Aradhana (1969) - A Musical Phenomenon
By S V Srinivasan (2004)
It was the year 1968. Producer-Director
Shakti Samanta , flush with the success of “An Evening in Paris” (released in
1967), wanted to launch an even bigger musical spectacular with Shammi Kapoor
called “Jane Anjane”.
But there was a problem.
After his wife Geeta Bali’s death, Shammi had
started hitting the bottle, put on a lot of weight and sunk into
depression. He was in a bad state emotionally and Shaki Samanta knew he
had to wait. (He finally released “Jane Anjane” in 1971).
Sometime before, film writer Sachin
Bhowmick had narrated a heroine-oriented story to Samanta based on the 1946
Hollywood film “To Each His Own”. Samanta decided to film this story as a
quickie while waiting for Shammi and named the film “Subah Pyar Ki”.
The name was taken from the first opening
lines of the hit duet “Raat Ke Humsafar” from “An Evening in Paris”.
Later, this name was changed to “Aradhana”.
Yes, “Aradhana” was originally called “Subah
Pyar Ki”.
Samanta’s first choice for the heroine’s role was Aparna Sen but, although she loved the story, she had to decline because of date issues.
Then Samanta thought of his heroine from “An
Evening in Paris” – Sharmila Tagore.
She was greatly impressed with the story and
happily signed up.
Samanta originally planned to cast a
relatively new, five-film old actor called Rajesh Khanna in the father’s role
in “Aradhana” - the role of a dashing Indian Air Force pilot - and a
different actor in the role of the son.
Later, this was changed so that Rajesh Khanna
played both roles himself for a sum of Rs 35,000.
Then
Samanta turned to the music portion of his film. He had paid Shankar-Jaikishan
the princely sum of Rs 5 lakhs for “An Evening in Paris” which the duo had more
than justified – all the songs of that movie became chartbusters.
He realized that he couldn’t afford to book SJ for this film since it was
planned as a modestly budgeted quickie.
Then
he thought of Sachin Dev Burman.
Hesitantly,
he approached SD who was a little incensed that Samanta had come to him only
because he couldn’t afford SJ. SD told him: “I have also raised my
price. For my last film, you paid me Rs 75,000. I have increased my
price to Rs 80,000”. Samanta humbly told him:
“Dada,
my budget for the music of this film is Rs 1 lakh and I will give you Rs 1
lakh.” A delighted SD then said: “What? One lakh? Just see what
music I give for your film!”
More
prophetic words were never spoken!
Aradhana
was released in November 1969 and became a raging hit, running housefull shows
for more than 100 days and in many places 100 weeks, not only in North India
but even in conservative cities of the south like Chennai and Bangalore.
Rajesh Khanna went on to become the new king of the box office whose mere
presence was enough to generate mass hysteria both inside cinemas and outside
in the real world.
Girls
wrote love letters to him with their blood, some girls married his photograph,
young men imitated his hair style and guru shirts and he became a national
phenomenon.
He
went on to give 15 consecutive box office hits – a feat no one in Hindi cinema
had achieved till then. The movie went on to collect Rs 17.5 crores at
the box office – which translates to around Rs 820 crores today!
“Aradhana”
went on to mark a watershed in Hindi film history in more ways than one:
1.
It heralded the arrival of Hindi cinema’s
first superstar – Rajesh Khanna, who reigned supreme for the next four-to-five
years, unseating all existing Hindi matinee idols
2.
It marked the final, decisive arrival of
Kishore Kumar as a singer after he had languished in the side-lines for almost
20 years. He completely eclipsed even such a legendary singer as Mohammad
Rafi and reigned supreme until his death in 1987.
3.
It catapulted lyricist Anand Bakshi to the
numero uno position in Bollywood. He had been struggling to get a foothold
after making a debut in 1958. After “Aradhana”, he became the go-to poet for
all music directors, including S.D.Burman, R.D.Burman and Laxmikant-Pyarelal.
4.
The time was ripe for a change in Hindi film
music. For more than 20 years, music directors like Shankar-Jaikishan,
O.P.Nayyar, Madanmohan, Roshan and Naushad had been shaping audience tastes in
music. But all good things have to come to an end and the time was just
right for new sounds, new arrangements and new music styles to appear.
“Aradhana” did this by encouraging Rahul Dev Burman to finally leave the shadow
of his father, S.D.Burman, and strike out on his own, to become the Badshah of
Bollywood music. How did it do this?
S.D.Burman
had become quite seriously ill during the making of the film. He had
composed a few tunes but hadn’t gotten around to actually fleshing out the
songs. It was at this time that R.D.Burman stepped in. RD had
already made significant contributions to his father’s music in films like
“Guide”, “Teen Devian” and “Jewel Thief”. Many of the songs of these
films had a touch of modernism in their tunes and orchestration largely because
of RD’s inputs. Just think of how different “Gaata Rahe Mera Dil”, “Arey
Yaar Meri Tum Bhi Ho Ghazab”, “Khwab Ho Tum Ya Koi Haqeeqat”, “Yeh Dil Na Hota
Bechara” and “Aasman Ke Neeche” sound compared to the other songs you got in
that period, and you have the proof right there in front of you – the
unmistakeable touch of R.D.Burman in these evergreen hits. Even as he was
doing the music for movies like “Bhoot Bungla”, “Padosan”, “Teesri Manzil”,
“Baharon Ke Sapne” and “Pyar Ka Mausam” as an independent music director, RD
had continued to assist his father – until “Aradhana”.
With
SD unable to complete the music of “Aradhana”, Shakti Samanta turned to RD and
asked him if he could complete the score and take care of the recordings.
RD agreed – and music magic was made.
The
movie had the following songs:
1.
Mere sapnon ki rani
2.
Roop tera mastana
3.
Kora kagaz tha yeh man mera
4.
Baghon mein bahaar hai
5.
Gunguna rahen hain bhanware
6.
Chanda hai thu
7.
Safal hogi teri aradhana
I
invite your attention particularly to the first 5 songs listed above.
Just look at the unique tunes, the very different preludes and interludes
and the sophisticated orchestration of these numbers and you will readily agree
that nothing like this had ever been heard in Hindi film music until
then. That was RD’s magic touch.
Here
is some more trivia about these songs:
1.
RD himself played the harmonica in the prelude
of “Mere Sapnon Ki Rani”
2.
When “Mere Sapnon Ki Rani” was being shot in
Darjeeling, Sharmila Tagore was not even around. The entire song was shot
with only Rajesh Khanna and Sujit Kumar in the picture, driving an open
jeep. The bits with Sharmila were shot later in the studio and skilfully
added to the song sequence on the editing table
3.
The original tune conceptualized by S.D.Burman
for “Roop Tera Mastana” was very different from the end result. It was a
very earthy tune, much like the boatman songs SD was famous for.
R.D.Burman was aghast and took Kishore Kumar’s help to tactfully convince SD
that the situation demanded a more modern sounding, erotic song. RD and
Kishore then gave “Roop Tera Mastana” the final shape we are familiar with.
4.
Shammi Kapoor later said “Kora Kagaz Tha Yeh
Man Mera” was the quintessential R.D.Burman song – melodious, heart-warming and
unforgettable. Kishore’s soulful humming that echoes in the beginning of
this song is essentially an RD creation and forms one of “Aradhana’s” most
memorable motifs.
5.
Kishore Kumar won the Filmfare award for Best
Male Singer for “Roop Tera Mastana”
At
the press party held at “Jet”, S.D.Burman’s bungalow, to celebrate the release
of the music album of “Aradhana”, several esteemed invitees showered high
praise on SD for what sounded even then like a path-breaking score.
Everyone
ignored the son standing quietly in the corner of the drawing room – the son
who had been instrumental in creating this totally refreshing score. The
credit went entirely to the father.
It
is probably at this moment, when he stood isolated in a corner, that RD took an
on-the-spot decision to stop being his father’s chief assistant, to move out
and make his own mark as a composer of unusual soundtracks.
There
was a whole generation waiting to be conquered by the voice of Kishore Kumar on
Rajesh Khanna and RD soon made this generation emphatically his own.
Shakti
Samanta was well aware of RD’s role in shaping the musical score of “Aradhana”,
which is why he went on to use RD in his next projects, including “Kati Patang”
and “Amar Prem”.
Interestingly,
Samanta also spilled the beans while releasing the dubbed Bengali version of
“Aradhana” in 1976 – the publicity material contained the names of both father
and son as music composers for the film!
In
what has remained a mystery to music lovers, the Filmfare award for Best Music
of 1969 went, not to “Aradhana”, but to “Jeene Ki Raah” for which
Laxmikant-Pyarelal composed the music.
Kishore
Kumar’s son Amit Kumar recalls a statement by the great Jaikishan (of
Shankar-Jaikishan fame) about RD:
“Ye
jo ladka aayega, aake sabki chutti karne wala hai. Ye guni hai. Iska
music maine suna hai. Ye aake sabko change kar dega. Isko
underestimate mat karo” (This boy will outshine everyone. I’ve heard his
music. He has it in him. He will change music as we know it.
Do not underestimate him).
Prophetic
words indeed!!!
S.V.Srinivasan has been a Bengalurean all his life. He did his schooling in St Joseph’s Boys’ High School, his graduation in St Joseph’s College of Commerce and post-graduation in Bangalore University. He worked in the newspaper industry (in the field of Circulation) for the next forty years – first with The Hindu and then with the Deccan Herald group. After retiring in 2016, he has been devoting more time to his two passions – reading (he is a voracious reader) and film music of the 1950s, 60s and 70s in both Hindi and Tamil film industries.
He can be contacted on srini1958@gmail.com.
