Chhaayaageet #46 - "People will forget the film, the story, even the hero and heroine, but they will not forget this song."
He has a strong reputation as an assistant cameraman and assistant director working with some popular filmmakers. Now he wants to make a film of his own. But the path is full of obstacles. Veteran filmmakers feel he should give up on his pipe dream. This is not his cup of tea, that producers would not finance it, he will never make a film, they tell him. Rejected from all quarters, he is pondering what to do. Just then there is a knock on the door.
A script writer is there to visit. How come the script writer remembered him today?
"I have a script. A very renowned filmmaker shot a couple of reels and sent it to the censor board. It got rejected. So now he is not interested in it. I have run out of funds. I am not able to put food on the table at home. You take my script", the script writer says with desperation.
"Ok, let's see what we can do with it", the wanna-be filmmaker provides some hope, the little of it that he himself has.
There is a second knock on the door. This time it is the postman, delivering a registered post from his father. It contains a check for Rs. 25,000, and a letter, which says, "This is some money for your film. But if this does not work out, you will come back to Delhi and help in the family business." Father has a chemist shop. Imagine an artist type in a chemist shop. Sigh.
With the working capital, he buys the story rights from the script writer for Rs. 5,000. A screenplay writer is brought on board for Rs. 5,000. The screenplay writer is put up in a hotel in Mahableshwar to complete the dialogues and screenplay. That costs Rs. 3,000. Now we have Rs. 12,000 remaining.
He wonders who could be signed up to play the hero. He decides to ask his childhood friend, who is now a big time star.
"I will take Rs. 100,000 to do this film", the star informs him.
"Why 1 Lakh? Your fees are Rs. 65,000. So why charge me more?", he protests.
"This is your first time directing. You know nothing about making a film. You will take a long time to do it. In that time, I could do two films. Besides your film is most likely going to bomb at the box office, and that will ruin my name. Don't you want to compensate me for all this?", the star reasons.
Another despairing day in the industry. A well wisher and friend sees his dispondency, and learns about the situation.
"Come with me right away. I am going to take you to a film producer", the well wisher insists.
They show up at the producer's doorstep. The producer hears the script and screenplay. He likes it. Right then and there, the producer writes a check for an advance to the wanna-be filmmaker.
The producer's office is in the same building where two highly popular music composers have their large recording studio. They run into our filmmaker at the elevator.
"Oye, how come you are here?", they are surprised to see him. They know him very well and have high respect for him.
The filmmaker tells them he has just been signed by the producer to make a film, but is not sure when the filmmaking will start. Upon hearing this, the music composers drag the filmmaker back to the producer's office.
"Did you just sign him to make a film?", they ask the producer. They want to make sure that this is not just an empty promise with minimal advance money.
The producer reaffirms that he has.
"If you have signed him, then this film is now ours too. Sign us up. We are doing the music. Give us our advance as well."
It is the golden era for film music. Films become hits just based on the musical score. The music composer duo are the highest paid in the industry. They charge Rs. 300,000 for the music of a film. Such is their reputation.
As soon as news hits the trade circuit that this composer duo are going to do the music for our filmmaker's project, distributors and financiers start lining up outside the producer's office to want in on this film. The star actor, who rejected this film and our filmmaker, also hears about this. He also wants the lead role in this film.
The music composer duo ask the filmmaker to come back the next morning for a music sitting. When the filmmaker shows up at the recording studio as instructed, he sees the whole team already there, including two lyricists, and the music arranger.
"Here, listen to these tunes. Tell us which ones you think will fit best in your story", the composers initiate.
18 tunes, all complete with lyrics, are played for the filmmaker. The filmmaker selects six out of the eighteen. One of the composers interjects:
"The 9th tune that we played, it doesn't look like you listened to it properly. Don't leave out this tune. People will forget the film, the story, even the hero and heroine, but they will not forget this song. I am giving you my word. I'll even write this on a stamp paper."
Lekh Tandon made his directorial debut with Professor (1962), starring Shammi Kapoor and Kalpana in lead roles. FC Mehra produced, and Shankar Jaikishan composed music.
The story of Professor was written by Shashi Bhushan. Guru Dutt had directed a few reels. But after the censor board did not green light the project, Guru Dutt lost interest in taking it further. In those days, filmmakers submitted a few reels to the censors early on, in order to avoid any issues later. The censors rejected it because they thought the story of a senior woman and her niece both falling in love with a senior professor would be in poor taste. That's when Bhushan turned to Lekh Tandon. They changed the story a bit. Lekh signed up Abrar Alvi, Guru Dutt's assistant, to write the screenplay.
The well wisher who took Lekh Tandon to FC Mehra was none other than Anil Kapoor’s father, Surinder Kapoor, who also established himself later as a producer.
Shammi Kapoor wanted Nasir Hussain or Shakti Samanta to direct it. However, Lekh would not sell the script. Shammi Kapoor was hell bent on replacing Tandon. He had a clause in his contract, that if after three reels, he did not like Lekh’s work, Lekh would be replaced by a director of his choice. However, during a trial with distributors, they loved it so much that they purchased all the rights of the film. Shammi Kapoor embraced Lekh Tandon as the best man for the job. After Professor, they made Prince together.
Shankar Jaikishan had a bank of songs composed and ready, with lyrics written by Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra. Lekh Tandon picked six, four with lyrics written by Hasrat saab, and two by Shailendra. Shankar Jaikishan won the Filmfare Award for Best Music for Professor. This song, Awaz deke, became very popular along with other songs, such as, Koi aayega, which was a duet sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle, Main chali main chali, Ae gulbadan, and Khuli phalak mein jhoota gussa.
Lekh Tandon went on to make a number of very well acclaimed movies, such as, Prince, Jhuk Gaya Aasman, Amrapali, Agar Tum Na Hote, Ek Baar Kaho, Dulhan Wahi Jo Piya Man Bhaye. He also made TV serials, and is widely credited to be the one to discover Shah Rukh Khan, by giving him a break in the TV serial, Dil Dariya. In his later years, he also acted in Swades, Rang De Basanti, Paheli, Chennai Express.
Music: Shankar Jaikishan
Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammad Rafi
*ing: Kalpana Mohan, Shammi Kapoor
Story: Shashi Bhushan
Screenplay: Abrar Alvi
Director: Lekh Tandon
Producer: FC Mehra
Film: Professor (1962)