Chhaayaageet #39 - "I will not use any playback singer from India."
An apartment near Claridges Hotel in the Mayfair area of London. An Indian filmmaker is there to meet a British-Indian music composer.
The filmmaker wants a catchy song in his upcoming film. He has already signed music composers back in India. But, his instinct tells him he needs something new, something fresh, something the industry has not heard before.
The British-Indian composer is not interested. He doesn't want to work for an Indian film. He is not too fond of Hindi film music. The filmmaker tries his best, but cannot seem to convince the composer.
Finally, the filmmaker pulls out the trump card. Both hail from the same state of Karnataka in India. He shifts the conversation to the homeland.
"Just think of it, your mum back in India would be so happy to see you doing this."
Pause.
The British-Indian composer relents. It would indeed make mum happy.
"Ok. I will do it, but on two conditions", he responds.
"Anything you say", the filmmaker is ecstatic.
"The song will be recorded here in London, not in Bombay."
"Done, and what's the second condition?"
"I will not use any playback singer from India."
"Also done."
In the back of his mind, the filmmaker knows the music composers back home are going to be furious for bringing in an outsider just for one song. That too, someone who is not fond of Indian music. But he can worry about that later. The immediate task on his hands is to find a singer in London. One who can sing in Hindi. Easier said than done.
A few days later, there is a party hosted by a close friend of the film's leading lady. Respectable high-society people rubbing shoulders with each other.
The leading lady introduces the filmmaker to a Pakistani businessman and his wife, now British citizens. They come to know he is looking for a singer. Well then, he must listen to their daughter, they insist. She is a very good singer.
They are nice, dignified people. The filmmaker takes their statement with a pinch of salt. Sure, he'll listen to her some day, he assures casually. As polite a refusal as there can be.
The filmmaker looks at the very attractive young girl who is also at the party with her parents. She must be, what, about 15 or 16 years old?
Nah. Don't want to listen to children singing. And this girl in all likelihood sounds like a kid.
The parents persist. Polite refusal turns into polite courtesy. An audition is arranged at the couple's house in Century Court Apartments on Grove End Road, about 100 meters away from Lords.
He hears her sing and is mesmerized. He loves the slightly nasal tone of her voice. This is the voice that has been missing. This is the voice for his film. He knows he has a winner on his hands.
He immediately calls the British-Indian music composer.
"There is a girl right here in London. She is a young teenager with a great voice. Listen to her."
Another audition is arranged. The composer is invited to the girl's house. The girl sings one of his English songs, while the composer strums his guitar.
"I like her. She has a pleasant voice, and its not high and mighty like some of the Indian singers."
Everything has fallen in place.
The composer can barely read the lyrics. His Hindi is terrible. He checks the lyrics and composes the song in an hour. It is a Latin based tune. Something completely new, and foreign for the Hindi film industry in Bombay.
The music track is layered with sounds and is quite powerful. But, once the teenage girl's voice is put on top of it, it sounds very lonely, as if it is fighting the track. The composer then has an idea. He asks the girl to sing along with her first take. He double tracks her voice to thicken it and make it sound more natural.
At the recording, the young girl tells the filmmaker, that she knows the song is going to be a superhit. The filmmaker has his money on another song from the same film. But the girl turns out to be right, hands down by a large mile.
Feroz Khan approached British-Indian composer Biddu Appaiah for the song Aap Jaisa Koi in Qurbani. Kalyanji Anandji were already signed as music directors for the film. They opposed the hiring of Biddu for one song, but Feroz Khan stood his ground. Kalyanji Anandji were very unhappy with the song because they felt it did not conform to usual music sensibilities.
Indeevar had originally written this song for Dharmatma, and it was to be filmed on Helen. However Kalyanji Anandji rejected it because it was not very sexy. Indeevar changed the pattern of the song to suit disco beats. Biddu then took the lyrics and made it into a disco song.
Nazia Hassan was only 15 when she recorded this song. She won the Filmfare for Best Female Playback in 1981. She is the youngest person to win a Filmfare, and the first non-Indian artist to do so. Nazia performed the song on stage the night she won the Filmfare.
Following Qurbani, Nazia got many offers to act in films but she refused them. She was not interested in acting. She received her Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Economics. She also held a London University law degree. She went on to work at the United Nations Security Council and also did philanthropy. Nazia Hassan died an early untimely death at the age of 35 due to lung cancer. A great talent and a beautiful human being gone too soon.
In the song, there is a unique whistle like refrain that surfaces after the line "Baat Ban Jaye". This became one of the most remembered features of the song as this sound was never heard before. The sound used was that of a syndrum which gave a whistle like effect. It had not been used in songs as a featured instrument. Biddu was looking for a sound that was gimmicky and catchy. The guitar used in the song had a sound modulation to make it sound like a sitar. The guitarist was a man by the name of Robert Awai. Biddu did the syndrums. Almost all the other sounds came from a synthesizer. Richard Dodd was the engineer of the song. It took two days to complete it.
A few months after recording the song in London, Nazia Hassan arrived in Bombay for the premiere of Qurbani. 40,000 people arrived at Bombay airport to receive her. Her song was a sensation and had taken the world by storm. When the music disc was released on April 3, it went gold the very first day, with a sale of 100,000 LPs and Dolby cassettes; in under three weeks it went platinum, with over 200,000 records and cassettes sold. Such a sales record was without precedent. No album had ever gone gold in less than two months, and platinum in under six.
After Qurbani, Biddu collaborated with Nazia Hassan and her brother Zoeb to create a disco album, Disco Deewane, which became the best-selling Asian pop album. Subsequently she released another album, Boom Boom.
Feroz Khan used pastel lens flares for the song to create the rainbow color effect. The film was first to introduce strobe lights and smoke in night club scenes. This song has the distinction of being the first item number of Hindi cinema. Feroz Khan wanted Kalpana Iyer to perform the dance number. However, she was out of the country for six months. Zeenat performed it in the film.
Music: Biddu Appaiah
Lyrics: Indeevar
Singer: Nazia Hassan
*ing: Zeenat Aman
Director: Feroz Khan
Film: Qurbani (1980)