Urge to Fly

Today is Rahul Dev Burman’s 68th birthday. I wouldn’t say that RDB is my favourite Hindi film composer, for no one can displace Madan Mohan from that exalted position in my mind. However, I have always found myself drawn towards his compositions. There is something about RDB’s compositions that is distinctly unique – deceptively simple tunes embellished with truly innovative arrangements. I can’t think of any other music composer who would have experimented as much with a wide variety of sounds and genres, a composer for whom pushing the envelope became second nature.

On his 10th death anniversary 4 years back, I had tried to put together a list of my top 25 RDB compositions. This seems to be a good time to reproduce that list.

For a composer who produced musical gems with alarming regularity, picking 25 top compositions is quite an arduous task. Yet I tried to put together a list of some of my personal favourites (in no particular order). They might not be the most popular RD songs, but to me they represent RD’s amazing range as a composer. I must add that my personal bias in favour of Lata Mangeshkar (12 songs) and Gulzar (9 songs) may be evident in this list.

Ghar Aaja Ghir Aaye (Chhote Nawab): RD’s first film as an independent composer had this gem by Lata Mangeshkar. Based on Raag Malgunji, this song clearly exemplifies RD’s mastery over classical music.

Thodi Si Zameen (Sitara): A beautiful duet with amusing lyrics by Gulzar . The way Lata Mangeshkar sings the line baajre ke kheton mein kauve uraenge, especially the child-like amusement she expresses while saying the word Kauve, makes me want to listen to this song again and again.

Aapki Aankhon Mein (Ghar): RD adapted Raag Kedar to come up with one of the most evocative romantic duets by Lata and Kishore. With her trademark expression, Lata Mangeshkar adds coquettish charm to the word badmaashiyon.

Is Mod Se Jate Hain (Aandhi): Songs from Aandhi have to figure in my list of RD favourites. This was clearly the best to come from the RD-Gulzar combination.

Roz Roz Aankhon Tale (Jeeva): A great song utterly wasted in an eminently forgettable film.

Chura Liya Hai (Yaadon Ki Baraat): A classic in its own right. Innovative orchestration and great vocals make this song so popular even today.

Do Lafzon Ki Hai (The Great Gambler): Romance at its best. The visuals of Amitabh Bachchan and Zeenat Aman romancing on a gondola in Venice still remain fresh in my memory

Mera Kuchh Saamaan (Ijaazat): Undoubtedly Asha’s best song with RD. The fact that RD could compose such a beautiful melody around free verse is a clear indication of his mastery.

Khaamosh Sa Afsana (Libaas): Sad that this film never got a proper theatrical release. The soundtrack boasts of four Lata gems, each better than the other

Pal Do Pal Ka Saath Hamara (The Burning Train): RD composed many qawwalis which were more popular than this one, but this one is my favourite for its unique orchestration and Sahir’s wonderful words.

Humein Tumse Pyar Kitna (Kudrat): I prefer the semi-classical version by Parveen Sultana than the more popular one by Kishore.

Bheeni Bheeni Bhor Aayi (Dil Padosi Hai): Just listen to this wonderful composition in Mian Ki Todi, and visuals of dawn break come up instantly. The visuals you associate with most film songs are the director’s vision, but being a non-film song it is RD’s music that paints the visuals in this song.

Saawan ke Jhoole Pade (Jurmana): Set to the melodic strains of Raag Pahadi, this is one of my favourite Lata songs.

Chingari Koi Bhadke (Amar Prem): All the songs from Amar Prem were masterpieces, but the evocative visuals and smple yet profound lyrics of this one stand out.

Kuchh Na Kaho (1942 A Love Story): RD did not live to savour the resurgence of success, but this soundtrack will always figure among his best scores.

Chaandni Re Jhoom (Naukar): A delightfully melodious Lori by Lata and Kishore, did not get its due.

Huzoor Is Qadar (Masoom): One of the best male duets ever.

Duniya Mein Logon Ko (Apna Desh): How can this list not have a song sung by RD himself.

Suraj Ka Jo Kiran Se Nata (Hungama): A rare Lata-Mukesh melody, which never got its due. Few people have heard it even today.

Tumne Mujhe Dekha (Teesri Manzil): Although RD’s association with Kishore Kumar was more fruitful, this song saw the RD-Rafi combination at its best.

Main Shaayar Badnaam (Namak Haram): The pathos in this song is unrivalled. It moistens my eyes each time I hear it.

Kya Jaanoon Sajan (Baharon Ke Sapne): RD made innovative use of the multi-track singing in this song, giving an impression of two voices overlapping. This effect was used again in Qatra Qatra in Ijaazat.

Kahin Karti Hogi (Phir Kab Milogi): Anamika’s horrific version of this song might have been more popular, but just listen to the original for its simple yet timeless melody.

Jaane Kya Baat Hai (Sunny): I’ve always felt that RD gave his best melodies to Lata than Asha. Check this one out.

Powered by: Chakpak.com	Jhoom Barabar Jhoom

My rating: 7/10

There was a time, not very long back, when screen lovers in mainstream Hindi films would suddenly find themselves in Switzerland singing their mandatory love ballad amid verdant valleys and Alpine surroundings. As time progressed, and Switzerland became oh-so-familiar, the locations became more global – Australia, New Zealand, Canada, et al. What did not change was the fact that our protagonists, though quintessential desis, would fantasize about singing and dancing in distant foreign locales. A dream, after all, reflects one’s aspiration, not reality. You dream of something that is…well, distant.

Now, have you ever thought about where NRIs would dream of singing their love duet? Well, India of course. They would dream of traveling on Indian Railways, meeting at the Old Delhi Railway station, navigating their way through the busy by lanes of Chandni Chowk on cycle rickshaws, wandering up and down the steps of an exotic step-well somewhere in Rajasthan, and of course serenading at the Taj. In other words – all that India stands for in the eyes of a foreigner: exotica. The lovebirds in Shaad Ali's Jhoom Barabar Jhoom do precisely that. Doesn't matter if one of them is not really an Indian, and perhaps Lahore would be a better choice for her as a 'dream destination'.

Jhoom Barabar Jhoom has many such moments, which fall well within the conventions of Hindi films, but have a delightfully 'different' treatment. First and foremost – the melodrama is completely gotten rid of, save for some brief moments towards the climax. Secondly, the film has virtually no plot, which is very true of most mainstream Hindi films. But unlike other films, Shaad Ali seems to know this very well and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom doesn't pretend to be anything else. This plotless, have-fun-while-it-lasts flick actually elevates thematic vacuousness to the level of a virtue. It is the non-existent storyline and an absence of 'dramatic conflict' that makes Jhoom Barabar Jhoom such fun to watch. What a sharp contrast from Ta Ra Rum Pum , the last film from the same production house that tried so hard to be 'meaningful' but ended up getting nowhere.

The entire first half of the film is about two strangers meeting at London's Waterloo railway station and narrating the stories of their respective love lives to kill time. The stories they narrate are bizarre and outrageous, but presented in a delightfully different manner. OK, not so different but not commonplace either. The narration of these stories has the same chutzpah and tongue-in-cheek quality that Sai Paranjpe presented so hilariously in Chashme Baddoor . Remember the scenes in Chashme Baddoor where Ravi Baswani and Rakesh Bedi try to cover up their failure in wooing Deepti Naval and take inspiration from the Hindi films they have seen to spin interesting yarns about their escapades?

Jhoom Barabar Jhoom pays homage to a number of Hindi films (many of them classics). So when the lovers are at the Taj, Jo Waada Kiya from Taj Mahal plays in the background. A prostitute names Laila gets her introduction with the Laila song from Qurbani. Ye Dosti accentuates the scene where Abhishek and Boobby are riding on a scooter with a sidecar, just like the way their fathers did in Sholay. A bit corny, yes. But what the heck, it’s meant to be fun.

The reason I liked Jhoom Barabar Jhoom was that it never takes itself too seriously. The humour, though corny at times, comes across quite effortlessly. Just try to think about the lines you might have used to inject humour in your regular conversations with friends. At that moment they would have seemed very funny, but take them to a different setting and they would appear completely inane. That’s a quality the team of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom - the writers, director, actors- manages to infuse in the film quite successfully. My true LOL moment in the film was when Piyush Mishra is quite annoyed having to wait for his kababs to be served and shouts "…kya bakra kaatne gaya hai?" and the shop owner shouts at his cook using the exact same words. I realize that this doesn't sound funny when I write it down, but in the film this scene had me in splits.

Jhoom Barabar Jhoom relies a lot on Shankar Ehsaan Loy's high-octane music and brilliant choreography by Vaibhavi Merchant to get its unique fun feel . The conceptualization of the Kiss of Love song is imaginative and very Broadway-ish. Gulzar's rustic lyrics add to the charm of the song and dance routines, though at time you wonder if the characters in the film would have in their vocabulary the words he gives them to mouth. But a die-hard Gulzar fan like me would not complain, because his distinctive touch stays intact in his songs, not to mention his fascination for the moon and the new imagery he associates with the moon and moonlight. A few examples:

- आजा चाँदनी कूटेँगे आसमान को लूटेँगे, चल धुआँ उड़ा के झूम
- यहीं कहीं शब काटेंगे, चिलम चटाई बाँटेंगे, चल धुआँ उड़ा के झूम
- मक्की की रोटी गुड़ रख के, मिसरी से मीठे लब चख के, तन्दूर जला के झूम
- खीसे खुलने लगे हैं, हीरे तुलने लगे हैं…
- चाँद की उतार ली हैं दोनों बालियाँ…
- ये चाँद का चिकना साबुन कुछ देर में घुल जायेगा…
- धागे तोड़ लाओ चाँदनी से नूर के…

I know that I belong to the rare breed of people who actually enjoyed Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. It's been panned universally by critics and I'm yet to hear a positive comment from anyone who has seen the film. I don't understand why, but there have been many times when my views have not matched with others. For one, I saw many good points even in the now forgotten Umrao Jaan when others found none. At first I used to be very defensive about my views, but not anymore. Jhoom Barabar Jhoom is my guilty pleasure. Actually not - I don't feel embarrassed to admit that I loved it. If other's didn't, it's not my problem!

P.S: I have finally found one review that gives a thumbs up to JBJ, and the best part is that it is by my favorite reviewer Baradwaj Rangan.

My rating: 5/10

If you haven't watched the first two installments of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and you decide to watch this one (if not for anything else, just to find out what the fuss is all about), it is very likely that you will not follow what's going on. You might even start cursing yourself for not taking a quick refresher course of the first two films before venturing for the third. But don't worry. Even Pirates veterans – a category I would like to put me in - find themselves in exactly the same situation. Whether you're experienced or a first-timer, your thoughts will exactly be the same – what the hell's going on?

A coherent plot is not a virtue even the hugely entertaining first film – The Curse of the Black Pearl - can boast of. What worked there was Johnny Depp's outstanding portrayal of the quirky Captain Jack Sparrow. Through an Academy Award nominated performance, he created an iconic character that was instantly loved by one and all.

The second film – Dead Man's Chest – went a step ahead. It included a lot more convoluted plot elements that were difficult to follow. Again, Captain Jack Sparrow's persona rescued the film from mediocrity. Not to mention the plot device that added a delicious pun in the film's title – a live, beating heart kept in a 'dead man's chest'….. body part, chest, box – get it?

Now comes At World's End – a perfect exemplification of the law of diminishing returns. Emboldened by the enormous box-office success of the second film, the filmmakers try to make this one bigger – in terms of scale, plot, characters, SFX, what have you. But it doesn't come even close to the funny brilliance of the first, or even the second. By virtue of an over-crowded plot, what you finally get is an incoherent, convoluted, over-plotted mishmash. You might start with the good intentions of wanting to follow the plot, but it's just too much to warrant any comprehension. I, for one, gave up after the very disappointing first 30 minutes. It just wasn't worth it.

After a while, what was happening on the screen didn't really matter. I just longed for Jack Sparrow to make an appearance and redeem the show. The wait was quite agonizing because it seemed that Jack - at the behest of the screenwriters, of course - was in no mood to grace us with his appearance just yet. And when he did, we saw not one, not two, but tens of Jack Sparrow on screen. Fantastic, I thought. It's party time now!

Not really. My excitement was terribly short-lived. Despite the fact that the film is agonizingly long, the screen time given to Jack Sparrow is unpardonably short. Let me put it another way, the length is agonizing because Jack Sparrow is criminally neglected. What were the filmmakers thinking? It's outright blasphemy! I mean, how could they even think of sidelining a character who is the only reason for the franchise to have worked thus far?

On the whole, At World's End is boring! I think someone should make a version where everything else but Jack Sparrow is edited out of the film. It might be a disjointed and plot-less 'short film', but infinitely more watchable and engrossing than this over-plotted exercise in tedium.