On Nasir Hussain's death anniversary, tracing the 'zabardast' magic of Nasir Hussain-RD Burman

If there has never been a music composer as enduring and endearing as  Rahul Dev Burman, then it is equally true to say that there will never be a filmmaker as ebullient and energetic as Nasir Hussain.

A  boxoffice wizard, Nasir Hussain spun trueblue musical hits from 1957 to 1985.  His cinema stood out for three attributes:  they were almost always frothy musicals, most of them starred Asha Parekh (with whom the filmmaker shared an intimate relationship in real life) and the music of  RD Burman.

How Burman came into the picture reifies one of those happy coincidences of life that changed the course of  Indian cinema. For example, if Dilip Kumar had not opted out of Pyaasa at the last minute, Guru Dutt would not have played Pyaasa.

Shammi Kapoor with whom Nasir Hussain had done two hits film Tumsa Nahin Dekha and  Dil Deke Dekho in 1957 and  1959 wanted  Shankar-Jaikishan to do the music of  Teesri Manzil. Nasir  Saab told Shammi (who was known to get his way), ‘Ek naya ladka hai. Burman Dada (SD Burman) ka beta. Zara sun toh lo (listen to his songs).’ Shammi reluctantly agreed. When he heard RD’s fresh fecund flavourful tunes, Shammi fell for them hook line and  ‘singer’.

Teesri Manzil  was  a bonafide musical hit. Take away the chartbusters by  Mohd Rafi and Asha  Bhosle—O mere sona re, Aaja aaja main hoon pyar tera, Oh haseena zulfon wali, Tumne mujhe dekha, Deewana mujhsa nahin (which later became the title of  Nasir Saab’s nephew Aamir Khan’s film)…and what have got.

After Teesri Manzil( which Nasir Hussain only produced, and Vijay Anand directed and strangely never worked with RD again until Bullet),  RD  created uninterrupted sparklers for Nasir Saab.

In  1967,  Nasir Saab produced and directed Baharon Ke Sapne, his only critically acclaimed neo-realistic film about unemployment. And what a magnificent score RD  came up with. Lataji’s 'Aaja  piya tohe pyar doon', 'Kya janoon  sajan' and 'Chunri sambhal' (a  duet with Manna Dey) is on every  RD  addict’s playlist.

In 1969’s Pyar Ka Mausam  Nasir and R D came together again for a musical blockbuster best remembered for the two-version Tum bin jaoon kahan by Mohd Rafi and Kishore Kumar. Interestingly it was Rafi who sang for the film’s hero Shashi Kapoor, not only in the soulful Tum bin jaoon kahan but also in the  other chartbuster Ni sultana re (a duet with Lataji). The  Kishore Kumar version of  Tum bin jaoon kahan was filmed on the hero’s father played by  Bharat Bhushan.

In the  1971  musical blockbuster Caravan it was  Lataji and Rafi Saab all the way with Asha Bhosle chipping in with the trippy twosome  Piya tu abb to aaja  and Abb jo miley hain toh. But the central  hit  of  the score was Lataji’s Dilbar dil se pyare, a zany seduction song that blew the lid off the charts.

 By the time Nasir Hussain directed  his next blockbuster  Yaadon Ki  Baraat the tables had turned on  Mohd Rafi. He was replaced by Kishore Kumar  in almost the  entire  youthful  score with  numbers  like Aapke kamre mere  koi  rehta hai and Meri soni meri tamanna. However the film’s biggest  hit Chura  liya hai tumne still had Rafi saab pitching in with Asha Bhosle.

1977’s blockbuster  Hum kissise Kam Nahin  was again dominated by Kishore Kumar and Asha  Bhosle.But the films’s two  biggest hits Kya hua tera wada  and  the Qawwalli Hum  kissise kam nahin went to Rafi Saab.Fun fact  about Kya hua tera wada: the music for the opening line was  the opening interlude  of  another R D  composition, Tum mujhse  roothe ho in the film Phir Kab Milogi.

Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai  came 4 years after Hum Kisse Kam Nahin. It was too much of the same thing: same hero (Rishi)  and the same dancefloor ditties including an unauthorised versin of  ABBA’s Mama Mia. However  Dil lena khel hai  dildar ka, Pucho na  yaar kya hua  and  Hoga tumse pyara kaun were hits. In the last-mentioned song Shailendra Singh who was Rishi Kapoor’s ghost voice in Bobby got to sing for Rishi, apparently on  the insistence of Nasir Saab.

The last two RD-Nasir Hussain collaborations Manzil Manzil and Zabardast were  massive boxoffice  failures . But each had its glorious moment of musical  majesty. O meri jaan in Manzil Manzil and  Jab chaha yara tumne in Zabardast  speak volumes of a partnership that generated acres of mindblowing musicality.

 It is believed that RD Burman never  got over his disenchantment when Nasir Hussain’s son Mansoor Khan chose Anand-Milind for his directorial debut. An era had ended for both the filmmaker and his composer. When Nasir Hussain was tempted by other  filmmakers he would say, ‘Jab tak main hoon, Pancham hai.’

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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