Sajjad Hussain, Bollywood’s Loss

Guest article by DP Rangan to pay tribute to Sajjad Hussain on his 23^rd death anniversary (15 June 1917 – 21 July 1995)

(Sajjad Hussain has been acknowledged as an undisputed genius by all the stalwarts of film music. His name also became a byword for his short temper and his spats with his colleagues. This came in the way of a ‘successful’ career. But whatever he composed – about a hundred songs in 14 films – has achieved everlasting fame. DP Rangan has done some very in-depth research to come up with a worthy tribute to a composer, who was ‘difficult’ in more ways than one. Thank you Mr Rangan. – AK)

The title was chosen to emphasize what invaluable contributions of film music of a genius was lost to film goers by the negative attitude of the industry towards a music director who refused to compromise on his principles and to kowtow to the directives of bigwigs in the industry and insisted his own ideas of music composition should prevail.

Film industry was not born overnight. It was a gradual development over the years starting with Kinetograph, a working motion picture camera and Kinetoscope, a viewing instrument, both patented in 1891 and developed by the great inventor of 19^th century Thomas Alva Edison. Lumiere Brothers of France developed Cinematograph. Now it was possible for many viewers to sit in a theatre and watch the movie. The first silent movie in the true sense was released in Paris in 1895. Ceaseless efforts to improve led to talkies and the first one was released in USA by Warner Brothers in 1927.

Raja Harishchandra was the first Indian feature silent movie released in 1913 by Dadasaheb Phalke. More silent motion pictures followed from several parts of India. The first Indian talkie film, Alam Ara (The Ornament of the World), produced by Ardeshir Irani was released on 14^th March 1931 at the Majestic Cinema in Bombay, now known as Mumbai. He also produced the first talkie film in Tamil – Kalidas, released on October 31, 1931. The first film song in India was De de khuda ka naam per sung by Wazir Mohammad Khan, who acted as a fakir in this film. Music direction was by Ferozshah M. Mistry and B. Irani. They could probably be considered as the pioneer Music Directors. Alas, no copy of this film is available today.

Film music came into prominence with the advent of talkies. It became an integral part of the film and the Music Director also joined the coterie of film makers like Director of Photography, Editor and so on. Music directors surfaced steadily and, in this line, emerged a genius by the name Sajjad Hussain with a will of his own undaunted by pressures from without and holding his own to the end. Despite the sparse discography, study of his life and his music composition career does reveal his unique personality in greater detail. I am attempting this task with trepidation and pray for my shortcomings to be excused by the blog following community at large.

Sajjad was born on 15^th June 1917 in Sitamau, a small princely state in Central India, now known as Madhya Pradesh, ninth in the line of 5 brothers and 4 sisters, and, thus, the youngest of the lot. His father Mohammad Amir was an ordinary tailor eking out his existence and had no special preference for music. He was called upon to stitch clothes for the King Raja Ram Singh whenever an occasion demanded such special dress. He spent more time in the durbar. Durbar in those days used to be the haunt of musicians, resident and peripatetic. Exposed to such an atmosphere, his interest in music was kindled and he started learning the sitar and soon acquired some proficiency in it. Sajjad alone among his siblings evinced interest and used to accompany his father to the palace to hear concerts. He was thus introduced to the sitar at a very young age and started mastering it.

Mustafa Sajjad had several reminiscences of his music director father, Sajjad Hussain. According to him, his father once listened to a concert in the palace and was impressed with it. He came home and reproduced it faultlessly much to the surprise of Mohammad Amir, the grandfather. Another instance was related to mandolin, an instrument in which Sajjad had acquired enough mastery to play Hindustani classical tunes. It seems he saw the instrument at someone’s residence. Fascinated by it, he came home and fashioned his own version and mastered it. Later on, while in Bombay, he acquired a proper instrument by way of a present from a Jewish mandolin player Rahim Solomon. It seems, according to Mustafa, Mohammad Amir recognizing his son’s genius in music encouraged him but with a stern admonition that he will not make music his “rozi-roti ka zariya”. He was faithful to this promise till his father’s demise in 1935. By then he was proficient in other instruments too like veena, vichitra veena, violin, flute, jal tarang, clarinet, piano, harmonium, Spanish guitar and Hawaiian guitar according to his son Mustafa.

With the consent of his family, he embarked on his musical career escorted by his brother Nisar Hussain and proceeded to Bombay, the lodestar for pursuing an avocation in the tinsel world in 1937. Film industry was not fully established and studios were dominant players. He joined Minerva Movietone run by Sohrab Modi at a salary of Rs. 30 a month as a member of the orchestra. Soon he shifted to Wadia Movietone because of an offer of Rs. 60 per month. Sensing this was quite alien to his concept of a career, he left the job and joined All India Radio, only to leave that too just after four months. He was set on becoming a full-fledged music director. In those days one should have belonged to a pedigree of musicians, which he was not, or work upwards starting as an assistant to an established music director. With an independent turn of mind, this was a bitter pill to swallow. Faced with this Hobson’s choice, he started working as an Assistant to music composers Mir Saheb and Rafiq Ghazanvi and as a contract player with Shaukat Hussain Rizvi, the future husband of Noorjehan. His proficiency with musical instruments and expertise in playing mandolin stood him in good stead while engaged in his chosen profession.

In the early 1940s, Ali Baksh (father of the legendary actress Meena Kumari), a small-time composer engaged him as his assistant in appreciation of his skills as an expert player of mandolin, considered a difficult instrument to master. Music director Hanuman Prasad took him as an assistant and gave him his first chance to compose music for a few songs in the film Galee (1944). He composed two songs – Aag lage saavan mein and Ab aaja dil na lage (both sung by Nirmala Devi). As expected they are not available at all.

Sajjad’s dream of composing music, as an independent entity, was realized, when he was offered the assignment for the film Dost in 1944 by Rizvi, director of the film. He showed his mettle in this first venture as a sole music director. He should have had a glorious career with numerous assignments like his contemporary Naushad from then on. But what really transpired over the next twenty years was something of a riddle of sphinx. He composed music for around 14 prominent films ending with Rustam Sohrab in 1963 followed by two nondescript films Shikaar (1973) and Aakhari Sajda (1977). In a few films he was not the sole music director. In one film he walked out after composing three songs on account of a tiff with the producers.  Each of the films and songs he was involved with bears his distinct style and could be classified as a drip of aural ambrosia. I will discuss his progress as music director filmwise.

No doubt he was gifted with a profound music sense and hence his mastery over myriad music instruments at a fairly young age, particularly mandolin considered a difficult instrument. His strong independent spirit resented even minor interference with his work and he had a lofty disdain for film magnates and did not take kindly to suggestions on music composition. He was perfectionist in nature. He composed the entire music himself including orchestration and had no assistants at all. His son mentions how Sajjad would even write out the bol for the tabalchi. He had such a keen ear during music recording, he could at once detect a false note and also pinpoint the offending perpetrator. Even a whisper of musical rhythm upset was enough to perturb him and he will start from the scratch. His obsession with perfection caused jitters among the orchestra and the performing artists during recording sessions.

He deployed all the leading singers of his day in his songs. His tryst with Lata Mangeshkar did not begin before 1946. While recording songs for the film 1857 (Gadar), he ran into Amanat Khan Devaswale, who ran a musicl institute in the same building. He was praising sky-high the musical skills of one of his disciples. Knowing how tough it was to get a pat from Khan sahib, he decided to test her and the first song of Lata Mangeshkar – Aaj mere naseeb se for Hulchul was recorded. It was released after the film Khel (1950) which had two songs by her. He was pleased with her performance and the partnership continued. But at the same time, he would not hesitate to comment about the singing. It is averred (whether true or not) that when Lata Mangeshkar was not performing as he wished during a recording, he remonstrated – “Ye Naushad miyan ka gaana nahin hai, aap ko mehnat karni padegi.” For some time, he had a difference of opinion but patched later on. Lata Mangeshkar sang just 14 songs for him from 1950 to 1963, (Khel-2, Hulchul-2, Sainya-6, Sangdil-2, Rukhsana-1 and Rustom Sohrab -1).

Lata Mangeshkar was all praise for him. In her 2011 calendar named Tere Sur Aur Mere Geet, a collectors’ item on 28 music directors who impressed her, she had lofty words on Sajjad’s performance. She also stated he had a great sense of humour and used to crack jokes with a deadpan expression. She narrated an incidence in regard to this. In one recording session, one member was repeatedly playing out of tune. An exasperated Sajjad asked him to leave but not pass by Lata Mangeshkar as he was likely to pass on his off-key mood to her.

His uncompromising nature led to many tiffs with the film magnates and he was shunned by the film producers as a difficult man to tackle and, hence, he did not get more assignments as befitted his genius. It is stated that S Mukherjee, a successful producer who himself was an egoist, asked Sajjad, “Kya guarantee hai ki aap ka music chalega?” Sajjad shot back, “Kya guarantee hai ki aap ki film chalegi?”

Lata Mangeshkar has stated that he was a genius and perfectionist and misunderstood by the industry and deserved far more than what he got while less gifted music directors were flourishing. I am quoting below what other music directors had to say about him.

Anil Biswas has certified Sajjad as the “only original music director”. He said that everybody else – including himself – had to turn to some source of inspiration. Sajjad never needed that! Sajjad Hussain was a very proud and forthright man and was an absolute perfectionist.

Legendary composer Naushad Ali, while commenting on Sajjad’s melodic erudition, said: “He (Sajjad) was an extremely talented artiste, very knowledgeable about music, but his temperament was his undoing. Even if someone made a minor suggestion, he’d turn on him and say: ‘what do you know about music?’ It means he was not prepared to consider anyone a cognoscenti in the matter of music composition.”

I will broadly classify his works into two categories: Major and Minor. By minor I mean films less known or not front runners and exiguity of details. The films are as under:

Major
Dost, 1857 (Gadar), Khel, Hulchul, Saiyan, Sangdil, Rukhsana, Rustom Sohrab

Minor
Dharm, Tilasmi Duniya,  Kasam,  Mere Bhagwan, Rooplekha, Magroor

Major films will be dealt with individually and minor ones will be clubbed together. The films have been listed in chronological order.

Dost (1944)

A Navin Pictures venture directed by Shaukat Hussain Rizvi, husband of Noorjehan, the main actors were Kanhaiyalal and Maya Banerjee. Noorjehan also acted in the movie. Her husband Rizvi acted as her brother. Noorjehan lent her voice for the heroine Maya in one song – Ab kaun hai mera. Lyrics were rendered by Shams Lakhnavi and Sajjad Hussain took assignment as full-time music director. It was his maiden venture. He began with a bang and all the Noorjehan songs were a hit. The film or live videos of the songs are not available for viewing. There were 5 songs by Noorjehan in all besides four other.

1. Badnam mohabbat by Noorjehan, lyrics Shams Lakhanavi

An 18-year old singer mesmerizes all with her lilting voice. The word Badnam is spelt first and the pause thereafter before continuing the song lends it a special compositional morceau. She had migrated with her husband to Pakistan after partition. Years later Noorjehan recalled this song as one of her best in an interview with a journalist from Pakistan. O P Nayyar while paying tributes to Malika-e-Tarannum, as Noorjehan was christened, played this song in a Jaymala programme.

2. Koi prem ka de ke sandesa by Noorjehan

A heart throbbing song from the koel Noorjehan. In slow but steady tempo she conveys all her feelings in the song.

A needless controversy cropped up as to the reasons for the runaway success of the film music. Rizvi, husband of Noorjehan, attributed it solely to the orotund and sonorous voice of his wife. Sajjad, incensed at being denied his role, vowed never to get involved in music composition for any film of Noorjehan in future. This probably cost him his next assignment – Jugnu. It was unfortunate that at the very start of his career, he had to face such a parlous situation.

1857 (1946)

The film is based on events during the great Indian Uprising against East India Company in 1857. It was fifth in gross earner for that year. After fighting with them and losing, a nawab flees to Delhi and his daughter (Suraiya) becomes a servant in a rich man’s house not realizing her father was staying with the servant there. A romance develops between the son (Surendra) and her. It is as usual opposed by his father. After finding out she is Nawab’s daughter, he consents. The mutiny is over and the British government takes over India. Peace returns and the lovers are united. There are 8 songs – Suraiya (4), Shamshad Begum and Surendra one each and two duets. There were four lyricists were four – Pandit Ankur, Shewan Rizwi, Anjum Pilibhiti and Mohan Singh.

3. Wo pahli mulaquat by Surendra, lyrics Shewan Rizvi

Lovelorn Surendra is pursuing Suraiya in the gardens and a coy Suraiya is obviously enjoying the attention paid to her.

4. Teri nazar mein main rahoon by Suraiya and Surendra, Lyrics Mohan Singh

A lovely duet which is everlasting.

Khel (1950)

Dev Anand, Nigar Sultana and Nargis were the main actors. S.M. Nawab was the director and Zia Sarhadi, story writer. There were 9 songs in all (Lata Mangeshkar – 2, Shamshad Begum – 2, G.M. Durrani – 2, Meena Kapoor – 1, Geeta Dutt – 1, Geeta Dutt and Durrani – 1) and as many as 7 lyricists (Jan Nisar Akhtar, Khavar Jama, Sagar Nizami, Shams Azimbadi, Aarzoo Lakhnavi, Bahzad Lakhnavi and Zia Sarhadi) penned these songs. It was quite common in those days to have several lyricists in a film. All the songs were great with the typical stamp of Sajjad Hussain. I will present a few songs.

5. Jaate ho to jaao by Lata Mangeshkar, lyrics Sagar Nizami

A young Lata sings and conveys a pathos mood.

6. Tod gaye haye by Meena Kapoor, lyrics Shams Azimbadi

The late Meena Kapoor also sings in mood of pathos in her sweet voice.

7. Sajna din bahure hamare by Geeta Roy, Lyrics Arzoo Lakhnavi

Geeta Roy sings in a happy mood, well composed by Sajjad.

Sainya (1951)

A film depicting feudal India, drawing inspiration from the Hollywood film Duel in the Sun (1946), with leading actors Madhubala, Ajit and Sajjan, it is a tale of two brothers contesting for the love of the orphan girl who grew along with them. Sajjad Hussain was the music director and songs were written by the triumvirate – D.N. Madhok (4), Rajendra Krishna (3) and Hasrat Jaipuri (1). There were 8 songs and one was not released. Lata Mangeshkar sang 6 songs including the one not released, Mohammad Rafi and Shamshad Begum accounted for one each. Sajjad quarreled with the lyricist D. N. Madhok and they never worked together thereafter. All the songs are top notch and it is difficult to pick favourites from among them. I will give two songs, one by Lata Mangeshkar and the other, by Mohammad Rafi.

8. Hawa mein dil dole by Lata Mangeshkar & chorus, lyrics Rajendra Krishna

Lata Mangeshkar has sung in her inimitable way and the video and audio part merge with each other seamlessly. The entire song is in a gentle pace and slides like a slow flowing river.

9. Us paar is deewar ko dekho by Mohammad Rafi, lyrics D. N. Madhok

Mohammad Rafi has sung with a joyous abandon and Sajjan is calling Madhubala while doing a pirouette all the time. Vocal and orchestra have coalesced to produce this lovely tune.

Hulchul (1951)

Produced by K. Asif and directed by S K Ojha, the main casts were Dilip Kumar, Nargis, Balraj Sahni, Yakub and K.N. Singh. The story is about the love between Kishore, an orphan (Dilip Kumar) brought up by Asha’s (Nargis) father, and the budding love between them. Asha’s brother, after the demise of his father, opposes the love match but acquiesces on the condition that Kishore will prove his mettle. Kishore lands in jail convicted of a murder. He rescues the jailor (Balraj Sahni) who is about to be married. Balraj Sahni was in fact in Arthur jail on detention at that time because of his involvement with the Communist movement. He was allowed to come to the studio to act as a jailor and return back to his cell. He was incarcerated for six months. To continue, Kishore is released after the real murderer is exposed. He comes to meet Asha but finds she is married to the jailor. In an intense last scene facing Asha, he breaks down and stumbles down the stairs and dies like Humayun, a typical Dilip Kumar-Nargis tragedy. I do not think they had acted in any film with a happy ending.

The film has nine songs – Lata Mangeshkar (4), Lata Mangeshkar & Mohammad Rafi (3), and one each by Rajkumari Dubey and Shamshad Begum. After composing three songs (two by Lata Mangeshkar and one by Rajkumari Dubey), he quit the film in a huff after a tiff with the producer. The rest of the six songs were composed by Mohammad Shafi from Naushad camp. I am presenting one song from the three by Sajjad, though the other two are also no less melodious.

10. Aaj mere naseeb ne by Lata Mangeshkar, lyrics Khumar Barabankvi

This is the first song composed by Sajjad Hussain which she sang. She was quite nervous because of the exacting nature of Sajjad, but in the end sailed through effortlessly. This sad song is worth listening to even after all these years. The audio is not that good. This film was released after Khel (1950), which had two Lata Mangeshkar songs.

Sangdil (1952)

This film is an adaptation of Charlotte Bronte classic Jane Eyre (1847), directed by R C Talwar. Dilip Kumar and Madhubala are the main actors and the less prominent ones were Dara Singh and Leela Chitnis. Even measured by his high standards, the music of the film was superlative and recognized as such by all. The lyrics were written by Rajendra Krishna. There are 7 songs – Talat Mahmood (2), Lata (1), Geeta Dutt (1), Shamshad Begum (1), duets (2) and an Asha solo. One song was deleted from the film. Shamshad song is fast paced and shows the adeptness of Sajjad in composing such songs. Both the duets and the solos of Talat Mahmood are superb. The bhajan by Geeta is also alluring. The sole Lata Mangeshkar solo is mesmerizing. I will present a few songs because of space constraint with a deep regret in not presenting other songs.

11. Ye hawa ye raat chandni by Talat Mahmood, Rajendra Krishna

This is one of the most memorable songs of Sajjad. It appears he forced the singer to rehearse for 17 times before finally recording it. He called Talat Mahmood as ‘Galat Mahmood’. Even after this, he was not fully satisfied and regretted that one player from the orchestra did not play properly.

There was a sequel to it. Madan Mohan lifted this tune and composed a song – Tujhe kya sunaon main dilruba – sung by Mohammad Rafi in the film Aakhri Dao (1958). By a strange coincidence, the actress Shammi appeared in both the songs. Years later, in a musical get together an angry Sajjad confronted Madan Mohan and demanded why he lifted his tune. It is said that Madan Mohan could placate him by playing to his ego – ‘Huzoor, Only an ustad like you could have inspired me’. This goes to show the loftiness of Sajjad’s creations.

12. Wo to chale gaye ai dil by Lata Mangeshkar

A song sung in grief by Lata Mangeshkar and Madhubala acting as the grieving woman.

Sajjad fell out with Dilip Kumar and, as usual, he decided not to compose music for any Dilip Kumar picture thereafter, if offered the chance.

Rukhsana (1955)

Directed by R C Talwar, the main actors were Kishore Kumar and Meena Kumari. Sajjad called Kishore Kumar as ‘Shor Kumar’. The subsequent career of Kishore Kumar would prove him wrong. The film had seven songs – Lata Mangeshkar (1), duets (2), Asha Bhonsle (3), Mubarak Begum (1). Shakeel Badayuni and Khumar Barabankvi wrote the songs. Lata Mangeshkar fell sick after recording one song and Sajjad used Asha Bhonsle in her place. I am at my wits end regarding choice of songs as all of them are worthy of mention.

13. Ye char din bahar ke by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle, lyrics Shakeel Badayuni

For Kishore Kumar it was a maiden venture with Sajjad. Asha Bhosle debuted with Sajjad Hussain in Sangdil, but the song was not picturised. Both of them have sung splendidly.

Rustom Sohrab (1963)

After a long hiatus between his previous assignment in 1955 and now, he was assigned as music director for this film. There could be none more suited to give music to the film based on Persian folklore with a Mid-Eastern tinge. Prithviraj Kapoor (Rustom), Suraiya as his sweet heart, and Premnath (Sohrab) paired with Mumtaz were the main actors. There were five songs, one each by Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Talat Mahmood and Suraiya, and the fifth one was a chorus in qawwali style sung by Mohammad Rafi, Manna Dey and Sadat Khan. Suraiya retired from films after this film and Ye kaisi ajab dastanho gayi became her swan song. The song lyrics were by Jan Nisar Akhtar (2) and Qamar Jalalabadi (3). Each song is a gem and popular to this day. I will present two songs from the film and at the same time regret leaving out songs by Lata Mangeshkar and Talat Mahmood because of constraints of space.

14. Ye kaisi ajab daastan by Suraiya, lyrics Qamar Jalalabadi

The last song from the singing star of yesteryears now 34 years old shows she is in full command over her voice and so sweet and enduring.

15. Phir tumhari yaad aayi by Mohammad Rafi, Manna Dey and Sadat Khan, Lyrics by Qamar Jalalabadi

A group of warriors are seated around a fire at night in a camp on the eve of war to be fought next day where father (Rustom) and son (Sohrab) will be pitted against each other and the son would be the martyr. A great chorus rendered by two great singers which will live forever in the minds of those that listen.

I will now turn to the other group of films. These 6 films have a total of nearly 40 songs. Rooplekha had two music directors, Sajjad composed three songs. Magroor had three music directors and Sajjad composed two songs. I will post songs from these films below.

16. Aanewale jab aayenge by Naseem from Dharm (1945), lyrics Shewan Rizvi

A typical song of the period but of a much better quality from Sajjad.

17. Kya kahun raat ki baat by Ratan Devi from Tilasmi Duniya (1946), lyrics Hamid Hyderabadi/Madhup Sharma

The song based on a classical theme sounds smooth and soothing to hear.

18. Mujhe bawari bawari log kahen by Geeta Roy from Mere Bhagwan (1947), Lyrics Shewan Rizvi

An absolute stunner, Geeta Roy has sung in a teasing manner.

19. Teer pe teer by Mohammad Rafi from Rooplekha (1949), Lyrics Khumar Barabankvi

A lovely rendition by Mohammad Rafi of this magnificent piece composed by Sajjad (one out of three for the film), it transports us to higher reaches of serenity.

20. Toot gaya haye toot gaya by Rajkumari, Shamshad Begum and Mohammad Rafi, from Magroor (1950), Lyrics Mullaji,

What a sweet little masterpiece composed by Sajjad. All the three singers have tried to outshine each other and, in the process, gave splendid performance. Can be heard again and again.

Another song composed by Sajjad was sung by Shamshad Begum – Tumhein baagon mein saawan ke (lyrics Raja Mehdi Ali Khan) is also very nice to hear.

Sajjad had the unique distinction of composing music for a Sinhalese film Daiwayogaya (1959) produced in Pune by S K Ojha (Hulchul). Five songs were composed. His music is considered as one of the factors for its box office success. Here is a song by Adarayai Karunawai .

At the request of his friend Vasant Desai, Sajjad composed the title music for the film Behnen (1963) and strummed it on the mandolin (2.18 minute). For the Telugu picture Muthyala Muggu (1975) he composed a nearly five-minute long piece in mandolin. Here is the link. Subodhji can identify the raga.

After 1963, he seems to have vanished from the scene. He was honing his skills on mandolin and gave stunning performance in classical styles now and then. Here is a 15-minute piece.

From now onwards Sajjad led an eremitic life in isolation at Natalwala building in Mahim, ignored by the film industry when he had so much to contribute, because of his attitude towards film magnates. It seems he had no regrets in his life nor did he nurse grievance against anyone. To a query whether he regretted his action, his son replies: “My father used to say, ‘Beta, popularity alag hai, muqaam alag hai.’ My father had muqaam. That is why people are still talking about him despite the fact that he did only a handful of films.” He passed away peacefully on July 21, 1995 at the age of 78 years. The only mourners to attend in person were Khayyam and Pankaj Udhas. While a living Sajjad was forgotten, after his death encomiums poured forth, a standard matter of fact response. None wrote an elegy.

I owe a debt of gratitude to numerous contributors on his life and works and the list is too long to present here. I offer my sincere thanks to all such, without which I could not have completed this post. I studied many anecdotes of Sajjad taking affront at suggestions offered which he considered outrageous and quarreled with the alleged delinquent. Some doubts rose in my mind about their credibility. In such situations there was only one expert who could speak with authority, i.e., our Arunkumarji. I contacted him and he readily sent very useful material for which I am deeply indebted to him. He is like the Rock of Gibralter for me.

I submit this humble contribution on this larger-than-life composer par excellence who lived in the rarefied atmosphere of his principles without compromise of any sort and contributed so much to the industry. It might have lacked in quantity, but it more than made up in irrefragable quality of composition. His music was ethereal in character and will stand the test of time.