Chhaayaageet #263 - "Chup baith, bahot mushkil se ye gaana pass hua hai."
"Keep quiet, this song has gotten approved with great difficulty."
The composer and his orchestra are getting ready to go on a live concert tour of South Africa. Rehearsals for the concert are in full swing. The music arranger has meticulously prepared notation sheets for all the songs they will perform, and he has painstakingly created the sheets for all instruments. The composer is sitting in one corner of the studio, immersed in a book, while his team is at work.
The female singer is also there at the rehearsals. She makes a request to the arranger: “Dada, ye gaana please add kijiye, Piya Tose Naina Laage Re. Mujhe ye gaana bahot pasand hai.” Dada, please add this song, Piya Tose Naina Laage Re. I like this song a lot.
The arranger is not happy with this request. He makes it known: “Aisa kaisa add kijiye. Abhi iska notation aur music bhi nahin hai.” How can we just add it. We don’t have the notation and music for this song.
The young chap playing the octopad is watching this interaction. The composer is also watching it from the corner of his eye to see what happens.
The young chap jumps in: “Dada, mein music bataoon? Mere ko poora music maloom hai.” Dada, shall I tell the music? I know the whole music by heart.
The arranger is surprised. “Tere ko poora music maloom hai is gaane ka?” Do you know the entire music of this song?
The young chap nods in affirmation. The song is a classical song with the tabla as the main instrument. He asks for permission to play the tabla.
The composer is now perked up to see what this young chap is going to do. Without letting anyone know that he is taking interest in the proceedings, he pays attention.
The young man sings the entire music, playing the tabla along as appropriate, right from the mukhda, to the interlude music, to the antaras, including the chorus, all the way to the conclusion of the song, in proper rhythm. He also interjects to tell them which instrument is playing what.
The arranger is flabbergasted. So is the composer. In the next few minutes the arranger quickly scribbles the notation for the song. The keyboard player quickly takes down the notes for his piece in the song.
The composer is stunned. This young guy who plays the octopad can play classical on the tabla as well, and on top of that he knows the detailed music of the song! He shares his surprise: “Ae tu tabla bhi bajata hai?” Hey you play the tabla as well?
The young chap touches his ears and replies: “Dada mein seekha hoon Ustad Allah Rakha sahab se. Mein unka shagird hoon." Dada, I have learnt from Ustad Alla Rakha sir. I am his disciple.
After they rehearse a few more songs from the concert list, the female singer makes another request: “Dada ek aur gaana lete hain, Tune O Rangeele Kaisa Jaadu Kiya. Didi ka gaana hai. Mujhe bahot pasand hai.” Dada let’s take one more song, Tune O Rangeele Kaisa Jaadu Kiya. This is Didi’s song. I like this song very much.
Again, the arranger is displeased. “Iska bhi music nahin hai. Aisa tum achanak kaisa bolta hai?” The music of this song is also not ready. How can you say this suddenly?
But this time the arranger looks at the young chap. The young chap knows the question not asked and replies, “Iska bhi music by heart hai mereko, prelude music, interlude music, sab kuch.” I know the music of this song also by heart, prelude music, interlude music, everything.
Hearing this the arranger is angered. “Isko to sab kuch kaise maaloom hai?” How come this guy knows everything? The arranger has a preset list of songs that they have decided. Now that list is being thrown to the wind, and this guy seems to know the music of all songs, making it too easy to disturb his list.
So the young guy tells the entire music of this song as well, including the harmony.
The composer is at a loss of words. He somehow manages to ask: “Mera aur mere Baba ka sab gaana tumko yaad hai?” You know the music for all of my and my father’s songs?
The young man replies: “Dada, bachpan se leke aaj tak sirf aap ka hi music suna hai. Aur mere khoon mein aapke gaane daudte hain.” Dada, right from childhood I have only listened to your songs. And your music runs in my blood.
The composer is in disbelief: “Accha? Music bhi by heart hai aur rhythm bhi by heart hai?” Is that so? You know the music and also the rhythm by heart?
The young man nods affirmatively. The composer is overjoyed to hear this. He realizes this young man is a special talent. From that day onwards, the young man gains entry into the composer’s small core team of special musicians. The composer starts having a soft corner for the young man as someone who knows his style and knows everything about all his songs.
Fast forward many years. The composer has fallen on hard times in the industry. Time has passed him by. Work is down to a drip. A film has come his way. He is determined to give his best to this film. The filmmaker is very exacting in his requirements for music. He has rejected many of his tunes for songs of the film.
The composer and his team are in the midst of rehearsals and recording for one particular song that is going to be recorded.
The entire morning shift is spent in rehearsals. A lunch break is announced. The musicians leave to grab a bite. The composer, the arranger, the young man, and the recordist at the studio wait back to do some last remaining touches on the arranging.
Before the final recording, they decide on the placement of the instruments. This tabla will be on one side. That tabla will be on the back on this side. One is high pitched and the other is low pitched. These two tablas are going to play a special sound in the song. A stick is going to be hit on the surface of the tabla to create a reverberating sound. Two other tablas that will be played by hand will be in the back.
The placement of all the instruments is decided painstakingly to the composer’s satisfaction. After completing all this, they decide to step out for lunch.
The filmmaker is a few steps in front of them. The young man says to the composer: “Dada ye gaana, aapne to pura gaana udhar ka de diya.” Dada, about this song, you have taken this completely from another song.
The composer doesn’t know what the young man is talking about. He asks, “Kaunsa gaana?” Which song?
The young man sings part of the other song, “Heera To Pehle Hi Kisi Aur Ka Ho Chuka”, and then sings the refrain of this song.
The composer is not surprised this young guy knows. After all he knows everything about all his songs. But he reprimands him in jest so that the filmmaker does not hear, “Chup baith, bahot mushkil se ye gaana pass hua hai. Saale marwa dega tu mereko.” Keep quiet, this song has gotten approved with great difficulty. You will get me killed.
RD Burman composed the song, Kyon Naye Lag Rahe, and the music for his grand finale, 1942: A Love Story (1994), directed and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and starring Manisha Koirala and Anil Kapoor in lead roles. The lyrics are written by Javed Akhtar. The song is sung by Kavita Krishnamurthy.
The tune of Kyon Naye Lag Rahe is directly taken from RD’s other song Panna Ki Tamanna from the film Heera Panna starring Dev Anand and Zeenat Aman.
If you listen to the song Kyon Naye Lag Rahe, you will hear a ‘trrrrrrr’ reverberating sound before “Chupke Se”. It is made by playing a stick on a tabla. Only RD!
Nitin Shankar was RD’s percussionist and played instruments such as the octopad, tabla, and dholak. He was one of the rhythm arrangers for Sholay. He was part of RD’s core team of musicians. Shankar has worked as a rhythm arranger on many superhit films such as Baazigar, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Devdas, Veer-Zaara, Black, Omkara, Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani, among many others.
The newfound appreciation that RD gained for Nitin Shankar was when they were rehearsing for the live concert tour of South Africa. Kavita Krishnamurthy sang the female numbers. Manohari Singh was RD’s primary arranger.
Music: RD Burman
Arrangers: Manohari Singh, Nitin Shankar
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Singer: Kavita Krishnamurthy
*ing: Manisha Koirala
Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Film: 1942: A Love Story