Blog archives for May, 2011

Gopalkrishna (Marathi &  Hindi) 1938

• Director- V.Damle & S.Fatelal
• Music-Master Krishnarao.
• Cast-Ram Marathe,Shanta Apte, Ganpatirao,   Master Parshuram, S.Kulkarni & Haribhau.

The film portrays youthful life of Lord Krishna,the God, whose appeal and popularity touched the American shores. Leading a community of cowherds,the adolescent Krishna subtly typifies some of problems, still familiar to Indians.

Typically of Prabhat, the stress is on human approach to these rather than conventional ‘miracles’.As one sees the film, one literally breaths the atmosphere of the Krishna’s rural environment centuries ago in the midst of his mischieveous cowherd companions.

Technically Gopalkrishna is distinguished by the use of stylish sets, costumes and classically-oriented but lively music.

V.G.Damle

Vishnupant Damle,a born artist, spent his early life in great hardship. He worked with drama companies  to paint backdrops, under Baburao Painter and Anandrao Painter, the two masters in arts.
He became trusted lieutenant of Baburao Painter in his Maharashtra film Company,Kolhapur.
On 1st June 1929,Damle along with his partners,founded Prabhat Film Company.

He had a good understanding in Engineering.
The studio at Pune was constructed under his supervision. He worked as sound recordist for some early films of Prabhat.He along with S.Fatelal directed
Sant Tukaram
Sant Dnyaneshwar
Gopal Krishna and
Sant Sakhu.
“Sant Tukaram” was a great success.
In 1945, at an early age of 52 he passed away.

S.Fatelal

S.Fatelal along with Damle worked in Drama companies and Maharashtra Film Company .He cranked camera for silent films of Prabhat.

He  was a very skillful artist. He had the creative ability of designing big settings and innovative drapery and costumes.Settings and costumes from films of Prabhat is a testimony of his skills.

At the same time, he had a keen eye for reality of sets and drapery.

Krishnarao

Krishnarao Ganesh Phulambrikar was a Marathi actor, composer, and musicologist. He was an architect of the golden period of Sangitnatak in Marathi Theatre. He was born in Alandi near Pune in 1898. Krishnarao Ganesh Phulambrikar was the son of a professional pandit who died when Krishnarao was only 6, reducing the family to abject poverty. He was weak in health. He did not have much formal education, but his sweet, elastic voice facilitated entrance into the Natyakala Pravartak Mandali, where he did small roles. After 1910, he left to learn classical music under Bhaskarbuwa Bakhle in Pune.

Nizam Din or Nizam Deen (Mirza Sultan Baig) – a legendry Radio artist and who acted in film Billo in 1952 died on July 4, 1991.

This great artist performed in  programs like “Jamhoor di awaz”, “Sohni Dharti”, “Dehati Program”  broadcasted from Radio Pakistan Lahore. Mirza Sultan Baig was a legendary artist who is unique in his Punjabi speaking

RADIO Pakistan has played a significant role to save Punjabi language and literature from extinction by broadcasting plays, folk songs and some programmes in it for the villagers. Some of the prominent writers who emerged through radio are Kartar Singh Duggal, Balwant Gargi and Amrita Preetam. Om Prakash appeared as a character with Chaudhry Nizam Din in the Dehati Programme and on the basis of that performance, he was welcomed by the Bombay film industry.

Mirza Sultan Baig and Abdul Latif (popular characters of Nizam Din and Chaudhri Sahib of Punjabi programme broadcast live every evening) were popular characters of Radio Pakistan Lahore.
These were the talented people who made Radio Pakistan what it was. Then there were those who lent their voices to Radio Pakistan. Our announcers and presenters included such men as Mustafa Ali Hamdani, Akhlaq Ahmed Delhavi, Aziz ur Rehman, Nasreen Mahmood, Khalida were great people.

Radio Pakistan Lahore’s legendry artist Nizam Din (Mirza Sultan Baig) from “Jamhoor di awaz” played a role in Punjabi film “Billo” (1951). The real name of this film was “Meerasi” which was changed after the protest from musicians.

These were the talented people who made Radio Pakistan what it was. Then there were those who lent their voices to Radio Pakistan. Our announcers and presenters included such men as Mustafa Ali Hamdani, Akhlaq Ahmed Delhavi, Aziz ur Rehman, Nasreen Mahmood, Khalida Arjumand, Yasmin Imtiaz Ali (later Yasmin Tahir after she married Naeem Tahir), Mohini Hameed, Abdul Latif Musafir, and Mirza Sultan Beg, universally known as Nizam Din.

Akhlaq Ahmed Delhavi was known for his wit. Apart from making announcements, he would answer listeners’ letters and compere poetry readings. I can still hear Azizur Rehman’s clean and resonant voice informing listeners, “Hum Radio Pakistan Lahore se bol rahay hain’ – we are speaking from Radio Pakistan, Lahore.

Mustafa Ali Hamadani was the most senior announcer at Lahore radio with a voice and a style all his own. To him belongs the credit of making the first announcement from Radio Pakistan, Lahore, on the night Pakistan came into being (an honour Zahur Azar has claimed as his). He was also a poet and equally at home in Urdu and Persian. And forever unforgettable will remain the witty exchanges in the Lahore station’s farming programme between Mirza Sultan Beg “Nizam Din” and Abdul Latif Musafir. From amongst women announcers, Nasreen Mahmood was the senior most. Even today her voice has the same ring it had all those years ago. Khalida Arjumand began with the children’s programme, but soon moved to drama and features. She was later assigned the responsibility of making most of the station’s announcements. From 1990 on she became the regular presenter of the programme Punjabi Darbar, which had wide listening in Indian East Punjab because of the purity and richness of the language spoken.

When I think of producers at the old radio station – before it shifted to its new location on Empress Road – I recall with nostalgia men such as Abdul Shakoor Bedil, Tasadduq Ali, Rashid Habibi, Riaz Mahmood, Raja Farooq Ali Khan and Shad Amritsari. The movie music director Khayyam was Bedil’s younger brother. Bedil had an excellent ear for music. His recordings of mystic poetry are one of Radio Pakistan’s assets.

Time moves on. It does not look back. It obliterates the past and like a river it only flows forward. It is only man whom God had gifted with the ability to look back and look forward, learning from past mistakes – at least sometimes. There are some who remain lost in the mists of the past. I am not one of them. I have retrieved my past from the womb of time and I move into the future, holding on to my past. On a visit to the Lahore radio station some years ago, as I entered the corridor where the commercial service is housed, I remembered Ayub Rumani, who remained associated with the music section. He was an authority on music and treated with great respect even by professional classical musicians.

Near the end of his life, the poet Nasir Kazmi had come to Radio Pakistan as a staff artist. He wrote a number of memorable programmes under the title Aiwaan-e-Ghazal. I am not sure if any of those recordings have survived. Sufi Ghulam Mustafa Tabussum would interpret on the air every day a single chosen verse of Iqbal. During the summer, on some evenings, Farida Khanum would bring with her a tray-full of fragrant motia and distribute it among the artists. When Sain Akhtar Hussain sang Mirza Sahiban, you could hear his voice even outside the studio where he was performing.

Kumar Gandharv

Kumar Gandharva (Kannada: ಕುಮಾರ ಗಂಧರ್ವ) or Shivaputra Siddramayya Komkalimath (Kannada: ಶಿವಪುತ್ರ ಸಿದ್ದರಾಮಯ್ಯ ಕೋಮಕಾಳಿಮಠ್) was a Hindustani classical singer, famous for his unique vocal style, refusal to be bound by the tradition of any gharana, and his innovative genius. The name Kumar Gandharva is a title given to him when he was a child prodigy; a Gandharva is a musical spirit in Hindu mythology.

Gandharva was born in Sulebhavi near Belgaum, Karnataka, India. He studied music under the well-known Prof B R Deodhar.

He married Bhanumati Kans in April 1947 and moved to Dewas, Madhya Pradesh. Soon after moving there, he was stricken with lung cancer which was wrongly diagnosed as tuberculosis. He was forced into having a surgery to remove the cancerous lung or face eventual death by the disease. Kumar opted for the surgery after much persuasion by his family and despite warnings that he might not be able to sing anymore. Recovering from the trauma of a surgery in Khanapur near Belgaum in Karnataka, Kumar Gandharva was visited by a fan who was also a physician. The doctor noted his surgical wounds had healed and asked Kumar Gandharva to attempt singing once again. Gradually, helped by this doctor, medicines of those yesteryears and care from Bhanumati Kans, Kumar Gandharva recovered and began singing again. However, his wonderful voice and singing style would always bear the scars of his surgery, which are evident to any person who listens to his songs such as ‘Runanubandhachya” from the drama “Dev Dina Ghari Dhavla”.

Bhanumati Kans, who was learning music first under Deodhar and later under Kumar Gandharva himself, nursed him through his illness. His first mehfil after recovery from illness took place in 1953. The illness greatly affected Kumar’s singing in later years – he was to be known for powerful short phrases and his very high voice. He may not have reached the same heights of popularity as contemporaries like Bhimsen Joshi, but he always enjoyed the love and support of dedicated and connoisseur enthusiasts. His singing was also true to the Indian classical music tradition of dialogue with the listeners, of impromptu creation and interactivity.

Kumarji also experimented with other forms of singing such as Nirguni bhajans (Devotional songs), folk songs, and with both ragas and presentation, often going from fast to slow compositions in the same raga. He is remembered for his great legacy of innovation, questioning tradition without rejecting it wholesale, resulting in music in touch with the roots of Indian culture, especially the folk music of Madhya Pradesh. His innovative approach towards music led to the creation of new ragas from combinations of older ragas.

His style of singing attracted considerable controversy. Veteran singer Mogubai Kurdikar did not consider his vilambit (slow tempo) singing interesting and his own teacher Deodhar criticised some aspects of Kumar’s singing but their relationship was strained from 1940s when Kumar Gandharva married Bhanumati. According to Pandharinath Kolhapure’s book on Kumar Gandharva, Deodhar was against the match. But the criticism mostly centred around his vilambit gayaki. His singing in faster tempos, particularly his mastery over madhya-laya, was very widely revered.

Kumar Gandharva’s first son, Mukul Shivputra, was born around 1955. After Bhanumati’s death in 1961 during childbirth, Kumar married Vasundhara Shrikhande, another of his fellow-students at Deodhar School. Vasundhara Komkalimath formed a memorable duo with him in bhajan singing. She also provided vocal support to his classical renditions quite often. Their daughter Kalapini Komkalimath would later accompany both her parents on tanpura.

Some of Kumar Gandharva’s ideology is carried forward by his son and daughter, as well as students such as Madhup Mudgal, Shubha Mudgal, Vijay Sardeshmukh and Satyasheel Deshpande. Kumarji’s grandson Bhuvanesh (Mukul Shivaputra’s son) has also made a name for himself as classical singer.

For a long spell, Kumar Gandharva’s activities as a musician were managed by his friend and tabla accompanist Vasant Acharekar. Acharekar was Vasant Desai’s assistant in the 1950s but later devoted himself fully to his role as an accompanist to classical singing until his death in late 1970s. His son Suresh Acharekar is also a tabla player, and has accompanied Kumar Gandharva and other artists.

Kumar Gandharva was awarded the Padma Vibhushan award in 1990.