Book Review: “चल उड़ जा रे पंछी (संगीतकार चित्रगुप्त: व्यक्ति एवं कृति)”

चल उड़ जा रे पंछी…
संगीतकार चित्रगुप्त: व्यक्ति एवं कृति (खण्ड 1 एवं खण्ड 2)
By: Dr. Narendra Nath Pandey
Kautilya Books, New Delhi: 2022
ISBN: 978-93-90885-68-8
Pages: (256+474=730)
Price on Amazon: ₹1500 (Hardcover)

I have to start with a disclosure. The author of the above book, Dr Narendra Nath Pandey, is well known to me, having studied in the same college and lived in the same hostel, he being four years senior to me in the Physics Department. This small hostel of Patna Science College was known as a house of nerds, but Narendraji stood out even those days with his interest in literature, theatre and radio plays. After college our paths separated; I moved into the wide world of anonymity, and he into academics, finally retiring as University Professor of Physics. Along the way he pursued his other interests; the Research Council of the University gave him special permission to do research in the Hindi Department, finally honouring him with D. Litt.

Many years later, WhatsApp brought us on a common platform, when I came to know about this massive two-part biography of Chitragupta written by him, and his other books, and he about my blog. Chitragupta is the first music director I wrote on, describing him as the Magic Maker with Lata Mangeshkar and, later, I described his duets for Rafi, as Melody Personified. I have since found that everyone on this blog loves Chitragupta. Thus it was natural that I would review this book on SOY; in fact I should have done it earlier, but the sense of Covid having receded made me undertake some pending travels and social and family engagements.

Book 1: Chitragupta the Man

The first part is written in a classic biography style. It has been significantly enhanced by messages from stalwarts like Lata Mangeshkar, Anand and Milind, Udit Narayan and Vishal Bharadwaj. Later, the author was able to have telephonic conversation with the melody queen Lata Mangeshkar when she was out of the hospital, recuperating sometime before her mahaprayaan. Narendraji has recorded long interviews with Kishore Desai (mandolin player in Chitragupta’s orchestra), Anandji of Kalyanji-Anandji duo, Pyarelal of LP duo, Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasiya, the singers Suresh Wadkar, Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan, the lyricist Samir Anjan, and Robin Bhatt (story-script-dialogue writer). Besides, he has made efforts to have long chats with Chitragupta’s family members – his daughter Dr Sudha Srivastava and son-in-law Anil K Srivastava, his sons Anand and Milind and daughters-in-law Meena Anand and Anita Milind, and his nephew (sister’s son) Dr Madan Prasad. These provide a ring side view of Chitragupta the Man, as well as his music making.

One common theme that comes out of these conversations with a wide range of film and music personalities is that Chitragupta was highly respected as a cultured and erudite person (he was a double MA – in Economics and Journalism) and read a wide range of books, for his knowledge of music and his absolutely melodious compositions. That he did not rank in the A-listers, or did not win any significant awards did not dim the respect he commanded for his talents.

But the more important part is that he was a universally liked person. An unassuming man, he was above any malice and away from the Bollywood politics and rat-race for going ahead by pushing others. As the top banners were locked in by the great stars and their favourite music directors, Chitragupta started his career as music director of mythological and stunt films, his debut film being Lady Robinhood (1946). Even though his music soared over his B-C Grade films, he remained typed. When he got big break with AVM’s Bhabhi (1957), Barkha (1959) and Main Chup Rahungi (1962), scoring superhit music, he did not increase his fees. He remained contented and rooted to the ground, and always ready to help small producers with whatever they could afford.

His wife Krishnaji was a fabulous cook and a great host. Thus, their bungalow, ‘Prabhat’, at the 14th Road, Khar became Open House for Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Madan Mohan (the previous owner of the bungalow) and many others who would partake of their hospitality without any inhibitions.

Narendraji highlights three qualities of Chitragupta’s music: sweetness, simplicity and novelty. In this part, he has also dissected his music on various parameters, such as chronological division of his career from 1946 to 1989 (last film, Shivganga) in distinct phases, his milestone films for music (he has identified 52 of his 147 Hindi films), his variety in terms of forms of music: songs based on classical raags, westernised tunes, ghazals, qawwalis, Holi and Eid, dance duets, mujras, folk-based, lorie, bhajans-prayers, parodies etc. SOY regulars also know that Chitragupta first came to Bombay to  become a singer, and he did sing may songs under his baton and some under the baton of his mentor, SN Tripathi.

Besides his 147 Hindi films, Chitragupta is integral to the classic Bhojpuri films, starting with the first film Ganga Maiya Tohe Piyari Chadhaibo (1962), going on to give music to 27 Bhojpuri films. These songs have become a milestone of his career, transcending the boundaries of regional songs to becoming mainstream. Besides, he gave music to a Magahi film, two Gujarati films and a Punjabi film, making an impressive total of 178 films.

Book 2: Chitragupta the Music Director

We have seen several biographies of music personalities which give complete song list chronologically and alphabetically, and in some more convenient classifications, but all at the end of the same main volume. This is the first time that I saw a much bulkier second volume, and the reason was soon clear. Narendraji has not merely given a conventional song index, but complete lyrics of 881 Hindi film songs. Besides, he has given song titles of 143 other songs which are not available on the Internet. In short, he has given complete lyrics of all the available Hindi film songs. Besides, he has given some select Bhojpuri and Magahi films songs and two non-film songs. He has rightly called it a “Chitragupta Kosh”. The Book gives a brief description of each film he composed – its producer, director and actors etc.

Conclusion:

I find many readers look for my conclusion in my reviews for purchase decision. My first reaction was that the book was pricey. But after it was delivered by Amazon and I went through it, in my opinion, for its production quality and solid content, the price is worth it for the lovers of Chitragupta. Narendraji has produced a Collector’s Edition. Nevertheless, I would recommend to him that he may consider condensing the Book 2 in some lists of songs on a number of parameters (year-wise, alphabetically etc.) and make it a part of the Book 1 as a compact edition. I guess that an average keen reader would look for that kind of edition.

I believe that this book is the first authentic and comprehensive biography of Chitragupta. Therefore, some information available on the Internet has to be corrected. For example, several sites mention Karmaini village in Gopalganj district as his birth place. This has to be corrected to Sawreji village in the same district. The reason for this mistake seems to be because his uncle and father were married in these villages, 25km apart, and settled down in their sasurals. Chitragupta’s uncle brought him to Karmaini for his early education. Later in his life, his elder brother, Braj Nandan Srivastava (aka BN ‘Azad’), 11 years senior to him, was his mentor and a father-figure who guided him for his higher education.

Any such book is a goldmine of trivia, here are some interesting information not easily available in public domain:

i. Anandji narrated in his interview that Dilip Dholakia told Chitragupta about the new instrument clavioline that it produces been-like sound. Kalyanji first used it for the song O naag kahin ja basiyo re, mere piya ko na dasiyo re in Naag Pachami (1953), composed by Chitragupta. Thereafter, its use in Naagin (1954) became a rage. Anandji credits Chitragupta for the duo KA’s entry into films.
ii. Lata Mangeshkar named Chitragupta’s second son as Milind Madhav and when he bought his house in Hiranandani, she named it Swar Ganga.
iii. Chitragupta put a high premium on education. Milind completed his MA in Sociology, and had also enrolled for PhD when the duo Anand-Milind got an offer to compose music for their debut film, Ab Ayega Maza (1984). Their music in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) fetched them their first Filmfare Award, which gave immense happiness to Chitragupta.
iv. Milind and his wife Anita made several visits to BMC office and were finally successful in installing a plaque titled, “Chitragupta Chowk” at the 14th road of Khar.
v. Anand was married to the music director Master Lachhiram’s daughter, Meena.
vi. The book gives a list of 60 principal singers and their first film in which they sang for Chitragupta. It gives a similar list of 52 lyricists and their first film for Chitragupta. We all know that Lata Mangeshkar has sung for Chitragupta and his sons duo. Other interesting combinations, the father-son Kishore Kumar and Amit Kumar, father-daughter, Hemant Kumar and Ranu Mukherjee have sung for Chitragupta. So have Anjan and his son Sameer written lyrics for him.
vii. Laxmikant played mandolin in Chitragupta’s orchestra and Pyarelal was arranger in many of his films. Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia played the flute for his songs. Many musicians of that stature played instruments for him.

The list of trivia is endless and is strewn around the book. Let me end with two new discoveries I made, thanks to the book.

Parody medley

I was aware of Chitragupta’s two medley parodies and these have been discussed earlier on this blog: Prem ke taange pe ud jaaun from Tigress (1948) which has parody of five famous songs of the vintage era, and Aaye na baalam kya karun sajni..Chaahe koi mujhe jungle kahe, bakane do ji bakata rahe from Main Chup Rahungi (1962). Here is the third medley parody from Aakashdeep (1965), containing parody of a dozen songs, including one from the Bhojpuri film Ganga Maiya Tohe Piyari Chadhaibo.

Ja raha hun zindagi se door main, pahli biwi chhodkar ae saathiyo…Ruk ja wo jaanewale ruk ja by S Balbir, Manna Dey and Asha Bhosle from Aakashdeep (1965), lyrics Majrooh Sultanpuri, music Chitragupta

A non-film bhajan written by an ex-Prime Minister’s wife

I am sure that most readers would be astonished that something like this exists. Here is a melodious bhajan written by Smt Lalita Shastri, composed by Chitragupta and sung by Lata Mangeshkar.

Bata de koi mohe Shyam ki dagariya (NFS bhajan), sung by Lata Mangeshkar, written by Smt Lalita Shastri, composed by Chitragupta

Note:
If you want to place Dr Narendra Nath Pandey in his social milieu, I would recommend his son Vaibhav Vishal’s write-up on his blog about the soft launch of this book. This is a very sensitive and tender piece. But once you start browsing through his blog, you would come across some wildest, craziest humour you would have ever read. I would especially recommend his description of how he almost married one Clara Julliard Scott. And once there, he would take you to his two equally mad capers. Vaibhav is a chip of the old block, having already won acclaim and awards for his story, script writing of web series and films: Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2000); Inside Edge (2017) and Mumbai Saga (2021).

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer:
The song links have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog claims no copyright over these songs which vests with the respective owners.