RMIM Archive Article "207".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Kavita Krishnamurthi
#
# Posted by: Arvind Agarwalla - Vedika/FACT Singapore arvind@fact.com.sg
# Source: India News Network Digest and (The Telegraph)
# Author: Anil Gorver
#
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"Aaj main oopar"
Kavita Krishnamurthi
By Anil Grover
Mumbai
The Telegraph
23th August 1996
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"Aaj Main Upar" - Finally, there is no doubt left about that.
She's been there all these years, but like many good things, she
was taken for granted. Her songs were a hit even about a decade
ago - yes, that long-but poeple forgot to check out who this
fresh new singer was. There was a rash of singers, both male and
female, and among the female, Anuradha Paudwal and Alka Yagnik
were the two who caught the car. Maybe because they were being
touted as the Lata Mangeshkar clones. The Aasha Bhosle and Geeta
Dutt clone got the miss.
But even in the late Eighties, Kavita Krishnamurthy had struck a
chord with the discerning listener who did not miss her
characteristic low profile. A profile that covered a tremendous
range, a range that rainbowed across the new horizon. The sister
- in-law of Manna Dey showed her superior breeding even then.
Consider her first hit, Tum se mil kar (Pyar Jhukta Nahin) played
on Padmini Kolhapure. Or Har Karam Apna karange, /Ai watan tere
liye (Karma) picturise on the serene Nutan. And then consider her
Bijli girane main hoon aayee (Mr India ) liped by an absulutely
loony, Hawa-hawaii Sridevi; She did her karam all right; and she
girao-ed the bijli, you bet.
Cut to bakery fresh memory. If Maniksha Koirala floated like a
butterly in Pyar hua chupke se (1942 A Love story), a
considerable amount of float was imparted to her by Kavita
krishnamurthy who stood her own aginst Lata Mangeshkar herself in
the film. And if the same Manisha sung like a bee in Agnisaksi,
the buzz in Iqraar karna mushkil hai for a large part belonged to
Kavita. And in case you forgot, Kuchi Ckuchi rakamma for Manisha
in Bombay was, agains, who else.
Lately, A.R. Rahman's Hundustani has this pop number, Telephone
dhun mein hansne wali where again Kavita outclasses Hariharan
completely with her Swaranlatha-ish bass. As she did to Udit in
Tu cheez badi hai mast mast (Mohra). Switch to Rajesh Roshan's
Papa kahte hain in which she enchants with Pehle pyaar ka pehla
gham. Then again, to the top of the charts with Jatin - Lalit in
Aaj main oopar (Khamoshi). And watch her verve and vigour in the
forth coming Nazrein lad ganyyaan (Bal Bhrhmachari) where she
leaves Kumar Sanu cold in his version of the racy song.
And so it continues. In this age of Nadeem-Shravan Anand-Milind,
Anu Malik and of course A.R. Rahman, the very dependable duo of
Laxmikant Pyarelal has been elbowed out. But not quite, yet. They
strike again with a vibrant force in Bhairavi (Plus Music; Rs 28
), daring to go a little more classical than usual. In the
musical base, it is reminiscent of their earlier hit, Sargam,
though this is more classical and draws it nearer to LP's
Sursangam in which the duo had used Rajan and Sajan Mishra so
brilliantly. The film's theme reminds one of Sangeet in which
Madhuri Dixit played a blind singer opposite Jackie Shroff; here,
Ashwini Bhave is the sightless singer (costarring Sridhar), who
puts the twinkle in her throat.
There are seven terrific numbers in this film and the very first,
Balam Kesariya, just sends you. A duet by Kavita and Udit
Narayan, you can go on rewinding this one number till the tape
wears out. But unlike Khamoshi which has only Baahon ke darmiyaan
(Hariharan and Alka Yagnik) with similar repeat value, this film
has a lot more going for it.
This song of spring is followed by a viraah-geet in Ab ke sawan
mein barkha nahin which very nearly - though the distance is
quite a bit - catches up with that unforgettable Asha Bhosle song
from Bandini : Ab ke baras bhej bhaiyya ko babul. And there is
romance in the air again with kuchh is tarah (Udit-Kavita) whose
lyric incidentally also won Amit Khanna the National Award this
year. Amit is an old hand at lyrics, anyway. Being a master of
many arts, he shifted from being a journalist who went to
interview Dev Anand to becoming his secretary; from thereon, he
moved into lyric writing (chalte chalte, not less) and even into
production (man Pasand, for one).
Then this cinema encyclopaedia on two legs broke into TV when
people were still looking at the idiot box with internal antenana
as if it was a face from Mars. By now, you know enough about Plus
Channel and Plus Music to waste time on tuitions here.
But we digress. Back to Kavita on the flip side of the cassette.
Chal ripawan proves the lady's range again: her feather-soft, and
mind you, feather-soft despite her deep throat, caress in the
opening lines releases all the doves in your heart at once. It is
in this lyric also that Amit Khanna shines; maybe they gave him
the National Award for the wrong 'un. And there are two bhajans
to complete the tresure trove, one of which is a duet by Kaavita
and Roop Kumar Rathod (Om Namah Shivay).
Watch again Kavita's honeyed modulation, the tracking of the
sargam, making Om Namah Shivay a showcase for the best voice,
male or female, on the circuit today. We said that a decade ago
in The Telegraph Magazine. And we say it again, here.
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From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian