Kalyanji: A Tribute Options

[kallubhai4u]

hi everybody
itz Kalyanji all the way.

Yaad aaye kabhi to mat rona...

Kalyanji died five years ago, and it’s time to recall what the Kalyanji-Anandji duo meant to Hindi film music.

If the 70s in Hindi film music was to be mapped, there is no iota of doubt about who the Holy Troika would be. The musical team of Laxmikant-Pyarelal would be Vishnu, hugely popular with an enviable appeal that would reach the commonest of Puja rooms. LP battled and duped the demons of Box-Office Failure with Vishnu-like cerebral use of power; choosing the right banner and rationing their talent.

Blissfully unaware of most worldly matters and lost in the marijuana of music would be R.D. Burman or Shiva: destroying all established notions of rhythm and arrangement in HFM and dancing his Tandav to the tune of true World Music within the paradigm of Bollywood.

But moving away from these charismatic gods and the bloodless wars between Shaivites and Vaishnavis, our cynosure is the third of the trinity. Like Brahma, who has only a sole temple after him, even at the peak of their powers in the 70s, the Kalyanji-Anandji duo always remained in the shadow of the two giants. KA’s contribution is scarcely the stuff drawing room uproar or tumultuous exchanges on e-forums are made of; it is hardly evaluated with the same intensity. But, almost quietly, they continued to rub shoulders with the big names for two decades or more, with fervour and tenacity.

Kalyanji Veerji Shah, the life and soul of the duo, was the son of a prospective grocer who took interest in musical instruments from a very early age. At an age when a child learning an instrument is wowed at, he developed a musical instrument called the Pattar Tarang! His innovative streak continued as, after being incorporated in SJ’s orchestra, with Hemant Kumar, he ushered in HFM’s first electronic sound through the German instrument claviolin. Remember the haunting snake-charmer’s been theme from Hemant Kumar’s immortal score in Nagin? Yes, that was Kalyanji himself creating magic. And with these musical escapades he finally caught the attention of Subhash Desai in 1958, and was offered his first independent assignment — Samrat Chandragupta. This was followed up by Post Box 999, which among other creations had the Hemant-Lata dulcet declaration of insomnia — , neend na mujh ko aaye. With his third film, Satta Bazaar, younger brother Anandji joined him and the rest, as they say, is history.

The early 60s were difficult, but KA scraped through given the support of producers and directors like Baburao Mistry, Subhash Desai, Ravindra Dave, Pramod Chakravarty and Suraj Prakash who couldn’t afford topnotch composers. But come 1965, and all that changed. Four of their five films, Himalay Ki God Mein, Jab Jab Phool Khile, Purnima and Saheli made it to the top of the charts. In JJPK, they moved away from Kalyanji’s earlier use of heavy orchestra in the SJ or Naushad mould, with startling results. In fact, the year’s success landed them with a couple of prestigious projects like Saraswatichandra and Upkar. While the former had among its National-Award winning score, the hugely popular love ditty in Raag Yaman, Chandan-sa badan; the latter had the ethereal Kasme vaade pyaar wafa sab which became the rage of the nation.

By this time, KA had developed their late 60s- early 70’s style, which was quintessentially an extension of the Bengal School of composing heralded by SD and Hemant Kumar. This mandated the use of limited Shudhdha notes, sporadically interspersed with Komal or Teevra notes, all stressed upon for a lasting impact. In the mellifluous Kishore-Asha duet Aankhon aankhon mein from Mahal (1969), the mukhda is an exposition of this skill, where only the first three notes of any form of music (Sa, Re and Ga) have been woven into the fabric with mind-boggling results. In fact, the same note progression often formed their signature tune and was recast intelligently in fractionally different moulds to create classics like Zindagi ka safar (Safar, 1970), Dil to hai dil (Muqaddar Ka Sikander, 1978) or Mera jeevan kora kagaaz (Kora Kagaz, 1974).

The period 1970-73 found KA at their commercial and creative zenith. The roll of honour included films like Safar, Blackmail, Johny Mera Naam, Purab Aur Paschim, Geet, Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani, Kathputli, Chhoti Bahu, Mere Humsafar, Samjhauta and Victoria No. 203. A very successful relationship was forged in 1973 when they proved to be the mascot for a lanky newcomer from Allahabad who redefined anger on celluloid. Numerous stage shows and hugely successful shows at that, were a direct and important byproduct of this association. However, as years went by, by the late 70s-early 80s, quality began to watch from the wings as the appeasement of the galleries took centerstage. And the trough crept up faster than the crest had arrived.

Viju Shah, one of Kalyanji’s five offspring, tried to give the last shot in the arm with Tridev (1989), but the success was fleeting. The man who brought electronic orchestra to Hindi Film Music, eventually lost out when technology became the heart and soul of the recording rooms. And when Anandji was quizzed on AIR FM, Kolkata, about his favourite Kalyanji creation, on August 22, 2000 little did he know that it would be prophetic. Hum chhod chale hain mehfil ko,/Yaad aaye kabhi to mat rona…

Within 48 hours, Kalyanji had passed into posterity.

thats it 4 d moment