Sunday, February 18, 2007

Doosra Kinara - Singer






I missed the most important day of my "filmy" life when I could not make myself available at the song recording. I was out of town on a business trip. I called Bhupinder ji from there and apologized. He did not mind and made me comfortable with my absentia.

Later that night, by the time I got to the Studio they had already recorded the ghazal. Even this grammatically wrong English fails me in describing how I felt when I heard the first sher in his voice. Each stanza has so many images attached to it, and even today when I play it, all those images come dancing in front my eyes. I reckon they will forever. No one knows what those images are. No one ever will, and may be no one is missing much.

Hum hi us ke ishq ke kaabil na the !
Kiyoon kisi Zalim ka shikwa kijieye?

Woh kahin mil jayen to kiya kijieye?

Apurva ji is in love with music and words. He grew up watching his father Pt. Raghunath Sheth compose music for so many Hindi films including Ek baar phir, Ek Pal and many more. He knows Urdu well including the fine nuainces of each word. Sanhdya ji told me that during the rehearsal, Bhupinder ji was not happy with a couple of words. Apurva ji requested him to change however he wanted it. He refused saying " Nahi, Shahid yahan nahi hai - Writer ki marzi ke bagair main kuch change karna nahi chaoongaa"

That touched me deeply. Here is a man who worked with legends like S.D. / R.D. Burman, Khaiyyam, Kaifi Azmi, Sahir, Chetan Anand, Gulzaar and M.S.Sathyou – who the hell I was? I can not even write for Ghalib’s sake. Writing a few “aadi tircheen lakeeren" is no Shairi Saab!

Now I know what stuff legends are made up of, besides having a great voice!

PS: When Mulalh Luis heard this story he said “man, didn’t he know that you are just a regular jebroni, and one can do whatever one wants to you – anytime, all the time?”

(In pics: Bhupinder Ji, Apurva Shrivastava, Sandeep Savla, Sandhya Bhagat and Nita)

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