Indian films are unusual. For any song that we see on screen both the actor and the invisible singer get credit. For music composition, the Music Director's name features prominently in the credits, no doubt. But, what about the accompanying music? The way it colours the song situation, the way it sharpens the on-screen character, the life that it breathes into the core tune.... Remember, earlier those days music was played on actual musical instruments with their lungs, wrists, fingers, hand and feet.... Those were not sounds generated on synthesizers. On an average, it took anything between 20 to 100 plus - yes, it took a big team comprising assistants, arrangers and musicians running three rows back to record a song. That is why the recording studios needed to be spacious. And the musicians did not merely limit themselves to playing the notes that the Composers asked them to. They added value with ideas, new sounds, innovations, instruments.... they added value with their heads... and more importantly, with their hearts. The senior musicians would coach the junior ones and mentor them through their personal struggles. They added priceless value.
And now you are asked to name some of these musicians?
You may say, Next question please.
And this is the question that Rudradeep Bhattacharjee has tried to answer in his documentary 'The Human Factor' which was screened at Alliance Francaise Madras, Chennai on 16th Nov. It is a tribute to those musicians who never claimed credit for the innumerable Taj Mahals that they had built. (Thankfully they did not get their thumbs chopped off).
Says Director Rudradeep Bhattacharjee, "This is a self-funded film and, apart from the film festival screenings, I have been traveling with it the last few months, showing it in various cities across India, trying to get as many people as possible to watch it. Because I think this is a story that needs to be shared, that needs to be more widely known".
The story was mostly about the prominent Bombay based Parsi family of musicians - the Lords. Cawas Lord who played the background score in the first ever talkie Alam Ara (1931), his sons Kersi Lord and Burjor Lord... all resolute pillars to every composer they worked with. The Lords are like a team of relay runners, keeping the show on road from 1931 till the 2000s. "For about 40 years (roughly the years 1947-87), every third song recorded for a Hindi film featured a Lord playing an instrument," says Rudradeep Bhattacharjee.
Bhattacharjee dusts off the yellowed pages, as the Lord family wafts gently back on time in 'The Human Factor'. There is an unhurried approach to the story telling, with pauses by the characters, punctuated by natural, undubbed noises in the background. The musical journey of the Lords commenced with Cawas Lord playing the Bagpipes for marching bands, the Taj Hotel in 1930s and the migration into films thanks to the prohibition. But these musicians brought with them their Jazz and Latino DNAs into Bombay film world - a significant contribution.
The presence and importance of the Lords grew with time with the family winning innate trust of all major composers like SD Burman, OP Nayyar, Shankar-Jaikishen, Naushad, C. Ramchandra. And to a crescendo in the 1970s with the RD Burman exotica of blend, pop, funk and his extreme demands of innovative sounds and effects.
And then came programming. "We used synthesizers to enhance the sound, not to replace it", points out Kersi Lord. But there it was. Electronic machines started replacing live musicians. It ended the careers of many who still had 20 years to go. Percussionist Homi Mullan packs his instruments into his bag. "I have told my wife whom to hand over these instruments to... ", says Homi, referring to the bongo, Kokiriro, the ghungroo, "... when the times comes", he adds.
One senses that he knows that there may only have relic value in future. The collar mike comes off Cawas Lord and his faraway eyes reflect a hundred histories on the polished glass table. A small girl child plays a woodwind instrument in a solitary walk in the woods. "That era is gone", sums Kersi.
But thankfully, the Lords' contribution to Hindi music has been glorified by significant awards for Lifetime Achievements like Dadasaheb Phalke and Airtel Mirchi Award and by way of public recognition on stage shows. They deserve it.
One wishes that Bhattacharjee had dwelt more on how some of the specific sound effects were created e.g. bullet sounds, the sound of stone falling in O Meri Soni (Yadon ki Baraat), the Shalimar title track, the intro music of Ye ladka hai allah (Hum Kisise Kum Naheen)... or the Echolite, and the history of the Moog synthesizer, which was a game changer.
Also, covering Homi Mullan and Arranger Enoch Daniels was a good idea. But, if the script did go beyond the Lords, one wonders as to why a few other contemporary musicians were not covered. Bhattacharjee could have also touched a bit more on what music arrangement is all about. Maybe the length of the film (75 min) was a constraining factor.
But overall, a commendable effort to recognize the contribution of the behind-the-screen champions... with the Lords family members pitching in with those unheard of anecdotes about weirdo hairdos and the meal-table leg-pulling of the family members. The sentiment embedded in the closing scenes of "The Human Factor" stimulates a curiosity to study that history.
Make the children watch 'The Human Factor'.
They need to know.
About the authors:
Bhattacharjee and Balaji are winners of the President's Gold Medal National award for Best book on cinema in 2011 for 'RD Burman : The man, The music'.
Bhattacharjee can be contacted on
Twitter : @anibhat123
Facebook : [email protected]
Balaji can be contacted at
Twitter : @vittalbalaji
Facebook : [email protected]
Comments
0 comment