Kalyanji Birth Anniversary: When Legendary Composer Said ‘There Is No Melody Left In Songs’

I met Kalyanji Virji Shah, one-half of the celebrated Kalyanji-Anandji duo, by default. This was in the 1980s. I had just started out in my career and it was my first visit as a freelance to Mumbai, then Bombay.

When I met Kalyanji he was very unhappy about the state of film music. In an interview with Zoom, he said, “There is no melody left in the songs. We are given English songs and told to translate them into Hindi. We’ve worked with the greatest of filmmakers like Feroz Khan, Manoj Kumar and Prakash Mehra. There was a time when these three movie moghuls would not make a film without our music. Abhi bhi hamara rishta kamyaab hai(our relationship is still the same). Lekin aaj ka sangeet sangeet nahin raha(today’s music is no longer music).”

Kalyanji cribbed about the philistinism in the music world. “The young journalists who come to interview us have no jankaari (knowledge) of film music. They ask us, ‘Apne baare mein kuch batayen (tell us something about yourselves.’ Arrey bhai, kya batayen(what to say?).”

Kalyanji loved his jokes and chuckles. The interview was conducted in his bedroom. He lounged on the bed and suggested I do the same.

Many female playback singers of the post-Lata Mangeshkar era owed their career to Kalyanji-Anandji including Sadhana Sargam and Alka Yagnik.

In a throwback interview, Alka acknowledged the hitmakers’ hand in her success. “Amitabh Bachchan Saab sang the male version of Mere angein mein tumhara kya kaam hai in Laawaaris for composers Kalyanji-Anandji. I was their pupil at the time and spent several hours hanging around in their studio. During Amitji’s rehearsals, I was sitting in a corner of the recording room, listening to him practice the number. The folk tune was so catchy, that I soon found myself humming it. The very next day, I visited HMV’s studio in Colaba (which no longer exists) to watch Amitji record the song.”

Then came Alka’s turn. “After he finished recording, Kalyanji-Anandji told me it was my turn to take the mike and sing. The two of them had a great sense of humour and used to joke constantly. So at first, I thought this was another one of their jokes. However, I knew the song by heart as I had watched Amitji sing it. I went ahead and sang. Mind you, I was in my teens then and my voice was very girlish, very kachcha(raw).”

Kalyanji-Anandji heard Alka out and asked her to modulate my voice to make it sound mature. “They told me the song was to be filmed on a senior actress(Raakhee Gulzar). I tried my best. Finally, they approved my take and revealed, ‘You will see Raakhee-ji sing your song on the screen.’I didn’t react. I thought they were joking again so I simply returned home and forgot all about it. When the film was released, I actually saw Raakheeji singing and dancing to what I had sung. I was overjoyed. Suddenly, the importance of that number sunk in. There was a song whose male version had been sung by the biggest star in the country while I had sung for one of the top leading ladies. It hit me hard. Soon, I was flooded with offers to sing feisty folk songs about husbands and wives. While I did accept some of the offers, I couldn’t fully avail of the opportunities that came my way because, at the time, I was based in Kolkata and busy completing my education.”

Alka feels Mere Angnein Mein made a strong impact on her career. “Kalyanjibhai even started calling me ‘Angana Yagnik’. I would accompany Amitji and Kalyanji-Anandji to concerts across the globe. Everywhere, Amitji and I had to sing the number. When Amitji came to the lines ‘Jisski biwi chhoti’, he would invariably bring Jayaji on the stage. The song brought the house down. To this day, it haunts me. At live shows, I sing all my soft melodious numbers. Finally, though, I give in to the audiences’ demand for Mere Angnein Mein.”