Chhaayaageet #29 - “I have a fresh new face. I need a fresh new voice.”
The scriptwriter narrates a short story to the filmmaker. It is unique, different from the run of the mill. But they are already in the middle of a film, one with a big superstar, and it needs all their attention and focus.
A Fresh New Face
One day the filmmaker reminds the scriptwriter:
”You know that story about the girl…?”
”Yes, Dada. Wasn’t I the one who narrated that story to you?”
”Oh yes, you were. Let’s get going on that in parallel. But we need a fresh new face.”
The scriptwriter agrees. ”I will start working on the screenplay and dialogue. I know a family, the Kapadias. Their daughter wants to be an actress. She is just like the character I have imagined. Why don’t you meet her?”
For one reason or another, the filmmaker stalls. Every time the topic comes up, he would say:
“There is a girl in the Pune Institute who is perfect for this role.” The Pune Institute is FTII, Film & Television Institute of India.
”Ok then. Lets go meet her”, the scriptwriter would urge.
But nothing would happen for days. No progress.
Meanwhile, as word spreads that they are making a new film and launching a new actress in it, they are flooded with photos of models and aspiring heroines looking for that elusive break.
The scriptwriter is increasingly impatient at the filmmaker’s indecisiveness. One day he drives his car around to the filmmaker’s house.
“Dada, let’s go for a drive.”
”Where? How long will it take?”
”Let’s go. What work do you have anyway?”
The scriptwriter has made up his mind. He turns the car towards Pune. The filmmaker realizes he is being taken for a ride, literally.
As they set foot on the FTII campus, she notices them. Big name filmwallahs! What are they doing here, she wonders. A short while later, a peon finds her.
“Madam, aapko Director sahab ne bulaya hai.” The Director wants to see you.
She finds the veteran duo in the Director’s office.
They see her enter. There is so much life and energy about her. She exudes the honesty and innocence that’s needed for the girl in the story. After a short conversation the filmmaker offers her the lead role in the film. Her maiden Hindi film!
First day of shooting. Her co-star appears on set. She’s had a fan girl crush on him. The heartthrob that he is, she is flustered, shy, and hides behind furniture. He’s playing himself, in the role of a film star. In the story, she is supposed to have a crush on him. In a way, she’s playing herself, too.
He takes one look at her and asks:
”Is this your first film? Tumhari umar kya hai?”
She is 22, playing a 16 year old school girl. A fresh new face.
A Fresh New Voice
She’s grown up learning Carnatic music from her mother. But to her mother’s chagrin, she dreams of singing in Hindi films. Marriage brings her to settle in Bombay.
She starts taking singing lessons from Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan, a maestro who has taught the likes of Manna Dey, Mahendra Kapoor, Suman Kalyanpur, among others. Ustad Khan sahab is impressed. One day he tells a noted music composer:
”Dada, you must listen to this girl. She has a beautiful voice. Her pronunciation is faultless.”
So when our music composer gets a directive from our filmmaker to find a fresh new voice, the composer instantly remembers her. Fresh new voice means naturally the two sisters are out of the reckoning. She would be perfect.
An audition is arranged at the composer’s studio in Shivaji Park. The filmmaker, scriptwriter, the noted flute maestro, all present. She sings what she’s asked to. What a beautiful voice! It has the sweetness and temperament perfectly suited for the school girl in the story.
During breaks in the audition, the scriptwriter notices she’s drawing flowers in her notebook. A flower with a short stem. From that stem, another flower. She realizes the scriptwriter is watching her. She becomes conscious and hides her notebook. So much like the school girl in the story, he thinks.
At the end of the audition, the filmmaker proclaims, “She will sing all the songs.” There are only three songs, all female.
The second song they record takes on a life of its own. It is a hymn.
Humko mann ki shakti dena
Mann vijay karein
Doosron ki jai se pehle
Khud ki jai karein
Guddi was Jaya Bhaduri’s debut Hindi film. She earned a nomination for the Best Actress Filmfare Award. The character of Guddi was based on Gulzar’s sister, Jeet, who was a huge fan of Dilip Kumar. She would cut out his pictures from magazines and paste in her notebook.
Hrishida and Gulzar were making Anand at the time. Amitabh Bachchan was cast in Guddi opposite Jaya Bhaduri. However, during the filming of Anand, Hrishida realized that Amitabh was a special talent, a talent too big to be squandered in a small role. He was replaced by Sumit Bhanja in Guddi.
Dharmendra played himself, Guddi’s fan girl crush. Despite the song being a school assembly prayer, Gulzar still found place for humor. He played on a pun when he wrote the lines:
Saath de to dharam ka
Chale to dharam par
Gulzar intended this to have a double meaning - about taking the right path, but in the context of the movie, it could also mean Dharmendra.
Vani Jairam provided the playback voice for this song. Her good professional association with composer Vasant Desai resulted in her breakthrough with the film Guddi. When Desai heard that Hrishikesh Mukherjee wanted a fresh new voice for this song, it quickly eliminated the choice of Mangeshkar sisters. He remembered Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan's recommendation of Vani Jairam and decided to use her as the fresh new voice. Desai offered Vani Jairam to record three songs in the film including Humko mann ki shakti dena which became a school prayer in many schools since the release of the song in 1971 and continues to be even now. She also sang Bole Re Papihara and Hari Bin Kaise Jeeun for the film Guddi.
Vasant Desai and Children’s Chorus
The chorus in the song is sung by school children.
In 1950, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was at a government meeting where an official lamented the fact that not even two school children could sing ‘Jana Gana Mana’, the national anthem, harmoniously in ‘ek sur ek taal’. Vasant Desai, who was at the meeting, did not say anything but made a vow in his mind, that he would make, not just two, but thousands of students sing in one sur and one taal.
He took painstaking efforts to teach group-singing to kids in many schools of Bombay. One year, on Dussera day, one lakh children sang the national anthem in harmony at Shivaji Park, in front of Pandit Nehru, who was visibly moved on hearing the chorus.
Vasant Desai started working in V. Shantaram’s Prabhat Studios in Kolhapur as an office boy, doing whatever jobs came his way. He worked on no salary for one year. He learnt many aspects of filmmaking, including classical music, and instruments. In later years, he started the project ‘Ek Sur Ek Taal’, teaching music teachers and students in schools across Maharashtra. Until the very end of his life, he remained actively involved in this act of selfless giving.
Lyrics: Gulzar
Music: Vasant Desai
Singer: Vani Jairam
*ing: Jaya Bhaduri
Director: Hrishkesh Mukherjee
Film: Guddi (1971)