MUMBAI: One of Bollwood’s greatest composers was the point of discussion on Wednesday as part of the Saregama India’s music exhibition at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai.
The people who shared their wonderful experiences of making music with Panchamda were the ones who worked with the legend himself on thousands of his songs.
The musicians present at the event were Ramesh Iyer (Guitar), Manohari Singh (Saxophone) Ranjit Gazmer (One of the first ‘Madal’ players) Amrut Katkar (Reso-Reso) Homi Mullan (Piano, Accordion), Bhanu Gupta (Percussions) and Kerci Lord (Arranger, and the first person to make use of Keyboard in Bollywood).
In the hour long session, the musicians spoke about the magical era of Panchamda and how the man came up with such great tunes, within minutes. “Panchamda and we were like a family, there was no hierarchy as such. He always gave us scope to improvise and play that what came naturally to us. We used to spend more than 12 hours in sittings, but with Panchamda around there was no question of boredom,” said Kerci Lord.
“He was one of the most versatile composers Bollywood has ever had, look at his range – he can make a comic song like Ek Chatoor Naar (Padosan) and at the same time also compose fast and peppy songs of Teesri Manzil,” said Kerci Lord. “Many times, singers would get petrified because he was such a big name – but, Pancham would calm them down and take the best out of the artiste – he knew that art,” added Bhanu Gupta.
All those present were left speechless when Kerci Lord said, “There was a huge difference between the quality in which Panchamda sang to the singers (before recording) and that what the singers finally sang – the songs are not even 50 per cent of what Panchamda showed to the singers. At times, even Kishore Kumar found it difficult to match with him.”
Pancham was a very creative person and an innovator in his own right. He would constantly search for new sounds. His percussion included a spoon against a glass (Chura liya hai from Yaadon Ki baraat), desks (Masterji ki aa gayee chitthee from Kitaab), a bamboo whistle with a balloon (Abdullah) and bottles filled with water at different levels (O maajhi re from Khushboo). Amrut Katkar said “Once, Pancham asked me to take off my shirt, soon after he started playing a beat on my back and said ‘I want this sound’ – he was that fanatic. One can hear this in the song Raat Gayi Baat Gayi, and Panchamda played it. Pancham Da was good at many instruments and in later years of his life he had also started learning Sarod.
In spite of being an integral part of all R.D Burman’s compositions, his musicians were very grounded and humble. It was fun to watch them take harmless digs at each other throughout the event. Though these virtuosos have turned old today it simply showed how young they are at heart. Today, Saxophone player, Manohari Singh has gone for his routine dialysis checkup, but had one seen him at the event – he didn’t show a sign. In a way, it was a dishonor as very few from the media took a note of this nostalgic gathering.