In today’s film music, good and rich melodies are missing. This is a tragedy of bollywood film music. May be, because of lack of talent or because of poor lyrics. Or a combination of both. Our hindi film music is already influenced by western music and music directors try mixing/blending Indian folk music or bhangra beats to it and create dance numbers, which don’t create good melody out of the song.

There are very few songs which common people can sing to themselves or in Public. The emphasis in given on item numbers which become popular mainly because they are played and shown on TV channels so many times. The best example is song from Dabbang, ‘Munni Badnaam hui’ !

I don’t mean to say that today’s musicians are not talented, however they don’t exercise their talent in right direction and go after the technology  which helps them to blend, alter, copy tunes/beats from old Indian or western songs and they can quickly record and release songs/albums.

There are very few romantic tunes with good quality melody in most films..most songs are dance numbers with cheap lyrics and orchestration.

Unfortunately, in today’s time there are very few good movies made in which there are very few good songs and rarely we come across good melodies.

Today is Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar’s birthday. She turned 81 today. Well, I had posted about her in my blog a couple of years back. I am just adding few lines from there.

‘Lata bai is one of the most talented singers of all times in the history of Indian music. Her melodious voice, purity of the notes, variations in singing, everything is so perfect that there can’t be anything better in the world of music.

If you really want to become a good singer, then you better listen to lata bai’s songs daily for an hour.  The songs that I adore the most are ‘Mana Mohana bade jhootey’, ‘Rasik bulama’, ‘Dhire se aaja re akhiyan mein nindiya’, ‘Tu jahan jahan chalega..mera saya’, ‘Agar mujhase muhabbat hai’, ‘Ye zindagi usi ki hai’, ‘Bainya na dharo o bulama’, ‘Jaago Mohan pyare’ …and many more..the list is too long. Whoever composed these songs..Lata bai has made them into master pieces by her golden voice.’

Everybody is wishing her today on her birthday. Songs are played on Radio, TV. How does a common man wish her? Well, its very simple. Just listen to her melodious songs today and pray to god that she lives a healthy and peaceful life.

God bless Lata Bai..

Well, its pointless to compare the two movies because the stories are different. But, from the music point of view there are certain things common & hence making an attempt to post here. The music composers are same & the story revolves around young friends, thats the common thing here. Dil Chahta hai is probably the best musical film in the recent times. All songs were ‘hits’. This is very rare to happen in a movie. After ’1942 a Love story’, I would rate this film to be best musical film till date. The main reason being the variety of songs based on the situations & that is the key. I haven’t seen ‘Rock on’ but only heard the title song, which has good lyrics but the music is ordinary & the guitar pieces look to be copied from the western numbers. I am not a great fan of rock or western music but somehow it has got certain limitations & it becomes monotonous after you hear 1-2 songs. 

Well, the younsters do fall in love with western music and hence might have enjoyed & liked ‘Rock on’. But from the music angle, I guess you need to do lot of research & study before you try and make a film related to that subject. We have some great examples in the past – there are infact plenty of films based on Indian folk & classical music for eg: Umarao Jaan, Lekin, Amar Prem, Mughal-E-Azam, Pakeezah, Abhiman, Sargam etc. and on the western side, movies like Karz (ofcourse the old one), Hum kisi se kum nahi, but ‘Rock on’ doesn’t come close to any of these movies to be remembered for long time. The important aspect is ‘originality’ – music should always feel fresh & new then only it will last long or be remembered for decades.

Songs from ‘Dil chahta hai’ are of that quality so the music ‘rocks’. ‘Rock on’ ka to band baj gaya hai – as far as music is concerned. Well, if people start liking the new (so called musical) ’Karz’ then certainly Rock on is much better option, I would say.

We cannot blame the audience after all, unfortunately, there is very little choice with regards to good music.

Well, I cannot write everything about Today’s film music in a single post, but certainly cover few interesting points here. I would say that today’s film music, unfortunately, is very premature & disorganised. You will mostly find all songs to be dance numbers and there are very few melodic compositions that you can relax and listen to. The quality of music is also not up to the mark. Some of the credit goes to the lyrics. You will feel that even the words or lines used in the lyrics are sub-standard and repeated often. People do not have time to think & write (few exceptions like Javed Akhtar & Gulzar). The music is manipulated and tunes are copied from old songs or western numbers. There are very few musicians who have maitained a unique style and tried to create original music. The best example is A. R. Rahman. His music pattern, rythmic style also gets repeated at times but its something which is created by himself. There are very few composers/singers like Kailash Kher, Shankar-Ehsan-Loy who understand Indian classical music and have been creating good music/songs.  Most of Today’s music directors are not talented enough to think and create music that can last long. The theory is that ‘good melody survives for ever’. Today also, people play and hear to K. L. Sehegal’s songs, why? Today some composers are remixing or remaking old songs, why? Because these melodies are evergreen and hence have been listened or played decade after decade. Today’s songs last for few weeks or months and disappear for ever. Ofcourse, there are some songs, rather dance numbers that are continuously played by DJs at Pubs, Discotheques or Private Parties, but those are cheap songs and can give you heart attacks than soothing your soul. I won’t say that all songs are bad but the number of ‘good melodies’ created in a year is certainly very low. Just like medicine taken in pure form acts faster and provides longer & complete relief. Same goes with music. Music created in its pure form touches your heart and makes a permanent entry in your memory. On the other hand, fusion/remix/blending of music has a temporary effect. Unfortunately, musicians have stopped creating music in its pure form and they are going after fusion, experimenting different types, without attempting to learn & perfect our own ‘rich’ music in the first place.

Who else? It is indeed Mohammed Rafi.  The best quality male voice that Indian Music has ever produced – it is Rafi Sahab’s voice. His voice was pure as crystal, with high quality tone & texture and his singing was flawless. He could sing any type of song effortlessly and with great emotion & ecstasy.

Mohammed Rafi got his classical training from Ustad Abdul Vahid Khan and Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan. Rafi got a break in playback singing through music director Shyam Sundar. However, he became a popular singer after Naushad Sahab signed him for film Baiju Bawra. O duniya ke rakhwale, Mana tarapat hari darshan ko aaj became the hit songs. Soon, he became a favourite singer of popular music directors like O P Nayyar, S D Burman & Shankar Jaikishan of that era and created great hits with them. Rafi became voice of Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand and major heroes during those times. He also gave his voice to Singer Kishore Kumar who started his career as an actor.

Rafi’s speciality was that he could sing classical based songs very smoothly, I mean, without compromsing on his texture of voice. The variations he sang were with ease and he maintained the softness of his voice while singing them. He had tremendous range of voice and hence he could maintain his voice quality while singing high notes and even low notes.

Rafi is the only singer who has sung some of the longest songs in hindi films such as ‘Ye duniya ye mehfil mere kaam ki nahi’, ‘Mere Mehboob tujhe meri mohabbat ki kasam’, ‘Rang aur noor ki barat kise pesh karoon’.

Some of his songs which I like the most are ‘Zindagi bhar nahi bhulegi vo barsat ki rat’, ‘Tumhari zulfa ke saye me shaam’, ‘Teri aakhon ke siva duniya mein rakkha kya hai’, ‘Tere mere sapane ab ek rang hai’, ‘Ye zulfa agar khulke bikhar jaye to acchha’, ‘Mai nigahen tere chehre se hataoon kaise’, ‘Chhoo lene do nazuk hothon ko’, ‘Ek haseen shaam ko dil mera kho gaya’, ‘Achal mein saja le na kaliya’, ‘Man re tu kahe na dhir dhare’, ‘Dard e dil dard e jigar’..the list will go on.

Some of his duets that I like are ‘Deewana hua badal’, ‘Isharon Isharon mein’, ‘Aaja Aaja mai hun pyar tera’, ‘Abhi na jao chhodkar’, ‘Chura liya hai tumne jo dil ko’, ‘Phir miloge is baat ka vada kar lo’ (Sung with Asha) & ‘Ye dil deewana hai’, ‘Dil Pukare’, ‘Tasvir teri dil mein’, ‘Teri bindiya re’ (sung with Lata).

Rafi’s voice was made for any kind of song be it a romantic song, a patriotic song, a classical based song, a comedy song, a fast hindi pop song. Rafi sang each song with great ease and perfection. Unfortunately he lived only for 55 years and after him the film industry struggled to find another voice like him.

Today you may find singers who imitate Kishore Kumar but you won’t find another Mohammed Rafi. Rafi truely was a complete singer! 

Well, the other day I saw movie ‘Om Shanti Om’. Movie was good. Liked Shah Rukh’s acting!!! BTW, I am Aamir Khan fan. Anyway, the songs in the movie were all decent, except the ‘Darde Disco’ (I really wonder lyricist’s imagination to arrive at this terminology). The one song I liked was ‘Tumko paya hai ke jaise khoya hun..’ After the movie was over I kept singing the tune and realised that there are many songs on similar lines or in same pattern both in rythm & melody. ‘Pukarata Chala hun mai’ (Mere Sanam), ‘Dilbar mere kab tak mujhe aise hi tadpaoge’ (Film: Satte pe satta), ‘Mein shayar to nahi’ (Film: Bobby), ‘Ye rate ye mausam nadi ka kinara..’(Film: Dilli Ka Thug), ‘Ye hawa ye nadi ka kinara..’, ’Dil ki nazar se nazaro ke dil se(Film: Anadi)’, ’Ye jo Mohabbat hai..’ (Film: Kati Patang)..& so on.  All these songs are played on 6 beats, but even the notes are similar and so the melody.  Are these songs based on some Raga? They must be close to some Raga. Is it Kirwani? I think so. Well, I am not an expert on classical music but would appreciate if someone can come up with the name of the Raga…Thanks!

Naushad Ali was one of the only Music Directors who composed maximum classical songs for Hindi Films during his time.  Perhaps, he was the only choice as a Music Director for most historic movies. Naushad Ali learned classical music during his young age from Ustad Ghurbat Ali, Ustad Yusuf Ali in Lucknow and moved to Mumbai later with an aspiration to become a Music Director. He also learned to play the Piano and worked as a musician initially for a studio orchestra. He started his career as a Music Arranger for Khemchand Prakash and eventually became a Music Director in 1940s. By 1960 he was one of the most popular Music Director. Some of his memorable films are Rattan, Shahjehan, Baiju Bawra, Mother India, Mughal-E-Azam, Pakeezah, Ganga Jamuna, Mere Mehboob.

The speciality of Naushad Ali’s music was that he created raga based music and tried to keep his compositions in pure raga form. For eg: the song ‘Mana tarpat hari darshan ko aaj’ is based on raag Malkauns, the song ‘Madhuban mein radhika nache re’ is based on raga Hameer, the song ‘Aye Duniya ke rakhwale’ is based on raga Darbari Kanada & the song ‘Ek Shahenshah ne banwa ke hasin tajmahal’ is based on Raga Lalit.  He also used some of the distinguished classical singers like Ustad Amir Khan & Pt. D. V. Paluskar for his film ‘Baiju Bawra’ and Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan in ‘Mughal-E-Azam’.

Apart from raga based music he also composed very rich romantic numbers like ‘Suhani Raat Dhal Chuki’, ‘Aaj ki raat mere dil ki salami le le’, ‘Tasvir banata hon teri khun e jigar se’, (All sung by Rafi) ‘Gam diye mushtaqil’ (sung by Sehegal), ‘Jane wale se mulaqat na hone payi hai’ (by Lata), Mere Mehboob tujhe meri mohabbat ki kasam (sung by both Lata & Rafi) & many more.

Naushad was a perfectionist. He used to spend several weeks at times, recording a single song, until he was satisfied with all the aspects of music. He composed music for only 66 films in his 60 years of music career, which means 1-2 films per year.

Though Naushad used western instruments in some of his songs but he could not adapt to creation or development of songs with a combination of Indian & Western music. Music Directors like O. P. Nayyar, Shankar Jaikishan, S.D. Burman became more popular with the new trend of Indian folk music blended with Western style & approach. Naushad could not compete with them as he probably could not compromise on his approach on maintaining pure form of Indian music in his compositions.

I was lucky to meet Naushad Sahab on a flight from US to India on 9th October 2001. Nobody recognised him on the flight. I went to him and just mentioned that I like his music & adore some of his songs. He just said ‘Shukriya’ & ‘Allah aapko salamat rakhe’! I will never forget his words. Few years later, during May 2006 he passed away.

I would like to end this post with a mukhda of one of his best compositions (Raga Kalawati), which I like the most. Rafi Sahab has sung this beautifully.

‘Koi Sagar Dil ko behlata nahin…bekhudi mein bhi karar aata nahin…’

Monsoon is here and for last few days I have been listening to some of the most melodious monsoon songs – O sajana barakha bahar aayi..rasa ki puhar layi akhiyon mein pyar layi; aha rimjhim ke ye pyare pyare geet liye..Wow, what pleasant songs! And the music composer of these songs is Salil Chowdhary, one of my favourite musicians. Salilda has been a great composer, poet, arranger & an intelligent musician. It clearly shows from his compositions that he has done indepth study of both Indian folk & classical music and western classical music. From childhood he has been listening to compositions of Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin etc. that inspired him and has reflected in his music. He started his career in Bengali films as lyricist & Music Director. But he became popular in India when he gave music for classics like Do bigha Jameen, Parakh, Jagte Raho & Madhumati. Salilda could play many instruments like piano, flute, sitar, tabla. Every song that he composed he experimented in a variety of instruments, chorus in background, harmony blended with perfect orchestration.  The sitar pieces in ‘O sajana’ from film Parakh are exceptional. The saxophone played in ‘Zindagi kaisi hai paheli’ from movie Anand is very profound. The flute pieces in ‘Dil tadap tadap ke kah raha hai’ from film Madhumati are very nicely rendered. He has used chorus very effectively in the entire song ’Na Jaane kyun’ from film Chhoti si baat. Some of his classical based songs like Jago mohan pyare(Jagte Raho), Aaja re paradesi(Madhumati), Na Jiya lage na (Anand) are very subtle & beautiful. Other songs like Baag mein kali khili (sung by Asha Bhosle), Itna na mujhse tu pyar badha (sung by Lata & Talat Mehmood), Chandani Raat tum ho sath (sung by Kishore & Lata) are some of his difficult numbers that are very rich in harmony & overall orchestration.  Salilda was a great composer by all standards & in all dimensions of music. He created a unique style in his compositions that cannot be repeated, remixed or representated by anybody else ever.

I would like to end this post by remembering one of his great songs wonderfully sung (especially the zamzama) by Manna Dey – Aye mere pyare vatan, Aye mere bichhade chaman…tujhpe dil qurban..Amazing!!!

Om Prasad Nayyar was the most lively music composer ever. When I say lively it means peppy, bubbly, sparkly..he was amazing. Surprisingly, he was not a trained musician like S. D. Burman, Madan Mohan, but his compositions were far great in terms of melody, rhythm and overall orchestration. The use of some instruements in his songs has made the songs rich and more popular. For example: the percussion instruement ‘dholak’ played in the song ‘bahut shukriya badee meherbani meri zindagi mein hujoor aap aaye’ or the piano played in the song ‘Jaiye aap kahan jayenge’ or the sarangi played in the song ‘Deewana hua badal savan ki ghata chhayi’.  O P sahab is the only music director who has given the most ‘happy & romantic’ numbers that are evergreen. Songs like ‘Isharon Isharon mein’, ‘Pukarta Chala hun main’, ‘Aapke haseen rukh pe aaj naya noor hai’, ‘Phir miloge kabhi is baat ka vada kar lo’, ‘Thandi hawa kali ghata’, Piya Piya Piya mora jiya’..the list is too long. Some of his songs became very popular & trendy because of the ‘horse’ rhythm.  Songs like ‘Mang ke saath tumhara’ (Film: Naya Daur), ’Yun to humne lakh haseen dekhe hai’ (Film: Tumsa nahi dekha), ‘Piya Piya Piya Mora Jiya Pukare’ (Film:Bap re Bap) are some of the best examples of the ‘horse’ rhythm. He gave some of the cutest ‘bhangra’ (Punjabi folk) songs like ‘Ude jab jab julfe teri’, ‘Sar pe topi lal hath mein resham ka rumal’, ‘Meri jaan Balle Balle’. The cabaret songs sung by Asha Bhosle like ‘Aao huzoor tumko’, ‘Yeh reshami julfon ka andhera’, ‘Aaeye Mehrbaan’ and ‘Babuji dhire chalna sung by Geeta Dutta were magnificent. O P Nayyar composed some of the most beautiful duets. ‘Isharon Isharon mein’ by Mohmd Rafi /Asha Bhosle, ‘Aakhon hi Aakhon mein ishara’ by Geeta Dutta / Rafi, ‘Aap yuhin agar humse milte rahen’ by Mohmd Rafi / Asha Bhosle are some of the great numbers.  The only missing thing in O P Nayyar’s songs is Lata Mangeshkar’s voice. He did not record a single song with Lata bai, yet all his songs sung by Geeta Dutta & Asha Bhosle became very popular. I remember his pleasant appearance as a Judge in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, a popular show on Zee TV. He was a great character, but looked to be a aloof person.  He is no longer with us but his songs will make us remember him for ever!

Rahul Dev Burman created the most sensuous & romantic songs for the Hindi Films. He has really stolen millions & millions of hearts by his music. He was one of the most talented & genius musician in the Hindi Film Industry! No musician can come close to R D Burman ever! He was the first musician who brought western music into the Indian form and created great compositions with the combnation of the two kinds of music that sounded very melodious to ears & soothing to the heart.

His father Sachindev Burman, who was one of the greatest music directors of his time (he is also one of my favourite), certainly has an influence over Rahulda’s music but I must say that RD is the only son in the entire film industry who has surpassed his father’s contributions and has shown a distinction in his compositions. 

R D Burman was not only a music director but a great musician. He could play many instruments including tabla, fluet, guitar, keyboards. He had the best sense of rythm and some of his songs have off-beat rythm which clearly demonstrates his command over beats or taal. One of the best example is ‘Mehbooba Mehbooba’ from film Sholay. He got the best out of many singers that sung his songs. But the greatest variations that he could bring out from a singer, was Asha Bhosle.  Asha Bhosle could generate anything & everything from her voice that was desired by R D Burman.  The throw, the vibrations, breathing techniques used in his songs were amazingly sung by Ashaji. They were truely made for each other.  Aaja Aaja mein hun pyar tera, O mere sona re sona re, Piya tu ub to aaja, Dum Maro Dum..are some of his evergreen songs exceptionally sung by Ashaji. He was probably the only Music Director whose all songs in a film use to be hit numbers. Even if you look at his latest compostions in 1942 a love story it justifies what I am trying to say.

Today there are so many music directors who are inspired by RD’s compositions but they lack in the basic talent and hence cannot create the rich music that he has given to the Indian Film Industry. The remix world has also made several versions of RD’s songs but they have spoiled his songs in the process. RD Burman’s music should not be copied or remixed, as by doing so, you are going to dilute or destroy his melodies. I would only request the new musicians to listen to his songs & learn some lessons out of them and try to create compositions which are original and different.