RMIM Archive Article "162".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Laxmikant-Pyarelal: How they make my heart sing
#
# Posted by: verma@cs.cornell.edu (Arun Verma)
# Source: Hindustan Times' Infotainment (Annual issue '95)
# Author: Chandan Mitra
#
How many of you know a person who is an ardent fan of Laxmikant-
Pyarelal. Well, here is one. This piece on LP certainly makes an
interesting reading, even if you don't agree to most of the con-
tent. Blame all typos on my keyboard :)
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How they Make my Heart Sing ----Chandan Mitra
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[Appeared on Hindustan Times' Infotainment (Annual issue '95)]
In the Calcutta of late 60s, it was unfashionable to be a Hindi
Music buff. Only bustee (slum) dwellers, we were authoritatively
told, purveyed 'la re lappa' music. The cognosenti from bhadralok
backgrounds despaired at the blare of 'ya ya yippi yippi' from
loudspeakers at puja pandals. Bengali culture, our elders re-
morsefully concluded, was under threat. The new lumpenised gen-
eration had no regard for Rabindra sangeet or classical Ragas.
Even as the elders sagely disapproved of our tastes, many friends
violently objected to us falling prey to degenerate capitalist
culture. Naxalites roamed the city's streets, plastering walls
with invocations like "China's chairman is our Chairman" and
blood curdling warnings of how the throats of class enemies would
be systematically slit once the revolutionary masses had been
around.
In a sense, then, we were the misfit generation. I recall the
sheer terror experienced when a group of red-scarved young men
stromed light-house cinema as we were watching the first of Dev
Anand's many directorial misadventures PREM PUJARI. The screen
was aglow with the magnificent swiss Alps and Dev, his head
cocked in characteristic style, was singing that Unsurpassably
romantic Neeraj-SD Burman composition 'Phoolon ke rang se'.
The angry young men smashed everything they could lay thier hands
on. They set the screen on fire and turned all of us out of the
hall after reprimanding us for daring to watch a film allegedly
insulting to that great fountainhead of revolutionary rectitude,
China. I was sad at having to meekly obey. My protest was a
quiet, private one.
Next day, I bicycled to my favorite music shop -Melody house on
Rashbehari Avenue - and bought the 45 RPM EP record of PREM PU-
JARI. In the age of CDs, one sometime misses the gentle crackling
of the shelac based 78s and the handy EPs costing Rs 6.72 and Rs
13.44 respectively. Collecting them became almost a passion. And
in one's early teens, discretion wasn't the hallmark of my ap-
proach to Hindi music.
But amid my self confessed indiscretion, I grew fond of some
melodies more than others. And found myself inexorably drawn to-
wards the compositions of Laxmikant-Pyarelal.
That too wasn't quite fashionable. Bengalis who deigned to spare
some thought for Bollywood compositions had a somewhat parochial
view of things. For them, Bombay's music began and ended with
Sachin Dev, son Rahul, Hemant Mukherjee and Manna dey. I was a
fan of them all, but somehow fell in love with the earthy appeal
of folksy compositions like 'Ja re Kare Badra balam ke
paas'(DHARTI KAHE PUKAR KE), Hum tum yug yug se(MILAN) or manchi
chal (AAYA SAWAN JHOOM KE)
L-P were quitely gaining ground in any case, steadily displacing
the reigning kings Shankar-Jaikishen. Hindi music entered my life
at a sad time for SJ. Their music was degenerating and they were
not even on talking terms, composing music for pot-boilers like
DHARTI, PREETAM and PARDE KE PEECHAY. Rafi, too was in temporary
decline, overtaken by suddenly discovered magnetic charm of
post-Aradhana Kishore.
What I really liked about LP was that no matter how irrelevant a
movie, they never let you down on the music. It doesn't really
need substantiation, certainly not for LP fans. I cite some com-
positions from films that bombed at box office, films that shall
be remembered only for thier touching songs :
1) Woh jab yaad aaye PARASMANI
2) Tum gagan ke chandrama SATI SAVITRI
3) Jeevn dor tumhi sang SATI SAVITRI
4) Khoobsoorat Haseena MR X IN BOMBAY
5) Mere mehboob qayamat hogi MR X IN BOMBAY
6) Yeh dard bhara afsana SHREEMAN FUNTOOSH
7) O meri maina PYAR KIYE JA
8) Aayee baharon ki shaam WAPAS
9) Payal ki jhankar raste WAPAS
10) Aaiye bahar ko hum baant le TAQDEER
11) Jaadugar tere Naina MAN MANDIR
12) Mein ek raja hoon UPHAAR
13) Sooni re sajariya UPHAAR
14) Dil ki baaten dil hi jaane ROOP TERA MASTANA
15) Taaron mein sajke apne JAL BIN MACCHALI NRITYA BIN BIJLI
16) Yeh dil tum bin IZZAT
17) Yeh kaisa gham sajna PYASI SHAM
18) Yeh jeevan hai PIYA KA GHAR
19) Teri sason ko jo mehka BADALTEY RISHTEY
The list could be endless. LP have been around for 32 years and
composed music for some 500 films. Critics say they are an assem-
bly line, and thier tunes are ephemeral; you hum them for a few
days and forget all about them. I beg to disagree. Their talent,
I believe lay in the ability to compose memorable numbers
throughout thier career even while composing at this stupendous
pace.
Its only of late, their compositions have become totally market
oriented. Having tasted the blood of chart-busting success with
TEZAAB they have begun to compose only for charts. Still thier
recent megahits Jhumma chumma de de (HUM) and Choli ke peeche
(KHALNAYAK) are indeed magnificent numbers. And they continue to
occasionally come up with startling melody like palki pe hoke
sawar (KHALNAYAK).
I am convinced that there will never be anything like LP. This is
not to be dismissive of awesome talent of A.R. Rahman today, or
R D Burman and O P Nayyar yesterday.
They were trailblazers, poineers, rebels. LP, on the other hand
were conformists. Their simple middle class ambition was to over-
take SJ. So they even worked as assistants to KA. LP may not be
creative geniuses. They couldn't have produced rebellious
numbers like Taarif Karoon kya uski (KASMIR KI KALI) or O haseena
zulphon wali(TEESRI MANZIL) or Chingari koi bhadke(AMAR PREM) or
humma humma (BOMBAY). But the consistency with the bollywood's
most durable duo has entertained us, made our lives a little more
enjoyable, lightened our blue moods even while capturing such
mellow moments, deserves a tribute from us. When the history of
popular culture in Modern India is written, LP are bound to find
an honourable place in the list of those who shaped our lives
through the 70s, 80s and 90s.
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From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian