Chhaayaageet #224 - "Mein is gaane ke paise nahin loonga."
"I will not take money for this song."
The filmmaker is coming off consecutive flops. His contemporaries are making films with newcomers. So he also decides to make a sweet simple love story with newcomers.
The film's music is ready. Today they are going to record a duet in the studio. The male and female playback singers are ready for the rehearsals with the composers. The male singer approaches the filmmaker. He always asks to know the hero that he is giving the playback for.
Singer: "Mein kis hero ke liye gaa raha hoon?" Which hero am I singing for?
It is the 1980s. The singer has practically sung for every leading male actor. He is anticipating the filmmaker to tell him a familiar name.
Filmmaker: "Ek naya ladka hai. Rohan naam hai." It is a new boy. The name is Rohan.
Singer: "To milaiye is ladke se. Dekh to loon kiske liye gaa raha hoon." Then introduce him to me. Let me at least see who I am going to sing for.
Filmmaker: "Thodi der intezaar kijiye. Ladka studio mein hi hai." Just wait for a bit. The boy is in the studio.
After a while, a handsome young man approaches the singer and touches his feet. The filmmaker introduces him as the new hero of his film. The singer immediately recognizes the young man and gives him a big hug.
After a few rehearsals, the song is recorded. Before the singer leaves the studio, an assistant comes over to give the singer his check with the remuneration amount.
The singer refuses to take it.
Singer: "Mein is gaane ke paise nahin loonga." I will not take money for this song.
The filmmaker is surprised. The singer has a reputation of being a stickler for money. The filmmaker asks the singer why he is refusing compensation.
Singer: "Ye ladka mere bete jaisa hai. Kal mein apne bete ke liye gaoonga to kya mein uske paise loonga?" This boy is like my son. Tomorrow if I sing for my son, will I take money for that?
Kishore Kumar sang for Rohan Kapoor in the film Faasle (1985), produced and directed by Yash Chopra. Farah starred as the female lead. This was her first lead role. Music for Faasle is composed by the duo of Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, popularly known as Shiv-Hari, lyrics by Shahryar. Lata Mangeshkar rendered playback for Farah.
Rohan Kapoor is son of veteran singer, Mahendra Kapoor. Kishore da knew Rohan very well and decided not to take compensation for singing the song. Rohan started his career as an assistant director to Manoj Kumar on the film Kranti. After that he did theater acting with Shafi Inamdar in his two very popular plays. Yash Chopra cast him as the lead in Faasle.
In the mid 80s, Yash Chopra was coming off a series of flops in Silsila (1981, producer/director), Sawaal (1982, producer), and Mashaal (1984, producer/director). So he decided to make a sweet romantic film with two new faces. However, by his own admission, he was mentally not in the right space to make this film. The film flopped. The audience did not quite accept Rohan Kapoor as a hero, however, Yash Chopra takes the blame upon himself. It turns out midway through the film, he asked the writers to come on location to Kashmir and rewrite the script. So the film was doomed to fail and everyone associated with it likely knew its fate.
The songs of the film - Janam Janam Mere Sanam (Kishore, Lata), Sun Le Ye Saara Zamana (Lata), and Hum Chup Hain (Kishore, Lata) - became popular and were well received.
Rohan Kapoor's acting career was short-lived. After Faasle, he acted in Love 86 (1986, with Farah), and Imaandar (1987, also starring Sanjay Dutt and Farah). Subsequently he switched to singing and recording pop albums. He had started singing at the age of 9, touring the world with his illustrious father joining him in concerts on stage.
After the box office disaster of Faasle, Yash Chopra went back to established actors and made another romantic film, Vijay (1988), starring Rajesh Khanna, Hema Malini, Rishi Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Meenakshi Sheshadri. However, this film also was a commercial failure. But Chopra hit gold with his next two romantic films, Chandni (1989) and Lamhe (1991).
Singers: Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar
Lyrics: Shahryar
Music: Shiv-Hari
*ing: Rohan Kapoor, Farah
Director: Yash Chopra
Film: Faasle (1985)