Tuesday, June 26, 2007

CELEBRATING RD

News channels are scrambling to deify RD Burman on his 68th birth anniversary. Truly well deserved for a man whose work wasn't given its full due during his lifetime by a fickle Bollywood. As it is, the remix industry revolves around his beats, keeping RD alive for posterity.

But then SMS polls for RD's Top Ten can never come to grips with the entire sweep of his work. The foot-tapping and soulful numbers from known films get pride of place. Doubtless they are brilliant but then you'll find a hundred obscure RD soundtracks with brilliant scores, which remain unknown.

After a long time, decided to listen to a couple of RD CD's yesterday night. Here I must admit that though I had bought those CD's more than two years ago, I had never listened to them. In no time wafted in "Aisa Kyon Hota Hai" from a film called Ameer Aadmi Garib Aadmi, followed by Kishore Kumar singing "Ghungroo Ki Awaaz". RD never ceases to stun you with the range of his output.

Here's a list of ten obscure RD gems in no particular order

Ae zindagi kuch bhi sahi par ye mere kis kaam ki (Romance)- In His own voice. From a Kumar Gaurav starrer. It's nowhere near a cabaret number. Instead it's the maestro at his soulful best

O maajhi teri naiyya se (Aar Paar)- Again in His own voice. Yet another soulful solo number.

Kya Bhala Hai Kya Bura Hai (Libaas) - The only RD duet with Lata Mangeshkar. Sadly, the film was never even released. Remember seeing this song once in Superhit Muqabla on DD Metro. Libaas has a brilliant soundtrack with Khamosh Sa Afsaana Paani Se Likha Hota and Sili Hawa Choo Gayi

Aasman se ek sitara (Rahi Badal Gaye) - RD with Asha. Fast-paced, foot-tapping number

Tum Rootha to main ro doongi sanam (Jawaani) - Asha and Amit Kumar. Disco written all over it. Picturised on a forgotten chap called Karan Shah along with Neelam (her debut)

Ae Zindagi huyi kahan bhool, jiski hamein mili ye saza (Na Mumkin) - Kishore this time. All I know is Hrishikesh Mukherjee made this film. The other songs in this film too are pretty good.

Bindiya tarse kajra barse (Phir Wohi Raat) - Lata Mangeshkar. Mixes two tracks with finesse. This was RD's first stab at mixing twin tracks and not the popular Katra Katra in Ijaazat

Kabhi Palkon Pe Aansoo hai (Harjaee) - Kishore song etched with pathos. Harjaee had a great soundtrack with Tere Liye Palkon Pe by Lata also standing out.

Tumse Milke Zindagi Ko Yun Laga (Chor Police) - Lata. Amjad Khan's directorial venture

Hum Na Samjhe The (Gardish) - S P Balasubramanyam in the nineties.

Dev Anand's Anand Aur Anand, Sunny Deol starrers Samundar, Saveray Wale Gaadi, Sanjay Dutt's Jeeva (the sublime Asha-Amit Kumar song Roz Roz Aanhon Tale), Zameen Aasmaan....... the list goes on.

This is just a random list of 10 and am certain I have missed out songs I have liked at some point. But what's the common thread running through these films?

Most of them were made in the infamous 1980s (two in the early 1990s) and all were box-office duds. Net result - the songs were consigned to the dustbin of history, unhonoured and unsung. Flop after flop ensured that RD was struggling to get work by the end of the eighties, despite producing gem after gem.

To sum it up, "Full many a gem of purest ray serene, the dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear."

Returning to news channels, just can't relate to RD suddenly called Boss, just because of a film called Jhankaar Beats. Before the film I've never heard RD or Pancham labelled the Boss. Let's leave that title to Bruce Springsteen.


Monday, June 25, 2007

THE CRACK OF DOOM

It's exactly 75 years after India (known then as All-India) stepped into the field at Lord's, against a formidable English squad. When it came to the business end of things, mercifully C K Nayudu was leading the side and not tour captain Maharaja of Porbandar, of whom it was said, "He owned more Rolls Royces than he had made runs."

As Percy Holmes and Herbert Sutcliffe entered the crease, England must have been expecting to roll over their minnow opponent. But 3 down for 19, the hosts were running for cover. The top order had been run over by a paceman named Mohammed Nissar.

Dropped catches and inexperience combined with the tenacity of the English skipper, a certain Douglas Jardine, saved England the blushes. But even in defeat, the newborn test side emerged with its head held high. And All-India had its pacemen to thank for the shock waves.

Mohammed Nissar and Amar Singh could indeed set wickets rattling. England great Walter Hammond described Amar Singh's bowling thus, "He came off the pitch like the crack of doom."
It is said pacemen always hunt in pairs - be it Miller and Lindwall, Trueman and Statham, Hall and Griffith or Adcock and Heine. Imagine India had a potent pace duo operating in tandem in the very beginning, ironic considering they have always struggled to have a consistent duo operating together in later eras. The best of the lot - Kapil Dev and Javagal Srinath - never had a regular partner to share the burden.

When India played the Lord's Test, both Amar Singh and Nissar were only 21. Young and restless, they could be counted on to play tests galore. But then India was only a fledgling test nation and the 1930s saw them play a mere seven tests, all against colonial master England. And the Second World War meant a premature end to the pace duo.

Amar Singh could pack a punch with the bat too, smacking 51 in even time in the second innings at Lord's as India was sliding to defeat. Here's a description by Neville Cardus, "His batsmanship had a beauty which had its own mysterious axis and balance. His off-side strokes were like shooting stars - all wrong in our English astronomy, but all right and splendid in some other dazzling solar system. Most cricketers in the same situation would have gone into protective sheaths."

That's not all. His fielding too had its share of admirers, with comparisons to the West Indian great Learie Constantine. All in all, a complete all-rounder. The perfect recipe for one-day cricket.

A complete entertainer and free spirit, Amar Singh had his problems with the disciplined C K Nayudu. And played his part in the oust-Nayudu-from-captaincy intrigues. Pity the team of the 1930s was always weighed down by internal dissension. Who knows what India could have achieved if more energy had been diverted to on-field action.

So here are two supremely gifted pacemen, Amar Singh and Nissar, whose talent resulted in feats of individual brilliance, but was never part and parcel of a collective will. Nissar took 25 wickets in 6 tests while Amar Singh scored 292 runs and claimed 28 wickets in 7 tests.

Nissar died in Pakistan much after Partition while Amar Singh tragically died of typhoid in 1940, when he was only 29.

Putting their exploits in perspective is the fact that it took more than 40 years for an Indian paceman to make his opponents hop around. First test, late 1978, India vs Pakistan. Pakistan opener Sadiq Mohammad asks for a helmet from the pavilion after being peppered by an Indian debutant - Kapil Dev.

Friday, June 15, 2007

FORD FIASCO

So Graham Ford turns his back on the offer, after all the manoeuvering by the senior players in his favour.

The richest cricket board in the world and the BCCI cannot even command a coach? Ridiculous.

All they have to fall back on is a 70-plus veteran past his prime. Chandu Borde has lived a full cricket life - be it a player, chairman of selectors, manager and curator. But expecting him to effect a turnaround is a bit too much. The only consolation being that he is just filling in for now.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

FORD IN DRIVER'S SEAT

So Graham Ford is the Indian cricket coach. No suprises there. John Emburey was anyway just the BCCI's way of prolonging the suspense.

Ford's appointment is a first for the BCCI, being the first time someone without a playing background to boast of, making it to the helm. Here's hoping that a non-player like him is more likely to listen and less prone to dominate, making things a two-way process. He didn't do too badly for SouthA frica during his tenure, only unlucky to get the sack in the revamp which followed the match-fixing scandal.

In India's case at least, the quieter ones have been more successful as coach, be it Ajit Wadekar or John Wright. And those with the most distinguished career records have been disasters, like Bishen Bedi, Greg Chappell and Kapil Dev. Bedi's quip about throwing the Indian team into the Pacific Ocean after losing to Australia in a 1990 onedayer did not help matters one bit. As for Chappell, he failed woefully in man-management. Also, one cannot be a coach banking on instinct alone like a Kapil Dev. It's about science too.

What India needs is a backroom player who blends with the team and not a quote-happy (and email-happy) dominating force. A team united behind the coach is needed for starters, considering Team India is now light years behind the Australias and the Sri Lankas.

And yes, the most successful coach around was only a club-level cricketer with only seven Sheffield Shield appearances for Queensland to boast of. A certain John Buchanan.

Wishing the second import from Kent all the best. Hoping he can also provide the Wright medicine, just like the New Zealander who came to India in 2001, helped considerably by Rahul Dravid's successful Kent stint in 2000.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

EMBUREY AS COACH?

It's a long shot, but John Emburey coaching India? Ironic, considering it was India who finished his international career.

My first memory of Emburey is the nagging spinner, who played his part in the victorious Ashes campaign of 1986-87. Saw a lot of him in action during the 1987 World Cup. And he could hold fort with the willow too, coming up with useful knocks in the lower middle order. He captained England in two tests in 1988, and got battered by a rampaging West Indies both times. A year later he had become a banned cricketer, heading for South Africa with Mike Gatting's rebel side.

But that wasn't the end of his international career. Towards the end of 1992, an ageing Emburey, leaning towards 40, was back. Graham Gooch's England wanted to keep a tight leash on Indian batsmen in their den, and decided to bank on his experience.

Navjot Singh Sidhu was lying eagerly in wait though. After missing the 1992 World Cup and the South Africa series, he wanted sixes aplenty in his name. And Emburey was his hapless prey. The veteran turned his arm over, only for the ball to disappear into the stands. Sidhu seemed to be licking his lips at the sight of Emburey bowling and the battle-hardened veteran was reduced to a nervous wreck. For a schoolboy like me, he had become an object of ridicule.

Only Sachin Tendulkar is left from the side who buried Emburey the player. Though Emburey the coach may be a different proposition altogether, it's strange to imagine a player hounded out by Indian batsmen returning to coach them.