Death of a Superstar - Remembering Rajesh Khanna

Death of a Superstar – Remembering Rajesh Khanna

Written by Dr. Seshadri Kumar, July 26, 2012

Copyright © Dr. Seshadri Kumar, 2012.  All Rights Reserved.

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As most people who follow Hindi cinema now know, the first superstar of Hindi cinema, Rajesh Khanna, also known in the film industry as Kaka, died at 69 on 18^th July, 2012.  Every news report about Kaka’s death starts with how he was the first “superstar” of Hindi cinema.  Yes, it is true that, with the modern meaning of the word “superstar,” he was a bigger star than any before or after him in Hindi cinema.  But a little reflection on the origin of the word “superstar” makes you realize that Kaka was an anomaly in stellar terms.

According to the theories of star death, very large stars end their life through what is known as a supernova, or a massive stellar explosion which blows them into bits, and often end up as a black hole, something that cannot be seen, only felt.  Stars that are much smaller, smaller than the Chandrasekhar limit (named after our own Dr. S. Chandrasekhar, the Nobel Physics Prize winner of 1983) end their life, well, in a whimper.  They gradually lose their surrounding matter, and become tiny remnants with a mild luminosity, and are known as white dwarfs. Over a long period of time, the brightness slowly fades, as a flashlight that has been kept on might slowly fade, until the light in them goes out, and they become completely black, and are called black dwarfs.

The anomaly of Rajesh Khanna is that although he was equivalent, at his peak, in astronomical terms, to a super-massive star, his descent into oblivion was characteristic of stars that are as small as our own sun.

But stars never burn in vain, and as long as Kaka burned brightly, he lit up the world in the way only he could, and left many lifetimes’ worth of memories through his movies and songs.  So while we mourn the loss of someone who was larger than life for many of us, we also remember fondly the many ways in which he made and continues to make us smile, laugh, and cry.

Rajesh Mania

I am young enough that I never experienced Rajesh-mania first-hand.  I was too small during Kaka’s golden period, 1969-1973, to have seen any of his early movies, or remember having seen any of them, in a theatre.  However, I was constantly exposed to his songs through the radio and, later, to his movies on Doordarshan.  I still remember the whole family watching Anand on Doordarshan and marvelling at the acting of Rajesh Khanna.  We similarly watched Amar Prem and the classic dialogue, “Ro mat Pushpa, I hate tears...” and watched him with awe, even though as a rule we were staunch Amitabh followers.  My movie-going days coincided with the rise of Amitabh Bachchan, but because I was born at this crossover time, I also had a soft corner for Rajesh Khanna.

So, from my personal experience, I was mostly exposed to Rajesh Khanna through his old movies that would appear regularly on Doordarshan, and his old songs that would appear on Chhayageet or Chitrahaar.  Once in a while, songs from his new movies would appear on Chitrahaar, etc. – I distinctly remember watching “Shayad meri shaadi ka khayal” from Souten and “Kabhi bekasi ne mara” from Alag Alag on Chhayageet (the latter about 4 or 5 times in a row - I think he had a fan in DD Mumbai).

Having watched movies like Anand, Safar, Amar Prem and the like on Doordarshan, I, and most of my friends, thought these “new” movies like Souten and Alag Alag were pathetic attempts by a has-been star to come back.  The fact that he was much better-looking in those older movies and had lost much of his good looks through a dissipated life full of alcohol abuse did not help him either.  Eventually, even the rate of appearance of the new movies slowed down, and they finally stopped coming.  Once in a while you would hear about a movie like Avtaar being a hit, but you never bothered to go see it.  I think that, for me, the magic was in the Rajesh Khanna of the Anand days, and I really could not accept him in any other avatar.

His Films: The King of Romance and Much More

For, to me, as to millions more, he was the quintessential romance king.  I could never forget the way he would wink and nod at Asha Parekh in “Yeh Shaam Mastani” or the smouldering look he had in “Roop Tera Mastana.”  His charisma was so great that I remember watching Andaz as a small kid on TV but forgot all about Shammi Kapoor, who was the main actor in the film.  With just 5 minutes of screen time, Rajesh Khanna stole the show with that fantastic song, “Zindagi ek Safar hai Suhana.”  Only years later did I do a google search for that movie and find out that Khanna’s character dies very early in that movie.  (Though I do remember the great children’s song, “Re mama re mama re,” I never connected it with that movie.)  But that is Rajesh Khanna for you – when he was at his peak, you really didn’t notice anyone else.

But Khanna was much more than just the king of romance.  He was a fairly good actor, and he chose films which were meaningful, with sensitive roles – often stories with complex romantic relationships.  This was really the genre to which his emotive skills were best-suited.  This age of sensitive family dramas gave way to the action genre with the rise of Amitabh, and though you occasionally had some intelligent stories, I think it is fair to say that good stories took a backseat with the rise of the action genre in Bollywood.  And Rajesh Khanna will always remain in my mind a symbol of the times when good stories ruled and plot mattered.

With the rise of Amitabh Bachchan and the action movie genre, people deserted Rajesh Khanna.  Khanna continued making his kind of films; they just didn’t sell.  One could argue that he could have tried to reinvent himself as an action star, but I doubt he would have succeeded.  It would have been very hard for anyone to compete with the Big B in the action genre at that time.

Relationships with Directors

An analysis of the data given in the Wikipedia page on Rajesh Khanna’s filmography reveals that he has worked with as many as 90 different directors (not counting special appearances), which is a remarkably large number for any actor.  Shakti Samanta was his favourite director, having been responsible for some of his all-time great hits such as Amar Prem, Kati Patang, and Aradhana.  Khanna did 8 films with Samanta, including Awaaz, Ajnabee, and his home production, Alag Alag.  Kaka also had unforgettable films with Hrishikesh Mukherjee, notably Anand, Namak Haram (both with Amitabh Bachchan), and Bawarchi, and also worked with him on Naukri.  He also had 4 films with B.R. Ishara (who, incidentally, died yesterday – RIP) but most of these were forgettable fare in the later phase of his career.  He had three films with J. Om Prakash, including the outstanding Aap Ki Kasam.  He also had three films with Yash Chopra, including the critically acclaimed Daag and the song-less crime thriller Ittefaq.

One is led to question why Kaka did not have more solid partnerships with directors, which might have led to them insisting on him being in their films time after time.  Perhaps his much-talked about mercurial personality is responsible for this.  Stories of him always arriving late for shooting engagements with no concern for his co-stars, directors, or crew are legend.  (To get an idea, see the outstanding BBC documentary on Rajesh Khanna, created in 1973, titled “Bombay Superstar.”)  

At any rate, even one or two movies with many directors have turned into unforgettable films.  Asit Sen had the unforgettable Khamoshi and Safar, both featuring terrific performances by Khanna, and some unforgettable music.  Chetan Anand made only two movies with Kaka, but one of them was his first release, Aakhri Khat, which he was contractually obligated to sign Khanna for because Khanna won the national acting contest, and the other, Kudrat, featured some fine performances which even garnered Khanna an award nomination.  Manmohan Desai made two movies with Khanna, and one of them, Saccha Jhoota, was one of Khanna’s biggest hits.  Din Dayal Sharma made just one film, Tyaag, with Khanna, but it was nominated for a Filmfare award.  Basu Bhattacharya made only one film, Aavishkar, with Khanna, but that fetched him a Filmfare award.  Basu Chatterjee directed Kaka in just one film, Chakravyuha, but it fetched Kaka an award nomination.  Dulal Guha made the highly successful Dushman, but no other with Khanna.  Lekh Tandon scored big with Khanna with Agar Tum Na Hote.  There are other examples, but one does wonder whether, despite the trend towards action-based movies and the Amitabh wave of the late 70s and 80s, Rajesh Khanna could have continued to succeed with his brand of sensitive, complex emotional dramas, had he but known better how to cultivate relationships with people in the film industry.

During his decline that started in the mid 70s and continued to the end of his life, he did a lot of films with many South Indian directors, who still believed in the superstar image of Rajesh Khanna.  Notable among these were Dasari Narayana Rao, K. Bapayya, K. Raghavendra Rao, C.V. Sridhar, A.C. Trilokchander, S.A. Chandrasekhar, R. Thyagarajan, and even the legendary Bharatiraja, who chose Khanna to remake his “Red Rose” which starred Kamal Hasan in the original Tamil.  Such was the respect people in the South had, both for Kaka’s acting skills and his superstar marketability.

Durability as an Actor

One of the things I was quite surprised about when I did the research for this article is just how durable an actor Rajesh Khanna was.  He vanished from the limelight with the advent of Amitabh, but like the white dwarf in the cosmos, he never stopped shining – his light only became weaker, but never so weak you could not notice it.  An analysis of the number of films that Khanna acted in over the years, extracted from the same Wikipedia site quoted above, reveals that Khanna continued to be busy through the 80s, with a significant drop in his output apparent only in 1991.   Figure 1 shows the distribution of movies of Kaka over the years (excluding special appearances).  

Figure 1.  Distribution of Rajesh Khanna’s Movies Over the Years

Statistics sometimes reveal truths the mind could scarcely have guessed.  The surprising thing about this graph is that in 1986 he appeared in 11 releases as a hero, which exceeds his 10 releases from 1972, during his most successful period as a hero.  Movie studios and producers are not fools with their money, and this high number of movies in a year, even in the late period of his career, must mean that they were likely making at least a modest profit, and at worst breaking even, with him as the lead actor, even if he was no longer the superstar he once was.

Partnerships with Actresses

Khanna partnered with 55 different leading ladies in films, a tribute again to his longevity as an actor.  Figure 2 shows how different actresses paired with him in his movies (only actresses who have acted in at least 3 movies with him are shown here.)

Figure 2.  Distribution of Kaka’s Leading Ladies

Hema Malini leads the pack with 12 films, including films like Prem Nagar in 1974, Mehbooba in 1976 (of the “Mere naina sawan bhadon” fame), the critically acclaimed Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein in 1977, and Kudrat in 1981.  She acted with Kaka in several films in the 80s.  She is followed by Sharmila Tagore with 9 (including the all-time favourites Aradhana, Amar Prem, and Safar) and Mumtaz with 8.  The Rajesh-Mumtaz pair was legendary in its day and made such blockbusters like Do Raaste, Saccha Jhoota, Dushman, and Aap Ki Kasam.  Matching Mumtaz, astonishingly, is Tina Munim which, considering her almost-nonexistent talent as an actress (yes, she was quite beautiful – but there is only so long you can keep looking at a fixed expression without getting bored out of your wits), is a tribute to Kaka’s keen interest in her career.  The fact that a couple of these were reasonable hits – Souten and Alag Alag – is more a tribute to Kaka’s residual charm at that stage, combined with the great singing of Kishore Kumar, than to Munim’s rather wooden presence. 

These are followed by, not surprisingly, Rekha and Shabana Azmi with 7 each, and quite surprisingly, Jaya Prada with 7.  The Jaya Prada number can at least be partially explained by the strong interest of South Indian directors in Khanna in his lean period.  Rekha acted in some of Khanna’s memorable films, such as Namak Haram, Agar Tum Na Hote, and Prem Bandhan.  Shabana has featured, most memorably, in Thodisi Bewafai, Avtaar, and Aaj Ka MLA Ram Avtar.  Reena Roy and Moushumi Chatterjee also makes an appearance in 6 of his films, mostly in the forgettable phase of his career, while Zeenat appears on-screen with Kaka in 5 films, the most notable of which is Ajnabee. 

Of actresses who acted in just a few movies with Kaka, it is important to mention Nanda, who was an established actress and acted with Khanna in some of his earliest movies such as The Train and Ittefaq; Waheeda, who acted with Khanna in Khamoshi and, like Nanda, played an important role in recommending him to producers; Tanuja, who acted with Khanna in 3 films, two of which were hits, namely Haathi mere Saathi and Mere Jeevan Saathi; and the extremely talented Jaya Bhaduri (now Bachchan), who only acted with Khanna in one film; however, this singular partnership gave rise to a highly entertaining and successful film, Bawarchi.

The Music of Rajesh Khanna Films

Ultimately, though, Indian movie stars are most strongly connected to their audience through the music of their films.  A good soundtrack can make or break a film.  Let’s face it – most Indian movies have hackneyed plots and, with few exceptions, don’t warrant repeated viewing.  The portions of the movie that have the greatest recall value are the songs, if they are good.  In this regard Kaka was extraordinarily fortunate.  In at least this department, he maintained strong relationships with some music directors and one particular singer who, singlehandedly, is responsible for much of the magic of Rajesh Khanna – Kishore Kumar.

I get tired of watching “Top 10” lists of Rajesh Khanna hits on TV programs.  There are so many good songs there; how do you pick the top 10?  It is really impossible.  I find such programs quite lazy, really, listing only the obvious hits (e.g., Zindagi ka Safar) and ignoring several gems that are not as well-known as they deserve to be.

So I have created, after listening to practically every song in almost every movie of his (until 1991, after which point I realized that no one was writing songs for him – he was usually appearing in movies as a character actor then onwards), a comprehensive list of all his hit songs and good songs.  As in my earlier article about Dev Anand’s songs, I have also included songs in which there is no male lead singer, provided the male actor is present in the picturization, because I believe that his mere presence contributes to the effect of the song.  

Many of my selections in the list will be incontrovertible choices; an example of such a selection is the all-time classic “Zindagi ka Safar” from Safar (1970).  But some have been included because they were popular at the time, even though they may not represent a milestone in musicality.  An example of such a song is “Chhod maza haath mala peene de,” which I remember to be quite a popular song at the time, though obviously no one would claim that it is a great song.

Such a list, by definition, is subjective, although I would hope that most of the songs in the list would be on anyone else’s list as well.  I also could only listen to those songs that either I possessed or that I could listen to on the internet.  I made the reasonable assumption that a song that no one would care to put up on a website probably wasn’t worth listening to anyway.  And that is saying a lot, considering I had to filter out a lot of trash to come up with this list.

The Appendix shows the comprehensive list of Kaka’s hits.  Over a period of 21 years, from 1966 until 1987, I found 159 songs worthy of repeated listening and hence qualified to be in this list.  Some will be obvious to you; others, I hope, will be pleasant discoveries.  The song titles are hyperlinked to youtube.  Several things stand out on examination of this list, which I will discuss in greater detail below.

Music Directors

Figure 3.  Composers of Rajesh Khanna’s Hit Songs

A look at Figure 3 shows the one thing that any follower of either Kaka’s career or RD Burman’s, for that matter, would have guessed quite easily – that Pancham is the composer of the most Rajesh Khanna hits.  For those who do not know, Pancham, Kaka, and Kishore Kumar were very close friends, and the root of this triangular friendship goes way back to Aradhana (1969), Kaka’s first super hit film, which had Pancham as the assistant to his father and the composer of the film, SD Burman, and Kishore-da as the singer.  Bollywood actors are fairly superstitious people, and Rajesh Khanna was certainly so, as has been reported widely on Indian TV and Indian film magazines, and so Rajesh Khanna continued for a long time with this pair.

I am not a big fan of superstition myself, but in this case Kaka’s superstition seems to have helped him really well.  Pancham turned out a huge number of hits for Kaka – 55 out of my list of 159, or more than a third.  What is not so obvious, but stands out from Figure 3, is the fact that Laxmikant-Pyarelal were not far behind, with 48.  I had heard Pyarelal Sharma mention in an interview that after RD Burman, they had composed the most for Kaka.  I was sceptical about this claim, thinking that yes, maybe they composed a lot of songs for Kaka, but how many of those songs were good?  But the research proved me wrong.

One unusual composer you will find in this list is Kanu Roy, who composed a lovely song sung by Manna Dey for Kaka in Aavishkar from 1974.  Kanu Roy was a minor music director who was also an actor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanu_Roy), but this track truly deserved to be in the list.

The other big surprise for most of you will be the name of Naushad in this list.  Even in 1982, Naushad had his fans.  Sultan Ahmed asked him to create the music for Dharam Kaanta, and Naushad proceeded to create music for a 1982 film as though he were still living in the sixties.  So this number from Dharam Kaanta, “Duniya choote yaar na choote,” is a complete anachronism, but if you forget that fact, it is actually a pretty nice song.  Rafi and Bhupinder deliver on the vocals. (Naushad would only use Rafi in his songs, even though by 1982 Kishore was the king of Bollywood.  But then, as I said, he was still mentally in the 1960s, as his compositions for the film show.)

There are a few more lonely figures out there.  Usha Khanna got the only big hit of her later career thanks to Rajesh Khanna’s Souten.  Madan Mohan had one great soundtrack of Rajesh Khanna to his credit – Bawarchi.  And Hemant Kumar features in this list only because of Khamoshi, which had some unforgettable numbers (one great song which could not be included in this list, because it was featured not on Kaka but on Dharmendra, which was from Khamoshi, was the all-time classic, “Tum pukar lo, tumhara intezar hai.”)  And Salil-da had only 3 hits in Kaka’s career ... but can anyone forget the songs of Anand?

One notable exception from this list is OP Nayyar.  Quite surprisingly, he never seems to have composed the music for a single Rajesh Khanna film.  The only reasonable explanation for this fact is simply that Rajesh Khanna came on the scene late enough (1969) that by this time, OP had finished antagonizing about everyone he could in Bollywood, and very few people wanted to work with him anyway.  Like the subject of our present study, OP too had a reputation of being an arrogant egotist, albeit a genius.  So don’t feel bad and start wondering about the “what ifs” – they probably wouldn’t have gotten along, anyway.

Singers

Figure 4.  Singers for Rajesh Khanna’s Songs

I could end this section simply with Figure 4 and no one would complain – this one figure says it all as far as singers for Khanna’s songs are concerned.  The complete domination of Kishore Kumar over all other singers when it comes to Rajesh Khanna cannot be elaborated by an essay of any length more eloquently than this figure.  The utter belief of Rajesh Khanna that Kishore Kumar was the only person who could be his “voice” is borne out by the following story that you might have heard. 

Apparently during the making of Dushman in 1972, Kishore Kumar got to know that he had to sing a qawwali, “Jhoota hai tera waada, waada tera waada.”  Kishore Kumar protested that qawwalis were not his forte and that Kaka might do better to ask Mohammad Rafi to sing the song, since Rafi was very good at singing these songs.  Kaka just told Kishore, “Ok, then we’ll drop the song.”  On being told this, Kishore said it was too good a song to drop and he would sing it.  The result is amazing. 

The other great story that many would have heard about the great friendship between Kishore and Kaka is that when Kaka produced his first film, Alag Alag (1985), Kishore refused to accept a single paisa as a fee.  His contention was that his own resurgence and superstardom as a singer was due to Kaka’s Aradhana, and so it would not be right of him to charge Kaka money for his own film.

But the real insight we get from this picture is about who else sang for Rajesh Khanna.  I was really surprised to know that the wonderful songs “Teri aankhon ki chahat mein” and “Humse ka bhool hui” were sung for Rajesh Khanna, not by Mohammad Rafi, as I had always assumed, but by Anwar Hussain, a man who has a voice that seems like a perfect copy of Rafi’s.  Wonder why this guy did not make it big.  

Another surprise was Manhar Udhas singing “Jeevan saathi saath mein rehna” from Amrit (1986).  And Suresh Wadkar, whom I have always liked, chips in with a nice song for Kaka in Mithun’s Disco Dancer, in which Kaka plays mentor to the young dancer.   

And in case you are wondering which song RD Burman has sung for Kaka (if you REALLY don’t know), it is that immortal “Duniya mein, logon ko” from Apna Desh (1972), a rocking, timeless song with Kaka and Mumtaz on screen and RD and Asha on playback.

Hits Through The Years

A real surprise for me was to know how many hit songs Kaka had even after his peak years were far behind him.  Figure 5 shows the year-wise distribution of the 159 selected songs in my list over the years.  

Figure 5.  Distribution of Kaka’s Hit Songs Over the Years

The correlation between good music and hit movies is obvious from this graph.  The years 1971-1972 were the years of Kaka’s superstardom – these were the years in which he delivered 15 consecutive super hit movies – a record that will likely never be broken.  In each of these years, he had 24 super hit songs!!!  

But the interesting thing about this graph is that Kaka always had good luck with songs.  Even in his late period, from 1980-86, he had an average of almost 6 hits a year, which is quite an accomplishment.  This is probably one of the reasons why he continued to be a bankable star even in the mid-80s.  Eventually, though, all the make-up in the world cannot hide your age, and he stopped getting songs featured on him in movies, which is why the hit parade ends in 1987.

Concluding Thoughts

The persona of an Indian actor is moulded by five main ingredients – his own personality and charisma, good stories, great, visionary directors, talented music directors and, finally, great singers to give playback to the actors.  The combination of all these factors is what the Indian audience sees and remembers.  Rajesh Khanna was a gifted actor with matchless charisma.  He was also fortunate to have great people help him in all the other departments.  He had directors like Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Shakti Samanta make great movies for him; he had good stories like Anand, Namak Haram, Amar Prem, and Khamoshi to display his histrionic skills in; excellent music directors like Pancham and LP to give him great music for the songs in his films; and finally the late, great Kishore Kumar, to make Khanna’s character soar on screen with his heavenly baritone.  Fuelled by all these factors, he reached heights which can perhaps never be matched in the history of Hindi cinema.

His rise was meteoric in the way most people cannot even dream of; yet it was probably this rise that destroyed him.  People who criticize his behaviour should understand that he experienced the sort of adulation that most of us can never imagine getting.  And, like him, we would also not know how to react properly if we ever got that kind of adulation.   He himself has admitted that he did not know how to handle the adulation.  There is a story I heard from a friend how Kaka went once to Chandigarh and people prostrated themselves on the floor all along the red carpet so he could walk over them on the way to the stage rather than walk on the floor.  That is a kind of adulation even our present superstar, Amitabh Bachchan, probably never experienced.

His loss of fame and prestige, after scaling such heights was, therefore, all the more difficult to bear.  His later period was marked with grief, bitterness, and disappointment; people who could have helped him regain some of his standing in the industry did not help him – they probably remembered his misbehaviour during his heyday and wanted their revenge.  And yet he persevered in acting in films, for that was what defined him, and today he has left us with a rich treasure house of memories, not only from his golden days but, through his songs, from his later films as well, until he could not give us any more. 

Thinking of his golden songs, perhaps it is fitting that he died during the monsoon season in Mumbai.  For, as he says in this immortal number from Anurodh through Kishore Kumar's golden voice,

Jab dard nahin tha seene mein,

Tab khaak mazaa tha jeene mein

Ab ke shaayad, hum bhi royen

Sawan ke mahine mein

When there was no sorrow in the heart,

There was no joy in life

Now, perhaps, even I will shed tears,

In the season of the rains.

But all the tears and the rains cannot wash away the beautiful memories that you have created for us with a lifetime of work, Kaka.  Your songs and movies will continue to cheer and inspire us – for generations to come.

So, thank you for the memories, Kaka.  And hope you have found that peace in death which eluded you all your life.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my wife, Sandhya Srinivasan, for her help in bouncing off ideas on songs for the list, for her suggestions regarding this article, and for her help in proof-reading this article.

Appendix: Kumar's List of the Best Rajesh Khanna Songs

No.	Song Title	Movie	Year	Music Director
1	Bahaaron mera jeevan bhi sanwaaro	Aakhri Khat	1966	Khayyam
2	Aaja piya tohe pyaar doon	Bahaaron ke Sapne	1967	RD Burman
3	Kya jaanoon sajan	Bahaaron ke Sapne	1967	RD Burman
4	Akele hain chale aao	Raaz	1967	Kalyanji Anandji
5	Baagon mein bahaar hai	Aradhana	1969	SD Burman
6	Gunguna rahe hain bhanware	Aradhana	1969	SD Burman
7	Kora kagaz tha yeh man mera	Aradhana	1969	SD Burman
8	Mere sapnon ki rani	Aradhana	1969	SD Burman
9	Roop tera mastana	Aradhana	1969	SD Burman
10	Aa jaao aa bhi jaao	Bandhan	1969	Kalyanji Anandji
11	Bindiya chamkegi	Do Raaste	1969	Laxmikant Pyarelal
12	Chhup gaye saare nazaare	Do Raaste	1969	Laxmikant Pyarelal
13	Mere naseeb mein ae dost tera pyaar nahin	Do Raaste	1969	Laxmikant Pyarelal
14	Yeh reshmi zulfen	Do Raaste	1969	Laxmikant Pyarelal
15	Woh shaam kucch ajeeb thi	Khamoshi	1969	Hemant Kumar
16	Dil ko dekho chehra na dekho	Saccha Jhutha	1970	Kalyanji Anandji
17	Meri pyaari behaniya banegi dulhaniya	Saccha Jhutha	1970	Kalyanji Anandji
18	Yoon hi tum mujhse baat karti ho	Saccha Jhutha	1970	Kalyanji Anandji
19	Hum the jinke sahaare	Safar	1970	Kalyanji Anandji
20	Jeevan se bhari teri aankhen	Safar	1970	Kalyanji Anandji
21	Zindagi ka safar	Safar	1970	Kalyanji Anandji
22	Gulabi aankhen jo teri dekhi	The Train	1970	RD Burman
23	Ab aan milo sajna	Aan Milo Sajna	1971	Laxmikant Pyarelal
24	Accha to hum chalte hain	Aan Milo Sajna	1971	Laxmikant Pyarelal
25	Jawani oh diwani tu zindabad	Aan Milo Sajna	1971	Laxmikant Pyarelal
26	Tere kaaran mere saajan	Aan Milo Sajna	1971	Laxmikant Pyarelal
27	Kahin door jab din dhal jaaye	Anand	1971	Salil Chaudhary
28	Maine tere liye hi saat rang ke sapne chune	Anand	1971	Salil Chaudhary
29	Zindagi kaisi hai paheli haaye	Anand	1971	Salil Chaudhary
30	Zindagi ek safar hai suhana	Andaz	1971	Shankar Jaikishan
31	Yeh raat hai pyaasi pyaasi	Chhoti Bahu	1971	Kalyanji Anandji
32	Chal chal chal mere saathi	Haathi mere Saathi	1971	Laxmikant Pyarelal
33	Dilbar jaani chali hawa mastaani	Haathi mere Saathi	1971	Laxmikant Pyarelal
34	Duniya mein rehna hai to kaam kar pyaare	Haathi mere Saathi	1971	Laxmikant Pyarelal
35	Sunja aa thandi hawa	Haathi mere Saathi	1971	Laxmikant Pyarelal
36	Aaj na chodenge bas humjoli	Kati Patang	1971	RD Burman
37	Jis gali mein tera ghar na ho balma	Kati Patang	1971	RD Burman
38	Na koi umang hai	Kati Patang	1971	RD Burman
39	Pyaar deewana hota hai	Kati Patang	1971	RD Burman
40	Ye jo mohabbat hai	Kati Patang	1971	RD Burman
41	Ye shaam mastani	Kati Patang	1971	RD Burman
42	Gussa itna haseen ho to	Maryada	1971	Kalyanji Anandji
43	Zuban pe dard bhari dastaan	Maryada	1971	Kalyanji Anandji
44	Itna to yaad hai mujhe	Mehboob Ki mehndi	1971	Laxmikant Pyarelal
45	Mere deewanepan ki bhi dawa nahin	Mehboob Ki mehndi	1971	Laxmikant Pyarelal
46	Yeh jo chilman hai, dushman hai hamari	Mehboob Ki mehndi	1971	Laxmikant Pyarelal
47	Chingari koi bhadke	Amar Prem	1972	RD Burman
48	Kucch to log kahenge	Amar Prem	1972	RD Burman
49	Raina beeti jaaye	Amar Prem	1972	RD Burman
50	Yeh kya hua kaise hua kab hua kyon hua	Amar Prem	1972	RD Burman
51	Duniya mein logon ko	Apna Desh	1972	RD Burman
52	Kajra lagake gajra sajake	Apna Desh	1972	RD Burman
53	Rona kabhi nahin rona	Apna Desh	1972	RD Burman
54	Bhor aayi gaya andhiyaara	Bawarchi	1972	Madan Mohan
55	More naina bahaaye neer	Bawarchi	1972	Madan Mohan
56	Tum bin jeevan kaisa jeevan	Bawarchi	1972	Madan Mohan
57	Ruk meri rani	Dil Daulat Duniya	1972	Shankar Jaikishan
58	Saath mein pyaara saathi hai	Dil Daulat Duniya	1972	Shankar Jaikishan
59	Jhoota hai tera vaada	Dushman	1972	Laxmikant Pyarelal
60	Maine dekha tune dekha	Dushman	1972	Laxmikant Pyarelal
61	Nainon mein nindiya hai	Joroo Ka Ghulam	1972	Kalyanji Anandji
62	Aao na gale lagao na	Mere Jeevan Saathi	1972	RD Burman
63	Chala jaata hoon	Mere Jeevan Saathi	1972	RD Burman
64	Deewana karke chodoge	Mere Jeevan Saathi	1972	RD Burman
65	Deewana leke aaya hai	Mere Jeevan Saathi	1972	RD Burman
66	Kitne sapne kitne armaan	Mere Jeevan Saathi	1972	RD Burman
67	O mere dil ke chain	Mere Jeevan Saathi	1972	RD Burman
68	Naa jaiyo chhod ke na jaiyo meri rani	Shehzada	1972	RD Burman
69	Pariyon ki nagri	Shehzada	1972	RD Burman
70	Rimjhim rimjhim dekho	Shehzada	1972	RD Burman
71	Ram kare babua	Anuraag	1973	SD Burman
72	Ab chahe maa ruthe ya baba	Daag - A poem of love	1973	Laxmikant Pyarelal
73	Hum aur tum, tum aur hum	Daag - A poem of love	1973	Laxmikant Pyarelal
74	Jab bhi jee chahe	Daag - A poem of love	1973	Laxmikant Pyarelal
75	Mere dil mein aaj kya hai	Daag - A poem of love	1973	Laxmikant Pyarelal
76	Diye jalte hain phool khilte hain	Namak Haram	1973	RD Burman
77	Main shayar badnaam	Namak Haram	1973	RD Burman
78	Nadiya se dariya	Namak Haram	1973	RD Burman
79	Jab andhera hota hai	Raja Rani	1973	RD Burman
80	Jai jai Shiv Shankar	Aap Ki Kasam	1974	RD Burman
81	Karvatein badalte rahen saari raat hum	Aap Ki Kasam	1974	RD Burman
82	Suno kaho kaha suna	Aap Ki Kasam	1974	RD Burman
83	Zindagi ke safar mein guzar jaate hain jo maqam	Aap Ki Kasam	1974	RD Burman
84	Hasne ki chaah ne kitna mujhe rulaaya hai	Aavishkar	1974	Kanu Roy
85	Bheegi bheegi raaton mein	Ajnabee	1974	RD Burman
86	Ek ajnabee haseena se yoon mulaqat	Ajnabee	1974	RD Burman
87	Hum dono do premi	Ajnabee	1974	RD Burman
88	Bye bye miss good night	Prem Nagar	1974	SD Burman
89	Kiska mahal hai kiska yeh ghar hai	Prem Nagar	1974	SD Burman
90	Thandi hawaaon ne gori ka ghoonghat	Prem Nagar	1974	SD Burman
91	Yeh kaisa sur mandir hai	Prem Nagar	1974	SD Burman
92	Yeh laal rang kab mujhe chhodega	Prem Nagar	1974	SD Burman
93	Gore rang pe na itna gumaan kar	Roti	1974	Laxmikant Pyarelal
94	Naach meri bulbul ye paisa milega	Roti	1974	Laxmikant Pyarelal
95	Yeh public hai ye sab jaanti hai	Roti	1974	Laxmikant Pyarelal
96	Chal dariya mein doob jaaye	Prem Kahani	1975	Laxmikant Pyarelal
97	Prem kahani mein	Prem Kahani	1975	Laxmikant Pyarelal
98	Main tumse pyaar karti hoon	Maha Chor	1976	RD Burman
99	Mera naam yaaro maha chor hai	Maha Chor	1976	RD Burman
100	Mere naina sawan bhadon	Mehbooba	1976	RD Burman
101	Mere naina sawan bhadon (Lata version)	Mehbooba	1976	RD Burman
102	Parbat ke peeche	Mehbooba	1976	RD Burman
103	Main aashiq hoon bahaaron ka	Aaashiq Hoon Bahaaron Ka	1977	Laxmikant Pyarelal
104	Aap ke anurodh pe	Anurodh	1977	Laxmikant Pyarelal
105	Aate jaate khubsoorat awara sadkon pe	Anurodh	1977	Laxmikant Pyarelal
106	Jab dard nahin tha seene mein	Anurodh	1977	Laxmikant Pyarelal
107	Mere dil ne tadap ke jab naam tera pukaara	Anurodh	1977	Laxmikant Pyarelal
108	Yaar dildaar tujhe kaisa chahiye	Chhaila Babu	1977	Laxmikant Pyarelal
109	Samay tu dheere dheere chal	Karm	1977	RD Burman
110	Maine dekha tujhe tune dekha mujhe	Karm	1977	RD Burman
111	Samay tu jaldi jaldi chal	Karm	1977	RD Burman
112	Allah megh de	Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein	1977	Laxmikant Pyarelal
113	Daakiya daak laya	Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein	1977	Laxmikant Pyarelal
114	Ghunghta gira hai	Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein	1977	Laxmikant Pyarelal
115	Dheere dheere nach ri jogan	Bhola Bhala	1978	RD Burman
116	Humse ka bhool hui jo ke saza hum ka mili	Janata Havaldar	1979	Rajesh Roshan
117	Teri ankhon ki chahat mein	Janata Havaldar	1979	Rajesh Roshan
118	Bhor bhayi panchi	Aanchal	1980	RD Burman
119	Main kaun hoon	Bandish	1980	Laxmikant Pyarelal
120	Mere hosh le lo	Bandish	1980	Laxmikant Pyarelal
121	Rang bhare mausam se rang chura ke	Bandish	1980	Laxmikant Pyarelal
122	Saiyyanji ne ghar banvaya	Bandish	1980	Laxmikant Pyarelal
123	Hazaar raahen	Thodisi Bewafaai	1980	Khayyam
124	Na jaane kya hua	Dard	1981	Khayyam
125	Pyaar ka dard hai	Dard	1981	Khayyam
126	Chhod maza haath	Fiffty Fiffty	1981	Laxmikant Pyarelal
127	Humein tumse pyaar kitna	Kudrat	1981	RD Burman
128	Tune o rangeele jaisa jaadu kiya	Kudrat	1981	RD Burman
129	Dil diya hai maine dil liya hai	Ashanti	1982	RD Burman
130	Chandni raat mein ek baar tujhe dekha hai	Dil-e-Naadaan	1982	Khayyam
131	Tera ishq hai meri zindagi	Dil-e-Naadaan	1982	Khayyam
132	Mere sang sang aaya teri yaadon ka mela	Rajput	1982	Laxmikant Pyarelal
133	Humein aur jeene ki chahat na hoti (Kishore version)	Agar Tum Na Hote	1983	RD Burman
134	Humein aur jeene ki chahat na hoti (Kishore and Lata version)	Agar Tum Na Hote	1983	RD Burman
135	Din mahine saal guzarte jaayenge	Avtaar	1983	Laxmikant Pyarelal
136	Oopar wale tera jawaab nahin	Avtaar	1983	Laxmikant Pyarelal
137	Duniya choote yaar na choote	Dharam Kaanta	1983	Naushad
138	Goron ki na kaalon ki	Disco Dancer	1983	Bappi Lahiri
139	Ae babu mere chaal mein jhatke	Nishaan	1983	Rajesh Roshan
140	Lehron ki tarah yaadein	Nishaan	1983	Rajesh Roshan
141	Shayad meri shaadi ka khayal	Souten	1983	Usha Khanna
142	Zindagi pyar ka geet hai (Kishore version)	Souten	1983	Usha Khanna
143	Zindagi pyar ka geet hai (Lata version)	Souten	1983	Usha Khanna
144	Tukur tukur dekha karoon	Aaj Ka MLA Ram Avtar	1984	Bappi Lahiri
145	Teri paayal ki jhankaar	Asha Jyoti	1984	Laxmikant Pyarelal
146	Devi o baby tu ban ja meri biwi	Maqsad	1984	Bappi Lahiri
147	Hoye hoye hoye garmi hai	Maqsad	1984	Bappi Lahiri
148	Aaj ki duniya mein	Paapi Pet Ka Sawaal Hai	1984	Shankar Jaikishan
149	Dushman na kare dost ne who kaam kiya	Aakhir Kyon	1985	Rajesh Roshan
150	Ek andhera laakh sitaare	Aakhir kyon	1985	Rajesh Roshan
151	Dil mein aag lagaye saawan ka mahina	Alag Alag	1985	RD Burman
152	Kabhi bekasi ne mara kabhi bebasi ne mara	Alag Alag	1985	RD Burman
153	Bin manzil ka rahi hoon main	Awara Baap	1985	RD Burman
154	Yeh mera jeevan	Babu	1985	Rajesh Roshan
155	Main dil tu dhadkan	Adhikar	1986	RD Burman
156	Duniya mein kitna gham hai	Amrit	1986	Laxmikant Pyarelal
157	Jeevan saathi saath mein rehna	Amrit	1986	Laxmikant Pyarelal
158	Sharafat Ali ko Sharafat ne maara	Amrit	1986	Laxmikant Pyarelal
159	Isse pehle ke yaad tu aaye	Nazrana	1987	Laxmikant Pyarelal

My Old Carnatic Concert Review - of Sanjay Subrahmanyam - from 2006

My Old Carnatic Concert Review – of Sanjay Subrahmanyam – from 2006

Written by Dr. Seshadri Kumar, 05 July 2012

Copyright © Dr. Seshadri Kumar.  All Rights Reserved.

Please see http://www.leftbrainwave.com for more articles by Dr. Seshadri Kumar

You can reach me on twitter @KumarSeshadri

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I was just surfing on Google, looking for people who may have referenced my articles, and I found an old concert review of mine from 2006, when I had gone to Chennai from Bangalore on a business visit during the Madras Music Season.  I thought it might be nice to share this review with the larger group that I am in touch with, on facebook and otherwise, so I am reposting that review. 

I have edited it very slightly and added a few headings for readability.  I haven’t corrected any of the information in it either – for instance, I now know that Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha is what used to be Vani Mahal.  I enjoyed reading the review again – I hope you do too.

Kumar’s Review of Sanjay Subrahmanyam’s Concert in Chennai on Dec. 14, 2006

Greetings!

I had a chance to visit Chennai on business about two weeks ago, and it happened to be the start of the greatest annual music festival on the planet: The Madras Music Season. This is a music fest of the kind that I have not witnessed anywhere else: more than 1000 music concerts spread over the time of a month, with more than a dozen venues.

The last time I visited Chennai during the season was 1994, so it has been a really long time. But the level of frenetic activity has not changed. I would have liked to, as I did in '94, take 10 days of vacation and spend them full time concert-hopping, trying to catch a lec-dem in the morning and three concerts subsequently during the day, but, alas, I was out of vacation time for this year, and so had to manage my experiences on evenings after long days with clients.

It was still a fun two days, and I caught Sanjay Subrahmanyam at Brahma Gana Sabha one day and OS Thyagarajan at Krishna Gana Sabha the next. (really, the two artists whom I would have wanted to listen to above anyone else ... btw, on a tangent, can you really believe that OS Arun is OST's brother?, ... so anyway, I think that I got really lucky, both being really good and interesting concerts.)

Karpagam Mess in Mylapore

Add to this the joy of experiencing good Tamil food (Udipi food is NOT Tamil Nadu food, BTW ... they put sugar in the sambar, for instance ... how awful! And apart from the authentic sambar, another delight in Madras restaurants is that molaga podi, aka gunpowder, is a standard side in most restaurants ... and it is the real stuff, fiery, rather than the tame stuff you get in the Udipis in Bombay and Bangalore ... hmm ... in Bangalore you DON'T get gunpowder, even in Adyar Ananda Bhavan) in some real authentic restaurants, and you have two unforgettable days in Madras. 

Of course, I can do without the miserable weather in that city (you won't believe that I was getting cooked there in the middle of December ... even Bombay is pleasant at that time), so I will be glad if I got to spend one month of my working year (15 Dec - 15 Jan) in Madras, experience that city and the amazing music, and then go back home.

To briefly finish about the food, before actually heading into the music, there is a great place in Mylapore, I wouldn't think very well-known, where many of the sabhas are, that I would strongly recommend you go to before or after the concerts (if after, skip the tukdas after the main piece/RTP and head for this ... definitely more value for money than that "Chinnanchiru kiLiyE" that you will hear for the 10001st time) that I learnt about from some relatives there. This is an old joint that is at the back of the Mylapore tank, right opposite the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan building there. It is really a hole in the wall, and is called Karpagam Mess (not to be confused with the big Karpagam hotel just yards away).

This is a small family joint that, amazingly enough, has an a/c section, and serves the most amazing ghee dosas I have ever eaten. The surroundings are very humble (when I finished my meal and went to the wash basin, there was no water there, so the attendant stood by my side with a jug of water for me to use to clean my hands, etc. ... not that the place is unhygenic ... just that that day the faucet was not working, but still, a very basic atmosphere), but the food is simply unbeatable. 

They serve the dosas on a plantain leaf, and there is a guy standing close by with a bucket of fantastic sambar, and he keeps refilling your leaf with more sambar as soon as you have finished what is on it. I cannot remember how much sambar I ate that night, but it was a LOT for just one dosa. This place will definitely give Saravana Bhavan or Sangeeta a run for their money. I will unfailingly go back there the next time I am in Chennai.

Modern Sabhas in Chennai

Back to the music season. Much has changed in 12 years. For instance, the Krishna Gana Sabha, which I visited during this trip, is now air-conditioned, and looks a lot better than it did 12 years ago.  Apparently, they redid both the acoustics and the interiors. Very nice. The auditorium has wicker chairs, which, at first, I thought would be crude and uncomfortable, but they turned out to be the most comfortable seats I have ever had the pleasure of sitting in, better than all the second-rate cushioned chairs that we think of as comfortable normally but that we always feel like shifting in. But I digress.

The concert that I am going to talk about was at the Brahma Gana Sabha (it did not exist in '94; btw whatever happened to the Rasika Ranjani Sabha? I did not see any mention of it in the newspapers ... did it get scrapped?  That was another run-down sabha at the time, where, to add insult to injury, I heard a forgettable concert by Gayatri on veena, but that is another story). There are also a bunch of other sabhas that I had never heard of at the time, like the Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha. Where are all these sabhas coming from? In '94, the Music Academy and Narada Gana Sabha were the only two that really looked polished; now all of them have been spruced up.

Sanjay Subrahmanyam

Now to Sanjay. I first heard Sanjay in 1994 at the Music Academy in an afternoon concert. I remember hearing a beautiful Janaranjani (nADAdinamATa) and a bEgaDA by him that day, and I was very impressed at the time. I said to my friend who was with me, an older gentleman and a veteran listener, at the time, that Sanjay had the makings of a great musician, and he echoed that opinion, both then and in every conversation we had since then.

Well, Sanjay has not disappointed in the years since in terms of his progress towards that summit, and this concert definitely underlined that point. Sanjay in 1994 was an upcoming young artist; he had been on the concert circuit for a few years, but then there were many who were at that level. Not everyone makes it to the next level, of being a major star. Sanjay has now definitely reached that level. There is an ease and a mastery of the medium and the art that is immediately obvious when you see and hear him now. He has become a seasoned veteran. 

In this evening's concert, Sanjay was accompanied on the violin by S. Varadarajan, the mridangam by B. Satishkumar, and the morsing by Bangalore Rajasekhar.

The Concert

The concert began promptly (as do all concerts in Madras during the season; they really run on a tight schedule and cannot afford to be tardy) at 6.30 pm, and Sanjay began, rather unusually, with "nAda tanumanisham" in cittaranjani. which he sang well for 20 minutes. This was followed by raghunAyaka in hamsadhwani, which was notable for unusual sangatis.

kannaDA

He followed this with an elaborate kannaDA ... now how many people will elaborate on this rAga?  After a nice AlApana, which he stopped at just the right time to avoid getting repetitive, but long enough to show his ability to improvise, he sang a dIkshitar kriti, "gIticakrarthasthithAyai." This raga, especially the AlApana, showed that this was a musician at the height of his creative powers. Highly enjoyable.

dharmavatI

The next piece was a composition in dharmavatI. A long AlApana, after which the violinist displayed admirable musicianship in his solo AlApana, was followed by the composition "aRuLvAi angayar kanniyE ... unmai uyar guNangaLellAm uLLam adhilE" (who's the composer?.... btw, the concert had a LOT of Tamil songs).

kAmbhOjI

This was then followed by an elaborate kAmbhOjI, the main rAga of the concert. Again, Sanjay tried to do a lot of things with the AlApana. Unfortunately, IMO, this fell flat. The thing about kAmbhOjI is that while it is a rAga with a lot of scope, when you have heard a lot of versions by a lot of great musicians, it is hard to come up with new and creative melodic patterns in it. To do something new in something that well-worn requires a lot of creativity. On another day, Sanjay might have been able to rise to the occasion, because he is capable of it, but on this day he simply wasn't up to it in this particular raga. It was clear that he was trying too hard.

But it still showed me what I have seen consistently in his music over the years ... he is not afraid to try new things, to truly create, something that most of his peers are afraid of, in case they fail. Sanjay can fail sometimes, but he is never afraid to try. As they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Sometimes it works brilliantly, sometimes it fails miserably. You can't have one without the other.

But he admirably made up for this in the composition, "Adum deivam nI aRuLvAi iRanDu pAdam tUkki nin tiru pAdam tanjum ena unai adandEn viri prapancam" (apologies for any mistakes).  Really, really good. A long, and very nice neraval (unfortunate most musicians today don't want to do this very pleasurable thing, the neraval, and jump straight to garden variety swaraprasthAra) that displayed some fine musicianship, followed by swaras of mixed quality.  (I think this was a Gopalakrishna Bharati composition. It lasted about an hour in total.)  Overall, a nice main piece.

hamsAnandi RTP

He was back to peak form in the next piece, an RTP (rAgam-tAnam-pallavI)  in hamsAnandi. He was in complete command here. The tAnam was phenomenal. I felt sorry for the violinist, who had a thankless job. He tried gamely, but could not come close. It really was not his fault; it is really hard to follow an act such as this. Sanjay seemed to realize how well he was doing here ... there was absolute confidence and a swagger about his performance that you can understand only when you hear him do the kinds of things he did that day ... the ideas simply seemed to come to him from nowhere.

The pallavI was "karuNincarA lOkAdhAra" ... but don't think of this as an authentic pallavI exposition. No anulOma or vilOma anulOma or trikAlam or anything like that here.  Maybe he got tired of all that, but the pallavI was simply a rAgamAlika of kalpanAswaras. 

He got the audience excited by singing the pallavI swarakalpanas in each rAga in the melodies of the most popular compositions in those rAgas: so, for Shuddha dhanyAsI, "enta nErcinA," kalAnidhi, "cinna nAtana", naLinakAntI, "manaviyAlakin," for bahudhArI, "brOvabArama," and so on. And I don't mean just the pallavis of the songs...for example, he would sing "karuNincara lOkAdhArA" for the "shRI vAsudEvA" anupallavi of "brOvabAramA" as well. The other rAgas were SahAnA and one more that I don't remember.

Tukkadas

Then the short pieces, which, surprisingly, were still enjoyable. A composition in a rAgamAlika, by Subramania Bharathi, followed by a viruttam in rAgas nAdanAmakriyA, sindubhairavI, and sAma, was followed by "nArAyaNA naLinAyata lOcana", a pApanAsam sivan offering in sAma, and then a tukDA of Gopalakrishna Bharathi, "ghaNTA maNi Adudhu," in kAnaDA. The last tukDA in the concert, before the mangaLam was, unfortunately, the infamous "English Note."

Must We Really Have This English Note???

I love Madurai Mani Iyer, and think of him as one of Carnatic music's greatest and most creative vocalists, but I cannot ever forgive him for introducing this abomination into Carnatic music (Yes, I know that it was one of the Dikshitars who started this nonsense a long long time ago, but really, that was his response to colonial rule and an early fascination with western band music ... this junk should really have no place in modern, polished, sophisticated Carnatic music, and MMI did Carnatic music a great disservice by reintroducing it.) It did make him popular, though!  Shows that even the great ones are not beneath pandering to the audience.

Some folks might say that, after all, it is just an entertaining and popularizing device, but it really is just light/pop music.  If this is acceptable, why not go all the way and sing "nI varEnA vA, varATTi pO, nI varalEnA un pEccu kA" in a concert? Why blame Unni for singing "ennavaLE" in a Carnatic concert then? Anyway, that's my pet peeve for you.)  After all this wonderful music, you end up in this morass? It's like having a fabulous dinner and then having plain oats for dessert.

An Evening to Remember

So, overall: a very satisfying, enjoyable evening in Chennai that was worth every paisa of the Rs. 300 (the cheapest class of ticket that was available at the last minute, after I returned from my meeting with the client ... but hey, I got a terrific view ... now this is a good and a bad thing ... the good is that you get to see the performers up close; the bad is ... that you get to see the performers ... well, Sanjay ... close. Not that he is bad-looking; but you don't really want to see him while he is singing ... his face goes into all these contortions that you think something is wrong with him ... now that is not really a pleasure) that I spent.

And that ghee dosai at Karpagam Mess was just the kind of ending to make this a perfect evening.

Cheers,

Kumar

On Women's Education in India, and Government Employees Who Take Themselves Too Seriously

On Women’s Education in India, and Government Employees Who Take Themselves Too Seriously

Written by Dr. Seshadri Kumar, 01 July 2012

Copyright © Dr. Seshadri Kumar. All Rights Reserved.

Please visit http://www.leftbrainwave.com for more articles by Dr. Seshadri Kumar.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author alone, and of no one else, unless specifically mentioned otherwise.

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Recently, a school in Tamil Nadu in South India disallowed two girls who got married immediately after finishing their Xth in that school from joining the XIth standard in the same school on the grounds that they would set a bad example for other girls and encourage them to do the same.  This was reported in The Hindu.  There are no other higher education institutions in the area for the girls and this action would effectively put an end to the education of the girls.

Many people were shocked by the attitude of the school in denying education, now legislated in Parliament as a fundamental right to all Indians, to girls, widely recognized as the one segment of Indian society in greatest need for education.  While it is sad to see Indian parents still parcelling off their girls to their husbands’ homes so early (and, in this case, below the legal marriageable age), it is usually the case that after marriage, it is the parents or in-laws who put a stop to the girls’ education.  However, in this case, the girls applied for admission to standard XI, only to be rejected by the principal of the school.

Distressed as I was by all this, I was even more distressed by a response to this action, also published by The Hindu in its Opinion section, written by a Professor Krishna Kumar, a Professor of Education at Delhi University and a former director of NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training), which actually defended the action of the said school principal.

According to this response, the fault does not lie with the principal.  The author of this piece believes that the principal is trying to fulfil the school’s social contract and their response is just a way of “conveying her inconsequential anger” at being unable to do so.

Noble though this sounds, there are many flaws with Professor Krishna Kumar’s arguments.

First, the author refers to a 1988 study by Prof. Leela Dube.  Accurate though the work may have been then, it is 24 years old, and many things have changed.  Importantly, that study was done before the opening up of the economy in 1992.  Society, especially urban society, has changed significantly since then.  Just look at how many women work in the IT sector alone.  Yes, Prof. Dube is right that women get a very different message in the home from what they do at school, but two things have changed how much of the home message they are willing to accept.  One is that there are so many employment opportunities available for women.  The other is that families need the extra income that women bring to the home and are not inclined to discourage women from working.  Both of these are different from the the situation in 1988.

Second, Prof. Kumar mentions (via Prof. Dube’s work) that there is a fundamental contradiction between expectations of girls in schools which, in an ideal world, encourage freedom of thought, freedom of action, and develop confidence in girls that they can do anything, just as boys can; and expectations of girls in the home - obey thy father and mother, obey thy husband, devote thy life to thy children.  Sure, this is true, and exists even today, but the intensity of the conflict is decreasing.  More and more parents are trying to give their girls a strong educational base so that the girls can stand on their own legs.  This isn't only in upper middle class homes - our maid servant in Pune was proudly telling us how she had big plans for her daughter, who seemed to be doing very well in school, much better than her son.

Third, the author assumes that teachers have taken upon themselves the mantle of reforming society and that the government also expects this out of them.  As anyone who has interacted with government employees of any kind, including teachers, knows, most of these employees do their job as a contractual obligation.  It is hard to believe that they truly think that the transformation of society rests upon them.  There may be some sincere teachers (yes, I have had some good teachers in my school as I grew up, as I assume many others have had too) who want to do a good job of teaching what they are supposed to teach, but to presume that they believe that the transformation of society is in their hands is a bit too much.

Fourth, let's think about education in India.  In his idealistic world at NCERT, Prof. Kumar loves to revel in illusions that Indian schools actually think of education as a means of teaching students to think and reason.  The truth of the matter is that Indian students all over the country, by and large, are NOT taught to think at all.  They are taught to memorize and learn by rote.  They learn an essay in English and then memorize answers to stock questions such as "explain with reference to context" that are dictated to them by the teacher.  And Prof. Kumar is telling us that teachers are trying to inculcate critical thinking in students?

The truth of the matter is that parents in India send their children to school for the certificate they get at the end of 12 years and the hope of getting a marketable degree in a college thereafter.

Fifth, how is denying the girls admission after they have been married helping anything?  What was the principal expecting, that she should have been consulted and her approval obtained before the marriages were fixed?  And how is denying women education helping with the mission of empowering women, even if we were to accept Prof. Kumar's thesis that that is the perceived mission of the teachers?

Sixth, and finally, what is this gibberish about "she is right in indicating that she is not equipped to run a school for married women. If the government is concerned about the education of child brides, it should develop a curriculum for them and start institutions where it can be taught."  What is there about history, geography, mathematics, civics, physics, chemistry, biology, English, Tamil, Hindi, or most of the other subjects that are standard in XIth or XIIth standard schools that are to be taught differently to married women than they are to be taught to single women?  When the same syllabus applies to boys and girls, why make a distinction between single and married women?

The whole essay by Prof. Kumar presents a distorted (and idealistic) view of what the purpose of a school is.  It is as though Prof. Kumar believes that the sole purpose of a school is to engineer social transformation of a certain kind, and since getting such young girls married violated the objectives of that transformation, the girls should be expelled.  This is such ivory-tower and impractical thinking, and so out of touch with reality – and the irony is that the author prefaces his article by speaking of Prof. Dube, whose writings he claims to like because “her view ... derived its perspective from a deeper commitment – to social reality, rather than to activism or political correctness.”  Yet Prof. Kumar’s own article is completely divorced from the social reality of women in our country today!  It should have been discarded on arrival at the office of The Hindu - yet, it has been published - maybe just because it is a contrarian position?  Just because something is controversial is not reason to publish it.  For a paper like The Hindu, the arguments must also make sense.  There has clearly been a lack of proper editorial involvement here.

Note that I am not advocating that girls should be married off young.  I'd rather that people take their time before getting married, get an education, get to know themselves a bit, and obtain some qualifications to stand on their own before marrying.  But the decision to not allow them to pursue their education because they married early is an attempt to impose the teachers’ own morality or vision of society on others.  Prosecute the parents for arranging a marriage of minors if you will, but you have no right to stop their education.

If what you are teaching in school is worth anything, then in time, it will have the desired effect.  Maybe not in this generation, because the girls are forced to bend to their parents' will, but perhaps, when they grow up, they will think differently about their children.  But it is education that will empower them to change.  Maybe it will take a couple of generations, but it will happen.  Let them get that education first.