RMIM Archive Article "96".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Majrooh Sultanpuri - Immortal Melodies - part 2
#
# Posted by: Satish Subramanian (subraman@cs.umn.edu)
# Source: Illustrated Weekly of India
# Author: Zaka Siddiqi
#
Hi!
This part 2 of the article. Especially look out for the paras on
S.D.Burman and Majrooh's association - I am sure that will show what
all those lyrics that Majrooh wrote, meant to SDB and all of us who
crowned SDB the 'king of duets'.
--
bye
satish
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
Majrooh Sultanpuri
'Immortal Melodies'
by
Zaka Siddiqi
Illustrated Weekly of India
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
Sultanpuri went underground and remained so for about a
year. But, eventually, he could not resist participating in
a function protesting the arrest of Sajjad Zahir for his
alleged involvement in the so called Rawalpindi conspiracy.
Sultanpuri recited a few of his fiery ghazals and, while
coming down from the dias, was apprehended by the police.
He spent an year in jail in Byculla.
After his release from jail, Kamal Amrohi asked him to write
for his "Daera". Then came Guru Dutt. And with him came
O.P.Nayyar as music director, the rapport and understanding
between the composer and lyricist were complete. It was in
this period that Asha Bhosle gave her best sung songs to the
film industry:
"Yeh hai reshmi zulfon ka andhera na ghabraiye"
"Jaiye aap kahan jaenge, yeh nazar laot ke phir aaegi"
- Iyrics in different films penned by Sultanpuri and
set to tunes by Nayyar.
And again, it was during this period that Majrooh Sultanpuri
contributed at least 20 new words or sets of words hitherto
unheard of in the film-lyrics vocabulary. These were words
typical of Urdu culture.
Sultanpuri's other innovation in film-lyrics has been what
was known in film music circles as "romantic comedy duets".
In one of those inevitable filmi parties, S.D.Burman was
discussing with him the futility of investing precious time
in composing tunes for duets which seemed to have lost the
ear of cine-goers. Sultanpuri, by now had established his
reputation as a person who did not mince words. He plainly
told Burman that it was the fauIt of the Iyricists rather
than the music directors if duets were losing popularity. In
his typical challenging way, he promised that he would write
a duet for his (Sultanpuri's) next film and make it a suc-
cess. Burman smiled and said, "Then why not write that duet
for me?" This was how S D Burman and Sultanpuri teamed up
and, together, gave us such beautiful lyrics as heard in
"Paying Guest", "Nau do Gyarah", "Kala Paani", to mention a
few. Remember those 'question-answer sessions', complete
with rhyme and rhythm, between the hero and the heroine in
these films?
Asha: Unh! chhod do aanchal zamana kya kahega?
KK: In adaaon ka zamana bhi hain deewana,
deewanaa kya kahega?
and
KK: Ankhon mein kya ji?
Asha: Rupahla baadal.
KK: baadal main kya ji?
Asha: kisi ka aanchal.
KK: aanchal mein kya ji?
Asha: Ajab si halchal!
So many firsts to his credit and yet Sultanpuri has never
been acknowledged for them.
Could you recall any birthday song before:
"Meri laadli bani hai taroon ki tu rani" from (Andaz)?
Any cabaret before:
"Matwali ankhon wale, O albele dil wale
dil tera ho rahega, gar tu ise apna le" (Chhote Nawab)?
Any original bidai geet before:
"Chal ri sajni ab kya soche,
Kajra na bah jae rotay rotay" (Bambai ka Babu)?
Majrooh Sultanpuri has been in this profession for 45 years.
One has lost count of the number of songs he has written;
2,000? or maybe more.
During this long period, he helped launch quite a few new
music directors like Khayyam (can anyone forget that immor-
tal Talat Mahmood number in "Footpath" 'Sham-e-gham ki
qasam, Aaj ghamgeen hain hum'?).
There were some others who shot to fame only when they were
teamed up with Sultanpuri although they already had one or
two films to their credit. S.Madan, Chitra Gupta,
Laxmikant-Pyarelal, R.D.Burman, Usha Khanna grew to fame in
this period.
So what is the reason that he was never celebrated as the
numero uno of song writers? And, again, what is the reason
that despite this, he commanded, and continues to command,
the highest price for writing one lyric? Even these days
when "ek do teen" and "oye oye" pass off as songs and smash
all box-office records, the producers and music directors
find Sultanpuri of compelling interest.
When you tell Sultanpuri that these questions have been the
concern of his admirers, he just sits and smiles. He tries
to sidestep the question by offering you a paan or some-
thing. Only when you insist on an answer, a little testi-
ness, a little impatience, creeps in his voice. He recounts
what he was advised to do; what his contemporaries, Shakeel
Badayuni, Sahir Ludhianvi, Rajinder Krishan and Anand Bakshi
did. Then why didn't he, too, cultivate film journalists
and the supermarket press or engage public relations people?
"I don't need all that bull", he answers. Except for Lata
Mangeshkar, Naushad and a few others, you will not find him
socialising with people from the film industry. His friends
are books and books and more books, maybe also a few poets
and writers.
--==----==----==----==----==----==----==----==----==----==--
--
bye
satish
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian