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M. L. Dhawan
takes a look at the rise and fall of ghazals in Hindi film industry
GHAZAL has been rightly described as the soul of Urdu literature and most popular form of Urdu poetry. It has always been an integral part of Bollywood. Beginning from the 1940s, legendary singers like Talat Mahmood and K. L. Saigal had immortalised this genre. But from soulful renditions like "Sham-e-gham ki kasam" of those times to the present spoof in Delhi Belly — "Nakkadwale disco, udhaarwale khisko", ghazal has come a long way. According to ghazal king Jagjit Singh, "Filmmakers have no taste for ghazals. A lot of youngsters like soft songs these days, but Bollywood has no interest in ghazals anymore."
The number in Delhi Belly not only takes a potshot at the whole ghazal culture, but also singer Chetan Shashital has also tried to imitate Saigal’s voice. Even Imran’s character is said to be modelled on Naseeruddin Shah’s ghazal singer character in Sarfarosh and ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas. It is ironic that the present generation of music lovers can neither appreciate Saigal nor understand the fine nuances of ghazals. In blazing a trail for ghazal singing in films, Saigal had set high standards for others to match. Talat Mahmood, Mohammad Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Mukesh and Asha Bhonsle were content to model themselves after Saigal. He was the first institution in ghazal-singing. After the demise of Saigal, his followers like Talat, Rafi, Lata, Mukesh and Asha, not only kept the tradition of ghazal-singing alive but also improved upon it. More than any other singer Talat Mahmood gave an identity to ghazal singing after Saigal. In 1941, HMV, the gramophone company, released some records of geets and ghazals of Talat Mahmood. Numbers like "Aye dil mujhe aisi jagha le chal, jahan koi na ho", "Zindagi dene wale sun", "Sham-e-gham ki kasam" made Talat a household name. He provided Lakhnavi grace and refinement to ghazal singing. Talat also contributed to institutionalising ghazals in the subcontinent. Rafi, who worked with the finest of composers and lyricists, gave their tunes, words, and ideas a divine expression. He, too, created works of art in many individual ghazals like "Dekhi zamane ki yaari, bichde sabhi baari baari", "Rang aur noor ki saughat kise pesh karoon", "Yeh duniyan yeh mehfil mere kaam ki nahin", "Maine chand aur sitaron ki tammanna ki thhi", etc. Even music directors like Naushad, C. Ramchandra, Shankar-Jaikishan, Roshan, Khayyam, A. R. Qureshi, Hafiz Khan, Ghulam Mohammed etc had the necessary resilience and acumen for ghazal composing. But Madan Mohan’s compositions had that extra something that had the knack of touching the heart with his soothing tunes such as "Youn hasraton ke daag mohabbat mein dho liye, "Apni to yeh aadat hai ke hum kuch nahin kehte", "Hum pyar mein jalne walon ko", "Aap ki nazroon ne samjha pyar ke kabil mujhe", "Ruke ruke se kadam ruk ke baar baar chale" etc. The setback to this genre after Madan Mohan’s death proved fatal despite efforts by composers like Naushad and Khayyam. After Roshan, Khayyam is the only surviving maestro of ghazals in films. Khayyam entered the film world with Zia Sarhaddy’s Footpath and "Sham-e-gham ki kasam" made him a force to reckon with. He continued with his style of composing melodious ghazals in films like Bazaar, Umrao Jaan, Kabhi Kabhie, Razia Sultan etc. It is tragic that despite the presence of composers like Khayyam, Ravi, and singers like Lata, Asha, Manna Dey, Jagjit Singh, Anoop Jalota, Pankaj Uddhas, Talat Aziz, Peenaz Masanni, Bhupinder-Mitali, Ashok Khosla, Anwar etc., ghazal is languishing in utter neglect. None of these artistes is in a position to revive, much less resurrect, this dying genre. In the decades from the 1970s to 1990s, violent films ruled Bollywood. It became impossible to compose ghazals for such films where the hero breathed fire and wielded guns. The synthesiser-based
melodies have now turned into a malady and music into mockery. The
synthesiser’s multi-keyboard operation, with its capacity to produce
any sound, has reduced singers to near redundancy and destroyed the
true quality of our vintage music, including ghazal singing and
composing.
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