Feroz Khan’s mega venture DAYAVAN (1988), a remake of Tamil cult classic NAYAGAN/NAYAKAN (1987), didn’t get a great response at the box office due to various reasons. But its soundtrack is still remembered for its quality tracks composed by veteran music director duo Laxmikant Pyarelal.Returning to that era of late 80s, those were the days when film music used to reach the market months before its actual release and particularly a Feroz Khan film’s music was much awaited eagerly due to its own brand value built by the banner’s earlier big musical hits like DHARMATMA, QURBANI & JAANBAZ. Plus Vinod Khanna had just returned to the Industry after a long gap (coming from OSHO’s commune in America), hence his every project was looked upon with great expectations both by the industry people as well as the viewers together.
The soundtrack released by T-Series became famous right away in the mid of 1988. But interestingly its major hit was “Chahey Meri Jaan Tu Le Le” sung by Jolly & Sapna Mukherjee penned by Indivar, instead of the now more famous “Aaj Phir Tumpe Pyar Aaya Hai” soulfully rendered by Pankaj Udhas & Anuradh Paudwal written by Aziz Qaisi. However the preferences were not the same once the news was out about its never before kind of kissing scene between the lead pair of Vinod Khanna and Madhuri Dixit, which till date remains one of the most erotic bedroom scenes ever in a Hindi film.
Now those were not the days of internet connectivity, 200 TV channels or all these social networks. Therefore just the news of such an intense scene (spread through the film magazines) was enough to create a huge curiosity for the film in the trade circles. As a result, it got an ‘A’ certificate from the censors and we were denied our entry into the theater in the first 12 pm show since our school dresses revealed it all to the gatekeepers. So we had to go for another film right away (it was HERO HIRALAL as I can recall) and then later watched DAYAVAN in the night show quite excitedly without any entry problem.
Somehow the movie couldn’t fulfill the expectations raised by the general public widely but DAYAVAN did become hugely popular just because of that one song alone having the controversial kissing sequence between its lead pair. In fact such was the excitement around that particular ‘less than 1 minute’ sequence, that the musical beauty of the melodious track got completely overshadowed by its erotic picturisation and the song simply became more of a visual treat for majority of people all over, ignoring everything else about its melody, lyrics or arrangements.
Decades have passed and in the present net age, the track is still more seen and less heard in the web circles for the obvious reason mentioned above. And I am sure the makers of HATE STORY 2 also selected this particular track for their erotic film just because of the song’s preceding history alone and not for any musical brilliance at all looking at the way it has been used in their mediocre film deliberately.
However here I would like to draw your attention towards the quality difference between the two tracks musically, which clearly reveals the amount of hard work our veterans used to put in while making every single song in the film’s soundtrack unconditionally……, a practice which now seems to be only a part of our rich musical history of the last century.
To explain it in a layman’s language just listen to the two tracks simultaneously and focus on their Antras (stanzas) plus the music coming in between these stanzas which is technically termed as Interludes. Now in the DAYAVAN track both the antras and their interludes have been composed beautifully (& distinctively) making some extra efforts with the use of flute and other instruments along with the outstanding rhythm breaks played wonderfully. Whereas in the current new age version, the interlude music is simply there as a required filler without any soul of its own or melody.
Further in the lyrics section, the master lyricists and music directors of the past never allowed any forced-in words/lines in their songs which actually are not fitting into the meter of their composition properly. So you will never find any word/line sounding awkward in a track or not gelling well with the flow since everything was roped in so smoothly looking after each and every word very carefully.
However in the present HATE STORY 2 version, the words are not fitting in well in the line,
“Phir Zarrey Zarrey Mein Deedaar Aaya Hai” (pushed into the meter)
& the message sounds weird in the expression
“Aur Tu Hi Woh Firaaq Hai Jisko, Hai Silsilon Ne Mere Paas Laya ??????????”
Still the singer goes on singing it forcefully and the music director has no problem in keeping this awkward ‘take’ like an ignorant creator because they are actually just concerned about the opening lines to sound good and nothing else. Moreover the market response also supports them strongly since how many of today’s young listeners actually know or care about the antra-lyrics and the interlude music composition putting it bluntly?
So no doubt our film music has lost its original path somehow in these two recent decades for sure. Since now instead of making a song with a team putting all its creative efforts collectively, the tracks are openly being purchased as a readymade product from the vendor as per the requirement of the producer to use it in his promotions. And that exactly is the reason a well-made LP song as “Aaj Phir Tumpe Pyar Aaya Hai” continues to be known for all wrong reasons even after 25 years since the makers were just interested in re-using the avoidable controversy it created back in 1988 and were least interested in any of its meaningful lyrics or melodious composition written by the masters.
Still the situation can change taking it positively.
But this change has to come from the listeners alone becoming more responsible and demanding in the future. Because the producers are obviously going to make whatever sells like soaps and detergents in the market fetching them their desired profits and they damn care about the quality of music stored in your hard disks, phones and USB drives in the current net age.
To give you an idea about how we always keep ignoring all the better things, the moment any one says DAYAVAN, the first thing comes to your mind is the kissing scene in its song “Aaj Phir Tumpe Pyar Aaya Hai” featuring Madhuri and Vinod Khanna. But rarely any one would recall another memorable sad song in its soundtrack (written by Indivar & sung by Mohd. Aziz) with the words, “Dil Tera Kisne Torha, Yun Tanha Kisne Chorha” which was the best track of the film as per my personal choice along with a Holi festival song “Diwani Tum Jawano Ki Toli" featuring a fabulous musical arrangement.
But sadly, that’s how we have been conditioned to live our lives so casually on whatever is fed by the marketing forces through the media and I hope listening to these enjoyable tracks, you start realizing what all we have been missing in our film music since these last few decades………unfortunately!
HIS BLESSINGS
