Chhaayaageet #44 - "Look bhai, this one instrument can play multiple tones."
It is the day of the matriculation exam at school. The subject is English. On one hand, he attends Gandhiji's swadeshi andolan, and here he has to show his proficiency in the language of the British rulers. That makes no sense.
He writes in his exam paper: "Hindi hamari matrubhasha hai. Hame English seekhne ki koi zaroorat nahin hai. Dhanyawaad." Hindi is our national language. We have no desire to learn English. Thank you. He gets up and defiantly walks out of the exam room.
He comes home and tells his father, "I am done giving exams in English. From now onwards, I will just read books at home and skip school."
Father is disappointed. What is it with both his boys? The elder one also didn't have much interest in studies, but at least he found his calling in music, and could play many instruments with ease. What to do with the younger one? This one walked out of the matriculation exam. But father knows that sooner or later the younger one will sit at the family shop and mind the family business of selling groceries. Still, education is important. So, father insists that the younger son continues his studies from home.
The younger son starts to read books. At times he wishes he was more like his elder brother, with a little more focus and discipline. Like his elder brother, he is also inclined to music, but has been too distracted to take it forward and do anything meaningful about it.
One fine day, he picks up a magazine. It is the latest edition of Popular Science. As he flips through the pages, something catches his eye. An article about an electronic keyboard instrument. Rather interesting. This electronic keyboard can play the sounds of many different instruments in one machinery. Click some buttons and the sound changes completely. He runs to his brother, "Look bhai, this one instrument can play multiple tones." Both are super excited about it.
"Father, we need this instrument. It's only 3000 rupees." At first, the father hesitates. It is a big amount. But then, after some back and forth, he agrees to buy it.
A few years go by.
The elder brother is in the film industry, as an assistant to a well-known music composer. They are working on the music for a new movie. The theme of the movie is centered around a snake. Nobody at the studio can understand the reason for making a whole movie around a snake.
However, the producer is convinced. There have been a couple of movies recently that have done well. In those movies, there were songs played on the been (music instrument of the snake charmers). There was something unique about that sound. The public had lapped it up. So the producer thought, why have only one song, why not make an entire movie on it.
They start working on the main song of the movie. Straightforward situation. The heroine comes looking for her beloved while the been plays in the background. The tune is composed by another very talented assistant.
The composer decides that the elder brother will play the been. After all, he can play any instrument very easily. But there is a problem. The tune of the song goes up and down very fast and it's hard to play it on an ordinary been. The traditional been is a simple instrument. It can play only 4 notes. This won't work.
They go back to the drawing board. They try different sounds with different instruments. As they experiment, the elder brother is reminded of the electronic keyboard that his younger brother had shown him many years ago. It could play different tones by just clicking a few buttons. The brothers find this magical instrument. They decide to give it a try. It is perfect. They record the song.
The film does nominal business in the first few weeks. And then something extraordinary happens. The music of the film just takes the entire country by storm, especially this song.
Kalyanji Virji Shah played this tune on an electronic keyboard called the clavioline for the movie Nagin (1954). The clavioline was a precursor to the modern day electronic synthesizer. The tune was composed by Ravi, who just like Kalyanji, was an assistant to Hemant Kumar. Ravi rose to be an independent composer and composed songs like Chaudvin Ka Chaand Ho (Chaudvin Ka Chaand), Aye Meri Zohra Jabin (Waqt), and Chalo Ek Baar Phir Se (Gumrah).
The songs of Nagin became very popular. In addition to Man Dole Mera Tan Dole, there were several other hit songs such as Tere Dwar Khada Ek Jogi, Mera Dil Ye Pukare Aaja, and Teri Yaad Mein Jalkar Dekh Liya.
Hemant Kumar won his first Filmfare award for Best Music for Nagin. Half the songs played in Amin Sayani's Binaca Geetmaala at that time were from Nagin and they stayed there for months. Such was the power of the film's music.
Both Kalyanji and Anandji came from a business family settled initially in Kutch, Gujarat, and then later decided to migrate to Girgaum in Bombay. This is where they picked up the musical talent from people around them and decided to give it a try in the film industry. They both served as assistants to famous composers of those times such as Shankar Jaikishan, Madan Mohan, Hemant Kumar, and many others. Their learning under these great maestros catapulted their success to a level where they were able to rise to become independent composers under the name Kalyanji Anandji in a very short time.
Clavioline: Kalyanji Virji Shah
Music: Hemant Kumar/Ravi
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
*ing: Vyjayanthimala
Director: Nandlal Jaswantlal
Producer: S. Mukherjee
Film: Nagin (1954)