Master of melody

The songs of most of Raj Kapoor’s films topped the charts, writes Surendra Miglani

Songs of Raj Kapoor’s Sangam were a hit with music buffs

Actor, producer, director and editor par excellence. This is how history would remember Raj Kapoor. However, what would never come on record is his talent as music maker.

Several top film personalities who were associated with the RK set-up and even those who watched him at work often recall his unique sense of music and his contribution to making the musical score of his movies truly memorable. He indeed weaved ‘melody of life’ into his music, as a renowned film journal commented after his death on June 2, 1988.

At a function organised by HMV to celebrate the success of Ram Teri Ganga Maili in Mumabi, Lata Mangehkar had said: "At RK, early on, all music may have been credited to Shanker-Jaikishan, later Laxmikant-Pyarelal may have taken over and now it is Ravindra Jain. But one thing I, as the one who has sung for RK from Barsaat down, have seen is that the music in any RK film is, in the ultimate analysis, given by Raj saab himself".

A recent Hindi book Geetmala ka Sureela Safar brought out by Anil Bhargav, a hardcore music buff now working as vice-principal in Government Lohia PG College at Churu (Rajasthan), throws out quite a few revelations related to Hindi film music. The book recounts in detail the history of Binaca/Cibaca Geetmala which originated at Radio Ceylon but was shifted to Vividh Bharati in later years. The programme, which was on air for nearly 42 years (from 1952 onwards), has been the longest ever on Indian radio and TV.

Songs were included in the weekly programme on the basis of the sale figures of albums and votes of radio listeners. The annual programme used to be aired at the end of the year in which the most popular songs derived from weekly programmes played through the year were included. For a few years, points were given to songs on the basis of the position at which they were played in the weekly programme for preparation of the annual hit parade lists. The songs played in the annual programme were considered the most popular numbers of the year and it was considered a true barometer of popularity of film music.

An analysis of the catalogues clearly establishes Raj Kapoor as the champion music maker of Bollywood. The score of Sangam emerges as the most popular of Indian film history post-1952, taking into consideration the points scored by the songs from the movie which figured in the annual list. Of a total of 32 songs played in the annual programme of 1964, four were from this movie (Mere man ki Ganga`85 Ye mera prem patra padh kar`85 Main ka karoon Ram`85 and Dost dost no raha `85 which were played at No. 1, 2, 10 and 12, respectively). Thus the songs scored 32, 31, 23 and 21 points, respectively (top song was given 32 points, the runner up 31 and so on), adding up to 107 points. No other collection of songs from a single movie scored so many points.

When it comes to the maximum number of songs of a film played in an annual programme, the credit is again cornered by an RK movie — Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti hai. Of the 32 songs played in 1961, as many as five were from this dacoit drama (Ho maine pyaar kiya`85, Mera naam Raju`85, Hoton pe sachchai rehati hai `85, Begani shadi mein`85 and O basanti`85 ). With a total number of 100 points, it also emerges as the second most popular musical of film history after Sangam.

As many as 35 songs from films made by Raj Kapoor figured in the annual programmes of the Geetmala, again a record. These songs were drawn from 13 movies. Only two movies — Boot Polish and Biwi O Biwi — made by RK during the existence of Geetmala failed to figure in the annual lists of popular numbers. Since RK’s musical milestones like Aag, Barsaat and Aawara came before the countdown show made its debut, songs from these movies do not figure in the lists.

Generally, when a movie bites dust at the box-office, its music goes off the popularity charts too. Music of a flop movie generally becomes popular only if it is extraordinarily sweet. Significantly, music of even flop movies of Raj Kapoor like Mera Naam Joker, Jaagte Raho, Ab Dilli Door Nahin, Kal Aaj aur Kal, Dharam Karam and Satyam Shivam Sundaram had prominent representation in Geetmala’s annual hit parades (by the way, Mera Naam Joker and Satyam Shivam Sundaram were also among the movies of RK that bagged Filmfare awards for Best Music).

Raj Kapoor had recorded only three songs for his film Henna when he died. His son, Randhir Kapoor finally made the movie. Two songs from the movie made it to the Geetmala hit parade in 1991 both of which had been recorded under the supervision of the senior Kapoor (Main hoon khushrang Heena and Anardana).

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