Chhaayaageet #71 - "Tumhe Apni Kamar Acche Se Hilani Hogi."
It is Monday. Advance booking is open at Gaiety-Galaxy theaters in Bandra. The queue of people is over a mile long. The film will release on Friday. It is judgement day. Friday comes, and the film releases to mass hysteria. The heroine of the film is not in the country to witness this reaction to the film. She is told people cannot get enough of her song. They are demanding to stop the film in the cinema halls and replay the song before the show can continue. She finds it hard to believe.
When she arrives back in Mumbai, she is mobbed at the airport. Someone runs up to her asking for her autograph. In that moment she realizes, that’s the first time someone asked for her autograph. She decides to check out the crowd reaction for herself. She dons a burqa before she goes into the theater and sits in the first row, waiting for the song to come on. As soon as it does, people in the cinema hall start throwing coins at the screen. Most of them land on her head. She can’t take it. She gets up and leaves the cinema hall in the middle of the song.
Before that…
The song is being filmed at Mehboob Studios. It’s a long schedule. A lavish set is created. On the eighth day of filming the song, the filmmaker realizes that he still has two days of schedule left but the set has to be dismantled the very next day. He issues a diktat to the crew, hundreds of extras, the choreographer and the actors. There are going to be no shift changes. They will shoot three 8-hour shifts straight. They start shooting at 9am. The plan is to shoot through the night, and wrap up the song the next morning. At 10:30pm, the heroine comes up to the filmmaker.
“I am running a fever, and my makeup is also cracking. I was hoping we’d call it a night and shoot the remaining part of the song tomorrow.”
The filmmaker cannot take any chances. He advises her to apply fresh makeup. He instructs the cinematographer to take long shots.
She goes back and uncomplainingly shoots the rest of the song. They wrap up the schedule just past 10am the next morning.
Before that…
The choreographer is here. The filmmaker has an assignment for her.
“This song will be performed on stage. But the audience will not be sitting in chairs. They will be standing like they do at rock concerts in the West. This has never been done like this in Hindi cinema. Imagine this. The crowd has gone wild. They are tearing their clothes with excitement. That’s the kind of wild dance I want. And I want to see it before the heroine rehearses.”
It’s a challenging assignment. But merely twenty minutes later, the choreographer comes back.
“I want you to see this and confirm it”, she requests the filmmaker.
The choreographer goes through some steps. There is a signature move. The moment she performs it, the filmmaker knows it is going to be the perfect dance to match the song.
The heroine is ready for rehearsals. She’s done a few films before, nothing noteworthy, nothing that has been a commercial success. When the filmmaker had shown the hero her photos, the hero had remarked, “She is good looking, but she doesn’t look like a cabaret dancer.”
Of course she doesn’t. She is a trained classical dancer, in the Kathak style. The choreographer knows she is a good dancer, but this is commercial Hindi cinema. You have to groove to the gallery.
“Tumhe kamar achhe se hilani hogi.” You have to shake your hips very well.
The rehearsals last for 16 days. The heroine would show up every day and practice the steps from morning 10am to evening 6pm.
On the 10th day, the choreographer folds her hands and tells her, “Mein tere pair padti hoon. Abhi tu ghar ja. Teri vajah se mein group ko choreograph nahin kar pa rahi hoon.” Please, go home now. Because of you, I am not able to choreograph the group dancers.
The heroine is a perfectionist. She cannot just leave.
“Masterji woh kona hai mein wahan practice karti hoon.” Masterji, I will continue to practice in that corner over there.
After 16 days of rehearsals, they have the dance pat down.
The choreographer becomes the first recipient of the Filmfare award for Best Choreography. It is the first time that year that this award is instituted.
Before that…
The singer and composers are in the recording room in Mehboob Studios. The singer is hoping they don’t record the song today. In fact, she has actually come there to plead that they postpone the recording.
“Meri tabiyat kharab hai. Gala baitha hua hai. Tonsils hain. Gale mein infection hai. Bukhar bhi hai. To mein gaa nahin paungi. Bilkul bhi gaa nahin paungi.” I am not well. Have a throat infection. Tonsils are enlarged. I am also running a fever. I cannot sing. I cannot sing at all.
“Dekho gaana to aaj hi record bahot zaroori hai. Baad mein hum dub kar lenge. Aaj kisi tarah se gaa lo. Jaise bhi ho sakta hai gaa lo”, the composer has no choice. We have to record the song today. We can dub it later. Today you find a way to sing some way, however you can sing.
The filmmaker needs to shoot soon. But there is another reason. From midnight onwards all the musicians are going to put their instruments down and go on a strike. Some issue between the Cine Music Association and the film producers over compensation. If they don’t record the song today, the whole schedule will get pushed back.
“Rough gaane jaisi bhi meri haalat nahin hai”, the singer tries once more. I am not in a situation to even sing a rough version of the song.
“Woh sab chhodo. Bhagwan ka naam lo aur shuru ho jao. Jo bhi nikalta hai, jaise bhi nikalta hai, don’t worry about it”, no mercy. Leave all that aside. Take God’s name and get started. However it comes out, don’t worry about it.
It is a lengthy number, over 7 minutes. Lot of chorus singers. Very high pitched notes. The singer has no choice. She enters the singing room. 40 to 50 chorus singers are already packed in there. There is barely any place to stand. She finds a wall to lean against.
As the music starts, she gives it her all. She just belts it out some way. It is a song that needs a lot of strength of voice. It is a powerful number. The music and orchestration are very heavy. The chorus is very heavy. She just sings her heart out.
The composer okays it in one take. The singer comes out of the singing room.
“Achha nahin hua gaana. Aur bhi achha ho sakta tha.” It didn’t come out well. It could have been a lot better.
“Agar is kharab gale se aapne gaaya hai, mein chahunga har gaana aap kharab gale se gao”, such high praise. If this is how you sing with a bad throat, then I wish you sing every song with a bad throat.
Many days later, the singer would keep asking the composer to dub the song again. The composer would not listen to her one bit.
“Bilkul nahin karenge. Woh feel mujhe nahin mil sakta, aap kitne bhi technically usko perfect karte jayen. I am not going to touch it. It is going to remain this way.” We are not going to do it. The feel that I have gotten from your singing, I will not get it no matter how much you might perfect it technically. I am not going to touch it. It is going to remain this way.
The singer wins the Filmfare award for Best Female Playback Singer.
Before that…
The filmmaker, the composers and the lyricist are at the music sitting. The filmmaker is failing to narrate the situation of the song, what happens before, what happens after. It’s not making sense. They decide to meet again. This time the filmmaker has only a short brief - the heroine is kidnapped by the villain. What kind of a situation is this that needs a song?
They decide to meet again for a third sitting. The lyricist doesn’t show up. He has lost interest. He might even drop out of the film. The filmmaker realizes if he doesn’t have the song in this sitting, even the composers might drop out of the film.
There is a tune playing in the filmmaker's head, a tune sung by the Koli folk, fishermen and women. He narrates it to the composers. Ding dong ding, ding dong ding dong ding dong, ding dong dong, ding dong ding dong.
The composer has also heard it. He immediately pulls his harmonium and starts playing the tune using some dummy words. Sometimes these dummy words are lalala or aja aja aja or something like that. This time the composer uses a number count, one, two, three, four, …
They record the tune on a cassette and send it over the lyricist so he can write proper lyrics.
The lyricist comes over the following day.
“I am thinking of keeping the numbers in the lyrics”, he tells the composers.
The composers panic. What is he saying? These are just dummy words. Who keeps dummy words in a film song?
“Dekhiye dekhiye (Now look), I think we are going totally overboard. It will sound ridiculous”, the composers protest.
“Leave it to me. I will write the song in a way that will justify the use of numbers”, the lyricist promises.
https://vimeo.com/357036552
Javed Akhar wrote the song Ek Do Teen on Laxmikant Pyarelal’s composition for the movie Tezaab. The song was choreographed by Saroj Khan on Madhuri Dixit and the movie was directed, written, and produced by N. Chandra. The song Ek Do Teen was inspired by the opening bars of an old popular song Chanda Mama Door Ke composed by the famous music composer Ravi for the film Vachan. Hear it below.
Madhuri Dixit reprised her dance in the #EkDoTeenChallenge on TikTok.
https://www.tiktok.com/@madhuridixitnene/video/6757971247922973954?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7099608426620077574
Tezaab's soundtrack album sold more than 8 million units, becoming the second best-selling Bollywood music album of 1988, behind only Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. Alka Yagnik won the Best Female Playback Singer and Saroj Khan won the Best Choreography awards for this song. N. Chandra, Javed Akhtar, Laxmikant Pyarelal and Madhuri Dixit were all nominated in their respective categories.
With Tezaab, Madhuri Dixit arrived on the scene in the Hindi film industry. The pair of Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit became a hit pair. Anil Kapoor was so impressed with the song after seeing the rushes that he pleaded Javed Akhtar to write a male version of the song. This was filmed separately and added to the film after it's release.
Lyricist: Javed Akhtar
Music: Laxmikant Pyarelal
Singer: Alka Yagnik (Madhuri Dixit), Amit Kumar (Anil Kapoor)
Producer/Director/Writer: N. Chandra
Choreographer: Saroj Khan
*ing: Madhuri Dixit, Anil Kapoor
Film: Tezaab (1988)