From SD Burman refusing a film to Pritam’s take on composers in the South, here’s Bollywood music trivia for the month

By Rajiv Vijayakar -

November 12, 2022 - 4:09 PM IST

Bollywood is known for it’s grand productions and larger than life songs. Music plays an important role in Hindi cinema, making the trivia about it even more interesting.

From SD Burman refusing a film to Pritam’s take on composers in the South, here’s Bollywood music trivia for the month

Here are some facts about Bollywood music that true fans will enjoy.

Recreation of original songs

Good, original songs used with thematic relevance continue to be the pivotal difference between old and new Hindi films. From the latest releases in Diwali, Ram Setu is termed a “songless” film but the music credits, strangely, read Ajay-Atul, Vikram Montrose, Ved Sharma and Dr. Zeus with lyrics by Irshad Kamil, Manoj Muntashir, Shekhar Astitwa and Baljit Singh Padam! The film’s makers even had a grand launch for the anthem, ‘Jai Shree Ram’ that plays in the end-credits! And in Thank God, we have re-created (and that also means with lyrics rewritten) versions of the 2004 Masti hit ‘Dil de diya hai’ and the Sri Lankan hit ‘Manike mage hithe’.

Pritam’s take on promoting solo composers

Pritam composed the hit music for Brahmastra. He rues the fact that Hindi cinema is indifferent to the single composer getting involved in creating a film’s complete score. Ruefully, he points out, “In the South, films are actually promoted today as a S. Thaman or Rockstar DSP musical.”

Amitabh’s entry into politics

Back in Mumbai, the late writer-actor Kader Khan once said, “I launched a big-budget action film called Jaahil. I did not anything more to sell my film after I announced it as Kader Khan’s Jaahil starring Amitabh Bachchan with music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal.” With this magic combo announced in 1981-1982, all Indian territories were sold by the same evening! Ironically, due to Amitabh’s accident and later his entry into politics, the film was never made.

The clout of composers

Such was the clout of composers then that when a Shankar-Jaikishan Nite (live concert) was hosted in Singapore, the organizers decided to bring in top stars like Rajendra Kumar and Raj Kapoor after the interval to increase the entertainment value. But when the celebrities did come on stage, the audience, within just a few minutes, began to demand the resumption of the show and S-J’s songs!

When SD Burman turned down a film

And we also have the classic story of how the late S.D. Burman, at his peak, turned down a film and when the producer asked the reason, told him, “I do not like your face!”

Ilayaraja spins his magic

And now an incredible tale of the music of the Hindi-Tamil bi-lingual Hey! Ram (2000). Producer-director-actor Kamal Haasan had recorded all the songs and shot them before he realized that he was unhappy with the music, scored by a well-known classical musician. He went back to his favourite composer, Ilaiyaraaja, ready to reshoot all the lip-synched numbers among them. But Ilaiyaraaja actually composed fresh music matching the songs’ lip-sync, with the lyrics too kept unchanged. He had urged Kamal Haasan not to reshoot. What’s more, most of the songs ended up being hits in the Tamil version!

Narendra Chanchal’s first song

While the late Narendra Chanchal was known for his non-film Mata bhents, and in movies as well for his hit multi-singer Mata songs in Aasha (‘Toone mujhe bulaya Sherawaliye’) and Avtaar (‘Chalo bulaawa aaya hai’) under Laxmikant-Pyarelal, he remembered the first song that he sang for the duo in this genre was (his quote) “the fabulous solo, ‘Maiyya beta tujhko pukare bholi Maa’ from Vinod Khanna’s home production, The Cheat (1974). It was lost then as the film flopped, but I often sing it now on stage,” he told me.

Prem Chopra’s duet

In the 1980s, the veteran character artiste Prem Chopra actually sang a duet, ‘Kab se yeh dil hai pyaasa’ with Kavita Krishnamurthi Subramaniam in a modest film called Mera Muqaddar, with music by small-timer Kamalkant. The actor was thrilled when Kavita praised him for his singing expertise in the variations needed. The song became a popular item that Prem Chopra later performed live at several shows! And with the composer’s permission, the actor even modified a bit of the tune.

Shatrughan Sinha’s request

A hugely popular song was ‘Barkha rani zaraa jamke barso’ from the 1973 Sabak. The Mukesh evergreen is reputed to be one of the two songs (‘Pukaro mujhe phir pukaro’ from the 1972 Buniyaad was the other!) that so impressed Shatrughan Sinha that he cajoled the filmmakers into filming it on him, though the filmmakers had already shot it on others. But the Sabak song, composed by Usha Khanna, actually has another story. At the time the song was to be filmed, lead pair Shatrughan and Poonam Chandiramani (later his wife) had had a tiff and had refused to shoot together! The song was so good it was filmed by Jugal Kishore (the producer and director) on supporting artistes. But sensing a hit, he then insisted that the couple enact it. So we see the lip-synch portions filmed on the pair and the interlude music on the others!

Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman had a different title track

We all know of Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992), the successful Shah Rukh Khan film that was launched before his debut release, Deewana. Most listeners and viewers consider its song, ‘Tu mere saath saath aasmaan se aagey chal’ as the most impressive and enduring of this charming Jatin-Lalit score. But very few know that the song was the original title-track of the film, which was initially named Aasmaan Se Aagey.

Also Read: Trivia Tunes: Rajesh Roshan shaving head for his music in a film to SD Burman losing films