Chhaayaageet #140 - “This is aalaap? Sounds like someone is crying.”
The young filmmaker is trying hard to accommodate all the idiosyncrasies of the senior composer. But it just isn't working. Being young, the filmmaker’s expectations of music are very different.
The filmmaker’s uncle, a well-known and accomplished filmmaker himself, drops in one day. The young filmmaker looks up to his uncle as a father figure.
“Uncle, I just cannot work with this senior composer. My films are different. The music is what sets them apart”, he vents to the veteran. The uncle sympathizes with him. “I agree, you should work with your own age group. But remember these will be budding no-name composers.” The young filmmaker realizes that's the price he will have to pay. He nods in agreement.
The uncle arranges a meeting with another budding composer. He knows the composer’s father, also a veteran composer, very well. They meet at the recording studio.
“Son, meet with this young filmmaker that I was telling you about”, the uncle addresses the young composer by way of making introductions.
The composer is busy on the recording machine with headphones on. Did he ever hear anything? He barely turns back, issues a perfunctory greeting, and then goes back to his recording work. No small talk. No chitchat. It is a lukewarm response.
The composer’s father tries to cover up the embarrassment. “My son is working on a background score for a film and that's why he is a bit busy.” The young filmmaker doesn't know what to say. His uncle suggests to the veteran composer. “Let’s leave the two alone for some time.”
Apparently, the two youngsters have more in common than they know. They start talking to each other. Both feel they have found something that was missing earlier. The filmmaker decides to move forward with the young composer. He feels like he just went through marriage matchmaking.
They start working on a specific situation in his upcoming film. The male protagonist is divorced and missing his ex-wife. He is heartbroken and every pore of his body is crying.
The filmmaker comes up with a suggestion. “I recently heard this Pakistani song performed by an Indie rock band. The lyrics make sense and the tune is also not bad. I think it will be apt for this situation.”
The composer looks puzzled. “But, that’s… not… our song. Can we use it?”
The filmmaker senses the confusion. “Oh, I understand your concern. I have spoken to one of their lead singers. They have broken up as a band and all the members have access to the intellectual property created while they were a band. Also, copyright laws in Pakistan are quite lame. Listen to the song and let’s talk in a few days.”
The composer is still very hesitant but decides to move ahead and give this a try. He listens to the song. Nice tune and great lyrics. And what a voice. But it doesn’t have the depth and emotion expected in this situation. The composer constantly closes his eyes to visualize the protagonist and then adjusts the tune accordingly. He tells the filmmaker to come by.
“Let me play what I just recorded”, says the composer. The filmmaker is looking forward to hearing just the composition which is typically the tune with some gibberish in the background.
The music starts. It is so different from the typical songs these days, the filmmaker wonders. There is no loud beginning. He likes it. He can feel the depth.
Suddenly there is a wailing sound. “Wait, can you stop there? Who is that and what is that sound?”, the filmmaker brings the music to an abrupt halt.
The composer rushes to pause the unit. “This is my voice. I decided to do a voice-over with the adjusted tune. This is the initial aalaap (prelude to the song) which is not in the original.”
The filmmaker is quite impressed with the playback and sound quality of the composer’s voice but he still is not convinced about the aalaap.
“This is aalaap? Sounds like someone is crying”, the filmmaker doesn’t hold back the candor. The composer knows he has stretched the envelope. This is not a standard aalaap. But who cares? The reason he is working with like-minded folks such as the filmmaker is so he can take those risks. Break the rules for a change.
“Remember during our brief we talked about putting depth and emotion. The original rock song did not have either of those. Now we have both. When the actual singer records this, it will be even more melancholy.”
Aatif Aslam provided playback for the song Woh Lamhe in the film, Zeher. The music was composed by Mithoon and the film was directed by Mohit Suri. A Pakistani rock band called Jal wrote the original lyrics of the song but they were later modified by Sayeed Qadri for the film.
Mohit Suri grew up in the Bhatt family. His uncles include Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt. Filmmaking was in his blood and he started directing films very early in his career. Staying with the tradition of the Bhatt family, music was always an integral part of his films. However, Mohit was looking for someone in the same age group so they could have a passionate discussion about music even though he does have any formal education in music. All great filmmakers have created their films in the song studios.
He found that partner in Mithoon, son of Naresh Sharma and nephew of Pyarelal Sharma from the Laxmikant-Pyarelal team. Mithoon grew up learning Indian classical and Western classical music. He also has an amazing voice for playback and writes lyrics too. Right about the same time, Mithoon was looking for a partner of similar age who could challenge him but also provide him with the space to innovate.
During the making of Zeher, both Mohit and Mithoon felt they needed a fresh new voice and they found that in Atif Aslam. Atif was a singer based in Lahore, Pakistan and until recently he was part of an Indie rock band called Jal. Then due to differences between the band members, they all ended up going their separate ways. Based on their arrangement and how copyright laws operated in Pakistan, each member took along all the songs to their next venture. Mithoon did recreate the tune, added variations like the initial aalaap, and also removed the rock music components like the heavy electric guitar, etc. The outcome was much more softer reflecting the required emotions of the song. The lyricist Sayeed Qadri rewrote 75% of the song with a completely new antara.
The original song performance by the group Jal.
The music of Zeher did extremely well whereas the film had moderate success at the box office. Atif Aslam got his first Filmfare Best Singer nomination for the song Woh Lamhe and Shreya Ghoshal was nominated for the song Agar Tum Mil Jao.
Music: Mithoon
Lyrics: Sayeed Qadri, Jal (band)
Singers: Atif Aslam
*ing: Emraan Hashmi, Shamita Shetty
Director: Mohit Suri
Producer: Mukesh Bhatt
Film: Zeher (2005)