“Kuchh is tarah se baat reh jaaye, bichhad bhi jayen to bhi hathon mein haath reh jaaye.” Hearts go aquiver all over again as Roop Kumar and Sunali Rathod celebrate 25 years of their wedding with a ghazal album, “Zikr Tera”. Out of the eight ghazals, there is only one duet for Sunali says the idea is to talk about the partner. “Love is not about self, it is about what you can do for your soul mate. People are still hungry for ghazals but want a contemporary idiom. Ghalib and Mir are still relevant but we also need to move on with times when relationships are increasingly becoming fragile. So we have roped in contemporary writers like Shakeel Azmi who has written ‘Kucch is tarah’ and then there is Parveen Kumar Ashkk writing ‘Zameen ko ai khuda woh zalzala de, jo sarhadon ke nishan mitaan de’ about the irrelevance of boundaries in love.”
“There is so much to choose for the age group between 25 and 30 but there is very little choice for the mature audience,” Roop chips in. “I don’t agree with the argument that music mirrors the society. Not all youngsters like cheap lyrics but if you repeat the song 40 times a day chances are that they start singing it on the 41 count without knowing it. When a child starts singing ‘character dheela hai’, he doesn’t sing it because he knows its meaning. He picks the tune first but slowly starts ingraining its meaning.” Roop says the kind of music and films that are being made has started to reflect in our relationships as well. Like our films we no longer believe in timeless love. First three days of collection is enough,” he quips. “However,” he adds, “we must know that ‘Choli ke peeche kya hai’ and ‘Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga’ came around the same time. It is for us which way we want to go. And I could sense the increasing tilt towards melody all over again.”
Sunali says after their concerts youngsters often come to them to ask the meaning and relevance of difficult words. “The interest is there but it has not been channelized. Earlier Jagjit Singh was doing it. We believe somebody has to take the movement forward. So the album is a tribute to Jagjit and Chitra Singh. Deepak Pandit, who has extensively worked with Jagjit Singh, has arranged the album.” Roop says like Sanskrit, Urdu should also be made compulsory at the school level. “We have attempted to simplify ghazals but there are certain words which have no equivalent. So the album will come with a booklet, explaining the difficult words and phrases.” The duo is releasing the album online without any music company. “There will be some physical copies as well because I still like the feeling of seeing your album stacked up in a music store but the idea is increasingly becoming irrelevant with increasing presence of internet.”
In times when Urdu is getting bracketed with a particular religion, Roop says the language doesn’t belong to one community. “Urdu is a laskhkari language that evolved in the Mughal army camps.” His own journey towards ghazals is fascinating. Son of eminent dhrupad singer Pandit Chaturbhuj Rathod, Roop started as a tabla player. “I used to accompany Pankaj Udhas and Anup Jalota on their world tours. I was with Pankaj when he sang the famous ‘Ghungroo toot gaye’ at Royal Albert Hall. I was with Anup when he mesmerised the world with ‘Aisi laagi laga’ and ‘Rang de chunariya’. I was literally living out of suitcase.”
In August 1984, he got some time to spend in India when one of the tours got cancelled. “One evening my father was supposed to perform and since it was an opportunity to listen him live so I decided to accompany him. Unfortunately, that day one of his tanpura players didn’t turn up. Since I knew how to play the instrument I offered to accompany him on stage. He was happy. And then in the middle of raag Malkauns he, all of a sudden, said, ‘sur lagao’. The other tanpura player understood his command but I got tongue tied. The audience thought that the father is introducing his son to the centrestage but I disappointed him. From that day I decided that I will sing. I finished my tabla assignments, the last one being playing ‘Kesariya balam’ for Hridaynath Mangeshkar in Lekin , and from 1985 to 1987 – when my father passed away I learnt classical music from him. He appreciated my dedication but he could not see me perform on big stage.”
Accompanists often feel that they don’t get their due from the media and the organisers. Roop says he was always clear about his role. “I always knew that I am not the bride and that I am one of the bearers of the palanquin, who has to ensure that the bride doesn’t face any problem. However, when the vocalist is weak and one has to cover his flaws, one does tend to think that the applause is misdirected.” Since he had accompanied ghazal singers for a long time, he had a natural affinity towards the medium. “I had a huge collection and knew hundreds by heart. I started with small events.” Roop has made a name for himself as a playback singer as well with songs like “Sandese aate hain”, “Tujh mein rab dikhta hai” and “Maula mera maula” lasting more than the films they were part of. “Thankfully, I have been offered only quality songs and I am in no mood to go for the numbers by singing ‘Chalti kya nau se barah’. Often, audience come to my concerts to listen to my film songs. I don’t mind it because they have certain quality and that is how they have connected with me.”
