When Manoj Kumar stepped in to save lots of ‘Lag Ja Gale’ from rejection

“Lag Ja Gale”, that plaintive ode to like sung by Lata Mangeshkar within the 1964 basic “Woh Kaun Thi”, virtually did not see the sunshine of day.

Quite merely, director Raj Khosla did not just like the observe and it took composer Madan Mohan to first persuade the movie’s star Manoj Kumar — who then persuaded the filmmaker — that the music was lastly included.

Once he heard the music once more, Khosla picked up his shoe to hit himself, based on “Raj Khosla: The Authorized Biography”, launched on May 20 forward of the filmmaker’s a hundredth delivery anniversary on May 31.

“I bought a name from Madan Mohan someday. ‘Raj Khosla has misplaced his thoughts,’ Madan mentioned. ‘Ek gaana sunaya. Usko pasand nahi aaya. (I made him hear a music. He did not prefer it.) You come and deal with this please,” the ebook quotes Kumar as saying.

However, Kumar, who hadn’t heard the music but, was reluctant to intervene, reasoning that it was finally “Khosla’s movie”, and opted to talk with producer N N Sippy concerning the matter.

“There have been just a few days left for the shoot and the music was but to be finalised. What was to be achieved? Sippy concurred with the music director. He, too, needed Manoj Kumar to strategy Raj Khosla and kind this out,” recounts the ebook by creator Amborish Roychoudhury in affiliation with Khosla’s daughters Anita Khosla and Uma Khosla Kapur.

Kumar agreed to intervene when the composer performed the music for him.

Kumar, on whom the music was ultimately picturised alongside actor Sadhana Shivdasani, described the piece of music as a “good composition” and was amazed that Khosla — who joined the movie business with the dream of changing into a playback singer and somebody with eager appreciation of excellent music — did not just like the music, the ebook reads.

Later, after persistent urging from Kumar, Khosla lastly agreed to take heed to the music, however solely after telling him that it’s “actually dangerous”.

However, upon listening to it once more, the late filmmaker was left “astonished” and admitted it was among the best tunes he had ever come throughout.

“And this was a music he was about to let go? ‘How extremely silly of me’, Khosla exclaimed. According to Kumar, Raj even picked up his personal shoe to hit himself,” reads the ebook.

Mangeshkar had listed “Lag Ja Gale” as one among her six favourites. It has over 277 million views on YouTube. The soul-stirring melody, as famous within the ebook and defined by music composer Sanjeev Kohli, Mohan’s son, was a very difficult piece to execute, even for the legendary Mangeshkar as a result of intricate ‘murkis’ (decorative prospers) and nuanced variations included by each Mohan and Lata herself, which demanded distinctive vocal finesse.

When she did it proper, even Mohan bought emotional and hugged the singer.

“When we recorded the music, everyone was pleased with it. Raj Khosla cherished it. All of us have been happy. Once the recording was over, Madan bhaiyya aaye aur mujhe gale laga kar rone lage. (Madan bhaiyya got here, hugged me and began crying.) The music… created historical past,” Mangeshkar is quoted as saying within the ebook.

Six a long time after its launch, the music has been repurposed by filmmakers variously of their movies, together with AR Murugadoss within the not too long ago out Salman Khan-Rashmika Mandanna starrer ‘Sikandar’, Karan Johar in ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ (2016) and ‘Bombay Talkies’ (2013) and Tigmanshu Dhulia for the ‘Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster’ franchise.

The filmmaker, who skilled beneath legendary actor-director Guru Dutt, was additionally credited for taking pictures musical sequences with dexterity. These embrace greats similar to “Lag jaa gale”, “Mera saaya saath hoga”, “Jaane kya baat hai”, “Hai apna dil toh awara” and “Yeh hai Bombay meri jaan”.

“Raj Khosla: The Authorised Biography”, printed by Hachette India and priced at Rs 799, is out there for buy throughout on-line and offline shops.