Chhaayaageet #60 - "Woh naye dadhi wale ladke ne bhi kya mast gaaya ye gaana."
The music of the film is in progress. The title song comes in a couple of places in the film, the first time when the opening credits are shown, and then later as the story unfolds.
The composer knows that a veteran singer’s voice would suit this song perfectly, but he doesn’t want to ask him to sing a song that just plays in the background. Since there isn't a hero lip syncing to the song, the composer decides to bring in a fresh voice. He is a young singer from Pune. It's good to give a break to a new talent.
One day, the composer is in his music room along with his musicians. The young singer is also invited. The composer has a habit. As he would come up with a tune, he would play it on his harmonium. At the same time, he would look at everyone's faces around him, scanning them rapidly. He has a knack of reading faces quickly and assessing how the tune appeals to them.
As he composes the tune of the title song, he looks at the young singer's face and stops. The young singer has a bewildering expression of fear on his face. The composer stops playing his harmonium, staring at the new singer.
"Kya hua tumko?" What happened to you? The composer asks him.
The young singer is afraid to say anything. "Nahin kuch nahin." Nothing, it's nothing.
The composer doesn't leave him. "Tu jaldi bol idiot. Kya hua tereko?" Come on say it, you idiot. What happened to you? He would use the word idiot lovingly!
The young singer is filled with fear. What should he say? He is sure to be reprimanded and taken to task.
"Aap jo dhun bana rahe hain ye dhun pehle aa chuki hai. Film ka naam Humshakal. Aap ka hi music hai." The tune that you are composing, it has been done before. It is in the film Humshakal. You, yourself, have composed it. The singer proceeds to sing the song from the other film from the past.
The composer keeps staring at the young singer, not with anger, but it's a piercing gaze. While he keeps staring at the singer, the composer starts to bellow the harmonium with rapid speed. The musicians around him wonder what happened. Is he going to break the harmonium?
Meanwhile the composer keeps staring at the singer. After a while he stops. Then he plays a new tune and sings the title song along with it.
Everyone is aghast. How did he come up with a new tune in no time!
As the sitting concludes, everyone gets up to leave. The young singer, not wanting to linger behind, decides to make a quick escape and hurries to the door. The composer points at him and says, "Tum, ruko." You, wait. All the other musicians also wait to see what happens to the bearded young singer.
The composer accompanies the young singer to the elevator, puts an arm on his shoulder, and says, "From today, you are not only my singer, you are my sitting member." What an honor!
More music sittings are scheduled with the filmmaker over a few days. The composer makes sure the young singer is present. At each sitting, the composer would whisper in the filmmaker's ear. "I have a new singer. I would like you to listen to him."
And the filmmaker would shake his head sideways rejecting the composer's appeal.
At the third sitting, the filmmaker is tired of the composer's persistence. "Achha kaun hai?" Ok, who is this new singer? The composer points to the young man and says "Ye hai woh ladka." This is the young man.
This is the moment that many new singers live for. It can come any time. You have to be prepared. The composer knows this. That's why he has asked the young singer to just be present at each sitting.
The composer asks the young singer to come forward and sing a few mukhdas. Hearing this new voice, the filmmaker immediately stands up from his seat and gives a thumbs up sign. "Done, gaana de do isko." Done, give him the song.
The young singer does a great job during the recording. The song is ready.
The filmmaker hears it. But now he is not so sure. He wants a change. He doesn’t want to experiment with a new voice. Go back to the veteran singer and have him sing it, he instructs the composer. This song is ideal for the veteran singers voice, the composer is told.
It's a tough business. In an industry that relies on the tried, tested and the proven, how does new talent get a start?
The composer is left with no choice. He has two unpleasant tasks - telling the new singer that he is not going to sing in the movie, and telling a veteran singer that he has to sing a background song.
With trepidation, the composer approaches the veteran singer, half expecting that the veteran singer will decline politely. Best case, he doesn't feel insulted. To his surprise, the veteran singer readily agrees, even though this is a background song.
The day of recording is fixed. The veteran singer shows up at the studio. They go through rehearsals. The composer has lowered the pitch of the song and made a few changes. The song has four stanzas. They record the first three stanzas and take a short break.
The veteran singer stays in the recording booth behind the glass, with the headphones still on his ears. The musicians outside are relaxed, chatting amongst themselves, while getting tea.
Someone has forgotten to shut the mics off.
The veteran singer can hear the musicians talking amongst themselves.
“Woh naye dadhi wale ladke ne bhi kya mast gaaya ye gaana”, one musician remarks. That bearded new singer also sang this song very nicely.
The singer hears this and freezes. Dadhi wale ladke ne gaaya ye gaana? Who is this naya dadhi wala ladka? And what does it mean he also sang this song?
He asks the composer to come into the recording booth. "Pancham jara idhar aao." Pancham, come here.
"Ye gaana pehle kisine gaaya hai? Jhooth mat bolo." Has someone sung this song before? Don't lie to me.
"Haan gaaya hai", the composer replies while staring at his feet. Yes. He can't bring his eyes to meet with the veteran singer. “Haan Saab, humne ek naye ladke se gavaya tha lekin director ko aap hi chahiye.” Yes sir, we had this song recorded by a new singer, but the director insisted on you.
The veteran singer removes his headphones.
"Kyon kisi naye kalakar ki zindagi mere haathon barbad karte ho?" Why are you using me to destroy the career of a new singer?
“Ab mein ye gaana aage nahin gaunga”, the singer lays it down. I will not sing this song any further.
And with this, the veteran singer walks out of the studio, without singing the fourth stanza of the song.
The composer is perplexed. He has two recordings of the song, three stanzas sung by the veteran singer, and four stanzas sung by the new young singer. So he decides to use them both.
RD Burman composed this title song for Kudrat (1981), written by Qateel Shifai. Chetan Anand wrote and directed the film.
Chandrashekhar Gadgil was the fresh new voice that had impressed RD Burman. The greatness of Mohammad Rafi that he did not want to finish the career of a new singer before it even started. In an interview Gadgil owes a lot of gratitude to Rafi Saab.
RD insisted to Chetan Anand, "Aap ko film mein jo karna hai karo, lekin HMV ko Chandrashekhar Gadgil ka hi gaana jayega." You can do whatever you want in the film, but only Chandrashekhar Gadgil's song will go to HMV.
As a result, Mohammad Rafi's version is only in the film, but not in the cassettes and albums of Kudrat. Only Gadgil's version is in the music audio releases.
Chandrashekhar Gadgil went on to sing a number of songs for Hindi and Marathi films. He started as an orchestra singer and got the chance to do playback with RD Burman.
Music: RD Burman
Singers: Mohammad Rafi, Chandrashekhar Gadgil
Lyrics: Qateel Shifai
*ing: Hema Malini, Rajesh Khanna
Director: Chetan Anand
Film: Kudrat (1981)