There are families that have contributed to cinema, and then there are the lords. Independent filmmaker Rudradeep Bhattacharjee's documentary features this clan of musicians, chronicling their unparalleled but rather unknown contribution to Hindi film music. The director shared details with Sukalp Sharma
Timeless classics from the Hindi film music treasure trove have reverberated through the decades, melodies resonating with successive generations, adding fresh layers of charm and aging well like a good wine. From Gore Gore, O Baanke Chhore (Samadhi) to Yeh Raat Bheegi Bheegi (Chori Chori) and many more, these classics have firmly made a mark as an indispensable part of the identity of popular Hindi cinema of yesteryears. But unlike the glory that such masterpieces earned for music directors, vocalists and even the actors who starred in the songs, the generic eye quite conveniently chooses to gloss over the people who toil behind the scenes to create that magic. What if we told you about a family of musicians whose contribution to Hindi film music is spread across more than five decadesIJ Yes, the lords, a family of Parsi musicians has made a contribution to Indian film music that is second to none. While there are no real statistics, it is said that every third song in the Hindi film industry had a lord playing in it for at least four decades starting 1947. Mumbai-based independent filmmaker Rudradeep Bhattacharjee has chronicled the story of the lords and their colossal contribution to music over the years in his 76-minute documentary The Human Factor, which premiered at the New York Indian Film Festival in May this year and was recently screened at IHC.
“A few years ago, I read Behind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai’s Film Studios by Gregory D Booth, a New Zealand-based ethnomusicologist, which fascinated me. That planted the seed and it was in mid-2011 that I realised that I had enough money to start making the film,” says Bhattacharjee. He tells us that he was taken in by the story of the father-son duo — Cawas lord and Kersi lord — and zeroed in on the lords as the subject of the film. It was during his own research and his interaction with Kersi lord that Bhattacharjee learnt about Cawas lord’s other son, Bujji lord, who also played considerably in film scores and was quite a prolific drummer back in the day. Thus, he expanded the scope of the documentary around the three men, who have between them played right from the era of silent films, through the golden period of Indian cinema, right until the not-so-old crop of films like Dil Toh Pagal Hai.
Belonging to a middle-class Parsi family from Pune, Cawas lord came to Mumbai and began his musical career playing military drums and bagpipes under various military bandleaders. According to Booth’s book, lord started working in the 1930s in Mumbai’s film studios, playing music for some of India’s earliest sound films. During the Second World War, he toured the country as a captain in the British Army, entertaining the troops. After the war, he returned to Mumbai and joined the band of the city’s great jazz trumpeter, Chic Chocolate, as a drummer. lord would play at several clubs in the 1940s Mumbai and renowned composer C Ramchandra spotted him at the Taj Mahal hotel, and the rest, as they say, is history. In the documentary — shot as a series of interview portions interspaced with archival images and footage — Kersi explains Cawas’ return to films and attributes it to the days of prohibition in Mumbai. “Bars and all where bands used to play were closing down. So daddy had to find a job and that’s when we got into films,” he says in the film. Kersi started accompanying his father from a young age and his association with films goes back to the time when he was 13. Kersi went on to become a known name within the film music circuit over the years. The credit of introducing many instruments, like bongo, congo and glockenspiel, into Hindi film music goes to the lords, particularly Cawas and Kersi.
The audience gasped every now and then, as it discovered that many iconic sounds and music in legendary songs were the work of Kersi, from the unforgettable “lighter music” in Main Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya from Hum Dono, to the accordion pieces like in Roop Tera Mastana from Aradhna, the list is endless. And while the world is not really aware of it, a lot of the innovative sounds in RD Burman’s music were executed by Kersi lord. In fact, Bujji lord, in the film confesses that he was never really keen to work in films and was introduced into playing for films as on one occasion, Kersi lord was unwell and a music director asked Cawas lord to bring along his other son. Years later, during the 70s, Bujji lord left Mumbai for sometime to start some agricultural work on land he had recently purchased. Around that time RD Burman asked Cawas lord about his whereabouts. “My father responded, ‘Wo ghaas kaatne gaya hai’” (He has gone to cut grass), narrates Bujji lord in the film, all smiles. In fact, The Human Factor is full of anecdotes and it is easy to draw personality sketches of the lords. Coming across as extremely unpretentious, down-to-earth and with a great sense of humour, they take the viewers on an alternate tour of Hindi film music through the back lanes. They don’t have airs about their invaluable contribution to cinema, and are happy to underplay it as “just a regular job”. But then it’s just who they are.
The film contains some interview footage of an old Cawas lord, taken just a few months before his demise in 2007. “Cawas lord had already passed away by the time I decided to make the film, but call it a stroke of luck, Booth had interviewed him on camera for his book and he allowed me to use the footage for the documentary,” says Bhattacharjee.
Bujji retired in the late 1980s and now lives in Sanjan in Gujarat. He pursued farming and later became a builder. Kersi, on the other hand, continued working for films till 2000, more than five decades after he walked into a recording studio as a teenager.
“The story of the lords is not theirs alone. It represents thousands of other composers. And I made this documentary in order to find that missing chapter in the history of Indian film music,” Bhattacharjee tells us. India’s tinsel town is dotted with families who have defined popular Hindi cinema, what would they have done without the lordsIJ