RMIM Archive Article "209".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Gulzar on Salil Choudhury
#
# Posted by: nitin@cs.washington.edu (Nitin Sharma)
# Source: Indian Express (Sep 5th 1996)
# http://express.indiaworld.com/ie/daily/19960905/24950152.html
# Copyright: Indian Express Group 1996 (Mumbai)
#
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An ode to Salil Chowdhury
Nelson Pereira
Indian Express
Thursday, September 5 1996
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MUMBAI, September 4: Gulzar pays rich tributes on the great
composer's first death anniversary :
Today, on Salil Chowdhury's first death anniversary, I cannot but
help reminisce about his greatness. Salilda, as he was fondly
called, was a genius of a composer and used to cleverly make use
of Russian symphonies to create melody, which many present-day
composers cannot even think of doing. He was the first man in
the Hindi film industry to juxtapose fusion music with Hindustani
ragas.
One such example where he used Russian symphonies to great effect
was in the Rajesh Khanna-Amitabh starrer Anand. I still remember
the songs of this film which became a rage in the early '70s when
this film was released. And since I wrote the lyrics, I know the
effort that went into nurturing every song. Before composing the
mukhda of each song, he used to sit with me and meticulously
discuss the finer points of it. For him composing was an art.
Like for instance, the song Kahi door jab din dhal jaye in Anand
had to convey the pathos of a cancer patient's psyche. And
Salilda wanted his tunes to convey the pain and the trauma. Then
in a different frame of mind, he had to convey the hero's bid to
maintain a romantic front in spite of death staring him in his
face, and Mene tere liye hi saat rang ke sapne chune was born.
Mukesh did a wonderful job in the film, even Manna Dey was
exceptional in his Zindagi kaisi hai paheli picturised on Rajesh
Khanna.
His suggestions even when I was in the midst of writing a mukhda
were always brilliant and I used to welcome them because I knew
the genius of this great man. Besides, never for a moment did he
let me feel that I was junior to him. He always treated me as an
equal, which did my confidence a world of good.
Being a poet as well, he was well aware of the nuances of each
line and its effect on the listener. I also wrote lyrics for his
other films like Prem Patra, Kabuliwallah and Pinjre ke panchi, a
film which he directed as well. He also teamed up successfully
with other lyricists like Yogesh.
He was a socially very conscious man and an active member of the
Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA). His friend circle had
people like Sardar Jafri, A K Hangal and Dina Pathak who had a
great influence on his thinking. IPTA in those days was a
training ground for upcoming actors. In fact, these were the
people who groomed the great Sanjeev Kumar. I salute the spirit
and magnanimity of Salilda. May his tribe grow.
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From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian