RMIM Archive Article "372".


From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian

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# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Vasant Desai - 1
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# Posted by: Veena  S Nayak (vnayak@acsu.buffalo.edu) 
# Source: SIRC publications
# Author: Suresh Chandvankar
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Friends, Beauty and integrity is a rare combination of traits in the world of film music. As film-making changed its character from being an expression of creative and artistic impulses to a business venture driven by profit motives, so did the qualities that make for a "successful" music director. The ability to deliver music that is inextricably linked to the film situation or do justice to the lyrics gave way to expertise in the bait-n-hook approach: sell the songs so that they come in to see the movie. In such a milieu, the "winners" were the ones who could capture the charts, grab the sales and bag the Filmfare awards. "Keeping up with the times" has became a much-touted virtue in a film composer. I believe it is a euphemism for mediocrity and compromise (the two usually go hand-in-hand): those who change their tune with this and that trend usually have no musical truths or ideals of their own. It is the quality of uncompromising idealism combined with the manifest beauty of his compositions that endears Vasant Desai to me. He had a musical vision which remained intact to the very end of his life. His ideals, increasingly anachronistic in the quickie era, must surely have cost him in terms of awards and ratings, but one heard nary a word of bitterness from him. As for his music, it speaks for itself. Readers need no introduction to his grasp of classical Hindustani and folk traditions, the innovative use of instruments and his adeptness at the choral element. I have yet to go back to one of his compositions and not find something new in there. The two-part posting on Vasant Desai was originally intended as a tribute to the composer on his death anniversary (Dec 22), but I was unable to put it up on time due to various reasons. The loss of timeliness, however, has brought substantive gain in content: since then I have obtained the tapes of a listening session on Vasant Desai held by the Society of Indian Record Collectors in Bombay in 1995. His nephew, Vikas Desai, spoke extensively on the composer at that session; Part II will present his reminiscences. Part I is a translation of an article which appeared in the Marathi newspaper, Maharashtra Times, dated 25th March 1995. Thanks are due to Ajay Nerurkar: my endless queries about Marathi words must have been an irritating disturbance to his meditations on complexity theory, but he was ever patient and obliging. Veena ...................................................................... TYAANCHA SUR, TYAANCHA TAAL..... (His SUr, His Taal) By Suresh Chandvankar He had a fondness for exercise and was endowed with a strong, muscular physique. It is almost twenty years since music director Vasant Desai expired in a shocking accident. However, his compositions continue to be cherished favourites of music lovers even today. Vasantrao was born in 1912 in the village of Sonawade which was in the KudaL taluk of Sawantwaadi (now known as Sindhudurg). His father passed away when he was eight years old; Vasantrao and his elder brother were raised by their mother. His maternal grandfather was a keertankaar. The ovees and bhajans that he heard from his mother and grandfather had a deep, lasting effect on Vasantrao's impressionable mind. For his education, Vasantrao stayed with his paternal grandfather who was also lived in KudaL taluk. Here he was exposed to the dashAvatAri plays wherein he played bit roles and saved enough money to buy an old harmonium. From that point onward, a permanent bond was established between him and the notes of the harmonium. In 1927, at the age of eighteen, Vasantrao left KudaL and came to Kolhapur. In those days, Kolhapur was in all respects 'Kalapur'. There he met V. Shantaram and entered the acting department of his newly-formed Prabhat Company. He had to work without pay for an entire year, but by working on all the varied aspects film-making, he gained invaluable experience which proved useful throughout the rest of his life. Vasantrao had a penchant for physical training, acting and music. His build was such as befits a wrestler. He also displayed his acting skills by performing various roles. But finally, it was as a music director that he found his niche. When Prabhat moved to Pune, Vasantrao went along with the Company. In view of Vasantrao's passion for music and his expertise on various musical instruments, Govindrao Tembe took him on as an assistant. Vasantrao worked with Master Vinayak who was also an assistant to Govindrao. In addition, he got the opportunity to sing in the chorus song, "Jai Jai Rajadhiraj" in the film "Ayodhyecha Raja". In the latter part of the Prabhat phase, he worked as an assistant to Master Krishnarao and Keshavrao BhoLe. He played a significant role in composing the numerous hit songs of Prabhat talkies and their background scores. Under the tutelage and guidance of these three great music directors, the composer in Vasant Desai began to evolve. Due to the varied nature of the themes of Prabhat films, he also got trained in diverse forms of music. FIRST OPPORTUNITY It was around 1940 in Bombay that Vasantrao got his first break in independent music direction with J.B.H Wadia's film 'Shobha'. After V. Shantaram came to Bombay, Vasant Desai was entrusted the responsibility of composing music for films under the Rajkamal banner. At the very mention of these movies, their songs begin to play in one's mind. The songs sung by Jayashree in his very first film 'Shakuntala' became runaway hits. His music in films other than those produced by Rajkamal also became very popular. Master Vinayak's 'Subhadra' (1946) and 'Mandir' (1948), Sohrab Modi's 'Narasimha Avtaar' (1949), 'Sheesh Mahal' (1950) and 'Jhansi Ki Rani' (1953), Paul Zill's 'Hindustan Hamara' (1958) and Vijay Bhatt's 'Goonj Uthi Shehnai' (1959) came to be known for his music. The background score in Sunil Dutt's songless 'Yaaden'(1964) gave the film a unique effect... In 'Guddi' he opened up the field of Hindi playback singing to a new voice, Vani Jairam. [.. Was the Lata solo 'Dekha hai sapna koi' edited out of the film? - V ..] Through his manifold compositions, Vasantrao provided music in the field of Marathi stage as well. He has composed for almost ten Marathi dramas and twenty Marathi films. The titles which immediately come to mind are the plays 'Panditrao Jagannath', 'Jai Jai Gaurishankar', 'Dev Deenaghari DhAvala', 'Saubhadra' and the films 'SaakharpuDa', 'Hee Maajhi Lakshmi', 'Kanchanganga' and 'Shyaamchi Aayi'. In the last fifteen years of his life, Vasantrao was completely involved in his enterprise of 'Chorus Songs'. 'Ek sUr, ek taal' was its central idea. He achieved the feat of making thousands/lakhs of ordinary people sing in unison. The idea for this endeavour took seed in a trivial incident. In 1950, Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had organized a baithak in Delhi. At the gathering, a government official contemptuously remarked on the ineptitude of Indian school-children: two of them could not sing even the national anthem in one sUr and one taal, he said. Vasantrao heard this but said nothing. The music director in him was roused. He vowed then and there that he would make not just two, but thousands and lakhs of children and youths sing in one sUr and one taal. He didn't stop with a mere vow; painstaking efforts were expended to implement the idea. He researched similar projects undertaken in foreign countries and began to teach group-singing of 'Jana Gana Mana' in several high schools of Bombay. One day, Dassera, a lakh children sang in harmony at Shivaji Park; Pandit Nehru was present at that programme and was visibly moved on hearing the chorus songs. The project received considerable support from the Maharashtra Government. An office for the project 'Ek SUr Ek Taal' was instituted in two rooms at Ravindra Natya Mandir (* in Bombay *). Two or three camps were organised each month. The ideas of teaching and singing patriotic songs and chorus songs began to gain momentum. They elicited the cooperation of newcomers as well as veterans in music: BaaL Deshpande, Sharad Jambhekar, Prabhakar Nagvekar, Vasantrao Achrekar, Jaiwant Kulkarni, Somnath Parab, etc. The undertaking also began to widen in scope to areas outside Bombay and Vasantrao became totally immersed in this work. JINKU KIN.VA MARU 1962 dawned. During the Chinese aggression, he requested the poet, G.D. MaadguLkar for a new patriotic song. MaadguLkar was on his way to Pune just then. "You and your patriotic songs", teased Ga-di-ma [.. as G.D. MaadguLkar is affectionately known in Maharashtra - V ..] as he boarded the train. However, he wrote the song in transit and mailed it from Lonavala railway station before proceeding on to Pune. Vasantrao had the song rendered by one lakh children - 'Jinku kin.va maru': 'MaNuskichya shatru sange, | With the enemies of humanity yuddh aamche suru, | our war has begun; jinku kin.va maru'. | victory or death! Until the very end of his life, Vasantrao remained active in this enterprise. Subsequently, 'Vasant Sur PrathishThan' was established and chorus-singing became widespread in schools. Vasantrao was honoured with a Padmashree. The State Government of Maharahstra bestowed upon him the title of 'SanmAneeya Sangeet Digdarshak'. He was also a member of the Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad. In his personal life, Vasantrao was intensely devout and of a religious bent of mind. He would spend considerable time on his daily worship and prayers. He frequently visited the holy AaLandi to worship JyAneshwar's shrine and would sing bhajans in the temple. Vasantrao's cheerful and smiling countenance is seen in various photographs; likewise, the 'gajra' tied around his wrist reveals the 'rasik' in his nature. AN UNFORTUNATE DAY 22nd December 1975 was the last day of Vasantrao's life. He was working until late evening at the HMV recording studios. Those were the days of Emergency and he had just finished recording a song on the Prime Minister's 20-point programme and some related speeches by Chief Minister Shankarrao Chavan and government official P.K. Sawant. Accompanied by HMV executive Shri Kashinath Jaiswal, he returned to his residence on Peddar Road. On seeing the elevator with both its doors open, Jaiswal got suspicious and said, "Something seems to be wrong with it. Let's walk the stairs slowly". But Vasantrao was tired. Saying "let's see", he stepped into the elevator and before either of them realised what was happening, the machine started and the calamitous accident occurred. In this sudden and unexpected manner, Vasantrao passed away. However his film compositions and chorus songs are immortal and will continue to inspire generations to come. ------------------- There were a couple of errors in the first post made by me on Vasant Desai. Thanks to Aruna Donde for bringing them to my attention. -- Veena The article said: > Through his manifold compositions, Vasantrao provided > music in the field of Marathi stage as well. He has > composed for almost ten Marathi dramas and twenty Marathi > films. The titles which immediately come to mind are the > plays 'Panditrao Jagannath', 'Jai Jai Gaurishankar', 'Dev > Deenaghari DhAvala', 'Saubhadra' and the films > 'SaakharpuDa', 'Hee Maajhi Lakshmi', 'Kanchanganga' and > 'Shyaamchi Aayi'. ] I am reproducing the relevant part of Aruna's email: 1. The play Saubhadra was written by Annasaheb Kirloskar and was first performed on stage in 1886. As far as I know, there has not been any other play by that name in Marathi theatre. Incredible music BTW. There was also a movie made, perhaps in early 60's on the Saubhadra theme, starring Chandrakant, Seema etc., Vasantrao may have composed the music for the movie but not for the play. 2. The name of the Vidyadhar Gokhale play is PanditRaj Jagannath, a story of Sanskrit poet Jagannath, who composed Ganga Lahari during Akbar's period and was awarded the title PanditRaj. Bhalchandra Pendharkar was in the Jagannath role and Mama Pendse in the Badshah role. Faboulous music. Songs: Nayan Tuze Jadugar, Madanachi Manjiri, Jaya Gange Bhagirathi etc. Aruna. ------------------------------------------------------------
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian