The pain, the loneliness…..

If I had to name geniuses (or the way we were taught in school, genii) who were ignored/sidelined/treated shabbily and generally got a raw deal in Bollywood, these three would definitely be there.

Amongst the music directors no one has been treated more shockingly than Jaidev Verma. An outstanding genius whose compositions were entirely his own and he showed an extreme degree of reluctance to follow the prevalent habit /rule in Bollywood– one of seeking “Creative inspiration” from others or reusing your own tunes- & he has, as a result, qualitatively speaking more sublime, eternal tunes as a proportion of total compositions than anyone else. His work with virtually all producers was just brilliant, including the few opportunities he did get with the big banners/production houses. The one opportunity he got with Navketan resulted in an eclectic score that is still remembered sixty years on. Sadly, despite being initially signed for Guide, he was not just eased out of that project, but he also never got a Navketan film again!! In a sense, excellence was punished, not rewarded.

The same thing happened (albeit to a lesser extent) with Bhupinder and Anuradha Poudwal. Both singers had tons of native talent and enough originality to be not branded as someone’s clone but never got what they truly deserved. The song of the day sums up what they could create when the three got together. A movie made by a former films division documentary maker and animator turned film director , Bhimsain, Dooriyan that had a dream lead pair: Uttam Kumar and Sharmila Tagore. Bhimsain had Jaidev score music for him in other movies too, with equally memorable, uniformly outstanding results. https://youtu.be/_mpZjz9RIOY

ज़िन्दगी में जब तुम्हारे ग़म नहीं थे
इतने तनहा थे के हम भी हम नहीं थे

वक्तपर जो लोग काम आए हैं अक्सर
अजनबी थे वो मेरे हमदम नहीं थे

बेसबब था तेरा मिलना रहगुज़र में
हादसे हर मोड़ पर कुछ कम नहीं थे

हमने ख़्वाबों में ख़ुदा बनकर भी देखा
आपकी बाहों में वो आलम नहीं थे

सामने दीवार थी खुद्दारियों की
वर्ना रस्तें प्यार के पुरख़म नहीं थे

संगीतकार जयदेव, शायर: सुदर्शन “फ़ाकिर”

One of my very favourite songs of the genre from a movie that dealt with marital discord. Superb, sensitive, very well made movie (needless to say acted very well too) . Do watch it on YouTube.

Have a wonderful Sunday, folks. Stay healthy and happy. The new year is just 3 days away