Expeditious and energetic euphony….

I really don’t know why I thought of this song last night. I have heard the song ages ago and the movie was shown in an open air theater decades ago. A movie made for the relaunch of the career of the legendary director’s blue eyed boy that had run aground. Fariyad won’t ring too many bells in people’s minds , but that was the movie in which the legendary story writer, scriptwriter, lyricist, director and film producer Kidar Sharma (whose Midas touch launched many a career including Raj Kapoor, Geeta Bali and even Roshan) decided to try to salvage whatever was left of his son’s (Ashok Sharma) film career. Kidar Sharma had launched Ashok Sharma in Hamari Yaad Aayegi with Tanuja (which had some very memorable music by Snehal Bhatkar) – the movie flopped, and the disaster didn’t affect Tanuja’s career but acted as a Kayo at the time for Ashok Sharma‘s. A few years later he launched this project Fariyad with the same hero , roped in Zeb Rehman (who probably thought she looked like Madhubala and tried hard to capitalize on that USP. But that metaphor floundered exactly as Dadi-ki-naak did and continues to do).

Kidar Sharma actually used the theme from the first real hit that the legend Ashok Kumar had in the 30s, Achhut Kanya. The anachronistic and ectopic concept (since the movie was made in an urban setting) didn’t quite click as it no longer was a factor in the Mumbai of the mid 60s. https://youtu.be/m1m4TUlIqxI

The song is written by Kidar Sharma himself, who was a definitely accomplished lyricist and composed not just allegro, but a presto, even prestissimo.. I honestly don’t know of too many songs from decades of listening in to Bollywood music composed and rendered at such a breakneck speed. It almost feels like a DJ playing the disc faster than the speed it is meant to be. Mahendra Kapoor and Suman Kalyanpur render the brisk ditty rather well, I must say.

A stray memory that flashed up out of the blue yesterday and set off a chain of thought. Stay safe, stay healthy and happy, folks.

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