Chhaayaageet #73 - "You are singing this very closed."
A big budget multi-starrer film is nearing completion. It's a long shoot schedule in Goa. The climax with action scenes is on a boat one kilometer into the sea. But there is one problem. It is the month of May, and the sea off the Goan coast is very choppy. This is a problem for one of the heroes. He has a bad back and doing action scenes on a boat in choppy waters is not something he wants to risk. He asks the entire schedule to be delayed for a few months until the choppy sea subsides.
The filmmaker is in a fix. He has dates committed from all the other actors and it would be a shame to let these dates be wasted. So the filmmaker comes up with an idea. Why not start another film with the same star cast except the hero with the back issue? It's May, and the weather is perfect in Kashmir. Great idea!
Except, there is no script for this new film, let alone the screenplay. They just have a vague story in mind and some situations that might fit in a film. But these things are just minor hiccups. They decide to first work on the music and songs. They estimate they need 6 songs. While they shoot the songs, they can work on the script in parallel. A film rarely gets made linearly.
They approach the lyricist on the paused film with this strange request. They need 6 songs in 3 weeks. The lyricist hears them, and jokingly asks them to get out of his house.
"You must be crazy. You want me to write 6 songs in 3 weeks, that too just because you want to go and shoot in Kashmir in May? I have many other producers I have promised film songs to. I cannot let them down by giving you songs before them."
"We do not need all 6 songs together. We need them one by one over three weeks", the filmmaker keeps pushing his luck.
The lyricist agrees to this favor.
It is decided. The filmmaker will pick up the lyricist every day and together they will go to the composer's house for a sitting. There they will come up with songs. The composer decides to book a recording studio as good ones are booked in advance and it is difficult to get one at short notice. So he goes ahead and gets the date. As each day goes by, they realize, they have a recording studio booked, but no song to record yet. Time is running out.
One evening at 6 pm, the lyricist arrives by himself at the composer's house in his 1964 Fiat. The filmmaker has also reached separately. The lyricist takes out his paan box and a 555 cigarette and starts to think. Everybody is silent so as not to interrupt the lyricist's concentration and thought process. After a few puffs the lyricist starts to hum a few words. The filmmaker, composer, and a few musicians assembled are not sure what exactly the lyricist is singing, but whatever it is, it is nice.
The lyricist inhales a long puff, and tells everyone the first line, and sings it in tune. The composer and his musicians are charged up and they start playing along. In the midst of chewing paan and taking long puffs, in 15 minutes the mukhda and the first antara are created.
Suddenly the lyricist realizes that his paan box is empty. He instructs his driver to get more paan from the paan shop outside Khar railway station.
"I can't think without paan", he tells the others.
Now there is no choice but to wait until the driver comes back with the paan. The lyricist gets up and walks out to the balcony. None of the others think of following him. They leave him alone. The lyricist stares at something over the horizon. He lights another 555 and takes a few long puffs. He comes back in from the balcony and writes all the other verses.
In half hour, the entire song, with lyrics and the tune is ready.
Now they are ready to record the song in the studio. The composer decides that they would use the first few days for rehearsals, and then they would record. The male singer, female singer are all present in the recording. The hero of the film decides to make it a point to attend all the rehearsals and recording. He even adjusts his shooting schedule so he can be there. The composer wonders why is such a huge superstar attending all the rehearsals and not allowing him to work.
At one rehearsal, the hero goes to the male singer and shares his thoughts.
"This is such a good song. My wish is that you also sing this very well", a little obtrusive request.
As the rehearsal progresses, he approaches the singer again with more ideas of how he might act a particular line when they film it, and hence how the singer should sing it. A somewhat unwelcome interference.
At the following rehearsal, the superstar shows up again. This time he stands right behind the composer, poking him that the male singer should really sing this song well. The composer gets distracted. His attention is not on the male singer. He is singing it fine. The composer's attention is on the female singer's singing. He is not getting what he wants out of her. She is singing it like a closed song.
The composer ignores the superstar's pestering. He goes and sits at the feet of the female singer.
"You are singing this very closed. I want you to imagine that you are singing in a valley. You are a village girl singing in the mountains", he instructs.
She looks at him, and nods with her eyes, without uttering anything. From that second, the complexion of the whole song changes. The style of singing of both singers changes. Everyone is mighty pleased to have recorded a perfect song. They know they have a winner.
Anand Bakshi wrote the lyrics and Rajesh Roshan composed music for all songs of Mr. Natwarlal. Producer Tony Glaad was in a bind as Dharmendra's back issues pushed out the Goa schedule of Ram Balram. So he approached Amitabh if he would be willing to keep the dates and start Mr. Natwarlal in Kashmir. Amitabh agreed and suggested they bring in Rakesh Kumar as the director, who he had worked with in Khoon Pasina. Pardesiya was the first song filmed as they began the shoot while they were yet to have a script.
It would rain every day in Pehelgam, so the shooting of the song happened over 12 days. The unit would find a new dry location to shoot each time.
After the huge popularity of this film, it is rumored that Jaya Bachchan insisted to Amitabh Bachchan that he no longer act with Rekha. Even though Ram Balram completed and released later in 1980, the pair of Amitabh and Rekha did not appear together on film until they reunited in Silsila along with Jaya Bachchan.
Mr. Natwarlal was a big success, and the song Pardesiya became very popular. Rajesh Roshan was nominated for the Filmfare award for Best Music. Laxmikant Pyarelal won it for Sargam that year. Mr. Natwarlal was the first film in which Amitabh sang a song, and was nominated for a Filmfare for Best Male Playback Singer for Mere paas aao.
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi
Music: Rajesh Roshan
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar
*ing: Rekha, Amitabh Bachchan
Director: Rakesh Kumar
Producer: Tony Glaad
Film: Mr. Natwarlal (1979)