One song at a time - 29. Pal Bar Main Yeh

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(Rajesh Roshan)

We spoke about music directors who did not get their due, we spoke about those who just vanished from public memory. Today we shall speak about someone who showed a lot of promise but somehow did not end up fulfilling the initial promise shown. One such music director was Rajesh Roshan.

Rajesh Roshan, the son of legendary music director Roshan, started off with a bang. When movies like 'Kuwara Baap' and 'Julie' happened, people stood up and took notice. The music of Julie was on everybody's lips those days. Be it 'bhool gaya sab kuch' or 'dil kya kare' or 'yeh raaten nayi purani'. Not to mention the wildly popular English song by Preeti Sagar, "My heart is beating". None of my generation would have grown up without listening to these songs. It is not easy matching up to the legacy of a giant like Roshan but Rajesh Roshan's first steps cannot be faulted.

Later Rajesh Roshan did some nice movies like 'Swami', 'Des Pardes', 'Manpasand', 'Khatta Meeta'. Then slowly he started fading. Not that he was ever out of films but somehow the music of the newer movies did not match up to the high standards he had set in his earlier movies. The decline of Rajesh Roshan musically would probably require a detailed study but I have a feeling that his peak period coinciding with the peak of Amitabh Bachchan was probably not good for him, since Amitabh's movies didn't worry too much about music. Rajesh Roshan had done work for Amitabh in movies like Mr.Natwarlal, Yaarana, Do Aur Do Paanch. All the while throughout 80s, 90s and the first decade of this century, Rajesh Roshan has been giving one hit here, one hit there, but somehow the magic of the 70s isn't present any more.

Listen to this song from the movie 'Swami' and you will understand why many thought Rajesh Roshan was a great talent to be reckoned with. He was seen by many to be the next best thing to have happened to Hindi films after R D Burman. His music has the freshness of RD without being a copy of RD. At the same time his music did not remind us of his father either. In short Rajesh Roshan showed what was then at a premium, originality. This song opens slowly and has a very leisurely gait to it. Many a times the music director opens very well in the pallavi to lose track in the charanam but Rajesh Roshan builds the charanam in a very nice manner. The charanam start without any percussion accompaniment initially. The percussions join later. The way he blends the charanam into the pallavi with the violins is also very original. Overall a class song. I am sure even Lata with innumerable top quality songs to her credit would not hesitate to put this songs into 'The Best of Lata' category. The movie 'Swami' was a nice one. A typical Basu Chaterjee movie done with lot of sensitivity. The other two songs from the movie 'yaadon mein hai' and 'kaa karoon sajni' were nice ones as well, with the latter song especially getting a lot of air time and rated amongst one of the best Jesudas efforts in Hindi. So if you ever get to hear a modern song composed by Rajesh Roshan and feel frustrated, do head back here and listen to this song. It will sooth your nerves.

Trivia: This song seems to have impressed the Malayalam director I.V.Sasi and his music director A.T.Umeer so much that this song was used in their movie 'Avalude Raavugal' as "rakendhu kirangangal"(sung by Janaki). Ofcourse a lot of people of generation remember 'Avalude Raavugal' for a different reason but we will not get into it.

Comments

Raj said…
You made my day Suresh! Listening to this song after a very long time.The nostalgia it evokes cannot be described in words(in fact the song itself is about nostalgic moments :)).

And what can one say about the picturisation!

Talking about the movie,a very simple story narrated brilliantly.I miss the Basu Chatterjees, and the Hrishikesh Mukherjees..(where are they now?)

You have a unique way of getting into the history of all the old composers.Keep it up!!

Regarding the 'AvaLude RavugaL'song, Mr.Sasi had the habit of asking his Music Director to 'redo' a old hindi song.He tried it with our Maestro as well..The result?Shall tell you soon :)
January 15, 2011 at 12:08 AM
Suresh S said…
I wanted to write more about films like 'Swami' and about Basu Chatterjee, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Gulzar et al who made simple and sensitive films but I thought that would deviate from the main topic, so I left it. Thanks for bringing it up. My feeling is that not only music go for a toss with coming of Amitabh action movies, such sensitive movies also went for a toss.

Now you have really kindled my curiosity vis-a-vis I.V.Sasi and Raja. Do let us know what this was all about. Eagerly waiting .. :)
January 15, 2011 at 1:22 AM
Aakarsh said…
You were bang on, about Rajesh Roshan showing promise. He had a class of his own. As you have rightly pointed out, he never showed any influences of his father Roshan or even Laxmikant Pyarelal, under whom he worked for long time.But his would be a classic story/example for "fall from grace". The songs that he did in late 70s & early 80s were phenomenal. Apart from Amitabh's films, I think it was also Kishore Kumar's demise that impacted his music. Not to forget, the music he scored for Amitabh's films did have some good numbers like say "Do Aur Do Paanch" had this exceptionally wonderful pathos number - "Meri Zindagi Ne Mujhko". I think he was adept in composing extremely melodious pathos numbers, without getting boring. Another favourite of mine, which I wouldnt flinch to call as classic, is "Kahaan Tak yeh mann ko" from Basu Chatterji's Baaton Baaton Mein. Rajesh Roshan tapped the brilliant pathos depth in Kishore's voice, effectively in that song. Even the experimental or rather conversational "Suniye Kahiye", is such a classy & different from the typical compositions of that era.

His interludes were so imaginative. The interludes in the semi-classical composition for Lata, "Aap Kahen Aur" (Des Pardes) need a separate post altogether. That song is an outstanding composition. In fact, Dev Anand took some good songs from Rajesh, in this film and Manpasand.

Rajesh Roshan's music used to be quite complete, as if every piece was rightly put there. One fantastic song of his, "Nahi Nahi koi Tumsa nahi"(Swarg Narak) had such minimalist arrangements, with just a Piano and guitar, and yet, a very warm endearing melody. It stands as an example that he was innovative.

And his recording quality was also good.

But slowly, as the quality of films deteriorated, his music too waned. When I saw people going ga-ga over Kaho Na Pyar Hai, i just laughed. The real Rajesh Roshan, lies in the past, with some illustrious compositions.


Thanks for reminding an IMPORTANT composer!
January 16, 2011 at 11:22 PM
Aakarsh said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
January 16, 2011 at 11:22 PM
Suresh S said…
Kamal,

You have done an excellent job of charting Rajesh Roshan's filmography, in the sense of the good songs that he gave. I agree with you that his music for Amitabh films were much better than what we heard from LP or KA. I like some of the songs from 'Yaarana' as well.

It is indeed true that someone of Kishore's calibre is not easy to replace. And added to it, the Basu Chaterjee, Hrishikesh Mukherjee type of films were also coming down. Those films played on Rajesh Roshan's strength, which was in melody and as you point out, minimalistic arrangements. I too am amused when people talk about 'Kaho Na Pyar Hai' or some other Hrithik Roshan movie as having great music by Rajesh Roshan. They don't match his earlier record in any way.

He is definitely a very important composer, a name which needs to be written in historical records when Hindi film music history is written.
January 17, 2011 at 4:48 AM
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