Chhaayaageet #181 - "Let him sing in the dark."
It is an idle afternoon. The composer decides to pay the filmmaker a visit. A tune has been doing the rounds in his head all morning. Something the two of them had intended to use for a film in the past but had not materialized into a song.
The filmmaker ushers the composer in. The composer reminds the filmmaker of this tune and immediately proceeds to the grand piano in the filmmaker's study.
When one hears the sound of the piano keys, one is transfixed to close one's eyes, simply be and listen. The composer, with his eyes closed, letting his fingers glide over the piano. The filmmaker, with his eyes closed, listening. Precious moments of just letting the melody take over the consciousness.
The composer stops playing. The filmmaker opens his eyes, almost prompting why he stopped playing.
"Give me some dummy words," says the composer.
The filmmaker is not a lyricist by any stretch of imagination. But there, in that moment, he will need to. He strings a few words together, knowing fully well that they will be replaced. They keep going back and forth, the composer extending the melody from the mukhda to the antara, and the filmmaker supplying whatever words that come to his mind.
"Get these words removed and have someone write proper lyrics," the filmmaker instructs the composer as they wrap up that impromptu sitting.
It is time for the recording of the song. The filmmaker, the male and female playback singers, the director, all converge on the studio.
"Where are the lyrics?", the filmmaker asks to see. He is given a piece of paper. He is confused. Did the composer give him the scrap pieces of paper from the sitting the other day?
"Where are the new lyrics?", the filmmaker asks again.
"These are the lyrics," the composer tells him. "We decided to keep them. They are good and go with the situation," he adds.
"But you are repeating the same lines from the first antara to the second antara," the filmmaker points out.
"Yes we know. We will have two antaras with the same words," the composer responds. The filmmaker wonders what has happened to these people. Has this been ever done before - the same antara repeated. Won't people realize this?
They have one rehearsal with the singers. The male singer does not seem to be in his element today. The filmmaker is not quite happy with his rendition. He asks them to repeat.
Once. Twice. Again. No not good. Need to have more feeling. Thrice. Four times now. Again. Need more feeling. The filmmaker makes them sing eight times.
Finally the filmmaker turns around addressing the room.
"Turn off all the lights. Let him sing in the dark," he tells everyone. He turns to the male singer, "You sing it in the dark."
All lights are turned off. The musicians know how their fingers have to move on their instruments. The singers know the lyrics by heart by now.
The song is over. Everyone is waiting to hear what the filmmaker has to say. "Turn the lights on," he orders. The lights come on in the studio.
The filmmaker has a smile on his face. They look at the male singer. There are tears rolling down his face.
Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal sang Tere bin in the film Wazir (2016), produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, directed by Bejoy Nambiar, music by Shantanu Moitra. The lyrics of this song are the dummy lyrics written by Vidhu Vinod Chopra himself. The song is filmed on Farhan Akhtar and Aditi Rao Hydari.
Wazir was an action film with also a strong emotional core. The filming of the song by Bejoy Nambiar and Sanu John Varghese is masterly, employing slow motion for the whole song. Precious moments of life are to be experienced and savored slowly, and you want them to last forever.
Wazir did not fare well at the box office, however, the performances of Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar, Aditi Rao Hydari, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Manav Kaul and John Abraham were highly appreciated. Amitabh Bachchan's character is wheel-chair bound in the entire film. The music and songs also became very popular. Bejoy Nambiar is a very talented director. He also directed Madhuri Dixit in the Netflix series Fame Game.
Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal singing this song live on the grand finale of Indian Idol.
Music: Shantanu Moitra
Lyrics: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Singers: Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal
*ing: Farhan Akhtar, Aditi Rao Hydari
Director: Bejoy Nambiar
Cinematographer: Sanu John Varghese
Producer: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Film: Wazir (2016)