I had interviewed both Manohari Singh on 13 Oct., 2009 and this is what he said: (An excerpt) Q. Dada, ‘Aradhana’ picture I will come to. In Aradhana, Kersi was there, and you were also there? MS: Yes.

Q. I met and talked to Kersi Lord the other day, and he said that it was purely S. D. Burman’s music, and during the recording of song ‘Roop Tera Mastana’, RDB wasn’t even present. MS: Yes. That’s correct, what Kersi said. Aapko Main batata hoon, that gaana, bante bante finally uska jab finishing banta hai na, finishing mein aata hai na, uska kuch shape alag ban jaata hai, bol aata hai, bol ka wajan ho jaata hai, bolon ko wajan mein daalne se, idhar udhar karte karte, gaana shuruaat hota hai ek type ka tune mein; aur usko sajaate sajaate, usko banaate banaate, finally uska shape change ho jaata hai.

Woh ‘Roop Tera Mastana’, woh Dada ka hi gaana tha, woh gaane ko usne hi banaaya tha; Dada ne. Phir Kishoreda ne kuch idea diya, wajan diya, Kishoreda ne, ki aisa kuchh karenge gaane ke bol ko, ‘Roop tera mastana’ gaane ke bol ko thoda thoda wajan dekar phir baad mein Dada bola to “Arre Kishore accha us ko tune bana diya. Arre bahut achcha kiya tune Kishore, achcha usko bana diya.”

Kishoreda bhi great composer, great actor, no doubt about that. Unhon ne kuch bol ko karke, kuch upar neeche karke, wajan idhar udhar daalke, gaane ko ek meter mein laya. Sur was not there, then after that ahste ahste usko sur improve hua, usko sur mein laya.

Q. Par yeh normal hai, naturally assistants have to give suggestions to improve it. SDB aprove karenge nahin karenge, unke upar hai. That’s what I feel. MS: Correct. Wohi baat hai, assistants always suggestion denge, accha suggestion hoga to woh lelega, line daal bhi dete hain aisa, kuch gaane mein, do char sur ke liye gaane ka roop hi alag ho jaata hai. Aisa hota haina na, so why not accept it, aisa bhi hota hai. Credit goes to Burman. Haan, Kersi correct bolta hai. ‘Aradhana’ ka music sab S. D. Burman Saab ka hi hai. Poora music Burman Saab ka hai. Haan, RD is mein involve nahin hai. Nahin, RD is mein involve nahin hai.

Q. That you are saying, because you were personally involved. ‘Aradhana’ mein aap Asst Music Director the. MS: Main Assistant Music Director tha ‘Aradhana’ mein. Mera poora arrangement tha us mein. Mera saath Basu Chakraborty bhi tha, mera partner. Main aur Basu music director bane the hum log, ‘Basu Manohari’. Hum logon ne music diya, ‘Sabse Bada Rupaiya’ aur kafi picture. Basu bhi tha. Humlogon ne milke kiya. Doosri baat yeh bhi hai, thora sa gaana sajana ke time mein, Burman saab ne humlog ke upar chod diya, ‘Usko Yeh hai, uska yeh roop batao, uska yeh roop dikhana. Thoda modern hai, aisa hai, yeh hai, who hai, thoda sexy banana. Burman Saab thora aise bolte rahte they.

To hum logon ne socha chalo, theek hai, uska rhythm pattern fix kiya. Usmein kaun: main, Basu, Maruti, Pancham. Pancham bhi assistant hi tha full. Sab hum log wahan baithke rhythm ka pattern set karke aur uske baad tune ke upar aisa ……………………… filler hota hai, aisa banaya, hum log sab milke usko sajaya. In sajawat mein contribution sab ka hai, mera hai, RD ka hai, Basu ka hai, Maruti ka hai. Maruti rhythm section ka poora dekh bhaal karta tha.

So it was team work. Hamara team bhi accha tha, bahut hi accha tha. SDBurman ka, RDBurman ka, dono ka team, it goes as a team work, aur assistant arranger sabhka, jo jitna ho sake, gaana ko khubsurat banana. That was their responsibility. Hum log karte the.

To usme poora arrangement mera tha. Completely, gaane ka upar arrangement karne ke liye poora responsibility mera tha. Likhna, score banana, usko arrangement karna gaane ko aage peeche karna, that was my contribution. Yeh hi har assistant ka kaam hota tha jyada karke. Assistant log ka kaafi kaam hota hai, kaafi contribution hota hai. SD Burman ke liye kiya, RD ke liye bhi kiya. …………………… Excerpts from my Interview with Kersi Lord: Q. That was about your dad and Dada Burman. Tell us about you and Dada Burman. KL. I played in all his pictures after ’50-’51, mostly all the pictures.

Q. Till which year? KL. Till he died.

Q. Which means it included lovely music of ‘Aradhana’. KL. In ‘Roop tera mastana’ I played the accordion.

Q. All songs of Aradhana are lovely. And how much part RD played in this? KL. According to me, I don’t think RD was present, I don’t remember seeing RD anywhere in the studios. But people say that he was there and ‘Roop Tera Mastana’ is his song, but I don’t know. Even for the song recording, he was not there.
And I confirmed with Manohari also, who was his assistant. Manohari also said, “No, I don’t think Pancham was involved.” Maybe, he must have been sitting there, I don’t know, I’m not sure. Everybody asks us whether RD was there, but I said, for the recording he was not there. And sitting I don’t know. I didn’t play only for Mr. Burman. I played for all the top music directors. So, we couldn’t be involved in every recording. So, I don’t think RD’s involvement was there in ‘Aradhana’.

Q. There is an article written on you and Manohari, that Dada, when he was giving music, making music for ‘Roop tera mastana’, the start he wasn’t getting right, and you played your Accordion, and Manohari played his Saxophone, and then the start was made (created) by both of you? KL. (He starts shaking his head gesturing ‘No’.)

Q. That’s not correct? KL. Nothing like that; nothing like that; absolutely nothing like that.

KL. Another thing about you people (He was talking about press, we were not press, only SDB lovers.) I am going little bit off track now. Somebody wrote one book in Pune, years back, on Pancham. Whatever the mistakes in that book, – mistakes are there, hundred percent, I vouch for it, those mistakes still continue. Because when anybody writes a new book, he refers to that book, so the publishing of wrong information continues.

Q. Even the start which is there, you know starting with ‘Roop tera mastana’, that is done by SDB only himself? KL. Yeah! Yeah! S.D. Burman and his team. See, I only go for the recording. So, when I went to the studio, it was at Famous-Tardeo, so Burmanda called me to one side, “Suno”. He always talked in mono syllables, not long sentences. “Kersi, yeh bahut romantic gana hai. Ek fire place hai. Ek hero ek heroine hai. Baarish mein bheege hue hai, aur ekdam romance mein hai. Tumko jo bhi karna hai, karo.” “Whatever you want to do, you do it.” That is what he told me. So, lots of things I played on my own. Most of the things were given by Manohari, but all the fillings in the song, some extra things in the music which I felt like playing, I played it. And they liked it. When they appreciate it, you feel like giving more and more.

Q. When you were called there, from that moment till the actual song was recorded, how long did it take for this song? KL. Four hours, maximum. Nothing more than four hours, from scratch. We didn’t know what we were going to play. Notation was given on the set, in the studio. Nine o’clock was the starting time and mostly by one o’clock we would pack up.

Q. But before you were called, they might have done some rehearsal? KL. That work they would do in the sitting room itself. Making a song is a very difficult thing. First you have to get the lyrics written. Those days, songs were according to the situation in the picture. So generally, lyrics came first. The Producer and Director would also have to approve the lyrics. Then came the melody and then the music arrangement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYI4KQ9cKg4

As an Asian saxophonist from the UK most of my idols are from the Western jazz world, however reading this article has opened up my mind a bit more to the influence of Asian saxophonists.

Thanks for the post.

(Nilanjana’s Rule #23 of Indian Film Plots: As if you have never seen any other Indian films that feature an Air Force Pilot as a major character, it rarely bodes well.)

you forgot the Ur-text of all these romance dramas with the doomed pilot figure – Sangam but some films do have happy endings despite the protagonist being an IAF pilot – cf ‘Hindustan Ki Kasam’ so the rule is violated on occasion.