RMIM Archive Article "209".


From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian

#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Gulzar on Salil Choudhury 
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# 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)
# 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- An ode to Salil Chowdhury Nelson Pereira Indian Express Thursday, September 5 1996 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ------------------
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian