Wishing the readers a very Happy New Year with guest article by Rahul Bhagwanrao Muli
(Rahul Bhagwanrao Muli is a familiar name for SoY regulars. He is one of the latecomers to the blog, having first discovered it in 2016 – the blog was started in 2010. But he has made a mark for his insightful comments, wit, easy command of language and interesting turn of phrase. An eminently suitable person to write a guest article. I am happy that he accepted my request to write one on a topic of his choice.
‘Ud jayega hans akela’ is a famous Nirgun bhajan of Kabir, which has become synonymous with Kumar Gandharva. We all leave this world alone. Similarly there are solitary songs from forgotten films or forgotten music directors that have achieved everlasting fame. Hindi film music would be poorer without these Hans Akelas.
Covid19 changed the world in many fundamental ways. The most important change it forced on us was to make us unlearn that the ‘Man is a social animal’. My post on ‘Songs and contra-songs’ was influenced a great deal by the raging pandemic. Its broad theme was suggested by Mr Muli, though long before anyone had heard of the new virus. It is befitting that he has chosen to write on ‘Hans Akela’ to herald the New Year. We all wish that the dark clouds disappear in the New Year and we don’t ‘have to be’ Hans Akelas, and we are back to our normal lives as we are used to.
Mr Muli is an MSc in Statistics and a trained Cost & Management Accountant (CMA). He has been a banker for a number of years, a faculty member at ICFAI, and has been now managing his own coaching institute for CA aspirants in Aurangabad.
Mr Muli’s debut article has everything you can expect from his pen. Thank you Mr Muli and welcome to the Guest Authors Club. – AK)
I believe that an average Indian has at least one of the following three traits: she or he is a Hindi Film buff, or a zealot cricket lover, or a disillusioned political analyst and I am no exception.
My journey with HFM started at the age of 7 years when I first listened to Aaasma ke neeche. Mine was a well-to-do family in a small town of Marathwada. In the late sixties, arrival of a new radio was no less than a festival for us. The seller had come to our house and was demonstrating the clarity of various stations. While surfing he hit upon this station where Aasma ke neeche was being played. He lingered over there for a moment and changed the station quickly, knowing very well that Vakil Saab (my father) abhorred Hindi films and songs. But the song had a lasting impression on me, and in the due course when I became aware that SD Burman was the composer, I became and still am his fan (a case of love at first sight).
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N Datta’s music in BR Films’ Sadhana (1958), Dhool Ka Phool (1959), and Dharmaputra (1961) is of such a high quality that I found it quite surprising that Gumrah (1963) onwards Ravi became almost a permanent fixture in BR Chopra camp. The music and the movies were so successful that it was difficult to think of anyone replacing Ravi. But it is important to remember that N Datta gave music for BR Chopra films five years before Ravi first joined the banner, and secondly, N Datta’s music is absolutely superb, his iconic songs matching with the best of anyone, and treating him as some kind of lesser-Ravi, or Ravi-filler is misplaced. As for record, N Datta debuted with Milaap (1955), the same year as Ravi debuted with Vachan. And if Ravi had been assistant to Hemant Kumar, N Datta to an even more celebrated Bengali music director S D Burman.