Chhaayaageet #30 - "Bajate thako, themo na"
“You keep playing, don’t stop.”
The composer has recently separated from his wife, and is staying in a hotel. He has a trusted band of musicians that work with him. One morning, one of the musicians stops by at the hotel. The composer is getting ready to step into the shower. Together they will head over to the studio.
“Tu baith idhar. Mein jaldi se naha ke aata hoon.” You sit here. I will take a quick shower and be back.
There’s not much for the musician to do. It’s a modest hotel room. The composer’s guitar is in one corner. The musician picks it up and starts strumming. It’s just something random. Ta tete ta tete ta tete tatay, ta tete ta tete ta tete tatay.
Suddenly a head pops out of the bathroom. The composer is very intrigued.
"Ye aap kya bajaa rahe hain?" What is it that you are playing?
The musician freezes. The conversation that started with the casual pronoun ‘tu’ has suddenly turned formal and respectful with ‘aap’. Did he play something wrong? It was just random strings.
The composer continues:
"Bajate thako, themo na." You keep playing, don't stop.
The composer is out of the shower, a towel hastily wrapped around himself, halfway done, still lathered up, water dripping everywhere. Something has clicked in his mind. A few days back, he has gotten only the first two lines of a song from the lyricist. The composer’s mind has been working subconsciously in the background to find a tune, but nothing has clicked because he has only two lines to work with.
Until now…until his musician played those random strings.
He comes out midway through his shower, grabs his harmonium, and after a few tries, exclaims:
“I think I have the tune for the end of the mukhda.”
The musician is puzzled. How can he compose a tune for the ending of the first two lines? Aren’t you supposed to compose a song from the beginning? There is a sequence in nature and music that needs to be respected. How can you compose a song backwards?
The composer sees the puzzled look on the musician’s face.
“Don’t worry. I will come up with the full mukhda, don’t worry.”
And he goes back in the shower.
After a few minutes, the musician hears a loud noise from the bathroom. It’s the ecstatic composer shouting, “Mil gaya, mil gaya." Got it, got it.
He comes out all wet again with nothing but a towel and plays the rest of the mukhda.
A few days later, the composer picks up the lyricist from his house on his way to Rajkamal Studios in Parel. They have been good friends, but this is the first time they are working together. On the way they discuss tunes, words, rhythms. The composer has a habit of using any surface - dashboard, doors, steering wheel, even the bonnet of the car - to accompany his tunes. As they reach Rajkamal Studios, the composer says to the lyricist:
“Go back home, otherwise you will eat my head. I have to focus on BG for this other film.”
BG - industry lingo for background music, that the composer was already busy with for another film.
After all day at Rajkamal Studios working on BG, the composer finally stops back at the lyricist’s house at midnight, waking him up from sleep.
“Come down. Let’s go for a drive. Kuch sunana hai.” I want you to listen to something.
The composer pops a cassette into the car’s cassette player. It’s the tune for the mukhda, for the first two lines. As they drive around Bombay all night, words get added or changed, and so does the tune.
It is dawn by the time they get back to the lyricist’s home.
The song is ready.
https://dai.ly/x74f07g
Parichay was the first film that Gulzar and RD worked together. Gulzar had given Pancham the first two lines of Musafir hun yaaron to compose. It was in the shower that Pancham came up with the composition of what would become a classic for years to come. Bhanu Gupta was the musician who witnessed the maestro compose the end of the mukhda first. Bhanu also played the guitar in the actual song.
Lyrics: Gulzar
Music: RD Burman
Singer: Kishore Kumar
Guitar: Bhanu Gupta
Director: Gulzar
Film: Parichay (1972)