Indian cinema legend Salil Chowdhary was a multifaceted artist. He was a musician, a lyricist, a poet, and a writer. As a composer in his film career, Salil Chaudhary gave music in more than 100 films which included multiple languages such as Malyali, Bengali, Oriya

Salil Chaudhary’s father was very fond of Western classical music. His childhood was spent listening to his father’s western classical music collection. He could play many musical instruments. I hereby narrate an incident relating to Salil Chowdhary which I heard on radio 92.7 FM channel by Annu Kapoor in his program “Suhana Safar with Annu Kapoor.

In the year 1958, there was a famous shop in Los Angeles, America, where Indians used to mix musical instruments. The name of the owner of the shop was Devin Bernard and the shop had some Americans, including many Indian-origin people, who worked in this shop. Salil Chaudhary was then just 35 years old, and one day he reached that shop. No one knew who he was. He was dressed simply and looked ordinary due to which the salesmen and salesgirls present there were not giving him any attention. He started looking very carefully at the instruments present in the shop.

Since the job of the employees is to handle the customer who came to their shop, then a salesgirl named Christina came to Salil Choudhary asking if he was interested in buying any instrument. Salil Chowdhary told Christina that he wanted to see some Sitar. Christina showed him few Sitars, but Salil’s eyes fell on a Sitar which was kept at the highest height in the shop. He asked Christina to show him that Sitar.

Since that Sitar was set too high and Christina was not interested in handling this ordinary looking man anyway, she tried to avoid it. But Salil Chaudhary was resistive that he wanted to see the same Sitar. The owner of the shop, David, came to make inquiry. When he understood Salil’s interest in that one Sitar, he asked his staff to take down the same Sitar. Showing the Sitar to Salil, Christina said that it is called Boss Sitar. Common sitar players cannot play it and it is used in big shows.

After listening to Christina, Salil told her that in America it is called Boss Sitar, but in India is called the evergreen Sitar. After this, Salil asked for permission to play the Sitar, which David gave him. As soon as Salil Choudhary started playing the sitar, the people present in the shop got mesmerised by his stationary and transverse style and they were awestruck by Salil’s ease yet mastery of playing the sitar. They all gathered around him. When Salil Chaudhary finished the raga, there was complete silence. Salil Choudhary fascinated everyone present there with his music.

The shop owner, David, was so impressed with Salil that he asked Salil, “who are you? I have heard Ravi Shankar. No one plays the sitar like him, but you are no less than him, I am so glad that you came to my shop”. Salil told David that he wanted to buy that Sitar. David himself was an avid music lover and he was so impressed by Salil, that he gifted the Sitar to him.

This was the time when Salil Chowdhary was composing music for the film Parakh (1960) and the story of the movie was written by him. One of the songs which is evergreen till today is “oh sajana, barkha bahar ayi” based on rag Khamaj and the main instrument in the song is Sitar. 

Christina stood with tears in her eyes after listening to the melody. She kissed Salil’s hands and gave him a dollar, saying that she usually underestimated Indian people and took pride in Americans. She further said that she very reluctantly showed Salil the sitar and she apologized for her rude behaviour. She requested him to give his autograph on the dollar note. Salil smiled and looked at Christina and wrote his name on the note given by her – Salil Choudhary.

Listen to the beautiful and evergreen song “Oh sajana” in Lata Mangeshkar’s voice picturised on simple yet classy looking actor Sadhana.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwjtKZBYFRo

American pianist Billy Joel once said: I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter, what culture we’re from, everyone loves music. And even if the language is different, the thing we all relate and connect with is the soothing effect of music.

In a cinema when the composer and filmmaker theoretically agree on the end product of their work, we get a good film score, while their definitions of that may vary. The film industry globally has seen some long-term collaboration between producer-director-composer. These collaborations have produced many prolific movies and music. Some of the partnerships continued for decades, suggesting that both parties find great value in working with someone familiar rather than unfamiliar. We have heard of great friendship between some famous director-composer collaboration of Hollywood such as Steven Spielberg and John Williams, Maurice Jarre and David Lean, Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann, George Fenton and Ken Loach have created the best of movies and music.

Lakhon hai yahan dilwale…..Kismat (1968) Music Director: O.P.Nayyar
Singer: Mahendra Kapoor

In Hindi cinema we have witnessed great friendship between composer-lyricist; the famous duo such as Majrooh Sultanpuri and S.D. Burman who not only shared a common birthday but also a musical awareness. This duo gave simple, common day expressions very delightful catchy tunes. There have been several other famous poet–composer teams like Shailendra- and Hasrat Jaipuri-Shankar Jaikishan, Raja Mehndi Ali Khan-Madan Mohan, and S. H. Bihari-O. P. Nayyar, and the great Jodi of Shakeel Badayuni-Naushad. In the 1980s, the great duo Gulzar-R.D.Burman has given mesmerising songs to the music world. Similarly some great directors loved working with composers who shared same vision; such as Salil Chowdhury and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee and R.D.Burman, Yash Chopra-Lakshmikant –Pyarelal, Bimal Roy –Shankar Jaikishan. These duos gave the music world some memorable songs of all hues and colours. Actors Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor turned producers and had their own banners – Navketan and R.K.Films. Dev Anand was loyally close to S.D.Burman and Raj Kapoor to Shankar Jaikishan.

Dil ki nazar se….Anari (1959) Music Director: Shankar Jaikishan,
Singers:  Mukesh-Lata Mangeshkar

Music has eliciting power; it can draw emotional response from audience. Songs in a movie can shape a narrative, taking it to another level, and they can provide an internal structure to the plot. Some movies have become box office hits only because of the songs they had. The fact is the music is conceived as part of and for the purposes of supporting the film. Therefore, directors prefer composers and lyricists who understand their mind. The essence behind collaborations is making a movie memorable. It is near impossible to have a finished film that is one sole person’s creative efforts; it is always joint effort and team work. In fact, there are hundreds of collaborators leaving their footprint in a movie; from pre-production, script writing, casting, background music, production, set dressing, painting, wardrobe, make up to post-production work such as editing, colour correction, post-audio and of course, composing the music.

Mai zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya………. Hum Dono (1961)
Singer: Mohamed Rafi

Historically, it has been quite common for directors and composers to work together on projects consistently, especially after success from past projects. The value of building such a relationship is based the trust. Once a director knows that a composer can work to deadline and churn out a great finished product the more willing he/she is to let that composer stretch out creatively on his next film. When a director works with the same composer, the communication becomes easier, the process is understood and there is an understanding from the where the composer is coming musically.  The famous Hollywood duo Bernard Herrmann and John Williams shared an interesting view on this relationship. They both felt that it is not the length of the relationship, but it is the quality. It goes like this: the trust and freedom that is granted to a composer by the director blossoms the musical art. The stronger the composer/director partnership the further the director can push the composer on the score. Perhaps, further than than they thought they would go. The partnership elevates both the director and composer.

The genius composer Jaidev was one of an underrated music composer who gave some of the most beautiful film scores and mesmerizing soundtracks and even though Sahir ludhiavi has worked with almost every legendary music composer of his era but there was something with his collaboration with Jaidev that cannot be described in words. They have only worked on 5 albums together and this is because Jaidev didn’t actually do many films in his career, but each and every song these two created together is unforgettable. Their music in ‘Hum Dono’ is widely considered as one of the greatest soundtracks of all time.

I want to make a special mention here of a lesser known but one of the prolific composer Kanu Roy. Roy was famous composers in Bengali films, but lesser known in Hindi film industry. Kanu Roy gave music for most of Basu Bhattacharya’s films. His major work was for films Uski Kahani (1966), Anubhav (1971), Avishkaar (1973) and Griha Pravesh (1979). Interestingly, Kanu Roy never used the voice of Lata Mangeshkar. Kanu Roy used Geeta Dutt’s voice for his songs. She has sung just a few songs for him, and they are the best songs in the history of Hindi cinema. All these songs of Kanu Roy have certain common factors like meaningful lyrics, minimum use of orchestra, use of Xylophone, deep rendition of the song by Geeta Dutt and an emotional bonding these songs share with the listener!

Mera dil jo mera hota…………Anubhav (1971), Music Director: Kanu Roy, Singer Geeta Dutt

Hemant Mukherjee famously known as Hemant Kumar was a brilliant singer, composer, and producer in the Hindi and Bengali film industry.  His music career began with All India Radio (AIR) in 1933, when he was barely 13! He was born on June 16, 1920 in Benares (Varanasi). Throughout his career, he recorded around 2000 songs! Out of which, many songs were composed also by him. Hemant Kumar was blessed with an intense and passionate voice. He understood music, and therefore sang some of the most iconic numbers which have set a benchmark in Hindi film industry.  Listen to his songs just by closing your eyes, the songs take you in a different world…..his velvety voice is captivating.

Please note that the famous song ‘bande Mataram’ from film Anand Math, written by Bankim Chandra, sung by Lata Mangeshkar was composed by Hemant Kumar!

He was the voice of film star Dev Anand before Rafi and Kishore Kumar. He sang 12-13 songs for Music Director S.D.Burman and all were very popular and all of these songs were picturised on the super charming hero Dev Anand “Hai apna Dil to Awara…”, “Na Yeh Chand Hoga, Na Taare Rahenge…” or “Yeh Raat Ye Chandini Phir Kahan…”, “Na Tum Hame Jano Na Hum Tumhe Jaane…”. The famous Bengali film star Uttam Kumar used to demand that Hemant Kumar should be his voice on screen and he should be the music composer of his films. Both Uttam Kumar- Hemant Kumar made a successful actor-composer /singer pair.

Another facet of Hemant Kumar’s life was that he was studying engineering, but dropped out of engineering college to pursue his passion for music, both singing and composing. He learnt music from several teachers: the major portion of his training seems to have been under Sailesh Duttagupta.  He also studied under Phani Banerjee, and received his training in Rabindra Sangeet under Anadi Dastidar.  Much later, he even learnt music from Faiyaz Khan.

Close your eyes and listen to these melodious numbers, few of them are duets.

1. Yeh raat, yeh chandani phir kahan (Jaal) 1952 MD S.D.Burman

2. Yaad kiya dil ne kahan ho tum (Patita) 1953  MD Shankar Jaikishan

3. Muzko tum jo mile yeh jahan mil gaya (Detective) 1958 Music Director Mukul Roy

4. Neend na muzko aye (Post Box 999) 1958 Kalyanji Anandji

5. Tumhe yaad hoga, Kbhi hum mile the (Satta Bazar) 1959 Kalyanji Anandji

5. Leheron pe lehar (Chabilee) 1960 Snehal Bhatkar (Vasudev Gangaram Bhatkar gave music by pseudo name Snhal Bhatkar to avoid any breach in contract while officially working for HMV, the name was derived from his newly-born daughter, Snehlata)

7. Gumsum sa ye jahan (Duniya Zukati Hai) 1960 Hemant Kumar

8. Bekarar karke hume yun na jaiye (Bees Saal bad) 1962 Hement Kumar

9. Zara Nazaron se kahedo ji (Bees saal bad) 1962 Hemant Kumar

10. Tum Pukar lo (Khamoshi) 1969 Hemant Kumar