By Hindustan Times
Shammi Kapoor was the swinging star of the ’60s... Nasir Hussain the melody maker... And Teesri Manzil was Vijay Anand’s first musical. The most obvious choice for the music director was Shankar-Jaikishen or OP Nayyar. But Vijay Anand, or Goldie as he was fondly called, surprised everyone by
suggesting RD Burman whom he had seen grow up playing every musical instrument from the harmonium and mouth organ to the sitar and tabla.
“Who is Pancham? So what if he's Dada’s son, SD Burman is Dev Anand's music director not mine,” Shammi hollered and convinced his composers, Shankar-Jaikishen, to slash their fee by half. It needed to be S-J, however the superstar eventually agreed to 1 sitting with Goldie’s boy wonder, who needed to his credit just one film score, Chotte Nawab!
At 7 pm at the appointed evening, the trio gathered for Pancham’s audition. Shammi having already vetoed him mentally was lolling at the sofa. Pancham struck his first note. He had a bank of about 35 compositions ready, a mixture of rock ’n’ roll and twist, jazz and folks. Because the music played on, Shammi sat up and commenced inching closer. By the tip of the evening, he was on! Soon after, Goldie also signed him for Baharon Ke Sapne and Dada Burman was ecstatic! “Pancham finally nikal pada tha (he made it)!”
My growing up years are intrinsically linked with ‘Dum maro dum..’, ‘Kuch to log kahenge…’, ‘Mehbooba mehbooba…’ and ‘Bade achche lagte hain…’ that resounds at 10.30 pm as Ram Kapoor’s soap story comes on. Amit Kumar was excited and his ‘baba’ baffled when he landed his big break, wondering why Pancham preferred his son to him. “I want a younger, fresher voice,” his composer-friend explained to Kishore Kumar.
Age catches up with everyone… It did with Panchamda too. After the swinging ’70s, he surrendered to Bappi Lahiri’s disco, even Nasir Hussain opted for Anand Milind in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak after three flops, Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai, Manzil Manzil and Zabardast and Subhash Ghai’s Ram Lakhan going to Laxmikant-Pyarelal. A heart-broken Panchamda underwent an open-heart bypass and his surgeon, Dr Mukesh Hariawala, recalls him mumbling, ‘Chal nahin rahi hai (it’s not likely right)’. Later he told the doctor that if the guts doesn't have a synchronised beat and rhythm, it's impossible to create good music.
He was back with Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 1942: A Love Story. Vinod remembers that he came up with a very ‘ghatiya’ first tune for ‘Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga…’ but begged for one more chance and returned with pure melody. The film won him awards but he was not around to simply accept them, having left the arena before the film’s release on January 4, 1994, on the age of 54.
In 2002, Ananth directed Bollywood’s first retro musical, Dil Vil Pyar Vyar, with 13 of Pancham’s compositions rearranged by his arranger Babloo Chakravorty. “Bablooda brought the resho resho, a comb like instrument you sweep against your teeth to provide a particular sound, from the Padosan days and recalled Panchamda telling them that the primary line of ‘Chura liya hai tumne jo dilko…’ was from ‘Bojoura, if it’s Tuesday, this should be Belgium…’,” smiles Ananth. “Before every recording at Empire Studio, Bablooda would place an image of Panchamda at the console and perform a pooja, believing his guru was watching over us. I wish I’d got an opportunity to fulfill Panchamda.”
I wish I had too. Had he lived, he’d have turned 73 this Wednesday. If the monsoon arrives this week, I DO KNOW on that day, I’ll be splashing throughout the puddles singing, ‘Rim jhim rim jhim, rum jhum rum jhum…’ Panchamda still makes my heart go pitter patter!
