Overlook the lyricist; Anand Bakshi was one of the best journalist we by no means had. He was empathetic, had a method with the lots and courses alike and boasted masterful phrase economic system. To prime all of it, he adopted the cardinal rule of journalism: hold it easy, foolish!
The all-accessible, unstoppable poet recorded a virtually 3000 music discography, spanning nearly 5 a long time – from the late Nineteen Fifties to the Nineties and early 2000s – and churned out one blockbuster after one other.
It has been twenty years since Anand Bakshi handed away, abandoning a treasure trove of in style, hummable songs throughout genres, tinted generously with philosophy. His poetry got here and went together with him, and all that’s left now are naghme, kisse, baatein and yaadein, meethi meethi yaadein. Spanning inputs from his biography (Naghme Kisse Baatein Yaadein by Rakesh Anand Bakshi) containing his diary memoirs, right here’s a glance again at among the ever-effective works of Bakshi, every belonging to a singular class of its personal.
‘Maa’
Anand Bakshi’s mom, Sumitra, handed away when he was about six or seven. His mom’s absence served as the primary pathos of his poetry. “Tu kitni achchi hai, tu kitni bholi hai, pyari-pyari hai, oh maa,” he’d write in memoriam in a music from Raja Aur Runk (1968), musing the mom to be a flowerbed to the prickly world. The identical pen would later heartily ink the delicate, tender mother-son subtext within the music “Maa ne kaha” from Zakhm (1998).
Motherland
Bakshi hailed from a disciplinarian household (his Bauji served within the Police) and he served the military for a significant a part of his youth. Whereas he at all times harboured Bombay desires, he additionally used to pen many patriotic verses within the bunker, a lot to the applause of senior cadets. No surprise then that two of India’s Independence Day staples, “Dil diya hai jaan bhi denge ae watan tere liye” and “I like my India,” are Anand Bakshi songs.
On Tales In Songs, And Songs In Tales
In line with his biography, the lyricist had as soon as acquired a golden recommendation from senior composer S. D. Burman: “Story mein hello gaana hai (The music is within the story itself).“ Bakshi would intently take heed to the movie’s story and marinate his poetry in its context. Most of his songs would truncate the movie’s script in a stanza or two. An attention-grabbing instance of such storytelling in songs bought featured in Bakshi’s large breakthrough, Jab Jab Phool Khile (1965). “Ek tha gul aur ek thi bulbul, dono chaman mein rehte the.” The poetry operated on two ranges. First, like a medieval English romantic poem, the music narrated the love story of a flower and a chicken. Second, it metaphorically charted the love story of Raja and Rita (Shashi Kapoor and Nanda) within the movie.
Route To The Roots
One factor that remained fixed for Bakshi was his folksy roots. As per his biography, whereas the partition made him traumatically depart Pindi, its environs, soil, and reminiscences by no means left him. These childhood takeaways bought mirrored in his geets – replete with motifs of Hindu epics, native theater, people songs and the lore. These geets, meticulously metered, discovered a scintillating reference to the keherwa (8-beat cycle), performed on a matka. One instance may be, “Mere mitwa mere meet re, aaja tujhko pukare mere geet re,” [Geet (1970)] with its Radha-Kishan reference. Or the favored purabia helmsman music: “Sawan ka mahina, pawan kare ‘sor’” [Milan (1967)].
However peak, desi Bakshi was unapologetically Punjabi. He would often slip in some Punjabi verses right here and there and continued this observe from “Bindiya chamkegi” [Do Raaste (1969)] to “Khali dil nahin jaan bhi” [Kachche Dhaage (1999)], and “Principal nikla gaddi leke” and “Udja kale kawa” [Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001)].
Tukbandi
Anand Bakshi was no Sahir, Gulzar or Majrooh. They had been his idols. However within the phrases of lyricist and radio presenter Vijay Akela, “Bakshi ki baat aur hai, Bakshi ki baat aur thi.” Not everybody, although, purchased into his poetic expression. Utilizing easy, conversational language in his songs as an alternative of flowery verses, earned him the critique of committing tukbandi (being a rhythmster). His biography revealed that Bakshi subconsciously responded to those critiques via songs like, “Principal shayar to nahi” [Bobby (1973)] and “Principal shayar badnaam, principal chala, mehfil se naakaam…” (Namak Haraam (1973)). On different days, he would play it cool, motivating himself and numerous others by writing, “Kuch to log kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kehna; Chhodo bekaar ki baaton mein kahin beet na jaaye raina.”
On Life And A Lifetime
Bakshi was the lyricist of songs like “Zindagi ke safar mein guzar jaate hain jo makaam, vo fir nahi aate.” Naghme, Kisse, Baatein, Yaadein (by Rakesh Anand Bakshi) describes the music’s inception intimately. The music got here up as Bakshi heard Aap Ki Kasam (1974)‘s story about romance, suspected adultery and an irreparably damaged bond between protagonists Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz. Repentance, loneliness, and an air of warning in opposition to this loneliness and repentance kind the crux of this music: “Doston shaq dosti ka dushman hai, apne dil mein ise ghar banane na do.”
‘Haan Yahi Pyaar Hai‘
With a profession spanning the Sixties to the early 2000s, it will not be flawed to imagine that Bakshi scripted the Bollywood romance imaginations of three generations. His memoirs inform that he cherished writing for pairs and wrote love songs for Bollywood jodis as outdated as Shashi Kapoor-Nanda and Rajesh Khanna-Mumtaz to as new as Sanjay Dutt-Tina Munim, Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol, and Hrithik Roshan-Kareena Kapoor. Briefly, Bakshi wrote all the pieces from “Mere sapnon ki rani kab aayegi tu” to “Tujhe dekha to yeh jaana sanam” to “Humko humise chura lo“.
Questions-Solutions And Questions Unanswered
As aforementioned, Anand Bakshi’s lyrics had a conversational ring to them. Again and forths, questions and solutions shaped an integral a part of his songs like, “Achha to hum chalte hain” that birthed out of a music-room sitting spontaneity together with Laxmikanat Pyarelal, or Aap Ki Kasam‘s (1974) “Suno, kaho. Kaha, suna. Kuch hua kya?“
These had been all glad, peppy numbers. Nevertheless, at instances, Bakshi would slide right into a darker, existential shell, posing poetic but unanswered questions in his songs. “Chingari koi bhadke, to saawan use bujhaye; sawan jo agan lagaye, use kaun bujhaye?” he contemplated in Amar Prem (1972)’s music. What occurs when individuals themselves sink the boat they’ve the facility to avoid wasting? What occurs when the one that you love, who can mend your coronary heart, breaks it? One has no straight solutions. An inconclusive drudgery meanders on. “Na jaane kya ho jaata, jaane hum kya kar jaate, peete hain to zinda hain, na peete to mar jaate.”
Singer-Songwriter Bakshi?
Sholay is a basic for multiple motive, however have you learnt one music within the movie that Anand Bakshi has sung? He wrote and sang a qawwali with Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar and Bhupinder: “Chaand sa koi chehra na ho to, chandni ka maza nahi aata.” Although it featured on the vinyl report of the soundtrack, it didn’t make a comeback on-screen, on CD or streaming. Bakshi felt fairly disheartened at this. “Maybe, if they’d saved it, I may need had a profession as a singer!” (as quoted in Sholay: The Making of a Basic by Anupama Chopra).
For The Love Of Movies
They are saying the simplest technique to be taught a language is to look at and listen to its cinema and music. Combining these two, Tamilian Vasu (Kamal Hassan) plans to be taught Hindi in Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981) to impress his ladylove Sapna (Rati Agnihotri). His Hindi finally comes to check in a stalled elevator. After which Vasu, with SPB’s boisterous vocals, churns out the names of some hundred Hindi movies right into a merry jig: “Mere Jeevan Saathi, Pyaar Kiye Jaa. Jawaani Diwani, Khoobsurat, Ziddi, Padosan, Satyam Shivam Sundaram.”
Bakshi’s experiment proved to be successful and has spawned related songs over the a long time, from Patthar Ke Phool (1991)‘s “Kabhi Tu Chhalia Lagta Hai” to Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008)’s “Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke, Phir Milenge, Chalte Chalte.“
Psychedelics
As narrated in his biography, in 1972, R. D. Burman and Anand Bakshi collaborated on Dev Anand’s Hare Rama Hare Krishna. Sooner or later, Burman seen Bakshi’s distinctive method of smoking a cigarette and remarked, “Appears extra like you might be smoking pot (aisa lag raha hai aap “dum” maar rahe hain)“. Lo and behold, a music got here prepared and ushered within the hippie, psychedelic ’70s in Bollywood.