Chhaayaageet #105 - “Lift band hai. Mein seedhiyan leke nahin aanewala.”
The lift is closed. I am not going to climb up the stairs.
The director readies the shot. A song is being filmed. It’s a cricket match, with the heroine bowling, the hero batting, everyone dressed in whites and dancing to the song. They shoot until the lunch break. While everyone is at lunch, the director watches the film and thinks to himself, “Yeh ladka to paidaishi dancer hai.” This boy is a natural born dancer. It’s a passing thought. Then he gets busy with something else and leaves it at that.
After the lunch break, there is a bit of an issue. The hero is refusing to come out of the make up room. The director goes in to find out what’s going on. The hero is sulking, and downright depressed.
“Kya hua?”, the director asks. What happened?
“Itne saal ho gaye industry mein, aage badhne ki koshish kar raha hoon. Kuch jam nahin raha hai”, the actor shares the pain. For so many years I have been trying to establish myself in the industry. It’s not clicking. His pain is justified. He won the National Award for Best Actor in his very first film. Since then, six years and some 40 odd films later, he still feels like an outsider, frequently rejected by the big banners, snide remarks made about the color of his skin.
“Tu chinta na kar. Yeh film khatam karenge. Fir dekhna, agali film mein, mein tujhe ek super hit film doonga”, the director assures him. Don’t worry. Let’s just finish this film. Then you’ll see. With my next film, I will give you a super hit. The director sounds off an idea about a musical and the hero’s eyes lit up.
As soon as this film gets over, they start working on the next film. The director decides he will finance and produce it himself. It’s not all smooth sailing. No heroine is ready to sign the film opposite this hero. Finally a friend suggests his girl friend as the heroine of the film.
Next, the script and story writer takes a big objection to the title of the film. “No one has heard about this in India”, he says referring to the title. “How do you expect to forge a connection with the audience?“ But the director is adamant about the name of his first production. No arguments. Period.
Even the lyricist complains. “I don’t think I can write the songs if this is the title of the film. Take another lyricist”, he protests. Nothing doing. The name of the film is not going to change.
In this fashion, overcoming one challenge after another, the film moves forward. In the heydays of action films, they are making a musical. The director has only one worry. The songs need to keep people in the seats. These days, every time a song comes on, people exit the auditorium to take a smoke break or go to the loo. The songs have to be so good that they need to keep people in their seats.
Songs are written, music is composed. Now it is the day of recording one of the songs in the music studio. A big name singer is scheduled to come for recording.
As scheduled, the singer arrives at the building in Cuff Parade. He presses the elevator button.
“Saab aaj lift band hai”, someone informs him. Sir, the elevator is not working today.
The singer decides he is not going to climb up multiple storeys to get to the studio. He has a bit of a heart condition. He sends a message upstairs. “Lift band hai. Mein seedhiyan leke nahin aanewala. Tum log neeche aao.” The elevator is not working. I am not going to take the steps and come upstairs. You come down.
The director and the music composer immediately walk downstairs to meet the singer in the lobby of the building.
“Mama, ab kya karenge?”, the composer asks. The singer is his maternal uncle. Mama, now what shall we do?
“Tum aaj record kar lo. Mein ek do din mein aake dub kar loonga”, the singer provides a way out. You record it today. I will come in a couple of days and dub over it.
Ok. They have no choice. The composer decides to sing the song himself. They complete the recording.
In the evening, the director pops the cassette in his car to listen to the song. He likes the composer’s version. He tells the composer they should just keep his version and not have the singer come and record it again.
“Mama ko poochna padega”, the composer is not so sure. We will have to ask Mama.
The composer calls singer Mama and tells him the director’s wish. The singer does not agree immediately. He asks the recording to be sent to him so he can listen to it. Once he does, he agrees his nephew, the music composer, has indeed sung it very well. He tells them to go ahead with the composer’s version.
Mithun Chakraborty essayed the titular role in the super hit film Disco Dancer (1982), produced and directed by Babbar Subhash, music by Bappi Lahiri. Bappi Lahiri gave the playback for the song Yaad aa raha hai, lyrics written by Anjaan. Kishore Kumar was supposed to sing the song, however after he listened to Bappi’s version, he gave the thumbs up to keep it.
B Subhash was directing Mithun in the film Taqdeer Ka Badshah when he realized Mithun’s natural abilities as a dancer. Subhash decided to make a disco themed film. Disco was big in the West. Saturday Night Fever was a rage. He felt he had to make this film.
Dr. Rahi Masoom Reza, the script writer, and Anjaan, the lyricist, both took objection to the title of the film. They thought no one in India would be able to relate. Anjaan, when asked to write the song I am a disco dancer, was not sure how he could write it. “How does one become a disco dancer?”, he asked.
Then one day he was in the Fort area visiting book shops. He picked up some pamphlet about Michael Jackson’s mother who said that her talented son could sing before he spoke and could dance before he walked. This motivated Anjaan to write the lines “Yeh log kehte hain, mein tab bhi gaata tha, jab bol paata nahin tha; yeh paon mere to tab bhi thirakte the, jab chalna aata nahin tha”.
Michael Jackson’s album Thriller was released in November 1982, and Disco Dancer was released one month later in December. Mithun came to be known as “India’s Michael Jackson”. This film squarely established Mithun Chakraborty as one of India’s super stars.
B Subhash was not keen to showcase the film in the Russian film festival, because he thought Russians liked art films. Smita Patil encouraged him to not miss this opportunity. The film became one of the favorites of the festival. Disco Dancer and the songs became immensely popular in Russia, China, Vietnam and many other countries. In the early 80s, the film grossed Rs. 100 crore worldwide.
Mithun’s popularity skyrocketed. B Subhash narrates an incident when Mikhail Gorbachev visited India, and then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi introduced Amitabh Bachchan as one of the country’s superstars. Apparently Gorbachev said his wife only knew Raj Kapoor and his daughter only knew Mithun Chakraborty.
Enjoy Yaad aa raha hai performed live by Bappi Lahiri at the Bangalore Ganesh Festival.
Singer: Bappi Lahiri
Music: Bappi Lahiri
*ing: Mithun Chakraborty
Lyrics: Anjaan
Director: Babbar Subhash
Film: Disco Dancer (1982)