One song at a time - 51. Jab Deep Jale Aana
(Jesudas & Ravindra Jain)
Do you recall any movie in which every song invokes a "All izz well" feeling in you? There are many movies in which every song is a gem but they may not necessarily evoke the 'feel good' factor. I can only think of a few movies which have such songs. One of them is 'Chitchor'.
'Chitchor' was a Rajshri Productions film, the production house started by Tarachand Barjatiya. Their philosophy in the 70s was simple. As in 'keep it simple, silly'. (The acronym would never happen in their movies.) Have a simple, idealistic story, which will appeal to the 'family audience'. Cast newcomers. Keep the budget low. Provide lovely music. In short, they depended on their stories and songs. Not on stars and marketing drives. They were successful for a long time. They left behind some superb melodies which the children of 70s can never forget, for all of them were 'feel good' melodies.
They made movies like 'Dosti', 'Uphaar', 'Geet Gatha Chal', 'Tapasya', 'Piya ka Ghar', 'Dulhan Vahi Jo Piya Man Bahe', 'Akiyon Ki Jarokon Se', 'Sunayna', 'Sawan Ko Aane Do' and the movie we will talk about today, 'Chitchor'.
'Chitchor' was movie which starred Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab. It had music by Ravindra Jain. Jesudas got to sing all the four songs in this movie. Each of these four songs went on to become a major hit. Everyone loved these songs without exception. This was one of those few movies where every song was a hit, every song was musically good and every song was a 'feel good' song. Even today I am sure these songs will instantly invoke a high sense of nostalgia in people who were in their teens in mid 70s.
All the songs of 'Chitchor' were, in our colloquial tongue, 'ek se badkar ek'. Which one would you pick? The lilting 'aaj se pahele', the colossal hit, 'gori tera gaon bada pyaara', or one of the two classical numbers, 'tu jo mere sur me' and 'jab deep jale aana'? I will go ahead and pick 'jab deep jale aana' for today. For two reasons: One, the Kalyani ragam in this song attracts me a lot. Two, my classmate Seshadri sang it in my house and also many times in school. The nostalgic value is higher.
Jesudas made quite a impact on the Hindi Film Music scene with the 'Chitchor' songs. A lot of Hindi Film Music Directors liked him and he went on to sing for some top class music directors like Salilda and Jaidev, not to mention Ravindra Jain, Usha Khanna et al. 'Chitchor' will definitely be counted as one of Jesudas's great achievements in Hindi film music. All the songs tuned by Ravindra Jain were eminently suited for Jesudas's voice. Ravindra Jain gave prominence to melody in all the songs and Jesudas's voice enhanced the melody. I always felt that Hemalatha, the female singer was not in his league. She was a favorite of either Rajshri films or Ravindra Jain in those days.
(As an aside, S P Balasubramaniam, who is well known for his versatility, and his impeccable pronunciation of South Indian languages, could not make a major impact on the Hindi Film Music scene. Yes, I know he had hits like'Ek Duje Ke Liye', 'Maine Pyar Kiya' etc but his canon in Hindi does not have the same class that Jesudas's has. Strangely, SPB's Hindi diction was not as good as Jesudas's. In South (except Malayalam) it was the reverse.)
Let's watch 'Jab Deep Jale Aana', where simplicity dominates both the tune and picturization.
While I wanted to stop with that one song, I could resist myself pointing out one more beauty from this film. 'tu jo mere sur mein'. You can find the other two songs in youtube on your own :)
Comments
if you ask me to pick one among the two, I would pick "tu jo sur mein" :-) but yes, i agree that the Yaman feel in Jab deep is very lovely!
This film had simple melodies, as you rightly pointed out!
Dont know why Ravindra Jain lost the steam; he composed some lovely songs in this film, Chor Machaye Shor, Tapasya etc.
And you are bang on about SPB vs Jesudas in Hindi. To be frank, I really find it difficult to tolerate SPB in Hindi!
And your mentioning about Ravindra Jain now takes me to that lovely song from Tapasya - Do Panchi Do Tinke... Kishore's presence elevates the song (i felt).
Yes, I know. It is a tough call between this song and 'tu jo mere sur mein'. That is why I ended up giving both.
Never followed Ravindra Jain's career too closely but he has given quite a few melodious songs. 'Geet Gaata Chal', 'Akhiyon ki jharokhon se'. In fact 'Ankhiyon Ki Jharokon se' title song seems to have had a good impression on Raveendran that one of his melodies from 'Nandanam' has almost a similar start. That is what I feel. You can check and see if you feel the same way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U3Fp6qPvTs
And as you can see, even the Tapasya song is a very nice and simple melody. Typical Ravindra Jain.
Yesudas became the 'chit chor' those days with his lovely narration of Hindi. Ravindra Jain in many of his songs tried to focus on deep, andhera, ujaala as he has the physical challenge on him. His recent score in Paheli (?) showed that he is one such person who cannot sacrifice melody amongst roaring crowds. Earlier, Raj kamal used to assist him who himself gave beautiful Yesudas melodies in 'saawan ko aane do'. Jai Devji again took Yesu to heights with his 'alaap', singing for non other than the BIG-B.
Thanks. As you say, you don't need to dissect a melody too much. Just enjoy it. But sometimes that feeling comes over us to dissect :)
What a lovely statement. Jesudas was a Chitchor'. Very true indeed. He did create a great impact during that time.
'Aalap' was a terrific album. Other than Jaidev, Salilda also used him in "Choti Si Baat' ('janeman janeman') and later in the not oft heard 'Vivekananda'.
Didn't know Rajkamal was an assistant to Ravindra Jain. Always thought 'Sawan ko aane do' was Ravindra Jain.
Paheli was not by Ravindra Jain. It was by M.M.Keeravani. And must agree, Keeravani did a wonderful job for Paheli. quite contrastto what he typically does in Telugu films.
'Paheli' that Dr.Venugopal was referring to is a 1977 film with Ravindra Jain as the music director. It had the famous 'Sonaaa Kare Jil Mil Jil Mil' which I am sure you would have heard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCS1-tKr3BQ
That was also a Rajshri film.
I can understand. No problem.
Ravindra Jain - the rare combination of lyricist and MD. Surprising that he did not get more recognition and awards.
Thanks for the comment. Jesudas could not be a great success because the Amithabh era happened when he was being successful. And to a great extent I am happy that Jesudas did not sing under Laxmikanth Pyarelal :) Ironically I consider the song that Jesudas sang for Amithabh as his best Hindi song. 'koyi gaatha main so jaata' from Jaidev's 'Aalap'.
Venugopal gaaru,
I think Jesudas became like a mascot for Mohan Babu after 'dhaari chopina devatha' Almost all films Mohan Babu produced had atleast one song by Jesudas.
Not sure if LP or KA have tried KJY or not. They have given so many songs so I cannot say for sure. Again not sure about RDB either. KJY sang most of his songs for MDs who were not mainstream. (except Bappi Lahari). Whereas SPB sand with LP and RDB but somehow could not capture the imagination of the Hindi listeners.
Not sure about KA and LP. But I think they might have used his voice, unsuccessfully though. There was a period when his voice was in demand there.
Not to forget, even Khaiyyam summoned Yesudas for a triot with Kishore and Lata - "Mohabbat Bade kaam hi cheez hain" (Trishul), one song where even Yesudas seemed to be dwarfed by the powerful tonal quality of Kishore Kumar. Ofcourse, the song didnt need Yesudas as such... but still. Nevertheless, it is a nice song.
Yes, 'gapuchi gapuchi gum gum' was a typical Kishore number and it really didn't need Jesudas. Anyone who was singing that time would have done for that song along with Kishore. I have a feeling that SPB not having succeed in Hindi has a lot to do with the Hindi ears tuned to Kishore's ringing voice and probably did not find the ofter SPB attractive enough. Ofcourse, these are only theories. We can't prove them one way or the other :)
Apart from Kishore factor, I also think that the madrasi tag is another factor. In those days (and even till late 90s), the decision making power, even in music, was with producers/directors and composers had little say. Producers used to cite "Casette hit bhi tho hona hai" kind of reasoning and didnt really take any risks, barring a few exceptions. This was more prevalent in 80s. Imagine, even the horrible Shabbir Kumar and Mohd. Aziz survived but no south singer could give hits.
Then Kumar Sanu wave happened and we know what happened to Hindi Film Music.
Also, i feel that SPB did have accent issues. His hindi words sounded more weight-y, and he couldnt get that natural 'throw of words' if i can call that. He could get in tamil/telugu/kannada but not Hindi. Yesudas could manage Hindi but somehow, it feels odd listening to SPB's Hindi. But then, he too had his run with Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum aapke Hai Kaun... just that there were not musically worthy enough albums, for me.