BackWhen did you last hear a ‘kajri’?
When did you last hear a ‘kajri’?
PremiumNoted: A song in Barsaat ki Raat has a Gaud Malhar template.
Since the monsoon hasn’t abandoned us altogether, I guess we could indulge in a bit of Malhar talk? Not really, because even though the association between the Malhar family of ragas and the rains has lived on in legend and anecdote, in real life, and in the world of popular film music, there is a serious disconnect. Most rain songs in Bollywood, in the last couple of decades, have had nothing to do with Malhar or with any song form traditionally associated with the rains, the month of sawan, or the monsoon.
In 1961 there came Chhote Nawab, with the music, including the classic Ghar aajaa ghir aaye badra saanwariya, scored by R.D. Burman. Now here’s a song that talks about the rains but isn’t filmed as a rain sequence. Burman composed it for a mujra sequence and did not base it on any of the Malhars. And yet, there is an abundant influence of classical music, in the melody, taal and orchestration. Even till around the 1980s there were songs like the Chashme Buddoor track Kahaan se aaye badra which borrowed from the traditional association of raga with rain.
There was also generous borrowing from folk music in general, and from season-specific folk music too. Heera Moti in 1959 saw Roshan turn his attention to the kajri, a north Indian seasonal song form associated with the rains. Kaun rang mungawa from the film could well be described as a filmy twin of a traditional kajri. In fact, those with a taste for authentic folk music may well want to savour the sound of this kajri in the voice of Ram Kailash Yadav of Allahabad (https://www.beatofindia.com/arists/rky.htm), a consummate performer of folk music who has held his listeners in thrall since 1949.
But this is not to say that all songs posturized in the rain had a Malhar or kajri feel to them. Who can forget Pyar hua iqrar hua from Shree 420 in 1955, which bore no trace of any Malhar, kajri or sawan, and yet is referred to so fondly even half a century after it was first heard? It’s just that in the last two decades rain songs from Bollywood seem to have drifted away from any association with traditional rain-related repertoire. Take music director Uttam Singh’s Koi ladki hai jab vo hansti hai from Dil To Pagal Hai in 1997. Despite its chorus invoking “sawan raja" in a cute, bouncy chant, the music has no traditional connection with the rains. It is the visuals with rain-drenched dancers, including Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit, that make it a rain song. Musically, you could have replaced “sawan raja" with “2G Raja" and it wouldn’t have made the slightest difference to the melody. Then there’s A.R. Rahman’s Taal se taal mila from the 1999 release Taal, all awash with the sound of drops of water, but no conventional musical reference to rain ragas. Come 2003, and we get Kareena Kapoor cavorting in the rain in Chameli to Sandesh Shandilya’s Bhaage re man. Great song, lovely singing, but no connect with traditional rain repertoire again. Once again, it is the visuals that bind the association with the rain, not the music. In Lagaan, Rahman borrows a few phrases from Malhar for the hugely popular Ghanana ghanana ghir ghir aaye badra, but it’s more the scale he refers to than the raga.
It does seem as if film music has distanced itself from traditional forms and melodies despite the occasional “genda-phooling" around. And at least for rain songs, films seem to rely more on visual associations rather than on conventional musical associations. This is a mere statement of fact, and not a comment on the merit of this shift away from traditional music. In fact, this column doesn’t claim to offer the complete catalogue of Bollywood Malhars and kajris, so please hold your wrath at bay should you find that your favourites have not found mention. Like you, it is a good shower of rain that I thirst for, not a torrent of angry insults that some wise and learned readers occasionally send my way.
Write to Shubha at musicmatters@livemint.com
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