Chhaayaageet #68 - “Mein chahta hoon is film mein aisa music ho jo aapne pehle kabhi na diya ho.”
The filmmaker has finally found his footing in the film industry. He had come to Bombay with dreams of making it as an actor. After a few blink and you miss supporting roles, he had realized acting was not going to be his path to success. Talent and skill are two different things. He thought a great actor is a gifted talent. However, an actor is largely following instructions. But it takes skill to write a script, and to make a film. And skill can be learnt, whereas, you either have the talent or you don’t. So he decides to switch to writing and making films. After a two year stint at Film & Television Institute of India (FTII) learning filmmaking, he had gotten a break as a film director. Three action films later he had found a reputation as a good action film director.
“He makes good action films but his films don’t have good music.” That is the talk in the trade about him.
This hurts him. He has a good sense of music, he enjoys music. To prove his detractors wrong, he decides to make a musical. He also decides to make this film under his own banner, and to launch his own film production company. This way he can write the script, make the film the way he wants it, and not have to deal with the demands of producers interfering with the creative process.
It is the late 70s. Action films rule the industry. The angry young man is everywhere. And in such an environment the filmmaker wants to make a musical? It is a big gamble.
Some friends advise him to leave his usual music composers and go with the one whose music rules the scene. But he decides to stick with his usual composers.
He meets with them and shares his plan.
“Mein aisi film likh raha hoon sir jo aaj ke liye shayad modern hai. Aap melodies ke king hain. Lekin mein chahta hoon ki isko modern orchestra se sajaya jaye. Aur is mein aisa music ho jo aap ne pehle kabhi na diya ho, bhale uski sound badle, ya uski kuch ada badle, ya uska lehra badle.”
I am writing a film that is perhaps modern for the current time. You are the king of melodies. But I wish that the music of this film be adorned with a modern orchestra. And the music should be such that you have not composed anything like it before, whether it is a different sound, or a different style, or a different form.
It is a unique challenge.
The first song they plan to record is to be the first meeting of the hero and the heroine. The hero is at a party. He is a singer and performs a song. That’s where he sees her, and can’t take his eyes off her.
The lyricist has written the words to fit the situation. However, there is a problem. It feels like a common ghazal. The composers try different tunes. Nothing excites them. It sounds the way a ghazal is supposed to sound. They go back to the drawing board and decide to rethink the song. The hero is a rockstar. He cannot be singing a traditional ghazal. The ghazal needs a disco treatment. And thus the song is born.
The day of recording is fixed at Mehboob Studios. Everybody is present, the filmmaker, lyricist, music composers and their musicians. But the music arranger has not arrived yet. He is delayed at another song recording for another composer.
A long three hours later, the music arranger shows up, sheepish and apologetic for making everyone wait. The filmmaker takes the music arranger to the side.
“Gaana aise shuru karte hain ki jisme hero pehle violin bajata hai, kyun ki he is a musician. To musician kaise violin bajata hai, woh mujhe aisi dhun chahiye.”
Let us start the song with the hero playing the violin, because he is a musician. I wish to have such a tune in the beginning that a musician would play.”
The arranger is an ace violinist himself. He hurriedly starts writing the musical notations, consults with the composers, and comes up with the violin tune.
The composers typically have a live orchestra of about 70-80 musicians performing at the recording. Given the charter to have modern orchestration, they have close to 150 musicians at hand for the recording of this song.
The arranger is a little perturbed.
“Itne saare musicians ke samne mein kaise violin baja paunga?” How will I play the violin in front of so many musicians?
It is decided that he will play his solo piece inside the recording booth. An additional microphone is set up next to the singer’s microphone. The veteran singer is already present in the recording booth. Oh no, thinks the arranger, did he make the singer wait for three hours too?
The arranger is even more unnerved to stand so close to the singer and play his piece. He has so much reverence towards the singer. The song is recorded.
Fast forward to the shoot of the song.
The hero arrives on set. It is his first day of shooting for this film. It had taken the filmmaker a bit of convincing to sign him as the hero. The filmmaker’s reputation as an action film director had hurt more than helped. The hero wasn’t too sure the filmmaker had the chops to make a musical.
“Who is choreographing the song?”, the hero asks the filmmaker.
“The choreographer hasn’t come yet. So I will provide the choreography”, the filmmaker explains.
Now the hero is doubly unsure. How can an action film director provide the steps for a song?
The filmmaker pacifies the hero. “Look, let’s go ahead and shoot the song with my choreography. If you don’t like it, we will reshoot the entire song with a proper choreographer.”
Subhash Ghai proved to himself and to the world with Karz (1980) that he could make a top of the charts musical. He also launched his production banner, Mukta Arts, with this film. Anand Bakshi wrote the lyrics, and Laxmikant Pyarelal composed the foot tapping numbers of the film. Amar Haldipur played the violin piece at the beginning of Dard-e-dil, voiced by Mohammad Rafi Saab. Rafi Saab counted this among his favorite songs.
Amar Haldipur was Laxmikant Pyarelal’s music arranger for many years. He also arranged the music for many other music directors such as Khayyam, Rajesh Roshan, Shankar Jaikishan, Nadeem Shravan, Annu Malik, and Hridaynath Mangeshkar. He wrote and arranged the music for Lata Mangeshkar’s live concert at Royal Albert Hall in London, as well as all the hit ghazal albums of Pankaj Udhas. Amar Haldipur was the music director for Amitabh Bachchan’s Shahenshah. After the recording of a song of Shahenshah, Amitabh was surprised to see him playing violin in LP’s studio. LP told Amitabh, ”Yeh to hamara bachcha hai.”
Laxmikant Pyarelal did not mind their musicians working for other music directors. Amar Haldipur, even though he was LP’s arranger, also played violin in RD Burman’s orchestra. The recording of Dard-e-dil was held up for three hours because Haldipur was delayed coming from a song recording for Pancham.
After writing and directing Kalicharan, Vishwanath and Gautam Govida, all action films featuring Shatrughan Sinha in lead roles, Ghai wrote the script of Karz inspired by a 1975 American psychological thriller, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud.
Rishi Kapoor wasn’t convinced Ghai could make a good musical. He refused the film. Ghai asked his brother, Randhir Kapoor, to convince Rishi to sign on. There couldn’t have been a better actor than Rishi Kapoor to play the lead role in Karz. Music flows in his veins, and when he plays an instrument on screen, it is utterly believable.
All the songs of Karz went on to become hits. Many of the songs inspired the titles of later films such as Dard-e-Dil (1983), Paisa Ye Paisa (1985), Main Sola Baras Ki (1988), Ek Hasina Thi (2004), Aashiq Banaya Aapne (2005), and Om Shanti Om (2007).
Laxmikant Pyarelal borrowed inspiration for the Karz theme tune from George Benson’s We as Love (below) and the Om Shanti Om tune from Lord Shorty’s calypso Om Shanty Om (also below).
Karz was deemed an average box office hit when it was released. One week later, Qurbani was released and it took the box office by storm. 1980 was also the year of many action films such as Ram Balram, Dostana, Shaan, Do Aur Do Paanch, The Burning Train. Rishi Kapoor is said to have gone into depression as the film had an average showing and he had high expectations of the film doing very well.
Karz gained cult classic status much later, and the music and songs are ever popular.
Music: Laxmikant Pyarelal
Violin: Amar Haldipur
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi
Singer: Mohammad Rafi
*ing: Rishi Kapoor, Tina Munim
Directed & Produced by: Subhash Ghai
Film: Karz (1980)