Chhaayaageet #225 - "I need a full bottle of scotch."
The filmmaker decides to reunite with the star cast of his hit film from three years ago for his next project. In the previous film, the heroine was new. He had launched her. But now, in just three years, she has become very glamorous. The whole crew is excited to get together.
The music and the songs have been worked on and also recorded. The hero usually attends all the song recordings. He has a lot of respect for the playback singer. He likes to tell the playback singer his vision for the song, how he might act in one line or the other, or even for one word or the other. The singer is always supportive and renders the song just as the actor wants it.
But for this one song the hero could not be present in the studio. He had to be out of Bombay. After returning he finds out that the song has already been recorded. He calls the singer to register a mild complaint in Punjabi.
Hero: "O tussi mere bina ae gaana kistarah gaaya?" Why did you sing this song without me?
Singer: "Oye pappe, mein ae sochiya je tu honda, te lath aithe sutda, sir nu aiwen jhatkanda, te lak nu iddan matkanda. Bas tera bootha saamne aa gaya te meinu gaana asaan ho gaya." I was trying to visualize how you would kick the legs, shake your head and move your hips in this song. Your face was in front of me all the time while I was recording. That made it easier to sing.
Meanwhile the filmmaker has an ambitious plan to shoot the song in France. He wants the sky and the sea both visible in every frame of the song. Many friends and well wishers advise him against it. It will be an expensive outdoor shoot. But the filmmaker is undeterred. Someone suggests to him not to shoot in France, but to shoot it in the sea off Beirut. The water is the same, but the cost will be at least 25% cheaper. Besides Beirut is the Paris of the East, they tell him. The filmmaker agrees.
He decides to take only a small, bare minimum crew to Beirut. On the night before the day the song is to be shot, he meets with the hero to explain the shoot.
Filmmaker: "Hum kal Mediterranean Sea mein shoot karne waale hain. To isme speed boats, surfers, sea skiing girls, aur ek helicopter sab tayar rahenge." We are going to shoot tomorrow in the Mediterranean Sea. There will be speed boats, surfers, sea skiing girls, and a helicopter all ready to go.
The hero doesn't understand why they need a helicopter.
Hero: "What? Helicopter? Why this bloody helicopter is there?"
Filmmaker: "Kyun ki aapko is helicopter se hi gaana hai, aur helicopter se hi boat par utarna hai jis per heroine hai." Because you have to sing from the helicopter, and also descend from the helicopter down to the boat carrying the heroine.
The hero cannot believe this. He suffers from vertigo, but it's not public knowledge.
Hero: "Yaar, are you crazy? You want me to hang from the bloody helicopter and sing the damn song? How can I do that?"
The filmmaker thinks for a moment. He responds.
Filmmaker: "Theek hai, koi baat nahin. Aapko dikkat hai to body double le lenge." It's ok, not an issue. If you have a problem then we will use a body double.
The hero is affronted to hear this. He tries to salvage it.
Hero: "Oh come on dear. Who the hell is scared of hanging from the helicopter? I am just worried how I will do lip synch. How do I follow the rhythm?"
The filmmaker heaves a deep sigh of relief to hear that his hero is onboard with the plan.
Filmmaker: "Oh to yeh baat hai. Tumhe shot mein koi pareshaani nahin hai. Baki sab tum mujh par chhod do." Oh so this is the matter. You have no problem with the shot. You leave the rest to me.
Hero: "No problem at all. I need a full bottle of scotch. That's the only thing I need."
Filmmaker: "Done. Ho jayega. Kal tumhara shot subah paanch baje hai apne hotel ke saamne wali beach par." Done. It will happen. Your shot tomorrow is at 5 am on the beach in front of the hotel.
The hero gets his call time. But he just cannot sleep the whole night, his mind busy thinking of the helicopter and the shot and descending down on to the boat. The entire bottle of scotch vanishes down his throat over the course of the night.
But the hero shows up on time at 5am on the beach in front of the hotel, albeit in an inebriated state. The moment he sees the filmmaker, he shouts.
Hero: "Hey, where is your bloody helicopter? Call it now." He says it in the tone as if saying - just let get this over with.
Filmmaker: "Haan woh aa raha hai. Tab tak tum towel gown pehen lo." Yes he is on his way. Until then you wear the towel gown.
The hero is confused.
Hero: "Oh come on. Towel gown? Are you mad? You want me to put this damn gown for this song? Am I bathing?
The filmmaker senses a star tantrum coming along.
Filmmaker: "Kyun kya problem hai? Tum isse pehle blanket pehen kar shoot kar chuke ho. Heroine bhi bikini pehen kar sea skiing kar rahi hai. Unka bikini pehen kar pehli baar shot hoga. Log machal jayenge." Why what is the problem? Earlier you have shot a song wearing a blanket. The heroine is also wearing a bikini and sea skiing. This will be the first time she is wearing a bikini for a shot. People are going to be shaken.
The hero is astonished.
Hero: "Oh my God! Bikini? So you really want to thrill Indians for the first time with a bikini girl? Yeh to dhamaal ho jayega." This is going to be a lot of fun.
Meanwhile the helicopter has arrived. They start to plan the movements for the shot. The hero is hung from the helicopter over the sea. The filmmaker rides in the boat just below it. Since the helicopter is very noisy, the filmmaker tells the hero that he will hold a white handkerchief down in the boat and use it to give the beats. He will also sing the song himself. The hero should just keep one eye on him to watch the moving handkerchief and his lips and lip synch himself to it.
Shammi Kapoor and Sharmila Tagore delivered the incredible song Aasman Se Aaya Farishta for Shakti Samanta's An Evening in Paris (1967), with playback by Mohammad Rafi, music by Shankar Jaikishan and lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri.
Shakti Samanta brought the cast of his earlier hit Kashmir Ki Kali (1964) together for this film. He had the ambitious vision of shooting this song in France but was persuaded against it and decided to shoot in the Mediterranean Sea off Beirut.
Sharmila Tagore sports a one-piece bikini. When Shakti da informed her about it, she was all set for it, and was disappointed that she could not get to wear a two-piece bikini. She thought the one-piece was too conservative. But Shakti da held firm on the one-piece because he did not want to get into trouble with the censors and have to reshoot the song. However the one-piece bikini set off a storm in India. Sharmila Tagore also posed on the cover of Filmfare in a bikini.
Rafi Sahab delivers a fantastic playback for Shammi Kapoor. The film did well but was not a blockbuster hit and Samanta attributed this to weight gain by Shammi Kapoor during the making of the entire film. When Shakti da brought Aradhana on the floors in 1969, he was convinced he did not want Shammi Kapoor as the hero for that film.
Watch Rafi Sahab sing this song live in concert with Sharmila Tagore joining him on stage.
Singers: Mohammad Rafi, Sharmila Tagore
*ing: Shammi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore
Music: Shankar Jaikishan
Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri
Director: Shakti Samanta
Film: An Evening in Paris (1967)