Mansoor Khan's debut feature not only launched Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla but revived music in mainstream Hindi cinema

Every era of Hindi cinema has seen itself being identified by a definitive sound and perhaps this could also be the reason for a clear transition, a transfer of power kind of act when one stalwart passed the baton to the upcoming one. While there was a clear transition between a Khemchand Prakash and a Naushad Ali, and then a Shankar-Jaikishan and an SD Burman, followed by an RD Burman and a laxmikant-Pyarelal (l-P),who along with Kalyanji-Anandji dominated the popular Hindi film music scene until the end of the 1970s. But unlike the past there was no pure evolution from this era to the next. While one could say that Kalyanji-Anandji and Biddu’s score for Qurbani and l-P’s Karz (1980) set the tone for the 1980s, and this followed by Bappi lahiri’s scintillating Disco Dancer (1982), arguably one of best disco-funk albums ever, only strengthened the case. Yet in just the first half of the decade there was a resurgence of the RD sound with Sanam Teri Kasam (1982), Masoom (1983), the return of classical influence with Khayyam with Umrao Jaan(1981) and Ravi’s Nikaah (1982) but surprisingly enough, these couldn’t save Hindi film music from falling into an abyss whereby the mid-1980s synthesised cacophony in the name of melody and double entendres in the name of lyrics had become commonplace.

For a cinema where music had been such an integral part where many times it was only the songs that audiences could recall long after the films were forgotten, the loss of melody was almost a death knell. Even with films that featured someone like an RD, songs weren’t attached the importance they once enjoyed. It was in this scenario that a film like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) came along and changed everything. In many ways director Mansoor Khan’s debut feature, which also launched the careers of Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla, was a throwback to the Hindi cinema of the 1960s and taking all classic elements such as romance, family drama, most importantly music where melody was the mainstay, the film simply pressed a refresh button that revived music in mainstream Hindi cinema. Featuring the music of then relatively unknown composers Anand and Milind Shrivastav, the songs of the film set a new standard and created a platform that allowed not just young musicians and singers but also entrepreneurs such as Gulshan Kumar, whose music label T-Series became synonymous with film music by producing lal Dupatta Malmal Ka (1989) and later Aashiqui (1990) that ushered in a new phase in Hindi film music.

The following is an exclusive excerpt from the author’s forthcoming book that explores the cultural significance and the impact of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak on popular Hindi cinema (Reproduced with permission from HarperCollins Publishers India):

For Mansoor Khan, the music of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak was a far greater motivation to make the film than anything else. Having seen his father, Nasir Hussain, in numerous sitting sessions with RD Burman and Majrooh Sulantanpuri over the years fascinated him about the process of creating music. Moreover, as someone who could play an instrument, drums, Mansoor was musically attuned and in that sense more conversant with this aspect of filmmaking than most others. Being a Nasir Hussain production it was a foregone conclusion that RD would provide the score and both Nasir Hussain as well as RD were raring to go. But Mansoor had other ideas. He believed that he’d simply be overawed by the presence of a giant such as RD and might not be able to put his point across. Irrespective of the bad patch that RD had hit in the mid-1980s Nasir Hussain was confident of RD delivering a fresh, young sound that the film demanded. “Even though I had seen him (RD) work with my father and knew how brilliant and intuitive he was, I didn’t know how I’d be able to relate to him,” says Mansoor of RD. Mansoor conveyed to his father that he’d need his space and perhaps out of sheer reverence to ‘Pancham Uncle’ he might not be able to express himself. Nasir Hussain understood Mansoor’s predicament and RD ended up making way for yet another second generation of musicians, who unlike him were still to come out of the shadow of their more illustrious father. 

Anand and Milind Shrivastav were the sons of music composer Chitragupt and although they had a release in Pankaj Parasher’s Ab Ayega Mazaa (1984) they were still relatively unknown. They had also composed the theme of the popular TV detective series Karamchand as well as the video magazine lehren. Being assistants to their father, who in spite of being a popular music composer in the 1960s never made it to the A-list, both were well trained to understand the nuances of Hindi film music. With Chitragupt transitioning into composing music for Bhojpuri films, Anand and Milind were also exposed to a typical Indian flavour which along with background in playing the piano and guitars respectively gave their sound a unique blend of two worlds. Milind recalls how the three of them would end up going on long drives in Mansoor’s red Maruti Omni discussing tunes. The brothers remember how Mansoor wouldn’t like a break in the mood and would simply make an unscheduled turn if a traffic signal ever threatened to stop them. The brothers respected Mansoor’s opinion when it came to music and loved being challenged by someone who knew what he was talking about but they weren’t still sure about being the final choice as they still somewhere believed that being a Nasir Hussain production, RD Burman would be an automatic choice. But the die was cast the day a call from Nasir Hussain himself brought Anand-Milind on-board.

Rather than changing the manner in which music was traditionally composed in Hindi cinema, Anand-Milind decided to approach not just the score but also the musicians differently. Starting from Papa kehte hai, the song that would go on to become the anthem of the nation in a few years, Mansoor visually described the orchestra along with its sections that would appear on screen and the brothers wrote the score based on that. With the tune finalised and much of the arrangement done, it was time for the lyricist to join in and once again being a Nasir Hussain production Majrooh Sultanpuri was a spontaneous choice. This once Nasir Hussain ended up acting as a buffer of sorts between the legendary poet-lyricist and his son. Unlike his father Mansoor wasn’t too conversant with Urdu poetry and believed that he lacked the mechanism needed by a Hindi film director to convert what he wanted in the lyrics. Both Majrooh Sultanpuri and Nasir Hussain had immense respect for each other and Mansoor never doubted that the only reason the veteran wordsmith was working with him was because of his long association with his father. Majrooh, who had seen Mansoor grow up in front of his eyes, was quite accommodating when engaging with the young director. Mansoor would explain the situation in a broken manner, a mix of sentences and key words and Majrooh would patiently hear and come up with some verses.

Although Papa kehte hai was finalised first it was the duet Gazab ka hai din that was recorded first. Traditionally in Hindi cinema the tune more often than not got precedence over the words and both Mansoor as well as the music directors were throwbacks on this old school method. Anand-Milind had grown up with this belief while Mansoor didn’t know any other way of working as he had seen his father and RD Burman work this way.

The basic tune forGazab ka hai din was a mix of country and rock ballad and portions of it are almost evocative of Neil Diamond’s Play Me but the mood was new for Hindi music and so was the arrangement. One rarely heard trombones in a love duet and Majrooh’s words that were almost conversational in nature merged beautifully with the arrangement and even infused enthusiasm.

It was their father’s Bhojpuri innings that also gave Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak its playback singers in the form of Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik. Udit Narayan had come to Bombay in the late 1970s and was on the verge of giving up on his dream of becoming a playback singer when the faint possibility of Mansoor’s future project inspired him to hang on. Mansoor was also clear about using a new set of voices for both Aamir and Juhi as opposed to the established ones and even though Abhijeet was discussed as an option in the end Mansoor opted for Udit Narayan.

At the time when the music of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak was being created the format of recording was also undergoing a transition from mono to stereo and this was one of the first few films with stereophonic sound. While recording on multi-tracks gave the music director the freedom to record the song and music separately, the singer still had to sing the full song as option of plugging in a part or cutting and pasting portions or even effects such as pitch-correction were a few years away. Most of the songs were recorded over a couple of days with the rhythm and strings on one and the vocals on the second day. In some cases such asGazab ka hai din the entire song was recorded in a single day. While Anand-Milind, Mansoor and Nasir Hussain were on the same page for most of the recording the only time the three differed was during the recording of the lullaby Kahe sataye. Milind often wonders that the tune wasn’t done justice to keeping the short duration of the song in mind. “It was such a sweet melody and I wanted to record a full song,” recalls the younger brother but Anand is quick to add that Nasir sahab wanted to keep it as is. Mansoor, on the other hand, remembers his father toying with the idea of a song but he wanted to go a step ahead and keep a threadbare version with just Alka Yagnik humming the song without any music. Interestingly this is one of his favourite things about the film, which ironically enough is also one of the few things he regrets not doing right and given half a chance this would perhaps be the only thing he’d like to change about the film.

Which brings one to Aye mere humsafar. The brothers vaguely knew the situation of the song but Mansoor had given them an idea of the images that would make the montage such as ticking clock, Rashmi (Juhi Chawla) striking the days on the calendar, the picnic, etc. In an inspired spurt the two worked out a basic melody of Aye mere humsafar and recorded it right away on their cassette player to present it to Nasir Hussain, who approved it as soon as he heard it. Mansoor had taken off in his sailboat on an impromptu break to Alibaugh and bad weather had delayed his return but like his father, he immediately approved the tune once he was back. Anand-Milind had wanted one song to have some Indian element and in that sense Aye mere humsafar ended up being the archetypal Hindi film song of the soundtrack. They worked out a rhythm pattern that would feature Indian percussion such as the dholak and the tabla but at the same time be a departure from the standard recognisable pattern. With a little help from Dubey, a much sort after dholak virtuoso who also happened to be a regular with RD Burman, the duo came up with a pattern where the bol or the mnemonic system of strokes is different for the intro and the verses.

Besides Mansoor’s clarity and his willingness to be open enough to ideas, it was also the manner in which Anand-Milind approached the musicians that made a huge difference to the songs of the film. The duo had their favourite set of musicians contributing to the score and this list included some of the best in the trade such as Kawas lord, Homi Mullan (Percussion), Viju Shah (Keyboards), Shayam Raj (Sporano sax), Raju Singh and Sunil Kaushik (Electric Guitar)  (Electric Guitar), Tony Vaz and Ramesh Iyer (Bass) and Dubey (Dholak). With the advent of synthesised sounds in the mid 1980s and the general decay in the quality of music most of these musicians rarely got a score that would push the envelope but here they knew that they were on to something. But the enduring impact that Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’s music would have on Hindi cinema was still some distance away.

The signs might have been there but most in the industry weren’t able to fathom the manner in which the music of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak would ultimately end up signaling a return to melody. As the film underwent a long period of endless trial shows with distributors expressing their doubts about the film’s potential at the box-office, the lukewarm response to the film’s music ended up being a common factor of doubt across the array of prospective buyers. They questioned the ending, debated over the title but simply couldn’t get over the music which most felt was poor when compared to typical Nasir Hussain productions. This was still a time when a distributor’s word could seal the fate of films and although Nasir Hussain was still a revered figure, a film from his banner with what they called thanda or lukewarm music was an anomaly too conspicuous to ignore. In spite of some air time on radio and an official launch by Rishi Kapoor, the music was still to hit the bull’s eye but it was one of the trials that a close friend of Nasir Hussain finally saw what the world was yet to witness. Shammi Kapoor and Nasir Husain were close friends and the star whose career was practically resurrected by the filmmaker told him that no one could stop the film or its music. But the biggest compliment that the music got was from the man who could have been the one composing it.

“Pancham da loved the music and complimented us on the sound we managed to get”, says Anand and recalls how RD kept asking them about the entire process. Milind says, “I was stunned and said, ‘What are you saying, Pancham da!’ and told him how we not only used most of his musicians but also the same recording studio at Film Center.” Yet the veteran trailblazer kept asking them about the placement of mics, etc. and assured them that it was a matter of time before the their music worked it’s magic.

The writer is is the author of the best-selling Dark Star: The loneliness of Being Rajesh Khanna. Tweet him @gchintamani