Chhaayaageet #184 - "Woh yeh nahi gayengi."
"She will not sing this."
In today's sitting, they are going to do rehearsals of a few songs and also record them. Everything has been arranged. Time has been set aside for rehearsals. It is a tight schedule. Everyone is busy. Dates are hard to come by. When the artists make their dates available, not a single moment can be wasted.
"Chaliye shuru karte hain," the composer sitting with his harmonium looks at the lyricist. They are going to record a duet first. The male and female playback singers are yet to arrive. But they can get started.
The composer opens his notebook. He has a habit. When he hears the lyrics of the song for the first time, he copies them into his notebook. He opens the book to the page of the song and keeps it on top of his harmonium.
His fingers start to move on the keys as he sings the song in the tune he has composed. He is singing both the male and female sections. He comes to one word and stops.
"Arre gadbad ho gayi," he looks at the lyricist. It's a problem. The composer realizes he should have caught this before today, when he was composing the tune. Not today, when they are all set to record. He is sure this is going to be a big problem.
"Kya hua?", the lyricist asks.
"Woh yeh nahi gayengi," the composer says assuredly. She will not sing this.
She is known to have laid down the law. Even a shred of indecency in the song, even a word out of character, is enough to earn her ire and displeasure. Enough to cancel the recording. "Aap kisi aur se gawa lijiye," she is known to have said. You may please find someone else to sing this song. Such is her stature.
The composer looks down at the word on the paper in front of him. The more he looks at it, the surer he is that she is not going to sing the song.
"Dekho woh yeh nahi gayengi to mein usko badal doonga. Lekin pehle unko dekh lene do," the lyricist tries to pacify the composer. See, if she does not want to sing it, then I will change it. But first let her see it as it is.
The male singer arrives. He sees the composer perturbed. He enquires into the matter. The composer shows him the word. "Woh yeh nahi gayengi," he tells the male singer. She will not sing this. The male singer takes sides with the composer.
She arrives into the studio. After pleasantries are exchanged, they get down to business. The composer gives her a copy of the lyrics. He explains the tune to both the singers. They start rehearsing.
The composer is unsure of what to expect. The composer makes eye contact with the lyricist, indicating to him to be prepared for an explosion anytime. The lyricist is sitting to one side watching them intently.
They start singing in rehearsal. She sings the entire song in its entirety, without even pausing or thinking twice about the word.
After one practice take, the lyricist approaches her, "Begum, inko bada aitraaz tha ki aap yeh line nahin gayengi." He is used to call her Begum. Begum, he was objecting in a big way that you would refuse to sing this line.
She smiles and replies, "Aap ke gaano mein hi aisi koi anokhi cheez nikalti hai. Yeh shabd varna gaanon mein nahin milta." Only in your songs is there some novelty. Otherwise one does not see this word in a song.
Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar sang the duet Aap ki aankhon mein kuch in the film Ghar (1978), story and screenplay by Dinesh Thakur, music by RD Burman, lyrics by Gulzar. The film had Vinod Mehra and Rekha in lead roles.
RD was sure that Lata ji would object to the line 'aap ki badmashiyon ke ye naye andaaz hain' and the use of the word 'badmashiyon'. He felt it indicated edgy naughtiness, whereas Gulzar felt it was just about someone being a bit of a prankster. Gulzar tried to pacify him by saying, "Unhone bhi bahot badmashiyan ki hongi." She must also have played some pranks.
During the recording, Lata ji laughed as she sang this line. She had not told them she was going to do so. She did it on her own. Gulzar attributes this to Lata ji's badmashi, naughtiness. In the song, Kishore da misspoke one word. The original line written by Gulzar is 'Jab hile to mogre ke phool khilte hain kahin'. Instead Kishore da sang it as 'Lab hile'. Since RD and Gulzar wanted to keep Lata ji's spontaneous laughter, they decided to keep the misspoken words of Kishore da.
Ghar was critically acclaimed, and Rekha's performance as a rape victim is one of her career defining roles. She was nominated for the Filmfare award for Best Actress. Dinesh Thakur won the Filmfare award for Best Story. Dinesh Thakur also essays the role of the doctor in the film.
Lyrics: Gulzar
Music: RD Burman
Singers: Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar
*ing: Vinod Mehra, Rekha
Film: Ghar (1978)