Friday, July 25, 2014

Nadeem-Shravan: From Admiration to realization

Posting after a gap of three years!!!

 There was a definite freshness of romance in the hindi movie songs of the early 90s. A never heard before deep touches of romance symbolized every other film song that got released, especially during the period 1990-1995. A wave of new composers rained melodies - The Nadeem Shravans were launched with Aashiqui, the Anand-Milind with the QSQT, the Anu Malik with Phir Teri Kahani yaad Aayi and Baazigar - beautifully blended with the new voices of Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu,Anuradha Poudwal and Udit Narayan.

As a listener, i always use to wonder who were the best in the lot and my mind always swung between Nadeem-Shravan and Anu Malik. Out of popularity and the number of hits to their credit, it should be the Nadeem-Shravan who emerged victorious. I had a lot of their hit numbers in my favorites - the cassette revolution of the late 80s and early 90s had a lot of "VENUS", "TIPS" and "T-SERIES" cassettes decorating my audio library. It was to my utter dismay that recently I started realizing that many of the melodies that i cherished right from my child hood days were lifted or copied from relatively unknown sources - thanks to the website "www.itwofs.com".

 Let me start with "Aashiqui" - The great musical whcih revolutionized Hindi Film music. My favorite from the lot was "Tu Meri Zindagi hain". This turned out to be a ditto copy of the Paksitani singer Tassavar Khannum's gazal - note by note, not just by Music but also by Lyrics. The original was considered to be one of the most popular numbers from the armory of the singer Tassavar Khannum. Shock number one!!!

 Then comes my next favorite of Nadeem-Shravan, from the musical jubilee hit Saajan of 1991 - "Bahut Pyar Karte hain". I had always loved the Anuradha Paudwal version than the SPB one, for the ease with which she brought out the emotions in the melody. The tune of this song was a direct lift from the Pak legendary gazal king Mehdi Hassan's "Bahut Khubsurat hain Mera Sanam". Shock Number two!!! How on earth my favorite number from Saajan, enjoyed for the past 20+ years, be a copy????

 Here comes another great melody from the 1991 flick Sadak. Frankly, I used to wonder whether Nadeem-Sharavan had the real caliber to churn out a song like "Tumhein Apna banane Ki Kasam". For this song was such a lovely one, and had such mesmerizing effects on me. Alas!! there is the original - "Chale tu khat hi jaye", again by a Pakistani Singer Mussarat Nazir. Shock number three and quite a decisive one!!!!!

 Though the songs never made my favorite list, the realization that "Dil Ne yeh Kahan Hain"(Dhadkan, copied from "Ahebak Leh" by Abdul Majeed), "Maine Pyar Thumhise Kiy Hain"(Phool Aur Kante, copied from "Mujhe Dekh kar bin" again from Mussarat Nazir) and the "Ankhiyaan Mila De Akhiyon Se"(Andaaz, lifted from "Nay Kapre Badalkar", a beautiful ghazal by Khalil Haider the Pak singer) were all copied ones, reduced my regards for their originality. For all the popularity they enjoy in India, they are indebted to some Paksitani singers, who never would have got credits for their originals!!! As the "www.itowfs.com" says, it might be just a matter of time before we realize that every other hit of Nadeem Shravan were lifts or inspirations!!

 Nadeem-Shravan were known for their Aashiquis, Saajans, Dhadkans, hence should have had original numbers than lifted ones.

 Why so harsh on Nadeem Shravan to remove them from my favorites? There were copies everywhere - The Anu Maliks copied, so did Anand-Milinds and so did almost everyone. Let us forget Anand-Milind because it was known right from beginning that they lift tunes, and their affection towards the Ilayaraja numbers down from the south were in fact more famous than their songs. Anu Malik had his own share of copies including the "Agar Tum Mil jao"(again, notes and lyrics copied from Tassavar Khannum), but till date the numbers for which he became famous - "Dil Mein Sanam Ki Surat"(Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayi), "Raah Mein Unse Mulaakat"(Vijaypath), "Baazigar Oh Baazigar"(Baazigar), "Sambhaala Hain Maine"(Naaraz), "Aakhon Mein base ho Tum"(Takkar) etc etc remain original. It might be that I may not know if these were really inspired or lifted, but till known they remain as originals.

 How many more are waiting to be discovered?

1 Comments:

Blogger Nikhil Venugopal said...

Nadeem Shravan

Tuesday, July 29, 2014 5:18:00 PM  

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