'Salil Chowdhury Could Find A Song Even In A Storm'

'Once when he was on a flight, the plane hit an air-pocket.'
'The turbulence outside caused it to see-saw violently which caused a lot of panic inside. While his co-passengers were crying and praying for their lives, Salil kaku was writing a song in his head.'

Music composer Salil Chowdhury gave us hit songs like Itna Na Mujhse Tu Pyar Badha, Kahin Door Jab Din Dhal Jaye, Maine Tere Liye, Suhana Safar, and many, many more.

Speaking to Rediff Senior Contributor Roshmila Bhattacharya, Bimal Roy's daughters Rinki Roy Bhattacharya and Aparajita Sinha, along with their brother Joy Bimal Roy and screenwriter Nabendu Ghosh's daughter Ratnottama Sengupta, refresh memories of their Salilkaku.

• Also Read: The Salil Chowdhury You Never Knew

Let's flashback to 1953 when Salil Chowdhury first came to Mumbai in answer to a telegram from Bimal Roy who wanted to turn his Rickshawalla script into a Hindi film.

Joy: Salilkaku had just got married to Jyoti kakima and it was their honeymoon period.

When shooting began, she came down too. They lived on the first floor of a charming bungalow in Mohan Studio where baba used to do his editing. I loved the house and Jyoti kakima, who was very fond of me, would invite me home. I was very young and have a hazy memory of sitting on the verandah of the house. I recall visiting their apartment on Bandra's 16th Road more frequently.

Ratnottama: During Do Bigha Zamin, Nirupa Roy would do her make-up in a room in Mohan Studio which served as the newly marred couple's bedroom.

One day, Balraj Sahni's saffron dhoti caught Jyoti kakima's eye. Since it was a black-and-white film, she wondered why he would be wearing such a vivid colour when it wouldn't even show up on screen.

It was explained to her that if he wore a white dhoti, it would appear pristine on screen and since he was playing a poor rickshaw puller, that would look odd. The saffron hue appeared a dark grey on screen and gave his clothes a soiled look.

What an amazing detail about Bimal Roy's artistic vision.

Joy: Jyoti kakima was a talented artist who had impressed her teachers while studying in Kolkata's Government College of Art & Craft. She never pursued art seriously after marriage, but loved our picturesque bungalow and would often drop by, set up her easel and sketch it from different angles. I used to paint as a child too and would hang around watching her.

Rinki: (Laughs) Salil kaku was very proud of his beautiful wife and would tell me, 'Rinki, you think you are fair na, but just look at your Jyoti kakima.'

Ratnottama: Like baba, he was a self-made man who refused to let his father, Dr Gyanendra Chowdhury, the medical officer of a tea garden in Assam, pay for his studies. He would take tuitions and that's how he met Jyoti kakima.

Joy: He was a science student while she was in the arts stream. Salil kaku would sit up all night studying, so that he could explain the lessons to his beautiful student the next day.

Like Amitabh Bachchan's English professor Sukumar Sinha in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Chupke Chupke who does the same when courting Jaya Bhadhuri's Vasudha, a botany student.

Ratnottama: In 1952, Salil kaku married Jyoti kakima and they had three daughters.

Their eldest, Bubun (Aloka), was a year older than me while the second one, Tulika, was born in the same year. Bubun and I were batchmates at Elphinstone College, and along with Tuli and Lipka (the youngest), would go to Bandra's Notunpolli pandal during Durga Puja. I wish Jyoti kakima had continued with her art, but as she once told me, 'Amader shamir gourav amader garbo (We take pride in our husband's achievements).'

It was a different time, a different world. I believe even my mother (Kanaklata Ghosh) wrote a diary, but never showed it to us.

Joy: Even maa (Manobina Roy) and her twin sister (Debalina Mazumder), probably India's first women photographers, never exhibited during their lifetime. It was only a few years ago that we started exhibiting their brilliant pictures, taken without any training, and the response has been overwhelming.

Aparajita: I believe the photographs themselves are their own ambassadors -- they have a life of their own. They are considered invaluable today, a portrait of the time and a look at the inner world of sheltered women.

Bimal Roy and Salil Chaudhury were a winning combination. Some of his best scores were for your father's films, Do Bigha Zamin, Biraj Bahu, Naukri, Madhumati, Parakh...

Rinki: Also, Devdas.

Didn't S D Burman give the music for Devdas?

Rinki: S D Burman composed a dozen songs, but when the film was ready and they were going for re-recording, baba and he dropped by Salil kaku's place in the middle of the night and requested him to give the background music for Devdas.

He protested, insisting he couldn't do it since S D Burman, many years his senior and an accomplished musician, was already at the helm. But the music director himself insisted, asserting that Salil kaku was the best person to do the background score.

My father, who rarely spoke, stayed silent through this exchange, but when Salil kaku looked at him for confirmation, he nodded.

'If that's what Bimal da wants, I'll do it,' he finally agreed.

However, he laid down one condition -- he would not take any credit for the film. The camaraderie between these creative geniuses gave us unforgettable classics.

Aparajita: Tapan Sinha once said that my father was the first person on the set and worked very hard.

'Without hard work, you cannot make a great film,' he asserted.

I believe that without trust and collaboration, you cannot make films like Do Bigha Zamin, Devdas and Madhumati.

Madhumati won Salil Chowdhury his first Filmfare Award for Best Music Director while Lata Mangeshkar was the first recipient of the just introduced Best Female Playback Singer Award for Aaja Re Pardesi.

Rinki: Madhumati had 11 songs, Suhana Safar Aur Yeh Mausam Haseen, which remains one of Mukesh's most popular tracks, opens with the chirping of birds.

The sound was introduced on the suggestion of S D Burman who was present during the recording. He insisted that it would enhance the natural ambience and he was so right.

After Madhumati and Parakh, baba went back to S D Burman for Bandini.

I've heard whispers of a disagreement between Salil kaku and my father after Parakh.

When baba succumbed to cancer -- on January 7, 1966 -- Salil kaku was devastated, crying inconsolably, and repeatedly asking him for forgiveness.

Ratnottama: My parents were equally devastated when Salil kaku passed away (September 5, 1995), and after my father's demise (December 15, 2007), Jyoti kakima fondly remembered how she had once served him muri (puffed rice) mixed with the oil of mango pickle.

Joy: (Chuckling) She served my father ice cream when he would stop by their home to pick up Salil kaku on his way to work.

Since he was a late riser, baba had to often wake him up. He would then sit patiently, waiting for Salil kaku to get ready.

On these occasions, Jyoti kakima, knowing how much my father loved ice cream, would bring one out for him.

Ratnottama, Salil Chowdhury gave the music for Trishagni, which bagged your father the National Award for Best First Film of a Director.

Ratnottama: Yes, the film is based on a historical short story by Saradindu Bandopadhyay, Moru O Sangho.

It grows out of a sandstorm which leaves behind only four survivors. Two monks and two children are brought up in the monastery. Twenty years later, the older monk is suddenly overcome by lust for the girl and tries to separate her from the boy despite knowing that they love each other.

My father adapted the story as a screenplay and it bagged the prize/award at an NFDC script contest. The prize/award came in the form of equipment, lab charges etc and baba decided to turn the script into a film, investing his own money in the project.

Since the budget was tight, he told Salil kaku he could only pay him a token sum of Rs 25,000 and offered Ashaji (singer Asha Bhosle) the same amount. Both magnanimously refused to accept any remuneration, saying they were doing it for him.

Trishagni is a beautiful film, but has just one song, Aisa Lage Kahin Door Se.

Ratnottama: It may have had only one song, but it had an evocative background score which would have been difficult to compose. The film is set around 2000 BC, in a Buddhist town near a Central Asian desert, so there were no references for Salil kaku to build on. The music literally grew out of him and remains unforgettable.

Rinki: He was a simple, middle-class boy, born in a small village in Bengal, who learnt to play the piano from his elder brother at the age of six. Years later, I would see him sit down at the grand piano at his place and play Mozart from memory.

In Hrishi kaku's (Hrishikesh Mukherjee) 1961 film Chhaya, Salil kaku composed a song, the evergreen Itna Na Mujhse Tu Pyaar Badha, which is based on Mozart's 40th Symphony.

Ratnottama: Growing up, I would wonder what Salil kaku's contributions were to a songless film like Kanoon or Ittefaq. It was much later that I understood how much the background score contributes to heightening the emotions of the characters and scenes.

Salil kaku was a genius who could find a song even in a storm. I've heard that once when he was on a flight, the plane hit an air-pocket.

The turbulence outside caused it to see-saw violently which caused a lot of panic inside. While his co-passengers were crying and praying for their lives, Salil kaku was writing a song in his head.

Which song was this?

(Humming): Ami Jhorer Kache Rekhe Gelam Amar Thikana, Ami Kandlam, Bohu Hashlam, Ei Jibon Joware Bhashlam, Ami Bonnar Kache, Ghurneer Kache Rakhlam Nishana...

The song, which was later recorded by Hemant Kumar for the album Chayanika Mone Rakha Gaan, translates simply as 'I left my addresses with the storm; I cried some, laughed a lot, floated on the tides of life, leaving behind traces of my identity with typhoons and tempests...'

That's perhaps why 100 years after he entered the world, Salil Chowdhury, his words, his songs and his music, remain unforgettable.

Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff