Chhaayaageet #219 - "Is gaane ko leke kuch karna hai."
"We have to do something with this song".
1970s Bombay. The Supper Club at The Oberoi is more than a restaurant. It is a symbol of the city's evolving cultural landscape, reflecting the city's embrace of global cuisine and sophisticated social experiences. It epitomizes the elegance of Bombay's elite social scene.
Starched white table linens, leisurely served multi-course plated meals cater to a clientele that appreciate a higher class of dining ambience. It is a social hotspot, attracting the city's fashionable crowd who come to enjoy the live singing and dancing.
As the sun sets and the cognoscenti descend on the Supper Club at The Oberoi, the young singer takes her place behind the mic. She has a set to perform while the upper crust clink their glasses. But there's one song that she sings every day. It doesn't matter to her whether the song is sung by a male or female singer. Not everyone gets to sing an original song. But everyone has a heart that can make them sing any song, anybody's song.
She croons an Elvis number. The song is in 4/4 meter, with a steady, folk-blues rhythm. The rhythmic structure is straightforward, allowing lyrics and storytelling to shine. The same melody is repeated for each verse. The folk-blues rhythm prioritizes lyrical content over musical variation.
In the Supper Club today, the young music composer is in the audience along with a female playback singer. He has been credited with revolutionizing Hindi film music by incorporating a wide range of influences from various genres in his scores, featuring youthful exuberance, and upbeat rhythms.
The young singer behind the mic takes note of their presence. She starts the Elvis number.
I was born about ten thousand years ago
There is nothing in this world that I don't know
---
Saw Peter, Paul and Moses playing ring around the roses
I'll lick the guy that says it isn't so
She delivers a spellbinding performance. The music composer might have even paused to sip or eat while she sang. After the set, he walks up to her. She knows who he is. Everybody knows. He knows her too.
"Is gaane ko leke kuch karna hai," he remarks. We have to do something with this song.
He slows the beat to 6/8 meter and drops to a C-minor or likely A-minor scale. He uses more complex chord progressions for dramatic and romantic effect. He switches from folksy-blues to funk-infused pop/rock making it a Western-influenced Hindi film song. More youthful, flirty, funky.
RD Burman composed Ek Mein Aur Ek Tu for the film, Khel Khel Mein (1975), directed by Ravi Tandon, lyrics by Gulshan Bawra. The song is filmed on Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, and sung by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle.
RD Burman heard Usha Uthup sing Elvis Presley's I was born about ten thousand years ago at The Oberoi and was inspired by it to create his own version of the song. Ek Mein Aur Ek Tu also sounds very close to the children's rhyme If you're happy and you know it clap your hands. Previously, RD had enlisted Usha Uthup to sing Dum Maro Dum in Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971).
After Bobby (1973), Rishi Kapoor's next couple of films didn't do well at the box office prompting questions whether he was a one-hit wonder. The phenomenal success of Khel Khel Mein ushered him back into the limelight as a bonafide singing, dancing, romantic star.
Rishi Kapoor had debuted in Bobby with Laxmikant Pyarelal. His next film, Zehreela Insaan, had music by RD. Even though the film was not a hit, the songs were well appreciated. Khel Khel Mein was next, again with RD, and after that Rishi Kapoor started gravitating towards RD and the two became close friends. RD would always make it a point to try and attend the shoot when Rishi Kapoor was set to perform on his song.
Watch RD Burman, Asha Bhosle, and Rishi Kapoor perform this song live on stage:
Listen to Elvis Presley singing I was born about ten thousand years ago, below.
Music: RD Burman
Lyrics: Gulshan Bawra
Singers: Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle
*ing: Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Singh
Director: Ravi Tandon
Film: Khel Khel Mein (1975)