I have been an avid watcher of ‘TOTAL RECALL’(a feature on Bollywood Retrospectives ) on TIMES NOW, whenever time permits, since the program went on air, a couple of years back.
BOUQUETS
TOTAL RECALL, generally, does an excellent job by interspersing the narrative text with old melodies, human interest anecdotes, chats with relatives and associates of the artistes, and film biographers.
Apart from the excellence in content, the detailing, the anchoring, and the artistes featured on the program, what lends credibility to TOTAL RECALL is that the shades of grey , the human frailties, and the (rarely seen these days)camaraderie in the lives of the film artistes featured, are all portrayed objectively -e.g. ace director Raj Khosla’s depression after DOSTANA, when his subsequent films flopped , or the ups and downs in Madhubala’s personal life, or the camaraderie between Dev Anand and Guru Dutt, when, as strugglers, they agreed to support each other as an actor and director respectively in the films of each other, in the initial stages of their careers. The episodes on cinematographers, and music arrangers, played on TOTAL RECALL recently, were excellent, and gave an insight into the lives and times of some of the behind- the- scene greats of Hindi feature films such as R.D. Mathur (cinematographer of Mughale-Azam), V.K.Murthy (cinematographer of Pyaasa), and Anthony Gonsalves and Sebastian D’souza ( instrumentalists and arrangers par excellence), for many old classics.
A NOTCH ABOVE ‘MASTERS’ON MUSIC INDIA
TOTAL RECALL also has better production values, and creative inputs, than ‘MASTERS’, a somewhat similar program dedicated to Hindi cine artistes in a musical milieu, broadcast on MUSIC INDIA on Fridays, Sundays and Wednesdays.
DISAPPOINTMENT
However, sometimes TOTAL RECALL disappoints me.In the TOTAL RECALL program, a year back on Kishore Kumar’s death anniversary, some of his old melodies of the 1960s, like ‘Rangoli Sajao Re’ or ‘Chotisi Yeh Duniya’ from the film Rangoli set to music by Shanker Jaikishen, ‘Payalwali dekh na’ from Ek Raaz (probably one of the earliest of any classical numbers sung by the maestro) and set to music by Chitragupta, were missed out. This seems to happen, because there is a tendency on the part of contemporary programs to relate the musical genius of Kishore Kumar, to the 70s and after, with the advent of Rajesh Khanna and Aaradhana, and the unmusical 80s.Though it is true that Kishore Kumar was most prolific in the post Aaradhana period, when he gave several mellifluous and soulful numbers for the late superstar and other heroes , under the batons of S.D. Burman, R.D. Burman, Laxmikant -Pyarilal and Kalyanji-Anandji, and that his earlier songs were mainly for Dev Anand, his oeuvre in singing and comedy date back to the 50s and 60s, notwithstanding that those decades belonged to Mohammad Rafi and Mukesh .
The recent two- parts episodes on, ‘The Legend of R.D.Burman’ was good. Here again, if I recall rightly, old gems of Pancham from movies like Caravan, Mela, Zehrila Insaan(who can forget ‘O Hansini?’), Love Story, Balika Badhu (’Bade Acche Lagte Hain’), Padosan, Anaamika , and Bombay to Goa were, however, missed out, in these episodes.
Shaan, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Lalit, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma , and Javedsaaheb, pitched in with their best about the maestro’s life and times.I feel that , if only Ms Asha Bhonsle and Ms Lata Mangeshkar also, the last of the living legends of that bygone era of music, who have closely worked with Panchamda , had been brought on board in the 2 episodes , it would have been the best tribute to the musical genius. After all, one regularly sees Ashaji, in Indian Idol, on SONY TELEVISION, discussing Pancham, Ravi , Mehdi Hassan et al.
PARTIAL RECALLS
Again, ‘TOTAL RECALL –The Greatest Hits’, while paying tributes to Hindi film lyricist, KAIFI AZMI , aired at 9.30 pm on 22nd April , 2012, credited the song ‘ Oh Re Taal Mile Nadii Ke Jal Me, Nadii Mile Sagar Me ‘ of the 1968 film ’Anokhi Raat’ to Kaifi Saheb. This song, set to music by Roshan, was by another great lyricist, Indeevar. Probably, the lapse arose, as some other equally good songs in the same film, were penned by KAIFI AZMI.
Notable omissions in the above program were the Kaifi Azmi- penned evergreen numbers, soulfully rendered by Lata Mangeshkar such as, ’Pyaar Ki Daastaan, Tum Suno To Kahen’ from the film Faraar, and ’Kuch Aisi Baten Hoti Hein’ from Anupama, both set to music by Hemanta Kumar, and ’Do Din ki Zindagi, Kaisi Yeh ZIndagi’ ; ’Abhi Kya Sunogi, Suna to Hasogi’ from *Satyakam, * set to music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal.
NOSTALGIA
As a music aficionado, my childhood and adolescent years were, in the absence of television sets, spent in listening to good old VIVIDH BHARATI on my radio set, where it was, and still is a time-honoured convention to mention for every song, the name of the film it was recorded for, its lyricist, its music director and the name(s) of its singer(s). Even now, when it comes to Hindi film music, on the radio, I still prefer VIVIDH BHARATI or ‘Desh Ki Surili Dhadkan’, as they choose to call themselves, these days. The practice of playing hit film songs on VIVIDH BHARATI between 2.30 pm to 3.00 pm in the afternoon , (now christened ‘Sada Bahaar Nagme’) began in the1960’s and continue till date , from Mondays to Fridays, although the ‘contemporary‘ hit songs of those days have become ‘golden melodies’ now.
The ‘Sada Bahaar Nagme’, played between 2.30 pm and 3.30 pm on Saturdays and Sundays, and ‘Chaya Geet’ and ‘Bela Ke Phool‘ programs at 10pm and 11pm respectively, every night, on VIVIDH BHARATI, are also an absolute treat. Further, all these ‘khoobsoorti ko bayan karte khoobsoorat nagme’ are compered by excellent anchors, who bring their own distinct musical flavour to these programs.
I still remember my schooldays, when come Wednesday nights, whatever be our academic preoccupations, be they homework or term examinations, my siblings and myself , would make a beeline for our Murphy radio set between 8pm and 9pm , to hear the one and only Ameen Sayani’s Binaca Geetmala on Radio Ceylon.Raju Bharatan’s columns on music, in the ‘FILMFARE’ magazines , of those days were a must- read.
NOT FAIR
The same FILMFARE magazine(also from the TIMES group) , in one its recent 2012 issues, featured some top music directors of the golden musical era .It celebrated the musical genius of composers like Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Shanker-Jaikishen, R.D.Burman, S.D.Burman, Khayyam, Naushad, O.P.Nayyar, Kalyanji-Anandji.Though the article was well-written, it shot itself on its musical feet , by selectively omitting contemporaries of the aforesaid music composers, such as Chitragupta, Vasant Desai, Roshan, Ravi, C.Ramchandra, Salil Choudhary and Hemant Kumar , who were equal doyens of their craft in that golden musical era, though not as commercially successful.
CORRECT RECALL
I feel TV channels and film publications must research their subjects well by digging into the film archives, and other reliable sources, so that they do proper justice to such retrospectives.
I also wish that, while commemorating the great artistes of that golden era, most of whom are no more, the broadcasting and print media show greater sensitivity in avoiding unmusical gaffes, of the nature highlighted above, so that memories of the great artistes , whose contributions are sought to be eulogised, are ‘TOTALLY RECALLED’ in a true and ‘FILM fair’sense.