Doing Their ‘Own’ Thing

Another way of breaking images was to junk the “inspiration” factor. Many singers have role-models whose influences come in their earlier output– even Lata Mangeshkar had Noorjehan. But while Lata shed the Noorjehan influence progressively, others needed specific films or songs before they emerged out of the shadows. Mukesh came out of the K.L.Saigal mould almost exclusively with his songs in Shankar-Jaikishan’s Barsaat, as the Saigal-esque tenor was even heard in the concurrent 1949 release Andaz.
In the ’70s, R.D.Burman, who always tended to use his own vocals in a gimmicky way, dared to give himself a proper song for the hero in Yaadon Ki Baraat (with Kishore and Asha) in Aap ke kamre mein. Then came his first-ever solo, Mehbooba o mehbooba (Sholay) and after this, Pancham became more adventurous, singing songs for even Rishi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan and the very Indian Dhanno ki aankhon mein in Kitaab.
Abhijeet broke out of the Kishore Kumar mould that stymied his early progress with Anand-Milind’s Baaghi (Chandni raat hai, Har kasam se badi hai), encouraging Jatin-Lalit to give him his career-defining breakthrough in Khiladi. Udit Narayan was unfairly branded as the “poor man’s Shailendra Singh” till Anand-Milind slalomed him to the top as the only original voice in a world of clones with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. For more than a decade after that, Udit even dictated musical trends by his very presence, paving the way for “original” voices after a deluge of Rafi, Kishore and Mukesh clones!
Sonu Niigaam came in as the ’90s version of Mohammed Rafi, brought in by Gulshan Kumar. After struggling for four years despite some early Rafi-esque hits like Nikhil-Vinay’s Acha sila diya from Bewafa Sanam, it took him Sandesen aate hain from Anu Malik’s Border to hit big time. And yet Sonu prefers to term Yeh dil diwana from Nadeem-Shravan’s Pardes as his career-defining song. “It was this song that highlighted my original style - after all, a true bhakt of Rafi-saab cannot be a mere mimic. The song also helped show that I could sing very contemporary Western numbers.” Today, Sonu has developed a completely versatile image with a range all the way from pop Western (Dil Chahta Hai et al) to semi-classical Indian songs as in Dev and Baabul.

17 July 2009