Date 25.04.2014

Film songs in my life.

In 1971 a new Movie was released with name My Love. Though I was not very keen in watching movies but the film songs always fascinated me. Songs with serious and meaningful lyrics always impressed me and I used to sing them in private sittings with my friends.

Apart from singing, I am also fond of playing Flute and always keep one with me, when I travel.

As my vocal range is very limited, I cannot sing high pitched songs. As I  am comfortable with low pitched songs,  Mukesh is my favourite singer. In the movie My love, there is a song  Zikr hota hai jab qayaamat ka, sung by Mukesh and I liked it very much.

It is a romantic sort of song in which the Hero praises the beauty of his beloved.

The music of the movie was composed by Daan Singh, not a famous name in Hindi Cinema and the lyrics was written by Anand Bakshi.

In this song, I like the words ‘Tujh ko dekha hai meri nazron ne teri tareef ho magar kaise’ Meaning: my eyes have seen you, but I don't know how to describe your beauty. The problem is that my eyes cannot speak and my tongue which has to speak, cannot see. 

I used to sing this song quite often during friendly gatherings.

In 1977, I was sent to Railway Zonal Training School, Udaipur for a refresher course. This training school is situated very close to picturesque Sukhadia Circle and  is very ornately built.

After daily classes, I liked to sit in the auditorium, in evening, with my Flute. Some musical instruments like Tabla and Harmonium were provided by the  school administration for the benefit of music lovers. I used to play flute and the visitors there would gather around me. I too would listen to others, who played instruments or sang songs.

One gentleman, Uday Mathur, a Station Master from Jaipur was also in training school, for some refresher course. He was a very good harmonium player. His favourite song was, tere bina aag ye chaandni tu aaja,  from Raj kapoor’s film Awaara.  His fingers glided on the keys very smoothly and never touched a wrong key.

Music was his passion and he was definitely a better musician than me. He was always immaculately dressed and wore cough links having motifs of western music symbols.

Music struck a common chord between us and we were friends instantly.

When I sang the song Zikr hota hai jab qayaamat ka, Mathur  told me that this song was composed by Music Director Daan Singh of Jaipur.

He told me that Daan Singh used to come to him to learn western music notations, which were not his forte. Mathur also told me that understanding of western music is very essential to compose film music, as the singers while singing, keep  notation of the song before their eyes.

Daan Singh had composed music in only two films and  the songs of My Love were a great hit.

Mr Mathur knew some other music buffs in Udaipur and on Sundays we used to visit them  and we all enjoyed  informal music sessions.

After completion of training, I came down to Kota and Mr Mathur returned to Jaipur.

I happened to visit Jaipur a few times and occasionally met  Mr Mathur.

Whenever I visited him, I found him in his room on the ground floor, with his Harmonium and a Synthesizer and some learner taking music lessons. He used to live in an old three story building, inhabited by many tenants.

Whenever I listen to the song, zikr hota hai jab... I instantly get connected to Guna and Uday Mathur. The starting music of this song takes me to some other world and past memories appear before my eyes like a movie.

In those old days Telephones were not so commonly available as today, so we were not in continuous touch. A couple of years ago, after a long gap, when I visited Jaipur, I decided to meet Uday  Mathur.

I asked Saurabh,  son of my friend to take me on his bike. We started in the evening and went to Chaura Rasta and in the bye lanes inquired about the address.

Finally we reached the building, Kayasthon  ki haweli. In the court yard when I asked about Uday Mathur, curious residents gathered around us..

When I told them the purpose of my visit, I was dismayed to know that Mr Mathur was no more. I was  told  that he had passed away due to some kidney ailment. The family of Mr Mathur, his wife and married son  had moved out to ;ive in newly developed Mansarovar colony in the city.

Thus my short friendship with Mr Mathur came to an end.