Inspirational Pathway

Instead of calling it plagiarism, I would say creating music has always been an inspirational pathway ... globalization & its impact much ahead of any era!

Very aptly said about the legendary composers of 50's-60's by Pragati (who happens to be my sister-in-law and is an eloquent writer and maintains her writing on this page)

Never was my intention to demean the work of all these legendary composers, And often times you don't even get credit for the work you have done in your lifetime. Remember the now classic song Roz Roz Aankho Tale by Asha B and Amit K with Gulzar penning down on Pancham's mesmerizing music. The song was released in 1986-87 from movie Jeeva with Baba and Raj Kapoor's Ganga, but become popular in 2000's (much later than Pancham's passing away). There are so many composers, lyricist, singers, actors etc who did not get recognized for what they have done then, but later on, they acquired the cult status. So, Point is maybe the recognition you are seeking will come later in the time and you should not stop doing good even if you are not getting recognized right away. (too philisophical ehh!!)

So, if Song coming out of Hindustani Classical is not considered as Plagiarism, then why do we have to call it once it is based on Western Classical :).  I have always believed that music cannot be copied, it can be improvised, modulated. But as you know exception proves the law and there is a fine line between inspiration and plagiarism. They are like 2 faces of coins (No Sholay ! )

Coming back to routine, 50's and 60's, it was the time of melody. Music had less percussion. But there were few who would do differently.

O P Nayyar had a unique style of music, You would recognize O P Nayyar song as you hear Horses tapping. Only another person who had that style was Tushar Bhatia, my family (my generation though) lives on and around the movie with each of its dialogue used in common reference. The only other movie to affect people by its dialogues was Andaz Apna Apna after Sholay. Andaz Apna Apna when released did not do too well maybe because of high expectation from the director of Ghayal and Damini. But over the time the movie gained cult status. It has touched every next person around, standup comedian Aditi Mittal aptly once wrote

"Writing about Andaz Apna Apna, I have realized, is like writing about mother’s love. Everyone has their own version of how it affects them, what lines they remember the most."

I had to bring the reference of Andaz Apna Apna because in our family WhatsApp group, my cousin and childhood friend Rahul who is co-founder of  a sports company Str8bat, and is an avid sportsperson himself once said to me after watching Lagaan that Aamir Khan has brought both the religions of India together and made this movie, So Lagaan has to be Hit. Rahul, at least you have one of the religions covered now, waiting for you to touch the second :), today greeted me with AAA lingo after reading the earlier story.

Again, I am so off track, coming back to O P Nayyar, He gave music in Raj Khosla directed, Guru Dutt Produced and Devanand acted movie C.I.D (1956). The soundtrack of this movie was excellent and all the songs were blockbusters sung by M Rafi, Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle and penned by Majrooh except one song which was by Jan Nissar Akhtar, Father of Mera Baap Chor Hai fame Javed Akhtar of Salim Javed. The song was Aankhon Hi Ankhon Mein. The connection between Asha Bhosle and O P Nayyar was established here with Le Ke Pahla Pahla Pyar. The song which is of my interest is Aye Dil Hai Mushkil Jeena Yahan which was sung by Rafi and Geeta Dutt and picturized on Indori Johny Walker. Johny Walker was an essential element in Guru Dutt's movie and had some of the classics on him (like Maalish, Tel Maalish).
When I was in Grade 4, I participated in the school choir and we performed on a song, I just did not remember the song, the only thing I was able to recollect was that song has very similar beats as Aye Dil Hai. In Grade 4, I was not able to 2+2 = 4 ( I was a bad Student😉 ), but much later in life and maybe 25 years from that day,  I visited the school and met my Nursery teacher, Ms. Sandra, while having the conversation we started talking about the choir and she educated (Teachers never retire, I guess) me on the song which we performed and it was Oh My Darling Clementine. Voila, I was able to do 2+2 = 4 and was ecstatic.
But my quest just did not end there and wasnt sure which one was based on which, so I started my research again, but atleast I knew Head and Tail now, I just had to find the one in the middle. While researching one thing which I found was that even though O P is credited on records for composing the song, but the tune actually came from his music arranger Milon Gupta (Famous Harmonica Player), who in his interview confirmed this. So, Now I was certain, it was Milon Gupta who inspired O P Nayyar to compose the song, and Milon might have heard Oh My Darling earlier and the tune just got stuck to him. Oh, My Darling is a western folk song and the earliest it can be traced back to the 1880's. But become more popular with the title music of movie of the same name in 1946. And I guess that's when Milon might have heard it (Just a calculated speculation).

Sorry, I will end here only with just one song for today, I went so off track and used more space to build up than the actual story. I will continue the story tomorrow...