How would our great old singers have fared today?
After several years of not having subscriptions to any Hindi channels, we recently got our own subscription to “Zee TV”. My lack of knowledge about all things “modern” in the world of cinema must have been seen by several of my observant readers, and now you know how I have jealously guarded my ignorance for all these years. While virtually all of my friends had some Hindi channel on their TVs when we visited, I stayed away.
Against this almost Rip-van-Winkle-esque backdrop, imagine me sitting comfortably in front of my TV and flipping through the channel on my newly acquired Z TV. Luckily, “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa – Ek Main aur Ek Tu” was playing. Oh! An opportunity to see talented young men and women sing. I perked up in my seat. Suffering from numerous C-grade ads promoting Ajmeri baba, I sat through the entire show. Well, imagine my utter surprise when I found out about the stupendous amounts of prize money and contracts that awaited the winner of the contest! 50 lakhs! Boy, had things changed! And somewhere through that show, I found my thoughts drifting, even as I listened to these very talented young men do their thing. Replace this with any other talent show like Indian Idol, and my point still stands.
This was no longer the old “Sa Re Ga Ma” that I remember seeing before leaving the shores of India. So, it was all about the singing, the quality of the voice, the training. Now, it’s all of that AND the ability to present, sing AND dance, to be an “entertainer” not just a singer. The bar may have been raised in some ways, but it may have been lowered in others. Then, of course, there’s this playful and ubiquitous text message that determines the winner, and not the panel of judges, who, at least supposedly, are there because of their knowledge and experience. Supposedly democracy at work, where the cell-phone-voting-masses decide whether a singer (umm… performer) makes the cut or not.
I was thinking back to the old brigade of our great singers and wondering how they would have fared in today’s context. Imagine a young Lata Mangeshkar, singing with the same heavenly voice as hers, but not receiving SMS messages from the masses because she just stood there and she didn’t dance on stage with a joyous smile on her face. (Not to mention the fact that Maharashtrians wouldn’t bother to SMS them to select her, but let it slide.)
Golden-voiced and classically precise Manna De, even if she had sung with her usual warm perfection, would she have gotten votes? Face it, while he sings fantastically, he was never known for his ability to dance onstage.
Mohammed Rafi: The smile would be just as suave to match his incomparable voice, but “Aapne aaj achha performance diya, lekin aapne stage ka upyog theek tarah se nahi kiya” would have been the only comment, berating his inappropriate use of stage.
Same with Talat Mehmood: he looks great (he got into movies as an actor, after all, and actually starred in Sone ki Chidiya opposite Nutan), but could the audience put up with his sensitive voice when they searched for “masti”? bharegaane”?
Perhaps the survivors of the old guard would have been Asha Bhosale and Kishore Kumar. Ashaji has incredible stage presence and has the courage to meet the requirements, whatever it takes him. Kishore Kumar was always an excellent artist and could sing and dance with the best. And just in case, he also made jokes and jokes.
Runa Laila comes to mind as someone who could have passed the test even in today’s world. A crystal clear voice, a fantastic stage presence, the ability to “move” with her own music naturally, and a sultry, sultry look. (Remember we are talking about when they were YOUNG).
Mukesh – Again he looks great and has a winning smile (I thought he looked better than Raj Kapoor in the song Chhotisi yeh zindagani re from the movie Aah which was performed with him) but would he have made the cut with the generation of SMS? I’m not sure.
The entire new generation of extraordinarily talented young people must have that extra presentation ability if they have any hope of making it in this industry. And that means, by its very nature, that we must be missing some Latas, some Mohammed Rafis, some Talats and some Manna Des.
Well, our loss. But life goes on. And what we don’t know doesn’t bother us. Who knows, there might have been someone (dare I suggest?) better than Lata and Mohammed Rafi, who we simply never listened to and therefore simply didn’t know any better.
I, for one, would have been poorer if I had gone through life without listening to Rafi or Lata just because people who understand talent didn’t watch that particular channel, or didn’t have a cell phone handy, or couldn’t or they did not want to SMS your options.
As usual, I’d love to hear from you.
Write me at [email protected]
