It can be said that like a large orchestra, a small orchestra, i.e. very few instruments, can also be quite effective for a tune or a voice or a special occasion or certain words. The number of instruments probably depends on the imagination of the musician.,Lyrics written by NeerajThe garden of life will smell If you listen carefully, you will feel a lot. The first is that such a beautiful song can be composed with only three instruments. The second is the number of different sounds and melodies that can be produced from the flute. And third, how much we’ve lost in film music.

The 1943 film ‘Shakuntala’ by V. Shantaram and ‘Dr. Jayshree was the heroine of Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani. These two films were very successful. She was also the second wife of Jayashree V. Shantaram. Kiran Shantaram and Rajshree are her children. Kiran served as the Sheriff of Mumbai while Rajshree moved to the United States after getting married after doing movies like “Geet Gaya Patharon Ne”, “Janewar”, “Brahmachari” and “Around the World”. These same Jayshree made a movie “Mehndi” which came out in 1958. Ajit was his hero in it. Ravi had music in this movie. But there was a song pictured on Jayshree and sung by Lata Mangeshkar which had very little music. This song was written by Khumar Barabankvi, ‘Pyaar ki Duniya Lootegi, we didn’t know.’ Despite very few instruments, this song was very popular at the time.

Then came 1960s ‘Barsaat Ki Raat’, a film which is known for the longest qawwali of all time. In fact, it was two qawwalis. ‘Na To Caravan Ki Talaash Hai’ and ‘Yeh Ishq Ishq Hai Ishq’, and the two were combined in such a way that their total duration was about twelve minutes. There is no match for this qawwali in our films where the extra pitch of the notes has been attempted. But contrary to that, there was a Ghazal in this movie which was sung by Mohammad Rafi with very less music. Filmed on Bharat Bhushan and written by Shakeel Badayuni, this ghazal was ‘Kya gum jo andheri hai raatein’. The film had Roshan’s music and Rafi sang it to a tune that Roshan had to give, even though the music was short.

It can be said that like a large orchestra, a small orchestra, i.e. very few instruments, can also be quite effective for a tune or a voice or a special occasion or certain words. The number of instruments probably depends on the imagination of the musician. There was a Nazm of ‘Haqeeqat’ which came in 1964, in which there is music, but the instruments are very few. People can still shiver after listening to the music of Madan Mohan and written by Kaifi Azmi, ‘I woke up from my heart’. Rafi sang it with very little music. Yet that tune and his stirring voice were etched forever in people’s memories.

But many years before, an even greater experiment had been carried out in this field. Mohammad Rafi sang two ghazals in ‘Pyaasa’ without any music. The movie is from 1957 and these two Sahir Ludhianvi ghazals were ‘Tang aa chuke hai kashmakshe zindagi se hum’ and ‘Gum rose so much that I drank in panic’. Many people say that Rafi recited these two ghazals in the same way that Sahir himself read. But the texture of the lyricism of the two ghazals is such that it is unlikely that the composer of the music for this film, SD Burman, did not give Rafi any instructions. By the way, these two ghazals are not heard on radio or television like other songs. Maybe because they didn’t have music, so they didn’t become so popular.

Anyway, “Pyaasa” was the last movie to feature Sahir Ludhianvi as lyricist and Sachin Dev Burman as composer. It is said that while working for this film, the egos of the two ran into some issues and both decided that they would never work together again after that. Thus, the couple parted forever. But both were huge personalities and while working separately, both remained at their respective heights of creativity and popularity.

It was a rainy day in 1970. It had been raining all night in Mumbai and the city’s transport system had collapsed. Since morning, SD Burman had reserved a studio for the recording of a song. But when they somehow got there, they found that only Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar and a tabla player could come to the studio. There was no hope of having access to other people. If he had wanted to, the Burmese sahib would have postponed the registration until another day. But he changed his musical plan and asked his friends Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Hari Prasad Chaurasia, who lived somewhere nearby. In no time, they both reached the studio and the song was recorded correctly. The song has only tabla, santoor and flute accompaniment with the vocals of Lata and Kishore. Only three instruments. This song is from Dev Anand’s movie ‘Tere Mere Sapne’ which was released in the following year i.e. 1971. If you listen carefully to this song ‘Jeevan Ki Bagiya Mehkegi’ written by Neeraj, you will feel a lot things. The first is that such a beautiful song can be composed with only three instruments. The second is the number of different sounds and melodies that can be produced from the flute. And third, how much we’ve lost in film music.