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Yash Chopra unveils unheard music
Subhash K. Jha (IANS)
MUMBAI, July 18
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Who can forget all those haunting compositions by Madan Mohan that wafted through the Hindi music world in the 1950s and 1960s?
Madan Mohan had a brief but bright innings as one of the composing geniuses of Hindi cinema. His premature death in 1975 extinguished a melodic mastery that's to this day marvelled at and mimicked by far lesser composers.
When he died he left behind a rich legacy of recorded and unrecorded melodies. His son Sanjeev Kohli, who's a well-known musicologist and also the CEO of Yashraj Films, has since had in his custody over 200 tunes composed and ready to be recorded.
And now some of these are to be used in veteran Yash Chopra's latest film.
Chopra is known to create a musical milestone in all his films. He has worked with the greatest stalwarts of the Hindi music world, from N. Dutta in "Dhool Ka Phool" and Khayyam in "Kabhi Kabhi" to R.D. Burman in "Joshila" and Laxmikant-Pyarelal in "Daag".
It was Chopra who brought santoor maestro Shiv Kumar Sharma and flautist extraordinaire Hari Prasad Chaurasia together as Shiv-Hari to compose for "Silsila", "Faasle", "Chandni", "Lamhe", "Darr" and "Parampara".
Chopra will now be using the unrecorded gems of Madan Mohan in his next directorial assignment that goes on the floors in December. This is Chopra's first directorial assignment since "Dil To Pagal Hai" which introduced Uttam Singh as a composer.
For Chopra's new film featuring Shah Rukh Khan, Kohli was assigned the task of sifting through the lilting legacy left behind. Javed Akhtar is doing the lyrics.
The final tunes have already been selected and the recording begins very soon.
"I've always been a huge fan of Madan Mohan's music, specially the tunes that he created for didi (Lata Mangeshkar). Though I've had the privilege of working with some of the greatest composers, including Hridayanath Mangeshkar, Khayyam and R.D. Burman, it was an undying regret that I couldn't work with Madan Mohan."
Songs by the composer, such as "Lag jaa gale se", "Woh bhuli dastaan", "Baiyan na dharo balma", "Aap ki narzron ne samjha", and "Hai tere saath meri wafaa" are remembered and hummed to this day.
"When his son Sanjeev, who's part of our company, told me about his father's unrecorded tunes, a plan began to crystallise in my mind: why can't we make use of that rich unused heritage?" said Chopra.
"I've to confess that although I've been hearing lots of new music, none of it was touching my heart. I don't want to comment on others, but I do feel the soul has gone from present day music. And that's true of compositions, lyrics and singing. When Sanjeev told me about these tunes, I immediately wanted to hear them.
"Luckily, the film I'm making demands and deserves the Madan Mohan kind of melodies. It's a very Indian film. I feel our films are deviating from our rich culture. Even I'm guilty of this in some of my recent films. Girls in short dresses are becoming too frequent in the promos. Have those by all means, but let's not lose our rich emotions and culture."
Would Madan Mohan's music be acceptable to today's generation? Chopra certainly seems to think so.
"It's a novel idea, but then the era of treading familiar grounds is over. My decision to use Madan Mohan's music brings with it a huge responsibility. Before I start shooting I want all the songs recorded. Once I start shooting in December there'll be no time because I'll be shooting at a stretch."
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simply brilliant news!
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