Sajjad Hussain....the Unsung Genius Options

[Reeth]

Sajjad Hussain - 1899 - 1978



Arrogant, stubborn, idiosyncratic, all these adjectives fit Sajjad Hussain remarkably well, but so did another -- gifted. This obituary piece, culled from the pages of the Times of India, tells the story of a man who wouldn't compromise his art for the sake of his career. On a more mundane note, it also places his age at death at a more reasonable 79 years and reveals the fact that "Yeh hawa yeh raat yeh chandani"required 17 re-takes before being approved. Wonder how Talat's teetering voice stood the strain...

Music director Sajjad Hussain was a unique personality. He did only 14 films (approx.) in a career span of 20 years....

Music director Sajjad Hussain was a unique personality. He did only 14 films (approx.) in a career span of 20 years. He was an excellent Mandolin player. He had the honor of being the only musician in the world able to play classical Indian music on the mandolin, an almost impossible task because of its limitations. Sajjad Hussein was a genius . However he never witnessed the glory or fame that he deserved because of his unwillingness to compromise on the smallest of details. Sajjad was born in 1899 in a village Sitamau in Madhya Pradesh, India. His father taught him Sitar. In his teens he mastered himself in Veena, Violin, Flute and Piano.

The Unsung Genius

They could be apocryphal or they could be true, but two anecdotes about the late Sajjad Hussain are now virtually part of Hindi film music lore. One: how, during a recording, he called out tartly to Lata Mangeshkar struggling at the mike with one of his intricate compositions, "Yeh Naushad miyan ka gaana nahin hai, aap ko mehnat karni padegi." Two: how at a music directors' meet, eschewing the customary diplomacy of that era, he walked up to Madan Mohan anddemanded belligerently, "What do you mean by stealing my song ?" ("Yeh hawa yeh raat yeh chandani" from his 'Sangdil' had just found a new avatar as "Tujhe kya sunaoon main dilruba" in Madan Mohan's 'Aakhri Dao'.)

These two hallmarks of Sajjad's identity -- his penchant for complex, many--layered compositions and his singularly forthright nature -- stuck to him like a second skin throughout his life. And they combined in a rather unfortunate manner to diminish the potential brilliance of a career that could have ranked among the most celebrated.

It was not the intricacy of his compositions that put Sajjad at a disadvantage -- he worked, after all, in an era that belonged to music directors with erudition and firm classical foundations. Where he lost out was in his handling of producers and directors, sometimes musical illiterates, who sought to simplify or alter his tunes -- his contemporaries dealt with such "suggestions" rather more tactfully than Sajjad, who would immediately [get] up and walk out of the film. "He was an extremely talented man, very knowledgeable about music, but his temperament was his undoing," says Naushad. "Even if someone made a minor suggestion, he'd turn on him and say, 'What do you know about music ?' He fought with almost everyone. Because of this, he sat at home most of his life and wasted his talent. But the body of work he has produced, small as it might be, ranks among the best in Hindi film music."

Music historian Raju Bharatan, whose interaction with Sajjad goes back a long way, has a somewhat different insight into the man. "It's true he wouldn't let musically unqualified people interfere with his work,but the popular perception of him being stubborn is not right," he says. "Sajjad had a rational
explanation for every action of his. You had to know him to recognise his tremendous erudition, the fact that he was far superior to every other music director in the industry

This erudition, the cornerstone of Sajjad's work, is recalled affectionately by Naushad. "He took pride in his ustaadi," he says. "He'd tell the producer, 'I've created a tune which even Lata can't sing.' And the producer would say, 'If Lata can't sing it, how do you expect the common man to sing it ?' But at the same time he did create simple, yet extraordinary, compositions -- for example, "Yeh kaisi ajab daastaan ho gayi hai" from 'Rustom Sohraab'."

Indeed, as far as Sajjad's formidable talent goes, there are no two opinions. Madan Mohan, when confronted with the charge of plagiarism, reportedly told him, "I take pride in the fact that I lifted your tune, not that of some second- or third-rater." Anil Biswas, himself hailed as a creative genius, declared in an interview that Sajjad was the only original composer in Hindi films. "All of us, including myself, turned to some source for inspiration," he said. "This, Sajjad never needed to do. Each note of the music he composed was his own....

Sajjad's rather chequered career began in 1944 with Shaukar Husain Rizvi's 'Dost'. Assistant to Master Ali Bux at that time, the young man's tunes were favoured over those of Bux -- indeed, his "Badnaam mohabbat kaun kare, dil ko ruswa kaun kare", rendered by Noorjehan, is remembered to this day by
connoisseurs. His range was noteworthy -- if the music of 'Dost' had the "Punjabiat" that Rizvi demanded, Sajjad could also come up with lilting Arabic melodies as in 'Rustom Sohraab' or classical Hindustani tunes. All this from a man whose only formal training in music was a stint on the sitar under his
father.

Sajjad's talent was only matched by his almost compulsive perfectionism. He was perhaps the only music director who had no assistants and did everything himself, from the initial tuning of the lyrics to the orchestration. "He would even write down the bols for the tabla player," says his son Nasir Ahmed. "It
was not like he'd begin the song and accept any theka the tabalchi chose to strike; everything had to be done according to his dictates."


"He was very particular," recalls Lata Mangeshkar, who was known to be almost apprehensive of a Sajjad recording. "If even a minor instrument went slightly out of sur, he'd stop the whole recording and begin again." This perfectionism necessitated 17 re-takes for "Yeh hawa yeh raat yeh chandani", but Sajjad still
remained unsatisfied with an interlude piece in the song -- played by a sitar and a sarangi maestro who are among the top names in classical music today. "Till the day he died, whenever he heard the piece he'd sigh, "They didn't play it like I told them to," recalls his son amusedly.

This perfectionism extended to his own scores as well. "Sajjad is the only composer I know who used to rethink his own work," says Bharatan, "and that is a measure of growth. For instance, he used to say that Lata's "Aaj mere naseeb mein" from 'Hulchul' was his best work, but later began to feel it could have
been much better. He'd also dismiss his compositions like "Phir tumhari yaad ayi ay sanam" and "Dil mein sama gaye sajan" out of hand. "They're perfectly ordinary compositions," he told me. "Why are you making such a big deal of them ?"

If Sajjad was known primarily for his film scores, there was also another facet to his art -- he was an accomplished albeit self-taught mandolin player who could stun even purists with his ability to play Hindustani classical music on this rather uninspiring western instrument. His performances at concerts
alongside the biggest names in classical music spurred rave reviews, and connoisseurs would be agog at his ability to coax the meend, for instance, out of the instrument of play entire ragas with the help of the tuning key. "In the hands of Ustad Sajjad Husain," said a review of a Madras concert in 1982, "the mandolin bore the halo of a Ravi Shankar sitar or [an] Ali Akbar sarod. His playing is that of a mighty maestro....

The genius of the man, however, was destined to remain unsung. His uncompromising nature and marked indifference to material comforts pushed him further and further into oblivion. But even in the last years of his life, he retained his imperial pride -- Lata Mangeshkar, the one person in the film industry he was very close to, recalls how, when she offered to arrange his mandolin concerts, he retorted, "If you want to hear the mandolin, I'll come and play for you at home, but I don't want you arranging anything for me."

On July 21, the 79-year-old composer breathed his last. The leitmotif of his lifetime, isolation, cast its shadow over his death too, when, with the notable exception of Khayyam and Pankaj Udhas, nobody else from the film industry bothered to turn up to pay him their last respects. "It hurt," admits his son, "but what is far more important is that to the last day of his life, my father was happy. There was no bitterness, no regrets. He could have been hugely successful, made piles of money, but the only thing he wanted was to be acknowledged as a great musician, and to live life on his own terms. And I think he achieved that."

(By-- Radha Rajadhyaksha)

Sajjad Husaain's Filmography

1. Gali
2. Dost
3. Dharam
4. 1857
5. Tilasmi Duniya
6. Kasam
7. Mere Bhagwan8.
9. khel
10.Magroor
11.Hulchul
12. Saiyyan
13.Sangdil
14. Rustum Sohraab

[Erum Hashmi]

Sajjad Husaain's Filmography

1. Gali
2. Dost
3. Dharam
4. 1857
5. Tilasmi Duniya
6. Kasam
7. Mere Bhagwan8.
9. khel
10.Magroor
11.Hulchul
12. Saiyyan
13.Sangdil
14. Rustum Sohraab

15.Mera Shikaar
16.Aakhri Sajda

Unreleased:
16. Laajwanti
17.Preet na jaane reet
18.Shikwah

[Reeth]

Sajjad Husaain's Filmography

1. Gali
2. Dost
3. Dharam
4. 1857
5. Tilasmi Duniya
6. Kasam
7. Mere Bhagwan8.
9. khel
10.Magroor
11.Hulchul
12. Saiyyan
13.Sangdil
14. Rustum Sohraab

15.Mera Shikaar
16.Aakhri Sajda

Unreleased:
16. Laajwanti
17.Preet na jaane reet
18.Shikwah

Mera Shlkar is a 1988 film , by then Sajjad hussain was no more....
Aakhri sajda too is a later film .....

Lajwanti(1942) had music by Shyam Babu
Lajwanti (1958) had music by S.D.Burman

both the films were released and so were the others mentioned...

Preet na jane reet, shammi kapoor starrer had music by Kalyanji Anandji

Shikwah(1974) had music by Chitragupta

[venkat]

Rooplekha(1949) is another film with great Sajjad numbers. Notable among thise is "Teer Pe Teer Khaaye Ja" by Rafi Saab.

[Reeth]

Rooplekha(1949) is another film with great Sajjad numbers. Notable among thise is "Teer Pe Teer Khaaye Ja" by Rafi Saab.

ROOP LEKHA (1949)
BHAGWAN, SHYAMA, ZAVERI, GULNAR, ARVIND KUMAR, MURAD, ELIEZER
Produced By: FAVOURITES FILM
Directed By: MOHD. HUSSAIN
Music By: KHAN MASTANA, NISAR BAZMI
HISTORICAL **


ROOP LEKHA (1962)
MAHIPAL, VIJAYA CHAUDHARY, SUNDER, RAJ AOEEB, SHYAM SUNDER, JEEVANKALA, AMAR
Produced By: PRITHJVI PICTURES
Directed By: MOHD. HUSSAIN
Music By: NAUSHAD
COSTUME DRAMA **

[venkat]

Reeth,

Actually, I too have seen some listings of Rooplekha (1949) with Nasir Bazmi's name as MD. But, I tend to believe that the MD is Sajjad Hussein, 1.because of the style of compositions which have a typical Sajjad flavor, 2.Vividhbharati always mentions Sajjad Hussein against this film's songs (even during Sajjad Hussein's Anniversaries etc., they keep playing Rooplekha songs) and 3. Salim-ul-Haq's book, in addition to countless listings on web mentioning Sajjad Hussein's name as the MD of Rooplekha.

Subject to correction.

Venkat

[Reeth]

Reeth,

Actually, I too have seen some listings of Rooplekha (1949) with Nasir Bazmi's name as MD. But, I tend to believe that the MD is Sajjad Hussein, 1.because of the style of compositions which have a typical Sajjad flavor, 2.Vividhbharati always mentions Sajjad Hussein against this film's songs (even during Sajjad Hussein's Anniversaries etc., they keep playing Rooplekha songs) and 3. Salim-ul-Haq's book, in addition to countless listings on web mentioning Sajjad Hussein's name as the MD of Rooplekha.

Subject to correction.

Venkat

I think all those older Mds did come up with many similar compositions..... i have always felt that songs of
" Tarana " were composed by Sajjad Hussain....esp when i listen to ' Bol papihe bol re', which has quite a complex tune more in Sajjad's style, not that Anil Biswas was not capable of composing such complex tunes...he was ofcourse Great in his own way.....

[Erum Hashmi]

Sajjad Husaain's Filmography

1. Gali
2. Dost
3. Dharam
4. 1857
5. Tilasmi Duniya
6. Kasam
7. Mere Bhagwan8.
9. khel
10.Magroor
11.Hulchul
12. Saiyyan
13.Sangdil
14. Rustum Sohraab

15.Mera Shikaar
16.Aakhri Sajda

Unreleased:
16. Laajwanti
17.Preet na jaane reet
18.Shikwah

Mera Shlkar is a 1988 film , by then Sajjad hussain was no more....

You're talking about Dimple-Kabir Bedi film and I'm talking about Dara Singh starrer!

Aakhri sajda too is a later film .....

Aakhri Sajda was Helen starrer and one of the last film of Sajjad (the last was Mera Shikar)!

Lajwanti(1942) had music by Shyam Babu
Lajwanti (1958) had music by S.D.Burman

both the films were released and so were the others mentioned...

Preet na jane reet, shammi kapoor starrer had music by Kalyanji Anandji

Shikwah(1974) had music by Chitragupta

You didn't see my heading: UNRELEASED!

[AzgarKhan]

I understand that he is the MD of the movie "Rustam Sohrab", was he in the song too, "Phir tumhari yaad aayi aye sanam"?

[venkat]

I understand that he is the MD of the movie "Rustam Sohrab", was he in the song too, "Phir tumhari yaad aayi aye sanam"?

This song was sung by Rafi Saab, Manna Dey and Sadat Khan. The second Antara starting with "Tu Mere Dil Mein Mere Aankhon Mein Ho" was sung by Sadat Khan.

Venkat

[Reeth]

Sajjad Husaain's Filmography

1. Gali
2. Dost
3. Dharam
4. 1857
5. Tilasmi Duniya
6. Kasam
7. Mere Bhagwan8.
9. khel
10.Magroor
11.Hulchul
12. Saiyyan
13.Sangdil
14. Rustum Sohraab

15.Mera Shikaar
16.Aakhri Sajda

Unreleased:
16. Laajwanti
17.Preet na jaane reet
18.Shikwah

Mera Shlkar is a 1988 film , by then Sajjad hussain was no more....

You're talking about Dimple-Kabir Bedi film and I'm talking about Dara Singh starrer!

Aakhri sajda too is a later film .....

Aakhri Sajda was Helen starrer and one of the last film of Sajjad (the last was Mera Shikar)!

Lajwanti(1942) had music by Shyam Babu
Lajwanti (1958) had music by S.D.Burman

both the films were released and so were the others mentioned...

Preet na jane reet, shammi kapoor starrer had music by Kalyanji Anandji

Shikwah(1974) had music by Chitragupta

You didn't see my heading: UNRELEASED!

I did be specific....you mean to say there are 3 more of these unreleased films, if so do give some more details....

[Erum Hashmi]

Sajjad Husaain's Filmography

1. Gali
2. Dost
3. Dharam
4. 1857
5. Tilasmi Duniya
6. Kasam
7. Mere Bhagwan8.
9. khel
10.Magroor
11.Hulchul
12. Saiyyan
13.Sangdil
14. Rustum Sohraab

15.Mera Shikaar
16.Aakhri Sajda

Unreleased:
16. Laajwanti
17.Preet na jaane reet
18.Shikwah

Mera Shlkar is a 1988 film , by then Sajjad hussain was no more....

You're talking about Dimple-Kabir Bedi film and I'm talking about Dara Singh starrer!

Aakhri sajda too is a later film .....

Aakhri Sajda was Helen starrer and one of the last film of Sajjad (the last was Mera Shikar)!

Lajwanti(1942) had music by Shyam Babu
Lajwanti (1958) had music by S.D.Burman

both the films were released and so were the others mentioned...

Preet na jane reet, shammi kapoor starrer had music by Kalyanji Anandji

Shikwah(1974) had music by Chitragupta

You didn't see my heading: UNRELEASED!

I did be specific....you mean to say there are 3 more of these unreleased films, if so do give some more details....

Shikwah was being made with Dilip Kumar & Nutan and had some songs with Talat Mahmood.
Preet Na Jaane Reet too had songs with Talat Mahmood
and Laajwanti had nearly ten tracks and all by Lata!

[Harjinder]

Hi
Just one lament.Kash Sajjad saheb apne subhao ko bas mein kar leea kartey to ham unki aur zayada filmon kay gaano sun saktey. Unki zindgi say se yeh saying ki genius often erratic hota hai bilkul sabat hoti hai. Kya talent thee aur kya uska hashar hua!Harjinder

[sanjkash]

Reeth,
Thanks for this great write up on Sajjad. At least some sort of justice from your (HF) side to this absolute genius.
Sanjay

[simplefable]

Sajjad Hussain - 1899 - 1978



Arrogant, stubborn, idiosyncratic, all these adjectives fit Sajjad Hussain remarkably well, but so did another -- gifted. This obituary piece, culled from the pages of the Times of India, tells the story of a man who wouldn't compromise his art for the sake of his career. On a more mundane note, it also places his age at death at a more reasonable 79 years and reveals the fact that "Yeh hawa yeh raat yeh chandani"required 17 re-takes before being approved. Wonder how Talat's teetering voice stood the strain...

Music director Sajjad Hussain was a unique personality. He did only 14 films (approx.) in a career span of 20 years....

Music director Sajjad Hussain was a unique personality. He did only 14 films (approx.) in a career span of 20 years. He was an excellent Mandolin player. He had the honor of being the only musician in the world able to play classical Indian music on the mandolin, an almost impossible task because of its limitations. Sajjad Hussein was a genius . However he never witnessed the glory or fame that he deserved because of his unwillingness to compromise on the smallest of details. Sajjad was born in 1899 in a village Sitamau in Madhya Pradesh, India. His father taught him Sitar. In his teens he mastered himself in Veena, Violin, Flute and Piano.

The Unsung Genius

They could be apocryphal or they could be true, but two anecdotes about the late Sajjad Hussain are now virtually part of Hindi film music lore. One: how, during a recording, he called out tartly to Lata Mangeshkar struggling at the mike with one of his intricate compositions, "Yeh Naushad miyan ka gaana nahin hai, aap ko mehnat karni padegi." Two: how at a music directors' meet, eschewing the customary diplomacy of that era, he walked up to Madan Mohan anddemanded belligerently, "What do you mean by stealing my song ?" ("Yeh hawa yeh raat yeh chandani" from his 'Sangdil' had just found a new avatar as "Tujhe kya sunaoon main dilruba" in Madan Mohan's 'Aakhri Dao'.)

These two hallmarks of Sajjad's identity -- his penchant for complex, many--layered compositions and his singularly forthright nature -- stuck to him like a second skin throughout his life. And they combined in a rather unfortunate manner to diminish the potential brilliance of a career that could have ranked among the most celebrated.

It was not the intricacy of his compositions that put Sajjad at a disadvantage -- he worked, after all, in an era that belonged to music directors with erudition and firm classical foundations. Where he lost out was in his handling of producers and directors, sometimes musical illiterates, who sought to simplify or alter his tunes -- his contemporaries dealt with such "suggestions" rather more tactfully than Sajjad, who would immediately [get] up and walk out of the film. "He was an extremely talented man, very knowledgeable about music, but his temperament was his undoing," says Naushad. "Even if someone made a minor suggestion, he'd turn on him and say, 'What do you know about music ?' He fought with almost everyone. Because of this, he sat at home most of his life and wasted his talent. But the body of work he has produced, small as it might be, ranks among the best in Hindi film music."

Music historian Raju Bharatan, whose interaction with Sajjad goes back a long way, has a somewhat different insight into the man. "It's true he wouldn't let musically unqualified people interfere with his work,but the popular perception of him being stubborn is not right," he says. "Sajjad had a rational
explanation for every action of his. You had to know him to recognise his tremendous erudition, the fact that he was far superior to every other music director in the industry

This erudition, the cornerstone of Sajjad's work, is recalled affectionately by Naushad. "He took pride in his ustaadi," he says. "He'd tell the producer, 'I've created a tune which even Lata can't sing.' And the producer would say, 'If Lata can't sing it, how do you expect the common man to sing it ?' But at the same time he did create simple, yet extraordinary, compositions -- for example, "Yeh kaisi ajab daastaan ho gayi hai" from 'Rustom Sohraab'."

Indeed, as far as Sajjad's formidable talent goes, there are no two opinions. Madan Mohan, when confronted with the charge of plagiarism, reportedly told him, "I take pride in the fact that I lifted your tune, not that of some second- or third-rater." Anil Biswas, himself hailed as a creative genius, declared in an interview that Sajjad was the only original composer in Hindi films. "All of us, including myself, turned to some source for inspiration," he said. "This, Sajjad never needed to do. Each note of the music he composed was his own....

Sajjad's rather chequered career began in 1944 with Shaukar Husain Rizvi's 'Dost'. Assistant to Master Ali Bux at that time, the young man's tunes were favoured over those of Bux -- indeed, his "Badnaam mohabbat kaun kare, dil ko ruswa kaun kare", rendered by Noorjehan, is remembered to this day by
connoisseurs. His range was noteworthy -- if the music of 'Dost' had the "Punjabiat" that Rizvi demanded, Sajjad could also come up with lilting Arabic melodies as in 'Rustom Sohraab' or classical Hindustani tunes. All this from a man whose only formal training in music was a stint on the sitar under his
father.

Sajjad's talent was only matched by his almost compulsive perfectionism. He was perhaps the only music director who had no assistants and did everything himself, from the initial tuning of the lyrics to the orchestration. "He would even write down the bols for the tabla player," says his son Nasir Ahmed. "It
was not like he'd begin the song and accept any theka the tabalchi chose to strike; everything had to be done according to his dictates."


"He was very particular," recalls Lata Mangeshkar, who was known to be almost apprehensive of a Sajjad recording. "If even a minor instrument went slightly out of sur, he'd stop the whole recording and begin again." This perfectionism necessitated 17 re-takes for "Yeh hawa yeh raat yeh chandani", but Sajjad still
remained unsatisfied with an interlude piece in the song -- played by a sitar and a sarangi maestro who are among the top names in classical music today. "Till the day he died, whenever he heard the piece he'd sigh, "They didn't play it like I told them to," recalls his son amusedly.

This perfectionism extended to his own scores as well. "Sajjad is the only composer I know who used to rethink his own work," says Bharatan, "and that is a measure of growth. For instance, he used to say that Lata's "Aaj mere naseeb mein" from 'Hulchul' was his best work, but later began to feel it could have
been much better. He'd also dismiss his compositions like "Phir tumhari yaad ayi ay sanam" and "Dil mein sama gaye sajan" out of hand. "They're perfectly ordinary compositions," he told me. "Why are you making such a big deal of them ?"

If Sajjad was known primarily for his film scores, there was also another facet to his art -- he was an accomplished albeit self-taught mandolin player who could stun even purists with his ability to play Hindustani classical music on this rather uninspiring western instrument. His performances at concerts
alongside the biggest names in classical music spurred rave reviews, and connoisseurs would be agog at his ability to coax the meend, for instance, out of the instrument of play entire ragas with the help of the tuning key. "In the hands of Ustad Sajjad Husain," said a review of a Madras concert in 1982, "the mandolin bore the halo of a Ravi Shankar sitar or [an] Ali Akbar sarod. His playing is that of a mighty maestro....

The genius of the man, however, was destined to remain unsung. His uncompromising nature and marked indifference to material comforts pushed him further and further into oblivion. But even in the last years of his life, he retained his imperial pride -- Lata Mangeshkar, the one person in the film industry he was very close to, recalls how, when she offered to arrange his mandolin concerts, he retorted, "If you want to hear the mandolin, I'll come and play for you at home, but I don't want you arranging anything for me."

On July 21, the 79-year-old composer breathed his last. The leitmotif of his lifetime, isolation, cast its shadow over his death too, when, with the notable exception of Khayyam and Pankaj Udhas, nobody else from the film industry bothered to turn up to pay him their last respects. "It hurt," admits his son, "but what is far more important is that to the last day of his life, my father was happy. There was no bitterness, no regrets. He could have been hugely successful, made piles of money, but the only thing he wanted was to be acknowledged as a great musician, and to live life on his own terms. And I think he achieved that."

(By-- Radha Rajadhyaksha)

Sajjad Husaain's Filmography

1. Gali
2. Dost
3. Dharam
4. 1857
5. Tilasmi Duniya
6. Kasam
7. Mere Bhagwan8.
9. khel
10.Magroor
11.Hulchul
12. Saiyyan
13.Sangdil
14. Rustum Sohraab

Thankyou Reethji..for such a wonderful read...i loved all his songs..but never knew about the man !! thankyou very much.