Music and a Mega-Star: Amitabh Bachchan’s Melodious ‘Record’

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Amitabh Bachchan, who singlehandedly changed the path of Hindi films, was to also redefine film music. Here’s looking back at his amazing melodies as the actor completes 82 years.

Early musical “notes”

Bachchan arrived barely a few months after the Rajesh Khanna hysteria began with Aradhana, Do Raaste and a string of musicals. If Khanna was the symbol of musical romance, Bachchan seemed to have just a tenuous link with on-screen love and little to do with music, the biggest USP of Indian and especially Hindi cinema, and never enacted any songs in his first two films, Saat Hindustani and Anand.

It was in his third film, Pyar Ki Kahani (1971), that Bachchan got to ‘sing’ for the first time – and the solos, Koi aur duniya mein tumsa haseen hai  and Ek pate ki baat sunaaon were both sung by Mohammed Rafi, written by Anand Bakshi and composed by Rahul Dev Burman and were modestly popular.

But it was in 1972 that his association with two of his major associates – Kishore Kumar and Laxmikant-Pyarelal – began, though in separate films. Kishore Kumar sang the hits Dekha na haaye re socha na and Dil tera hai (with Lata Mangeshkar) in R.D.Burman’s Bombay To Goa, Bachchan’s first definite solo hit. And L-P brought in the chartbuster Rafi-Lata duet Patta patta boota boota in Ek Nazar, also using Mahendra Kapoor (in his only song for Bachchan) in the soulful and popular ghazal, Ae gham-e-yaar bataa. Mukesh sang all the songs of Raaste Kaa Patthar, from which the title-track was popular. The latter was Bachchan’s first film with the L-P-Anand Bakshi combo, which was to do more films with Bachchan than any other music team, working all the way till his home production, Khuda Gawah, in 1992, in which Bachchan, under L-P, also recited the Khuda Gawah theme penned by Bakshi.

At this point, it must be understood that Bachchan was still struggling, a jinxed actor of sorts, and ironically when Zanjeer made him the superstar in 1973, he had no song in this film too! The same happened that year with Namak Haram, in which Rajesh Khanna sang all the songs, and Gehri Chaal, in which Bachchan, again after Parwana¸ was the villain (in that film, he had the Rafi solo, Arey hansnewalon). Bachchan did have Kishore’s Har haseen cheez ka main in Saudagar.

Daringly, Bachchan and his wife Jaya chose a musical subject for their home production, Abhimaan, and so that year, the nascent Angry Young Man of Hindi cinema also got his first musical, that too playing an egoistic pop singer!

The songs of Abhimaan proved hits, though S.D. Burman experimented with three playback voices, Rafi again (Teri bindiya re), Kishore Kumar (Tere mere milan ki) and Manhar (Loote koi man ka nagar), all Lata duets. As a bonus, Kishore also got the only ‘pop’ song in the film, Meet na mila.

Music peaks with Bachchan

In the two years that followed, Bachchan went from strength to box-office strength, but two of his biggest hits, Roti Kapada Aur Makaan and Deewaar (which along with Sholay kicked off the multi-star wave) had no songs for the Big B, while in the last-mentioned film, Manna Dey was his voice (after Bandhe Hath) in Yeh dosti even as Kishore went on Dharmendra. But it was the reverse in the Chupke Chupke duet Sa re ga ma as Dharmendra got Rafi and Kishore went on Bachchan.

The establishment of Kishore Kumar as Bachchan’s best-suited voice was not just because of the singer’s reign from 1972 to 1977 but also because he was a natural fit on the tough image of Bachchan, since his deep voice and powerful throw matched Bachchan’s deep baritone. This was consolidated after Khoon Pasina, Parvarish and especially Amar Akbar Anthony, with which Bachchan’s Angry Young Man image transitioned into the One-Man-Entertainer.

Except for the beautiful but unsung Rafi-Asha waltz Aa raat jaati hain  from Benaam, Kishore had almost monopolized Bachchan’s vocals even earlier, with hits like Dekha phoolon ko and Aadmi jo kehta hai in Majboor, Ho jaata hai pyar (his first song with close buddies and mentors Kalyanji-Anandji, who had scored Zanjeer and also recommending him to Prakash Mehra for the role) in Kasauti and their Main pyaasa tu saawan (Faraar). Kishore also recorded Aaye tum yaad and Badi sooni sooni hai (S.D. Burman’s Mili), Tum bhi chalo and Zindagi hansne gaane ke liye (Sapan Chakravorty’s Zameer), though Mukesh had two popular songs in K-A’s Adalat, Behna o behna and Humka aisa waisa.

Ironically, despite this cavalcade, Bachchan acquired the label of a hero who was anti-music! It was postulated that Brand Bachchan had annihilated romance and music and substituted it with action and violence. And not even Mukesh’s Kabhi kabhi mere dil mein and Main pal do pal ka shaayar from the super-hit Kabhi Kabhie could correct this misconception. It was stressed that the classical musician that Bachchan portrayed in Alaap (1977) was a flop, forgetting that the poet-singer of Abhimaan had been a huge hit! Incidentally, the then-trendy Yesudas sang for him in Alaap as well as later in Trishul and Charandass.

What the composers said

Music director (Laxmikant)-Pyarelal scoffed to me. “How can Bachchan destroy music? It was a challenge to compose for him and his talent, for Amitabh Bachchan could enact any kind of song on screen, not just romantic numbers, brilliantly. His music was not about just one kind of song. If you see our work for him, there is a complete range in genres!” Kalyanji, in his lifetime, dismissively smiled away this concept as absurd, while Rajesh Roshan wanted to know how such a silly premise was born at all.

Aadesh Shrivastava mentioned the deep and passionate involvement Bachchan has in his music, since theirs was an association that dated from Aadesh’s days as a musician with L-P to his individual hits as composer like Sona sona (in Bachchan’s home production Major Saab), Shaava shaava (Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…) and the hit songs of Baghban and Baabul, many of which were rendered by Bachchan himself.

It is also of relevance at this point to realize that in the late 1970s and ‘80s too, composers excelled in Bachchan movies. Rajesh Roshan’s Mr Natwarlal (which also saw the composer introducing the Big B as a singer in Mere paas aao), Khud-Daar and Yaarana are obvious. Bappi Lahiri’s career took off in a big way only after Namak Halaal, and Sharaabi followed. Shiv-Hari, the classical duo, made a smash debut with Silsila (in which Bachchan sang three hits), and Anu Malik scored his first major hit with Mard.

Add to that Suhaag, Dostana, Ram Balram, Naseeb, Andhaa Kaanoon, Inquilab, Coolie, Hum, Aakhree Raasta and Khuda Gawah (all Laxmikant-Pyarelal), Don, Muqaddar Ka Sikander, Laawaris and Nastik (all Kalyanji-Anandji), and Kasme Vaade, The Great Gambler, Shaan, Barsaat Ki Ek Raat, Kaalia, Satte Pe Satta, Mahaan and Pukar (R.D. Burman) and you have a complete Bachchan’s Symphony all the way to the 1990s. Add individual chartbusters Andheri raaton mein (Shahenshah / 1988) and Gori hai kalaiyan (Aaj Ka Arjun / 1990) and we have a rich haul.

Even in the millennium, besides K3G and Baghban¸ a massive hit was Kajraare (Bunty Aur Babli).

It is also of interest to know that Bachchan helped kick-start the playback career of Shabbir Kumar (Coolie) and Sudesh Bhosle (Hum), who ended their struggle phases with these films’ hit songs.

It is also important here to know that if Bachchan also sang a lot of his own songs, he even inspired many composers to playback – mostly hit – songs for him. Laxmikant (Gore nahin hum kaale sahi / Desh Premee) made his singing debut for him. R.D. Burman (Shaan, Pukar, Mahaan), Bappi Lahiri (Geraftaar), Anu Malik (Toofan, Hum Kisise Kum Nahin) and Shankar Mahadevan (Armaan, Bunty Aur Babli, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom) all sang for this actor.

And the gamut of other young singers who have lent their voices to him include Amit Kumar, Suresh Wadkar, Anwar, Mohammed Aziz, Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan, Vinod Rathod, Sukhwinder Singh and Sonu Nigam.

The “Item” songs

As Laxmikant put it, Bachchan was not about one kind of song. But after Amar Akbar Anthony’s My name is Anthony Gonsalves, “item” songs, as they have come to be known today, became Bachchan’s special forte. The assorted songs that topped his voluminous parade of such numbers included Khaike paan Banaraswala (Don), Pardesiya (Mr Natwarlal), Mere angne mein* (Laawaris), Rang barse* (Silsila), Pag ghungroo (Namak Halaal), Chal mere bhai* and John Jani Janardhan (Naseeb) and of course the chart-smashing cult song Jumma chumma de de (Hum), which was a Mory Kante song that Bachchan persuaded L-P to Indianize and adapt! The asterisked songs above are rendered by Bachchan himself!

The poetic factor

Being the son of one of the foremost Hindi poets of the 20^th century, the late Dr. Harivanshrai Bachchan, the actor always had a penchant for poetry. His superstardom and huge acting talent inspired some meaningful verse in his songs too, and apart from Sahir’s poetry in Kabhi Kabhie and Dr. Bachchan himself penning a song each in Alaap, Laawaris and Silsila, we had Bachchan associated with master-writers like Anand Bakshi, Anjaan (a close friend of his father) and Majrooh Sultanpuri besides Rajendra Krishna, Sahir, Yogesh, Gulzar, Prakash Mehra, Indeevar, Gulshan Bawra, Verma Malik, Kaifi Azmi, Javed Akhtar and Sameer Anjaan.

His Own Voice

With his cultural background and his deep voice, it was only a matter of time before Amitabh Bachchan lent his voice to a song. Though he contributed some vocal lines to songs in Adalat (Mukesh’s Humka aisa waisa) and Amar Akbar… (Kishore’s My name is Anthony Gonsalves), it was left to Rajesh Roshan and lyricist Anand Bakshi to construct a tailor-made Mere paas aao (Mr Natwarlal) to suit Bachchan’s untrained voice and limited range.

As a singer, Bachchan has contributed over 30 songs for composers from Kalyanji-Anandji, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and R.D. Burman to Rajesh Roshan, Bappi Lahiri, Anu Malik, Shiv-Hari, Amar-Utpal, Aadesh Shrivastava, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Vishal-Shekhar, Himesh Reshammiya, Bapi-Tutul, Ilaiyaraaja and Vishal Bhardwaj and re-creations under Rohan-Vinayak and Ganesh Hegde. He has also rendered non-film songs under Aadesh, Sanjayraj Gaurinandan and Adnan Sami.

But most composers have used Bachchan either in sing-song numbers or made him do gimmicky songs in which he was sadly off-key. Among the genuinely standout songs that were composed for him were Aadesh’s Main yahaan (Baghban) and Rajesh Roshan’s Jeevan hai kis liye (Aetbaar). And the many other hits included Don’t worry be happy (Toofan / Anu Malik), Padosan teri murgi (Jaadugar / Kalyanji-Anandji), Samandar mein nahaa ke (Pukar / R.D.Burman) and Dekha ek khwab, Neela aasmaan and Rang barse (Silsila / Shiv-Hari).

The composer!

Last but not the least, Amitabh Bachchan himself composed Badumba in 102—Not Out, and the song was written by another AB who is at the top of his game today—Amitabh Bhattacharya!

The music of Bachchan, in short, is a Golden chapter in itself in the history of India’s biggest pop—film music.