Chhaayaageet #64 - "Uncle, I want this song to be a waltz."
It is the young filmmaker's first film. His family is film royalty. But his father had him work as an assistant director with other filmmakers so that he would not get the royal treatment from his own studio. After a few gigs assisting others, his father thought he was now ready to make his first film.
“You will be directing and acting. This will be your debut on both fronts.” The father had big plans of launching his son as a hero and director.
The young man has grown up watching eminent artists, actors, actresses, music composers, lyricists, all stalwarts. He is a bit awed by them. But now he is the one to call the shots. He has to express clearly what he wants from them, and ensure he gets it.
He reaches the music studio. The composers have worked with his father for decades. There is a family atmosphere between them.
“Uncle, I want this song to be a waltz”, he explains.
“Waltz?”, the composer reacts with surprise to this unusual and specific request. A waltz is a ballroom dance in 3/4 meter with emphasis on the first beat. 3/4 time is how we feel the rhythm of the music. For example, a waltz or 3/4 time is felt as ONE two three ONE two three...as an accentuation of the music.
“Yes, waltz”, the young filmmaker is certain.
“Ok, waltz it shall be. No problem”, the composer assures.
The filmmaker returns home. The studio is only a half hour away.
No sooner than he reaches home, one of the servants tells him that the composer phoned, twice.
“Saab woh bole, saab ghar aaye to phone karne ko bolna”. Tell your master to call when he reaches home.
He calls the studio.
“Your waltz is ready”. So quickly? Instinctively he looks at his watch. He had barely left the studio and got home. The composer sings the tune on the phone.
“Come back to the studio tomorrow”, he instructs the filmmaker.
Next day, the filmmaker arrives back at the studio. His father also joins him for company. The composer sings the waltz with some accompaniment. It is a beautiful tune.
“Can we not have some better words?”, the composers seem displeased with the starting phrase of the song.
Rangin phoolon ka guchcha something something. A bouquet of colorful flowers something something.
The lyricist is also at the sitting.
“You don’t like the words? Ok, then how about this?”
Instantly he suggests a different phrase to start the song.
Randhir Kapoor directed and acted in his first film, Kal Aaj Aur Kal, featuring three generations of Kapoors, directing his father, Raj Kapoor, and his grandfather, Prithviraj Kapoor.
Shankar Jaikishan composed the music. Hasrat Jaipuri wrote the lyrics of this song. Hasrat Saab replaced the words “Rangin phoolon ka guchcha hai dil” with “Bhanware ki gunjan hai mera dil” almost instantaneously.
This was Shankar Jaikishan’s last film for RK Studios. Jaikishan passed away two months before the film’s release. The music of the film was a big hit. Six months after the film’s release Prithviraj Kapoor passed away.
Kal Aaj Aur Kal was a big hit, which RK Studios badly needed after the box office debacle of Mera Naam Joker.
Randhir Kapoor fell in love with the heroine, Babita, during the making of this film, and soon after they got married.
Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri
Music: Shankar Jaikishan
Singer: Kishore Kumar
*ing: Randhir Kapoor, Babita
Director: Randhir Kapoor
Film: Kal Aaj Aur Kal (1971)