Chhaayaageet #178 - "Tomorrow he will not be going to school."
For a father with five sons, it is tempting to think that at least one of the boys will continue the family legacy forward. The father and his two younger brothers are all into music in a big way. There is music in the air all the time. The father thinks to himself - these kids have a running train they can get on. There are people who don't have this atmosphere, they come from nowhere, but only by sheer determination they make it big. Hopefully, at least one boy can make it big in the field of music.
One of the five sons, the middle one, shows a lot of promise. At three years of age, he has memorized one of father's compositions and can play it on the harmonium. The composer's younger brother notices this. The kid is so small that his hand doesn't even reach the harmonium's bellow. But his fingers move on the keys smoothly when someone else operates the bellow.
"He is the one you need to teach. He has got very good grasping power", the brother tells his elder.
And thus the schooling begins. As the little boy grows up, he starts learning the harmonium. Each day after school ends, another school starts. But the learning is mechanical. The boy does only as much as he is taught and told to do and not more. The father has to be after the boy to get him to practice. Talent can be laid waste if not accompanied with the appropriate amount of discipline and rigor. The father sighs and shrugs.
Fast forward ten years. The boy is now a teenager. Music lessons have been going on mechanically for close to ten years now. The father and his younger brother have a busy schedule of sittings, recordings and stage shows, given their stature as famous musicians in the industry. But the father monitors the son's progress in music and keeps wondering - will this boy ever get serious about music? Sigh. Shrug.
One summer, the boy accompanies his uncle on a trip to Fiji Islands. They bring home a synthesizer from there. The boy spends all his time with the instrument, wondering how many different sounds can one instrument make. It's amazing! This is like a one-man band! One just needs to study it properly. And it's all manual, there is no programming. So it needs to be studied very well.
Father sees this. Now the boy doesn't need to be told to practice. He seems to sit down with the instrument by his own volition, trying to figure out different types of sounds. Something seems to be brewing here, the father is heartened to see.
One day the father comes home. He tells the boy and his mother. "Tomorrow he will not be going to school. Let him take leave. He is coming with me to the studio for recording."
The father and boy spend some time together on the instrument, with the father instructing him on the specific sounds he wants the boy to play in the song.
The next day the boy accompanies father to the studio. He is extremely unnerved to see all the stalwart musicians, the who's who of the industry at the recording. They hover around him with the quizzical expression wondering what he is here for and what is this instrument he has brought with him - Yeh ladka kya karne wala hai. What is this lad going to do?
They even wonder, this is a live recording. Is this kid going to keep up or is he going to make mistakes?
They know he is the composer's son. But that doesn't stop a few of them from bullying him. "Play well otherwise they will call 'cut' and we will all have to start all over from the beginning." They laugh seeing his nervousness.
The boy manages to get through the song recording keeping his nerves in check. The song has to start off with him playing some funky sounds on the synthesizer, and then again at many key moments in the song. One or two retakes happen but not because of him.
Even almost 50 years later, the boy who is now a music composer himself has the date etched in memory. 24th August 1974. His first opportunity, at the age of 14, to be a musician in a live orchestra recording a major motion picture song, and an iconic one at that. A date with destiny.
A teenage Viju Shah, son of Kalyanji, played the synthesizer to great effect in the song Yeh mera dil in the film Don (1978), directed by Chandra Barot, music by Kalyanji-Anandji. This song has many such funky synth sounds which are played by Viju. At the age of 3, Viju could play Kalyanji's tunes of the been from Nagin (1954) on the harmonium. Anandji bhai noticed this and steered his formal training in music. Babla, Kalyanji and Anandji's youngest brother, took Viju to Fiji and they brought a synthesizer from there. That captivated young Viju and made him serious about music.
The filming of Don was to start with this song. A set of the hotel room was erected. But the film faced financial challenges right from the beginning. So Barot's sister loaned him 40,000 rupees to finish the construction of the set so filming could begin.
The song is sung by Asha Bhosle, and is filmed on Helen performing the seductive dance number, and Amitabh Bachchan. During the filming of the song, there is a sequence where Helen shimmies through a narrow hallway. Barot wanted her to hold a whiskey bottle in her hand. However, the choreographer, PL Raj disagreed with Barot. They filmed both versions of this sequence and Barot decided PL Raj's version was better.
Peter Lewis Devraj, popularly known as PL Raj, was a veteran dancer. He taught Kathak to Helen. His credits include all dance sequences in Teesri Manzil (O haseena zulfon wali featuring Helen), Sholay (Mehbooba featuring Helen), Don, Inkaar (Mungda featuring Helen), Inteqaam, Sharmilee, An Evening in Paris, Sargam, The Great Gambler, Kaalia, among others. Raj could play the flute, harmonium, tabla, pakhwaj, Hawaiian guitar, but dancing came most naturally to him. He was among the group of background dancers with Bhagwan in Albela. He is credited with bringing Bhagwan's signature shuffle and hand movements to Amitabh Bachchan. PL Raj is the father of the musician Leslee Lewis who is known for his work with Hariharan as the duo Colonial Cousins.
Viju Shah went on to make a name for himself as the "king of synth sound". He also played the keyboard for Laxmikant Pyarelal and regrets the day the song Jumma Chumma was recorded as he could not make it to the recording. His credits as a music composer include Vishwatma (Saat samundar paar mein tere), Tridev (Oye oye), Mohra (Tip tip barsa paani) as well as background scores for many films.
Don was a blockbuster hit. Asha Bhosle won the Filmfare for Best Female Playback Singer for the song Yeh mera dil. Amitabh Bachchan won the Filmfare for Best Actor. Kishore Kumar won the Filmfare for Best Male Playback Singer for the song Khaike paan Banaras wala. Kalyanji Anandji were nominated for Best Music Director.
Don was remade in Tamil as Billa (1980) with Rajnikant in the lead. Helen essayed the same role and lip-syncs perfectly in Tamil to the equivalent song. Billa is seen as the breakthrough film for Rajnikanth.
Asha ji singing Ye mera dil live in Melbourne in 2016:
Music: Kalyanji Anandji
Synthesizer: Viju Shah
Choreographer: PL Raj
Singer: Asha Bhosle
*ing: Helen
Director: Chandra Barot
Film: Don (1978)