Let’s talk about the song Ankhon Ki Gustakhiyan from the film, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999). It is an extremely stylish, breezy, and romantic song rendered impeccably by Kumar Sanu and Kavitha Krishnamurthy. Listen to the song without watching the visuals, and you will imagine young love, full of dreams – it is a lilting melody with a buoyant feel. The opening – in the foreground is a flute playing staccato notes, complemented by more continuous notes on a bansuri – carries all the signs of happiness. The soundscape gets richer and full bodied: in the first 30 seconds of the score, guitar, pakhawaj, violins along with a voice chorus gets introduced. They flow into each other naturally and when the main melody opens, it works in contrast to the preceding drama. The cadences and inflections of the song are soft, also wavy.
Music Director Ismail Darbar, in New Delhi on June 28, 2005. Photo: Shanker Chakravarty.
Shah Rukh Khan in the Hindi film "Devdas".
Now let us combine the audio and visual experience of the song. It is a marriage scene. There is wedding finery, ritual, dance, guests, conversations...etc. Alongside, there is love blossoming between a young couple. So, while the main narrative is of the wedding, there are parallel narratives as well. If you listen to the song with its visuals, you see that the composer captures the details of the visual narrative by constructing multiple layers of emotions through music.
Ismail Darbar, the composer of this song, worked as a session violinist for some of the top composers of the Hindi film industry, earned his acclaim as a music director with films such as Devdas, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Kisna … and a Kannada film, Santeyalli Ninta Kabira.
Madhuri Dixit in the Hindi film "Devdas".
There is a pattern to Ismail Darbar’s compositions. Listen to, for instance, Kahe Chhed Mohe or Maar Dala from Devdas . Before the main melody takes off, Darbar creates a long runway of emotions. It is at once grand, packed and a coming together of several kinds of acoustic data. In Kahe Chhed… there is an opening sarangi passage, followed by rapid Kathak bols. This is alternated by a slow bandish like composition, set to a beat that is sensuously languorous. The main composition which begins after a poignant sarangi bit is like a Madhyalay bandish. By the time the song begins, Ismail Darbar has captured all the emotions like a story teller who layers words with unsaid meanings.
The song treads predominantly on Shringara rasa, however, the turbulent emotions of both the lead characters – Chandramukhi and Devdas – cannot be missed. Fate has been cruel to them, and they are also part of a system that hastens to normalize them into their social categories. They are bound by the truths of the real world, but both aspire to transcend them. It is easier to capture these in a story or visual drama, however, Ismail Darbar, with an abstract art form like music enhances these complex emotions in what I believe is a compositional masterpiece. The way he juxtaposes the core piece of music along with its associate layers is sheer brilliance.
Chennai: 11/01/2011: The Hindu: Metro Plus: Title: Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. TV Channel: Filmy TV.
To understand music that has a multi-layered concept, you need to take a closer look at its emotional constituents. Music naturally – even when it treads the path of basic emotions like happiness, anger etc – is beyond itself. It is constantly redefining, creating and breaking its emotional meaning. In fact, even those songs that exist in definite categories, can be explained subliminally. Consider the pathos song Ye Zindagi Usiki Hain from Anarkali or the love song Aap ki nazaron ne from Anpadh . Do they remain in our minds as mere songs of love and pathos? They grow and become much more.
Ismail Darbar places one emotion at the core, and then weaves layers and layers of allied emotions around it. Music, in his case, is more than a byproduct of language. It evokes a whole ecology of emotions. It moves from superficial sound-acoustic data to a deeper spiritual and emotional experience. It captures human experience in the most stunning way.
Inner Voice is a fortnightly column on film music.
