Chhaayaageet #76 - "Your husband wants me to look like this."
There are some things that you just have to chalk up to destiny.
A young client executive working in an ad agency suddenly gets a call from his boss. There is an office crisis. The creative head of the ad agency, who is also a renowned ad filmmaker, needs a tune for a jingle, and he is running out of patience. And when he starts running out of patience, he just starts shouting. That's his coping mechanism. Gotta do something, quick.
The boss recalls the young client executive had a section in his bio-data for hobbies and extracurricular activities, under which he had written music. So the young client executive is thrust in front of the impatient ad man as the musician.
"You are the musician?", the ad man asks. Without waiting for a response from the young man, he keeps talking. "I have two lines, do you think you can compose?"
"What are the two lines?", the young man asks.
"Bole mere lips. I love Uncle Chipps. Do it quick", comes the order.
The young man comes up with a tune on the spot. The ad man actually likes it, and that starts a long collaboration. Thenceforth, the young musician becomes the default jingle composer for all the ad man's ad films. It is a foregone conclusion, that whenever the ad man moves to make a feature film, the young man would be the natural first choice to compose music.
After a few years, the ad man decides to make a film based on a novel, a well-known piece of literature. It has already been made into a film before. He takes the concept to his friend, a film producer. The film producer brushes it aside as rubbish. However, they decide to each read the novel separately and meet again. With a few changes to the screenplay, the idea takes root.
The young music composer is excited to get to do music for a big studio house film producer. The ad man warns him, that everything needs to be cleared and approved by the producer. The young man is presented for an audition. It is a period film, based in circa 1960s Calcutta. Keeping in line with the time and place, he plays a song for the producer. The producer likes it a lot.
The team starts to take shape. An ad man, in his 50s, making his first feature film. A music composer in his late 30s, with one film to his credit. Not to be ageist, but some things you just have to chalk up to destiny. As the screenplay and music sittings proceed, the young composer makes over 100 tunes out of which 6 are selected.
One song has a jazz and blues feel to it, distinctly Western. 1962 Calcutta, the city known as the Paris of the East. Naturally, the song is set in a nightclub, a la Moulin Rouge. The women singers in the clubs of that time tended to be slightly older, somewhere around the age of 40. Who should they cast in this role? The producer has an idea. He makes a phone call.
"I have something for you," he says to the actress on the other side of the line, before going on to explain the situation and the song.
The actress asks a few questions to know who is directing the film and the other actors. She immediately takes to it.
"I think it is brilliant. I want to do it", she replies. But she adds a cautionary note, "I will have it known that this is not an item song."
"No it is not an item song. It is a classy song", the producer agrees.
After a few days, the actress dresses herself up in costume, a beet-red sari, with full make-up, and rings the bell of the producer's house. The producer is in his home gym. His wife attends the door and is taken aback to see the actress.
"Your husband wants me to look like this", the actress explains to the producer's wife. The wife is taken aback to see her at the door, all of a sudden, and like this. She loves that look.
Dates are fixed for choreography rehearsals and the shoot. The young choreographer takes a few days to design the dance steps of the song. However, the actress has to leave out of town for another shoot. She asks the choreographer to record the steps on a tape and promises to rehearse during breaks on her other shoot. The choreographer obliges, half believing that she is not going to find the time in her busy schedule to learn the steps. When the actress returns back to Bombay, he is surprised to see that she has the dance steps down pat. In five days they shoot the song.
Rekha performed on the song Kaisi paheli from Parineeta (2005), produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, directed by veteran ad films maker and first-time filmmaker Pradeep Sarkar, with music by Shantanu Moitra, and lyrics by Swanand Kirkire. The dance is choreographed by Howard Rosemeyer, a man of many talents, a filmmaker, standup comedian, actor, and dance choreographer.
The reference point that Vidhu Vinod Chopra had in mind was Usha Uthup, who wore a sari and sang in nightclubs in the early part of her career. Rekha chose the beet-red sari and matching gloves as her costume, and designed her own make-up and look, for this song.
When Sunidhi Chauhan went to record the song in the studio, Raima Sen was also there to see the recording. Sunidhi thought that the song is going to be filmed on Raima. After the film's release, when she saw that it was filmed on Rekha, she was blown away. Sunidhi Chauhan sang this song with a great style, with a perfect blend of drunken sexiness and oomph.
Pradeep Sarkar was a well-known ad man. When Vidhu Vinod Chopra was making Mission Kashmir, he wanted someone to direct the filming of the songs. So he looked into a few popular musical ads, and found that all the ads were filmed by Pradeep Sarkar. So he asked Sarkar to direct the songs of Mission Kashmir, such as Bhumro. That's when their association and friendship began.
Shantanu Moitra worked in Sarkar's ad agency as a client executive. When he was asked to audition his music in front of Vidhu Vinod Chopra, he played Raat hamari toh, which became a song in Parineeta. Chopra instantly loved it and decided Moitra would do the score for the film.
Parineeta was nominated for a whole host of Filmfare Awards. Sunidhi Chauhan was nominated for Best Female Playback Singer for Kaisi paheli. Shantanu Moitra was nominated for Best Music Director. He was chosen for the RD Burman Award, a recognition for new and upcoming talent in the Hindi film industry. Swanand Kirkire was nominated for Best Lyricist for Piyu bole. Howard Rosemeyer won his first and only Filmfare Award for Best Choreography for Kaisi paheli. He credits Rekha entirely for this award. He describes Rekha as one actress who dances from her face down and not just with her body, with her facial expressions and eye glances being equally important aspects of the dance.
The film careers of Pradeep Sarkar, Shantanu Moitra, and Swanand Kirkire took off after the critical acclaim and success of Parineeta.
1960s Calcutta, Moulin Rouge, jazz, and the eternal diva in a beet-red sari!
The mukhda of Kaisi paheli is inspired by A kiss to build a dream on by Louis Armstrong, an American trumpeter, and vocalist and one of the most influential figures in jazz. The antara is inspired by Never on a Sunday by Connie Francis, an American pop singer, and actress widely recognized as the "First Lady of Rock & Roll". Listen to both these songs below.
*ing: Rekha, Sanjay Dutt, Raima Sen
Choreographer: Howard Rosemeyer
Music: Shantanu Moitra
Lyrics: Swanand Kirkire
Singer: Sunidhi Chauhan
Director: Pradeep Sarkar
Producer: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Film: Parineeta (2005)