious promises. It will be a glorious chapter in the history of Hindi films, he said. It will, it will certainly.

Incidentally, a number of the twenty-five odd stars who are working in Dev’s Censor have already returned or are returning the cheques Dev has issued in their name for their work. And the “market” is still wondering how this “unbelievable man” brings in the money to make film after film even though some of his films have fared badly in recent times. Have you heard of something called goodwill? Dev’s greatest earnings, his greatest luxury is the goodwill he has earned all over the world.

Ali Peter John