What happened to them? Life is fair to some and unfair to others.There are many reasons known, unknown and logical, why it happened.
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In the old days, good music got the music directors more work. There were also the backings, the word by a famous and influential showbiz person. However, luck also played a very important role. Who can control luck? Then came the PR which was not as common because there was loyalty in the past. Whether they are forgotten or not, music lovers will still praise them for centuries to come. They craved a place in so many hearts through their music they have given in the little time.
Old music is a treasure. A treasure which many people do not like touching because not everyone will get something from it. It provides a source of knowledge on classical rhythms, ragas and priceless melodies. It also shows how authentic and original the film music was at that time.
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Sajjad Hussain
A composer is called an artiste but Sajjad Hussain was a genius; a genius who many people did not understand. He knew he was one and he never compromised on his music for anything. And he really meant it. Unfortunately, this led him into trouble with producers and directors. He was an accomplished musician who could play Indian and Western instruments better than anyone else at that time in India. His mandolin playing impressed many. He was very proud of his talent and never kept talking about it. Composed for only 14 films and still be a genius? How good should he be? His last movie was in 1963. His tunes were too complex and even the singing was difficult to understand. His whole orchestration was a masterpiece. Each parts and interludes for his songs had to be perfect. There has never been any better perfectionist – if this is an under-statement – in film music.
Good scores: Gaali, Dost, 1857, Tilasmi, Duniya, Kasam, Mere Bhagawan, Khel, Maghroor, Hulchul, Sayyan, Sangdil, Rukhsana, Rustam, Sohrab
Trivia: He died at the age of 79 in the mid 90’s. Sadly, the big names in music didn’t even come at his funeral. I have most of his songs and they are not easy to understand.
Sardar Malik
A talented music director who never got his due in film music. The father of Anu Malik impressed me with his melodious compositions in the early 50’s. His use of the chorus and the whole orchestra was one of the best at that time before Shankar-Jaikishan came. Rafi Saab, Mukesh and Lata Mangeskhar used to sing most of his compositions. He was married to the sister of famous lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri. He was not recognized as a good music director although he gave hits. After the despair, he never wanted to look for work because most filmmakers at that time were not signing him. He became jobless for a long period of time. The whole family lived in poverty for some time before Anu Malik, the eldest, started looking for jobs and arranging for shows. He is still alive.
Good scores: Raaz, Saranga, Thokar, Bachpan, Taxi
Trivia: Anu Malik learned a lot from his father and I can tell the similarities in both their music. He never wanted to see tears in his father’s eyes again and this pushed him to do better.
Madan Mohan
Though his melodies were outstanding at that time, he was never popular. Music directors like Shankar-Jaikishan and others were more popular. Most film-makers never wanted to give him a chance or another chance. Apart from film music, he was better in composing ghazals.Lata Mangeskhar was his favourite singer. Sadly, he died quite young. I will always remember when I was still a kid; I used to listen to my dad’s tapes. He had a Madan Mohan one rendered by Lataji. At that small age, I was stunned by his songs. I listened to the songs without knowing who he was but just remembered his picture on the T-Series tape.
Good scores: Mausam, Laila Majnu, Woh Kaun Thi, Chirag, Dastak, Heer Ranjha, Haste Zakhma, Mausam and many more.
Trivia: Yash Chopra never thought of working with him when he was alive. Yash Chopra just started at that time and was doing all films with Laxmikant-Pyarelal. You see Yash Chopra, despite being a very talented and respected man himself, is very arrogant when it comes to his music. I have never seen such arrogance and egoistic attitude from a director/producer. Yes he has an ear for music but when it comes to extracting music from a composer, he is a bulldozer who squeezes everything from you and digs you until he gets what he wants. And now when there were not ‘good music directors’ around him, he used the unused tunes of Madan Mohan. So when the person is not here, then you want to work with him, so that you can keep your grandeur. Directors who signed Madan Mohan at that time had a better ear for music than Yash Chopra.
Khayyam
‘Umrao Jaan’ speaks for itself. Too selective for his work as well and he was a bit too creative for certain simple songs. Well trained from Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram and others. He knew about ragas, composing and rhythmic structures. He was always being praised by Naushad Ali and other music directors. Using western instruments in the 50’s was not that popular but he managed to include nice pieces in his songs. He also composed a lot of ghazals and had a long association with Begum Akhtar. Unfortunately, commercial music was not his forte. After the musical success of ‘Umrao Jaan’, the disco phase started and the audience wanted something else.
Good scores: Umrao Jaan, Bazaar, Aahista Aahista, Thodisi Bewafai, Kabhi Kabhi, Trishul, Noorie, Footpath, Razia Sultan and many more.
Trivia: Was a major in the army in 1940. Also composed a few films under the name of Sharmaji- Varmaji. He was really working on projects by properly choosing voices, understanding the characters and the storyline.
Dilip Sen – Sameer Sen
The duo from the 90’s never made it big. They had music in their blood as the whole family was into it. Sameer Sen has been working as the assistant music director of many well known music directors such as Shiv-Hari and Anu Malik. It’s Yash Raj Films with ‘Yeh Dillagi’ and ‘Aaina’ which really put them on the map. Guddu Dhanoa signed them for many action movies. How can a composer show their best in these movies? Yet they delivered their best in songs like ‘Pardesiyon De Pooch Pooch’(Kartavya), ‘Tu Maange Dil’(Aflatoon) and ‘O Hasina’(Ziddi). However, the dumb producers around still didn’t see anything in them. They were sidelined and started composing for B-Grade movies and Mithun movies.
Good Scores: Aflatoon, Ziddi, Kartavya, Yeh Dillagi, Jeena Marna Tere Sang, Aaina
What can be seen is that most of these music directors:(except the last one)
were too good for the audience
did their time and couldn’t deliver commercial success
their producers were interfering too much
had a big ego and had attitude problems
were not understood by many people
were creative, innovative and experimented a lot
composed gems and classical masterpieces
The result: They never got the real recognition for their talent, never tasted the real fame and popularity but made enough money to survive. They are always going to be remembered for centuries…
