MELODY MAKERS

Omi perceives the huge success of Munni badnaam hui from Dabangg as a key turning-point in film music. “As of now,our last film is the Raaj Kumar-Hema Malini starrer Desh Ke Dushmun in 1989. But with trends moving towards Indian melody and folk once again,who knows? I might get a film again!” quips the composer,who never worked on any film after his chacha passed away. “I can give melody with today’s flavour. But at the same time,I must say that those who wish to know what is real music must listen to the melodies from those days – log kya kaam karte the! You can learn what compositions should be,and check how much clarity was there in a singer’s voice and diction and how the songwriters of that period ek ek line ke liye jaan dete the! Today’s music is visual,with actresses showing skin. Only rhythm is left,and we often don’t even understand what the lyrics are saying! In such a situation,Dabangg is very significant.”

He is extremely grateful to Universal Music for presenting some of their old unreleased treasures with the album Unheard Melodies last month. “I am also very thankful to Radio City,who held a very well-publicised launch function,and to Asha (Bhosle)ji,who graced the function and spoke so well about us,” says the composer,who has occasionally dabbled in playback singing as Omi. “Today,I call myself Omi Sonik because my actual name is Om Prakash Sonik. My uncle never used his first name,Manohar Lal. Sonik is our family name,” he explains.

Recall value

“The 14 songs in the album are unreleased ones across our entire career,” explains Omi. “Rajat Kakar of Universal is a dear friend and I sat with him to give every track a clean and ‘today’ sound quality,whether the song was taped in the ‘60s or in the ‘80s!” he states.

The album begins with a Mohammed Rafi-Chandrani Mukherjee duet,Saath hum tum chale,of which Omi is very proud. The second track,Maharaja kiwandiya khol,was recorded by Lata Mangeshkar for a film that was to star Amitabh Bachchan and Sharmila Tagore. “The film was to be made by a production manager of a big-name producer. It never took off. We were also to do a second Bachchan film,which was to co-star Yogita Bali and was to be made by an associate of Manoj Kumar. We had recorded a song for that too.”

The song Mushkil se hota hai by Asha Bhosle with Nitin Mukesh was recorded in Mukesh’s presence,and the late singer had been very happy with the duo for giving his son such a good song. There are also songs by Suresh Wadkar and Alka Yagnik in the earliest stages of their careers.

The collection,he smiles,also has compositions that were either recorded or composed after Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya. “You see,for two years after Dil Ne…,we had not done any film of note,but had received a lot of signing amounts and thus made many songs!” he smiles.

A pact of harmony

Sonik and Omi hail from Sialkot,now in Pakistan. “My uncle was blinded at an early age,” says Omi. “That is the reason why my grandfather put him in music,otherwise what other profession could he have successfully followed in those days? My uncle did his B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) in Music,then B.A. in Braille and also taught in a school for a while. I never had much inclination for studies,and so when he shifted to Mumbai in 1948,my father told him to take me along,as I could be his support.”

In Mumbai,the classic struggle began. “We began assisting Roshanji and I learnt music both from him and my uncle,” says Omi. “Sonikji also worked a lot with Madan Mohanji and I would even sing in the chorus. My uncle,incidentally,was the only composer other than (Laxmikant-) Pyarelal who could compose,arrange and record songs and was equally well-versed with Indian and Western music. All others from the biggest to the smallest composers would need arrangers!”

Omi smiles when he mentions his own role. “Because of my uncle’s superior knowledge he would do a lot of our work,whereas I would also make tunes and help in the orchestration. But I was young and full of enthusiasm and had told him with all the audacity of a young man that without my passing a tune,nothing could be recorded. And he had agreed to that because I told him that I knew what would be liked by the people!”

Omi recalls his uncle often composing six to seven tunes for one situation. “We would first select the right ones between them before offering a choice to our filmmakers!” says Omi.

This unwritten pact ensured complete harmony through almost 125 films that the duo composed for,the most well-known among which are Aabroo,Beti,Sawan Bhadon,Mahua,Truck Driver,Bhai Ho To Aisa,Memsaab,Dharma,Woh Main Nahin,Jaggu,Umar Qaid,Raftaar,Shankar Dada and others.

The first triumph

“We were assisting Roshanji on Dil Hi To Hai when one of the three brothers of the production company,Rawal Films,stated that we ‘did not look like assistants’,” smiles Omi. “The three brothers -Banarasi Lal or B.L.Rawal,the producer,Chaman Lal or C.L.Rawal,the director,and Gulzari Lal or G.L.Rawal who wrote lyrics,came together to make Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya,starring Nutan,Dharmendra and Rehman,which was our debut film and became a major hit in 1966.”

As songs like Dil ne phir yaad kiya by Mohammed Rafi,Mukesh and Suman Kalyanpur,Kaliyon ne ghunghat khole and Yun chaal chalo na matwali,both by Rafi,Lata Mangeshkar’s Aaja re pyar pukare became the rage,the composers felt that one song,Main suraj hoon tu meri kiran sung by Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi,was a bit weak. “The day we recorded the song,we did not even eat dinner because we thought that we had not done a good job,” recalls the veteran.

“But as it happened,the big film Suraj was coming up for release,and people thought that ours was the title-song of that film! The song’s merits also took over,and we realised that the audiences knew better than us about music!” The Rawals later did two more films with the duo,the musical hit Aabroo (Rafi’s Har chehera yahaan chand and Mukesh’s Jinhein hum bhoolna chahe led the list) and the flop Ladki Pasand Hai,in which the composers gave a major break to Hemlata,in a film with Mumtaz in a dual role.

When small was big

In their career,Sonik-Omi worked with several other major stars – there were seven films with Hema Malini,and many films with big names like Jeetendra,Sunil Dutt,Rajendra Kumar,Shashi Kapoor,Vinod Khanna,Shatrughan Sinha,Rajesh Khanna, Feroz Khan,Sanjay Khan,Nanda,Rekha,Saira Banu,Reena Roy,Moushumi Chaterjee and Neetu Singh,among others. Why then did they come to be branded as music makers of medium-budget or small films?

“The producers and directors who kept repeating us were smaller names like S.K.Kapur,Chand,Shibu Mitra,Dinesh-Ramnesh,Kewal Misra,Joginder and others,” explains Omi. “We did A.K.Nadiadwala’s Bhai Ho To Aisa directed by Manmohan Desai,who told us that he would do three more films with us. V.K.Sobti,Jeetendra’s brother-in-law,did one film with R.D.Burman and after that never left us in all his three films. Our music in Guru Dutt’s brother Atma Ram’s Memsaab was a huge hit,with songs like Suno suno ek baat kahoon sung by Lataji and Rafisaab and Lataji’s Mujhe dhoond le aakar saiyyan. We did Harmesh Malhotra’s first film Beti and he too had promised us more films after hit songs like Lehenga mangaa de mere babu (Asha-Usha) and Yeh kya kiya re duniyawale (Beti). But you know how this industry is!”

The small producers thus needed compromises in budget,which reflected in turn on the orchestration and singers. Says Omi,“The male singers were always flexible about their prices,which is why Rafisaab,Mukeshji and Manna Deysaab in particular sang so much for us. Rafisaab has often forgone payment for a small producer and would often say,‘Aisa lagta hai ki ghar aa gaya hoon,’ when he came for our recordings. Even Ashaji had once taken only a saree as a payment for a song. But price was a problem,which is why we never worked with big-name lyricists like Majrooh Sultanpuri and Anand Bakshi.”

Nevertheless,Sonik-Omi did manage one or more films each with giants like Rajendra Krishan,Shakeel Badayuni,Sahir Ludhianvi (Omi’s personal favourite),Hasrat Jaipuri,Qamar Jalalabadi and Indeewar. It was,however Verma Malik,who had no fixed rates when it came to working with then,who readily worked with them on both big and small films.

The duo’s first major film with Verma Malik was Sawan Bhadon in 1970. “Mohan Segalsaab was a big name,he had a great music sense and had been a dancer and dance director,” says Omi. “But when he approached us,he owed a huge debt to financiers. His film,Sawan Bhadon,had only newcomers in principal roles – it was the first film of Rekha,Navin Nischol,Narendranath and Ranjeet. Future IMPPA president Sushma Shiromanee played Rekha’s saheli.” The film and its music became hugely successful and songs like Kaan mein jhumka (Rafi) and Sun sun sun o gulabi kali (Asha-Rafi) become super-hits. “Segalsaab repeated all of us in Woh Main Nahin,which did modestly well too,” adds the composer.

Stresses the composer: “There was one advantage to doing smaller films – our music stood out and we got more credit!” The qawwali from Dharma,Raaz ki baat keh doon to,though recorded on a paltry budget of Rs. 3500,consolidated the film qawwali trend after Yaari hain imaan from Kalyanji-Anandji’s Zanjeer in 1973,and coins were thrown on the screen when Pran and Bindu enacted this Rafi-Asha duet. Rafi’s Dono ne kiya tha pyar magar (Mahua),Rafi’s Nadiya ke paani mein (Teen Chor),Rafi-Chandrani Mukherjee’s Iss ishq mohabbat ki (Zulm Ki Pukar) and Lata’s Kanha re kanha (Truck Driver) were other examples of such songs. “Kanha re kanha’s tune was rejected by one of our big filmmakers. But we truly believed in the song. Later we gave it to this small film Truck Driver and Indeewarji wrote the lyrics. The filmmaker told us that the song earned him more from royalties than the business done by the film itself!”

Omi lives in comfortable retirement in Mumbai,but has recently done a non-film album with Udit Narayan and Sonu Niigaam and others. Truly,musicians never die.