Chhaayaageet #164 - "Dada, ye to original se bhi accha hai. Mein ye recording nahin karoonga.”
The young singer is ready. He is part of the chorus. The playback singer should arrive in the studio any minute. As soon as they see the playback singer come into the recording booth, they all arrange themselves behind him.
After the song is over, the playback singer approaches the composer brothers. “Ye ladka kaun hai jo mere bilkul peeche gaana gaa raha tha? Bahut zabardast awaaz hai iski. Isse chorus mein nahin balki alag se gaana gawaaiye.” Who is this young man who was singing the chorus right behind me? He has an amazing voice. Instead of having him sing in the chorus, let him sing on his own.
From that point, the composers start including the young man in their concerts. Sometimes they have him sing demo versions of the song to allow the filming to proceed on schedule. On a few occasions they give him some solo songs.
The young man is happy to get these chances. Things are looking up. He is getting to stand alone and sing. It feels nice to be picked out of the obscurity of the chorus.
Meanwhile, let’s turn our attention to another film. The veteran composer of this film is distraught. He frantically calls the lyricist. “Ek gadbad ho gayi hai.” There is a problem.
The lyricist doesn’t understand. “Thoda detail mein bataiye. Kya hua Dada?” Give me more details. Dada, what really happened?
The veteran composer explains the crisis. The playback singer has suddenly backed out of the film. He has recorded one solo and one duet. But all of a sudden the singer does not like the subject of the film. And there are still two duets yet to be recorded. The filmmaker also has tried to change the singer’s mind, but to no avail. The singer is steadfast that he doesn’t want to sing for this film anymore.
The lyricist gets the lay of the land. “To ab kya karein?” What do we do now?
The composer shares further, “Jo aakhri duet hai uske liye mujhe koi mil nahi raha hai.” I don’t have anyone for the last duet song.
The lyricist is suddenly reminded of our young singer, “Meri nazar mein ek ladka hai. Bahut acchi awaaz hai uski. Mein bhejta hoon kal usse aapke paas.” I know of a young singer. He has a good voice. I will ask him to reach out to you tomorrow.
And so the young singer gets the message to show up at the veteran composer’s studio. Fortunes turn on a dime in the film industry. It only takes someone to notice you. And then, it takes someone to remember you at the right time. Could this be the break he has been waiting for? He cannot sleep all night. Next morning, he shows up at the veteran composer’s studio at the appointed time.
“Kuch gaakar sunao. Jo tumhe accha lagta ho”, the veteran composer instructs. Sing something. Whatever you like best. The young singer decides to sing a Nepali song. The composer is impressed with the tonal quality of his voice. It eerily matches one of the leading male voices in the industry, someone the composer had earmarked to be the designated singer for this duet, but who is too busy at the moment.
He tells the singer, “Mein demo song de sakta hoon tumko, to shooting aage badhega. Jab humara singer aayega to woh baad mein dub karega. Tumko chalega?” I can have you record the demo song so the shooting can continue. When my singer is available, he will dub the final version. Are you ok with that?
The young singer looks at the composer in disbelief. He is asked to sing for one of the leading composers of the era. So what if it is only a demo song? It could lead to something down the road. He consents.
The song is recorded. The filmmaker keeps the shoot schedule going.
Then one day, the veteran composer and his designated playback singer meet. The composer informs, “Maine ye demo song record kiya hai shooting ke liye. Ab tumhe final gaana record karna hai.” I have recorded the demo song so that shooting could continue. Now you have to record the final version.
The designated singer is very curious to hear what was recorded. “Dada, woh demo gaane ki recording zara sunaiye.” Dada, please have me hear the demo song.
The composer’s assistant pulls the tape out and plays for him. The designated singer cannot believe his ears. “Dada, ye to original se bhi accha hai. Mein ye recording nahin karoonga.” Dada, this is better than the original. I won’t be doing this recording.
Manhar Udhas sang the duet Loote koi mann ka nagar along with Lata Mangeshkar in the film Abhimaan (1973). The music is composed by SD Burman, lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. The song is picturised on Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri.
It was Majrooh Sultanpuri who remembered Manhar Udhas' name. Rafi Sahab had been impressed by Manhar's voice singing in the chorus behind him and had recommended to Kalyanji-Anandji to have him sing solos and not remain in the chorus.
SD Burman had planned eight songs including four duet and four female solo songs. Initially, the plan was to have Kishore Kumar do the duets along with Lata Mangeshkar. After recording two songs, Meet na mila and Tere mere milan ki, Kishore felt that the story of Abhimaan was based on him and his first wife, Ruma Ghosh. Both Kishore and Ruma were accomplished singers and this caused friction between them and eventually led to a divorce. To Kishore Kumar, Abhimaan’s story line felt too close to home. Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the director of Abhimaan, tried very hard to convince Kishore that the film was not based on his life. This was never completely settled. Some in the industry thought that the story was based on Ravi Sankar and Annapurna Devi. Others thought that Abhimaan was inspired by the Hollywood classic, A Star Is Born.
Once Kishore left the film, Burman da decided to reach out to Rafi to sing the remaining two duets. Rafi was able to record Teri bindiya re, but due to a conflict with his dates could not record the last duet. SD Burman decided to fall back on Mukesh for the last duet but he also had some conflicts. That's when Majrooh recalled Manhar Udhas having heard him sing Kalyanji Anandji’s compositions. It is Mukesh's largesse of heart that upon hearing Manhar’s rendition, he refused and requested Burman da to stay with it.
SD Burman won the Filmfare Best Music Director award for Abhimaan. Manhar gained a lot of popularity after that and went on to do playback for films such as Qurbani, Hero, Janbaaz, Karma, Naam, Ram Lakhan, etc. He did playback for so many of Jackie Shroff’s films that the fans started recognizing him as the voice of Jackie Shroff.
Manhar Udhas is the eldest of three brothers, one of them being Pankaj Udhas, an accomplished ghazal singer, who recently passed away.
Music: SD Burman
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar, Manhar Udhas
*ing: Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri
Director: Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Film: Abhimaan (1973)