Chhaayaageet #153 - "I don't have a song bank."
Two days after 9/11. New York City. The filmmaker is walking the streets. He has long hair. He is unshaven. The cops stop him. He looks Muslim. They touch his hair. Why is it this long? Why hasn't he shaved? Doesn't he look too Muslim? As if that's a thing. They take him in for interrogation. Five long hours of how he looks too Muslim. Then they let him go.
The filmmaker comes back to India and decides to make a film on this experience. He has made only one film before this, about female infanticide. He is attracted to socially relevant themes. Stereotyping Muslims in the post 9/11 era is a good subject.
He writes the story and screenplay. He also lines up a producer to finance the film. It's a low budget project, so naturally, the focus is on relative newcomers and not any big names. That's how it is in the music department, too.
Someone tells him about a 19 year old kid, who is a whizkid musician, with deep lineage in film music. His grandfather an eminent musician, his father one of the foremost music arrangers in the industry, his uncle the second half of a legendary duo of composers. News is that this kid has just returned from Malaysia, where he composed music for a Malaysian film. A meeting is arranged.
"Play five of your best songs that you are proud of", the filmmaker asks the kid.
"I don't have a song bank", the kid responds as he takes a notebook and pen out of his backpack. "I would like to get a brief of the film", the kid continues like a pro, like he's been around the block way too many times to have a song bank to play for people.
The filmmaker doesn't help but notice the Commerce textbook inside the backpack. This kid is still in college. Nevertheless, the filmmaker proceeds to give the brief to the kid.
"Give me a few days. I'd like to give this a shot based on the brief you've given me", the kid responds.
After 15-20 days, the kid informs them that he has a melody he'd like them to listen to. The filmmaker and producer grudgingly and reluctantly show up at the studio. What hope is there for this kid to understand the depth of the emotions in this film? How is his music going to align? But they give him his chance.
They listen to the tune and are blown out of their minds.
Manish Jha wrote the story, script and screenplay as well as directed the film Anwar (2007). Mithoon, nephew of Pyarelal Sharma, and son of veteran music arranger, Naresh Sharma, composed the song Maula mere. The song is sung by Roop Kumar Rathod, and it is filmed on Nauheed Cyrusi and Siddharth Koirala, brother of Manisha Koirala. The lyrics are written by Sayeed Quadri.
Mithoon was extremely unsure about his music in the film. He felt he had gone a little overboard and a little too experimental to create this song that is 6 minutes long, and another almost 9 minutes (Tose naina lage). Both songs were extremely well appreciated. For a young music composer, early in his career, this was high validation of his talent, to have his songs become popular with the masses, given a low budget film with no big actors.
Even after 13 years in the film industry, Mithoon still does not believe in having a bank of songs. He spends a lot of time understanding the brief of the filmmaker, aligning himself with the emotion the song and music needs to create in the listener. In that sense he is a chip off the old block, harkening back to olden days in the industry and how songs were actually created.
Roop Kumar Rathod was always the first choice of singer for this song. Any concert of Rathod is not complete without the audience asking him to sing this song.
Mithoon performing this song live.
Music: Mithoon
Singer: Roop Kumar Rathod
Lyrics: Sayeed Quadri
*ing: Siddharth Koirala, Nauheed Cyrusi
Director: Manish Jha
Film: Anwar (2007)