The Show Goes On...

'I love acting, it is more natural than life!'

- Oscar Wilde

Think of a Howard Roark applying for Russian Visa, think of an Ayn Rand authoring 'The Communist Manifesto'. The magnitude may not come close but let me try doing something similar - writing a eulogy for Ranbir Raj Kapoor, worshipped more as Raj Kapoor by his fans across the north eastern portion of the world.

Right since starting on the sets of 'Jwar Bhata' - A Dilip Kumar starrer - as a modest clapper boy, till rising to the dizzy heights of winning the Dadasaheb Phalke award, this man was only one word - Showman. Raj went on to lock horns with the same Dilip Kumar in his first noteworthy performance in Andaaz in the role of a suspicious husband, ironically to leave a mark with - an innocent to the extent of naivety - husband in one of his last meaningful contributions in Sangam. Although what happened in between was a story of cinema dancing to the tunes of contemporary polity and one man's bias towards one side of it.

Leaving politics aside and just talking of tunes, music lovers like me owe a great deal to Raj, for he was as instrumental as any music director in the era for ushering in a never to be repeated melodious era in film music. Gifted with a penchant for music, Raj was the architect of the immortal Shankar-Jaikishan, Hasrat-Jaipuri, and Mukesh-Lata-Manna team. How, I wonder, Latabai seems ever so sweeter even by her lofty standards when she sings for the RK banner - apologies to Madan Mohan fans here, but we are restricted to foot tapping melodies only. Mukesh, all said, seems to have over achieved only when he gave voice to his creator. Although it would always remain an enigma how some of the best tunes for Raj have been sung by Manna da - top of the list of unsung heroes this nation's music has ever had, yet we associate Raj so much with Mukesh, perhaps that's what sales people are there for! With due respect to Mukesh's common man voice, Manna's 'ye raat bheegi bheegi' or 'dil ka haal sune dilwala' or a few more such gems could never be Mukesh's cup of tea. Similarly, contrary to the RK induced illusion, I've always felt Nutan made the greatest pair with Raj - perhaps a result of my Bombay bias - how we always speak of Raj and Nargis in the same breath. But then the very fact that he lured us into buying clearance products shows the uncanny ability to make people think like he did.

Thankfully we had rebels like Guru Dutt in an era where Raj spread his communist 'Tang adata hai daulatwala' theory - but then who likes monotony? Difference of opinion among artists invariably produces classics. However given the prospects of the nation and the responsibility on the youth in his times, did he show the right way forward with his Chaplinisque honesty but a timid aversion to individuals rising above the society, in times when there was a growing need for strong individuals to impose their ego on the masses and exhort them to follow suite? He did portray well whatever he wanted to, but the question here is, in hindsight, was it the ideal portrait in times when the west was being inspired by the Rands, the Pusos and the Archers? But then hindsight, as they say, is twelve by twelve!

He had a propensity to impose his super ego on the public through his characters and neglected the acting part sometimes. You watch his flicks and feel as if he is draining you into thinking from his own prism, rather than enacting the storyline with more finesse. After one point, his movies are too much about the protagonist and tend to lose direction. But then much to his credit, he did take up some burning topics with gusto - 'Jis desh me ganga...' along with Dutt sahib's 'Mujhe jeene do' was a revolution in the age of bandits laden rural India. Of course 'Anari' was more about Hrishi da using RK as his mouthpiece -a tribute in itself to RK!

Well, only from a Sachin can one expect a century in each innings! RK was a pioneer in more ways than one. When we think of him, it brings along with it a few names that combined to build one of the greatest theater teams of all time - Lalita Pawar, Motilal, K.A.Abbas just to name a few. Yes, the show still goes on, better or worse. There have been talents better or worse in the years before or after him, but this ruddy cheeked, baby-eyed messenger still lives on.

To the only showman there can ever be - Happy Birthday Raj Sahib

The Voice of Shammi Kapoor

'Usi ne ha lootaa, mazaa zindagi ka, mohabbat me jo ho gaya ho kisika'

When it comes to the 'lootaa...' part, an engrossed listener would feel as if there is a sudden spurt of intoxication after all the intensely peaceful imbibing that has been going on till then. We know the shift in gears that Rafi Sahib was uniquely capable of doing, yet we wonder how come there is still that bit extra every time he paired up with Shamsher Singh Kapoor, better known as Shammi Kapoor, the icon almost singularly responsible for changing the image of the lead actor to a rebellious lover brimming with confidence and charisma. It's that era that we are going to focus on today.

Of course there are some other very important pieces to this jigsaw, namely O P Nayyar, Shankar Jaikishan, Majrooh, Shailendra and so on. The very fact that when we close our eyes and think of the Shammi era, the term 'music' brings up the name 'OP', goes on to show the heights achieved by the master in the good old days of Kapoor's kinly association with Shankar Jaikishan.

With due lack of respect to the storylines and directions, it would be an understatement to remark that some of the flicks around then were made worth remembering purely because of the genius of Rafi-Shammi Siamese duo. It almost seemed they had the music ready to go, but somehow they had to knit a story and some side cast around it for packaging purpose. Whether it was the royally inglorious 'Prince' or the princely mediocre 'Rajkumar' or the equally average 'Kashmir ki Kali' - all of them were fortunate enough to carve a place in the annals of Hindi music, purely because of individual brilliances of SK, RS, OP and SJ.

Which lesser mortal, if not already aware of it, would be able to claim its a dubbing when Shammi approaches Sadhana crawling on all fours acting out 'vo dekho mujhse rooth kar meri jaan ja rahi hai'. Rafi sahib is the best mimic of all time, having mimicked with finesse to give voice to a galaxy of actors. Though somehow, perhaps just by design, it seems even the mimic didn't have to be anything but at his natural most, when it came to singing for Shammi. Of course great credit to the actor as well, else who would believe the way he fools the audience in 'hai duniya usiki...' into believing for a moment that a second Rafi was born - or was it that Rafi tried this number in a spiritually uplifted state as well? It never happened with Shammi-Manna combo somehow, although the music was melodious as ever. You never feel the same onscreen chemistry in 'jhoomta mausam mast mahina..' although Manna da is bright as ever in the foot tapping classic.

It is not surprising thus, that SK himself was quite good at appreciating music. He played an active role in the selection, creation, recording and concept of his music and the final filming of his songs. In fact few know that it was Shammi-Rafi who had decided in consultation with OP that every 'taarif' in 'taarif karun mai kya uski' would be rendered differently by RS and would be differently enacted each time by SK. Such were the days of versatile artistry and teamwork. SK once recalled that when OP was zeroed on for Kashmir ki kali, he was ready with 52 tunes, from which the bosses RS and SK selected 9 of the best!

Talent can sometimes be a quality for lifetime! After Geeta Bali's death, ironically associated so much now with the real life like acting in 'Tumne mujhe dekha..' by SK, he was to lose interest and cut down on his work. However flashes of SK-RS brilliance did keep coming as in the pahadi based 'dil ke jharokhe me...' I sometimes try to sing this number out of sheer disregard to greatness, only to realize my lesser mortal stature very soon.

From the chocolate like, almost childlike 'hum aur tum aur ye saman...' to one of the best lullabies in 'mai gaon tum so jao...' over the years, this pair has given us a reason - reason to smile, reason to be ourselves, reason to just get forget our self importance in presence of something supremely sublime.

About Me

Traditionally, this has been the toughest section for me to fill. However of late I have started believing that as you start doing something with a degree of conviction, over a period of time you tend to get better at doing it. In the end you reach a point where what you end up doing doesn't really matter, as long as you did it well.

Corollary - Sustainability surfaces as one of the biggest secrets behind success. One who survives longer is invariably more successful than someone with - flashes in pans - cameos. As my best buddy would say - Sourav Ganguly may not have known how to hold the bat correctly, but the temperament to stick it out for more than a decade would make the next generations - purely impressed by stats - regard him as one of the greatest around in his time.

As most of the straight jackets around us, I always despised the verbosity that comes so naturally to good salesmen. I never appreciated the art of repeating things, spreading a message across. I have always been content with my thoughts being appreciated by a handful of friends, occasionally trying them out on different forums, only to be discouraged at the first hint of rejection. A sense of insecurity has always been responsible for this fear of rejection. This is my effort to break the escape velocity and set my thoughts free in this infinitely expanding orbit we call the internet.

For a start I have decided to write on a topic I am very passionate and comfortable about - Golden era of Bollywood - not only because it is a subject reserved for the romantics - hence less room for rejection (See I am yet to break free completely !), but also because I think I am pretty good at appreciating its goodness, or the degrees of it - great, all time great, classic....