Rajesh Khanna – Aradhana Songs
Roop Tera Mastana
Roop Tera Mastana
Sorry for the long gap in my musings on old Hindi songs. The
New Year started with a busy streak.
When
talking about old songs, the 40’s and the 50’s could be called very old, the
start of an evolution which has given us Bollywood. As Bollywood matured, new
talent and daring producers took it to new heights. Music still remained an
inseparable part of the genre, because in India, music is ingrained in our
culture. It is a part of the blood that flows in our veins.
In the 60’s, we experienced new adventures in both film-making and music. There was also a lot of experimentation to veer away from the stereotyped story line of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. Satyajit Ray had already started leading the pack in the 50’s, drawing on some excellent Bengali literature for his plots. But he was so far ahead of the pack that he was no longer in the pack.
In the 60’s, we experienced new adventures in both film-making and music. There was also a lot of experimentation to veer away from the stereotyped story line of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. Satyajit Ray had already started leading the pack in the 50’s, drawing on some excellent Bengali literature for his plots. But he was so far ahead of the pack that he was no longer in the pack.
The
decade that followed brought us many gems. India was growing as an independent
nation, developing a new script to re-define its essential nature. Bollywood
did likewise, and found a need to bring new talent into its fold. Of the many
that came, some faded quickly, and some persisted, but one star shone brighter
than the rest towards the end of that decade. Although his first few movies did
not become big hits, a set of circumstances arose which brought Rajesh Khanna
to the screen and the title of “Superstar” was bestowed on an actor for the
first time in Bollywood history. Within a very short time, he made a record
number of super-hits.
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| The Superstar (1942-2012) |
The
one movie which probably launched his Superstar status was Aradhana,
made by Shakti Samanta in 1968. Shakti Samanta had already made his name with
recent hits Kashmir Ki Kali and Evening in Paris at the time, and he was
looking to make a “quickie” movie in 1968 to capitalize on his new-found fame
and keep his name in the limelight. Little did he know that Destiny would
reward him in much greater measure than he sought in his modest plans. But such
is the miracle of life. It takes many twists and turns, and keeps you guessing.
The
twists and turns that a story can take when a character is made to give up his
or her identity and continue as someone else can be fascinating. The idea of
mistaken identities, disguises and switched personalities can be found
repeatedly in plots going back to Shakespeare’s works, but an American author
of crime novels wrote a story in 1948 which seems to have captivated many film
makers. Ironically, the author, whose real name was Cornell Woolrich, wrote
this novel under an assumed name, William Irish. The novel was called I Married
a Dead Man.
You
could say that the making of the movie Aradhana, by Shakti Samanta, was
connected to the many twists and turns that could be traced back to this novel.
Cornell was an accomplished author who produced many novels which were made
into movies, not only in Hollywood, but also in Japan. Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear
Window was based on his short story, It Had to Be Murder (even though Alfred
Hitchcock and James Stewart did not acknowledge this, it was upheld by the
Supreme Court many years after Woolrich died).
I
Married a Dead Man was made into a movie in 1950 under the title of No Man of
Her Own, starring Barbara Stanwyck. In the story, Helen becomes pregnant by a
philandering boyfriend, he rejects her and gives her a train ticket to go back
where she came from. The train crashes; she is mistaken for another pregnant
woman who dies in the crash, and is taken in by the wealthy in-laws of the dead
woman who had never met their daughter-in-law. And so the story continues.
I
can hear many of you crying, wait a minute, that was not Aradhana, it
was Kati Patang. Ah, but there is a connection. I told you there are
twists and turns. Wait for it.
The original story of Aradhana was proposed to Samanta by Gulshan Nanda, who had evidently seen the 1946 movie To Each His Own by film director Mitchell Leisen, starring Olivia deHavilland. The story was about a woman whose lover, an Air Force pilot, is killed in the war, and she gives up their child for adoption, later coming into the child’s life in another role as a nanny.
The Indian-ised storyline for Aradhana was written by Gulshan Nanda, and the script was written by Sachin Bhowmik. Samanta had named the movie Subah Pyar Ki. Some of you may remember the song Raat ke Hamsafar from Samanta’s previous hit film, Evening in Paris, starring Shammi Kapoor and Sharmila Tagore. Samantha had chosen the title from the first verse of that song. See, everything is connected to everything else!
Shakti Samanta had been on the jury of Filmfare’s talent hunt, and had spotted one of the contestants, Rajesh Khanna. He had also liked him in Nassir Hussein’s production of Baharon ke Sapne. Even though Hussein’s movie was not a hit, Rajesh Khanna’s performance had impressed him. The story of Aradhana revolved around the female lead, and Rajesh Khanna was proposed for the role of Vandana’s lover in the first part of the story, as the pilot who dies in a crash before the interval. As roles go, this was a relatively minor role because the main character was the female lead, and the pilot dies in the first half. Nevertheless, Rajesh Khanna was excited because of the chance to be associated with a successful producer like Shakti Samanta. He needed the touch of Samanta's genius to breathe life into his career.
Sharmila had already been a hit in two of Samanta’s previous films, Kashmir Ki Kali and Evening in Paris. But for this story, it was important to have an actress who could play the role of the young woman in love, and then go on to play the role of an older woman as the mother of a grown son. Sharmila Tagore had appeared in a bikini in Evening in Paris, and carried the image of a sex kitten for the moviegoers. Aparna Sen was chosen for the role, but she dropped out before the movie could start shooting.
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| The look that kills - Sharmila Tagore with Rajesh Khanna in Aradhana |
Well, somehow the name was changed, and Aradhana was set for shooting. It was common for producers in Bollywood to show their productions to their friends in the industry before releasing them. Surinder Kapoor (father of Anil Kapoor, the actor) had just produced a movie with Shashi Kapoor, titled Ek Shriman Ek Shrimati. A day before the shooting of Aradhana was to begin, Surinder Kapoor invited Samanta to view the rushes of his movie, and Samanta was shocked to see that the climax of that movie was very similar to his own proposed film. Coincidentally, Sachin Bhowmik was the story writer for Kapoor’s film. The plot thickens!
After seeing the rushes of his friend’s movie, Samanta decided to scrap the production of Aradhana, but Gulshan Nanda tried to persuade him to make it with a change in the ending of the movie. Samanta was unconvinced, and still evidently upset by loss of his project. Gulshan Nanda changed his tack and told Samanta that he had another story ready to go, and related his story that was based on Woolrich’s I Married a Dead Man. See, I told you we would twist around back to it!
Samanta was relieved at this, and immediately started planning the movie using Rajesh Khanna again, this time with Asha Parekh. The new movie was to be named Kati Patang. Gulshan Nanda also suggested again that Aradhana should be made with a change of ending, and Rajesh Khanna could play both the father and the son that appears years later. Samanta was delighted with this suggestion. For Rajesh Khanna, this was an unexpected bonus, as his role now took on a new importance. (Aha, we closed another loop!)
Real life can often have as much drama as any of Shakespeare’s highly creative complicated, twisted plots. I hope you enjoyed the narration of such a real life story which led to the making of two movies. As a final note, the director who made To Each His Own (the forerunner of the Aradhana story) in 1946, Mitchell Leisen, had also made the 1950 movie No Man of Her Own, which was based on Cornell Woolrich’s novel, and spawned the story for Kati Patang. Both were released in 1969, just a few months after Cornell Woolrich himself passed away. The story behind Aradhana has been made into a movie three times in Hollywood, once in 2001 as a TV show, and once as the movie in Bollywood.
Thinking about the similarity of the underlying features of the two stories, a woman in dire straits starting a second life under a new identity, we have to wonder. The forerunner of Aradhana was made in 1946. In 1948, Woolrich writes the story which becomes the precedent for Kati Patang. Was Woolrich inspired by the plot of the first movie when writing his novel?
Then Mitchell Leisen makes a movie from the second story in 1950. Eighteen years later, Shakti Samanta makes the same two movies as Mitchell Leisen, and the storyline is developed by the same writer, Gulshan Nanda, for both of them. Just join all the dots. Wow!
Shakti Samanta must have been very happy that he changed his mind about scrapping this movie. Never mind that the story was not original, his creation was brilliant, and the movie won Best Picture in the Filmfare Awards. Sharmila Tagore won for Best Actress, and Kishore Kumar got the Best Playback Singer award. What a Hat Trick!
Today, we still remember that this movie was a big hit. More so, every song in the movie was a hit. It is often the case in Bollywood that the songs and the music make the movie. This movie was no exception, even though it had many other things going for it.
After the recording of the songs for Aradhana was started under the direction of Sachin Dev Burman, but the much-beloved music director fell seriously ill, and the rest of the soundtrack was finished by his son, R.D. Burman, who went on to compose the music for Kati Patang immediately after.
The
songs from both movies were memorable hits. S.D. Burman himself sang the title
song, Saphal hogi teri aradhana. His son, Rahul Dev Burman, played the
harmonica for the song Mere Sapnon ki Rani in the movie. The movie was a
great platform for Kishore Kumar, who went on to sing many hits for Rajesh
Khanna in later movies.
In this blog segment, we will take a tour of the songs from these two movies, and go on to many more great evergreen songs that were gifted to us through Rajesh Khanna’s characters as he soared to dizzying heights in his career.
The first song we will take up is sung in the background by Kishore Kumar while we watch the most beautiful love scene in Bollywood memories. The scene happens immediately after Arun and Vandana have visited a temple where they pray and exchange garlands in front of God, symbolizing their commitment to be life partners. They walk in the hills and proclaim to the mountains that they belong together. A sudden cloudburst follows, with the rain that is so ubiquitous as a metaphor for romantic desire in Bollywood films. They must now retreat to a cottage in the hills, and Vandana must change out of her wet clothes. She emerges from the bath in an alluring orange dress with only one shoulder. The scene is set for a song.
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| Ah, The fireplace! Time to get warm. |
Self-righteous censors and self-appointed guardians of Indian morals take note. Carefully. This film was made long before kissing was allowed in Indian movies because you thought kissing was to be kept within the confines of a married couple’s bedroom. Watch carefully as Arun and Vandana show the world, right under your eyes, something much naughtier than a kiss could ever be. The unspoken words that pass through their eyes display the most intimate feelings and thoughts that can occur in any bedroom, much louder than a kiss could.
I am certain that Shakti Samanta, Anand Bakshi, R.D. Burman, Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila and Kishore Da, and all the crew must have been laughing quietly up their sleeves while this was filmed, laughing at the oh-so-pure censors.
Sit back and enjoy. We are all blessed for having all the artists who are responsible for this masterpiece.
Click here to watch this scene and hear the song.
Lyrics in Hindi:
रूप तेरा मस्ताना, प्यार मेरा दीवाना
भूल कोई हम से ना हो जाए
रात नशीली, मस्त समा है
आज नशे में, सारा जहाँ है
हाए, शराबी मौसम बहकाए
आँखों से आँखें, मिलती हैं ऐसे
बेचैन हो के, तूफ़ाँ में जैसे
मौज कोई साहिल से टकराए
रोक रहा है, हमको ज़माना
दूर ही रहना, पास ना आना
कैसे मगर कोई दिल को समझाए
In English script:
Roop tera mastana, pyar mera diwana
Bhool koyi hum se naa ho jaye
Raat nashili, mast samaa hai
Aaj nashe men, saraa jahan hai
haaye, sharabi mausam behakaaye
Aankhon se aankhen, milti hain aise
Bechain ho ke, toofan men jaise
Mauj koyi sahil se takraaye
Rok raha hai, hum ko zamana
door hi rahna, pas na aana
kaise magar koyi dil ko samjhaye
Translation:
Your beauty is intoxicating, I am madly in love
I am afraid of where it might lead us
The night is exhilarating, the ambiance arouses
Today, the whole universe seems to be in ecstasy
Let the drunken mood enchant us
When our eyes look into each other
It is as though a tempest
Crashes a boat against the shores
The world is trying to stop us
It says, do not get closer,
But the heart will not listen
As usual, thank you very much for your support. Please do not forget to share. I hope that the New Year is bringing you a wonderful life and excitement.
Venkat
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Disclaimer: I was not there to observe and report on all the events and details in my blog above. The miscellaneous facts come from various sources on the internet. Most of them are mentioned in more than one or two websites, and it would be impossible for me to discover the original owners of the bits. I express my gratitude to all the sources.
All of the narrative is in my own words. If you have an exclusive copyright to any of the facts or fiction that I have paraphrased here, you can send me a request to remove them if you like.
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