Ravi Sahab, questions Options

[amooly]

it would be nice for someone to post here

[kurtcobain]

ravi is my absolute favorite among the music directors of the past....

its more than by mere co-incidence that every rafi song (especially sad songs like yeh duniya yeh mehfil mere kaam ki nahin) that i like, invariably turns out to be a ravi composition

notable albums are

heer ranjha
neelkamal..... . i am sorry, but i can never remember album names... but sad evergreen songs like,
-raha gardishon mein hardum
-naseeb mein jiske jo likha tha etc
are also ravi compositions (correct me if i am mistaken folks)

notable non-rafi albums include
-gumraah (neele gagan ke tale, in hawaon mein etc)

lataji highlighted the work of madan mohan during her concert a few years ago, but i feel that ravi is also one such MD, who's genius has not been appreciated to the fullest, and we must make everyone aware of his materpiece albums

i would be grateful if my more knowledgable friends here could compile a list of ravi albums, and share ravi compositions on this thread

[ahmeds]

Ravi Ji,

Was truely a fantastic music director and used Rafi saab's viice very effectively.

here's an interview y the great man.

Mash: Raviji, namashkar

Ravi: Namashkar
Mash: Raviji, the entire industry knows you as Ravi, and very few know your full name. Is there a reason for this?

Ravi: Actually, when I came into the film industry, my full name was Ravi Shankar Sharma. When I became Hemant Kumar's assistant, people told me my name was too long and it would be difficult to mention on screen. So I said, I will drop the surname Sharma and keep it Ravi Shankar. After this, I got a message from sitar maestro Ravi Shankar that people were asking him if he was assisting Hemant Kumar. Then I said, this is not right and suggested that either he changes his name or I do. And I decided to change my name and then on, I called myself Ravi.

Mash: Raviji, did you face a lot of difficulties to make your dreams come true?

Ravi: Difficulties are there in every field. If one is new, there are always a lot of difficulties. For example if you visit a house you have never been to, you will not know where the bathroom is, where the stairs are, where the store room or the drawing room is. You have to ask and make an effort to know the place in order to get used to it. Similarly, when wanted become a singer, I had to put in a lot of effort and dedicate myself and struggle a lot. I used to go to all the music directors, sing and request them to give me an opportunity to become a playback singer. But, repeatedly, I was offered only a chance to sing in a chorus.
I was in Delhi working with the Post and Telegraph department from 1945 till 1950. I came to Bombay in 1950. And when I came, I put in a lot of effort to become a singer, but nothing happened and I had to quit my job in Delhi. It was a difficult time. After all, how long will a person manage without earning money? So, I went ahead and agreed to sing in chorus. That way, I would earn something to sustain myself with at least two meals a day. And, I must add, this decision was the right one. I felt God gave me the right direction and it was while singing in chorus that I met Hemant Kumar.

Mash : Raviji, one has heard that your style was to take the lyrics first and then set the tune and work on the orchestration. Was there a specific reason for this?

Ravi : You know, I used to think .. when you engage a writer to write songs for films and limit him... give him a tune and ask him to work around that tune, poor fellow will keep roaming around and will have to ignore some of the best suited words for that song. And because of the bounds I set by giving him the tune, he will not bring the best to me, because he has been limited by the tune. I believed in giving full freedom to the poet sand lyricists I worked with. All I told them was to keep the situation in mind and write a song, to which I would set the tune.

Mash : So, this was not to your advantage. Instead, you believed in giving the lyricist his independence.

Ravi : By doing this, I gave him the independence he needed and I felt that I was able to bring the best out of the writer. And they always did their best because there were no limiting factors. That's why you will see Sahir Ludhianvi did his best with writing songs and I set the tunes, Shakeel saab did his best with writing and I set tunes to them. Asad Bhopali, Majrooh Sultanpuri, and many others used to write songs and bring it to me and then, I would compose the tunes.

Mash : So over a period of time, this became your style ?

Ravi : Yes, it did and I had the passion to compose tunes. In fact, for one song, I'd compose not one tune but 20... as many as I could! And after this I would pick the best of them all myself.

Mash: What did you do with the rest of the tunes?

Ravi : All the other tunes... they are all there in my stock. Till date, they are all lying with me.

Mash: Can you give an example of two tunes that you made for one song?

Ravi : You know, there are many songs like this, but there was a song Baazi kisi ne pyaar ki jeeti ya haar di in the film titled Nazrana sung by Rafi saab. And I made many tunes for this song. The tune I liked very much was one that suited the lyrics. The rest are still lying with me. Now, there was a song in the film titled Gehra Daag. Shakeel saab wrote a poem and brought it to me. The song was Bhagwan ek kusoor ki itni badi sazaa. So I saw and realised the meter of this song goes good with one of the tunes of Baazi kisi ne pyaar ki jeeti ya haar di. I checked all the tunes I made for Baazi kisi ne pyaar ki jeeti ya haar di and saw one of them sync very well and it fit the song perfectly. So, I used it for the film Gehra Daag.
This way, when I got a song, I would look if I have a tune that goes well with the song. But I never told song writers to consider the tune to write the song.. I would check on my tunes to see if anything suited the words given to me.

Mash: Raviji, there was one more legend Guru Duttji.
Ravi: Yes!

Mash : And he directed Chaudhvin Ka Chand for which you gave music.

Ravi: Yes!

Mash : Even today when one speaks about Waheeda Rehman as an actress, the first song one recollects is the song Chaudhvi Ka Chand.

Ravi : Correct!

Mash : How was your experience of working with Guru Dutt?
Ravi : Very good. I will tell you a small instance. When I took up composing music for this film, some of my colleagues said, 'Ab pata lagega bachchu.. kehete hain na ... ab aye ho.. aaya uunt (camel) pahad (mountain) ke neeche (below),' saying Guru Duttji will not easily pass your tunes. Very often the music director struggles after taking up this responsibility. So, I thought to myself, 'Oh! So far there has been no such thing.. I made the tunes and he liked them. But, when I was done with the last song for the film, I asked Guru Duttji if he was just okaying songs or did he really think they were good? To which he replied, ' No, not at all. When the song is good, I say it is good.'
I said .. but you know people were saying that you are difficult. 'May be. But, if the song is good, I will tell you its good.' He also liked the last tune so much that in his next film, he had the lyricist write a song to that tune. I said 'Well.... you liked it so much ! And that song Mili khaak mein mohobbat jala dil ka aashiana - the music was so good, I felt happy that I made it and Guru Duttji too was very happy. In those days, there was so much love in working together, I would like all the listeners of this programme to know that we all worked hard and worked together. There was a situation given to us, the title song of the film Chaudhvi ka chaand ho ya aaftab ho. Guru Duttji held a meeting in his office and the situation of the song was explained to me and Shakeel saab. When I signed this film, Guru Duttji asked me, 'Who should we take as the song writer for this film?' So, I told this him the film had a Muslim story and he should consider someone with strong knowledge of Urdu. So he said, "what do you think of Shakeel?' I said. 'Well, he should be a good choice but will he leave Naushad saab and come,' because he worked with him. Guru Duttji said he might. And one day he called me and said Shakeel saab had agreed. There was a meeting and Guru Duttji gave us a situation for a mujra (a courtesan's dance song) and there was one ghazal too.
The situation was he was on his way back from a mushaira and Waheeda Rehman is waiting for him at night. When he sees her waiting, she looks so beautiful, he sings a ghazal for her. Guru Duttji wanted the song to be romantic and in praise of her beauty. It was one of the days when I had finished recording and was returning home, thinking, 'What kind of a song should this be? I called Shakeel saab and told him I needed his help. He came home and I told him my that I could not get any words to take it forward. I sang Chaudvi ka chaand ho... he came up with the next lines, Ya aftaab ho, Jo bhi ho tum khuda ki kasam lajawab ho. I composed the song and we both liked the song very much! It was made in 5 minutes!

[Jay]

Great stuff!!!

[Sharad]

kurt cobain

heer ranjha is not ravi, it's madan mohan

but i like what you said that i can relate to
sooooo many rafi songs i came across and instantly loved turned out to be ravi's compositions
very catchy stuff for me!

i rate ravi as no 1, naushad and madan mohan,
then S-J, Opium Nayyar!
man i don't know where to go next

[Sharad]

Ravi : All the other tunes... they are all there in my stock. Till date, they are all lying with me.

I WANT THOSE!

these stories are so fun to listen to, give me chills
i wish i was with em to experience it

[kurtcobain]

kurt cobain

heer ranjha is not ravi, it's madan mohan
...................................

thanks for the correction friend.....

hey thats a co-incidence because madan mohan is my second favorite !

so many of his compositions, eg, aap ki nazron ne samjha, are so very melodious, and also pure raaga based....a real maestro

but ravi is definitely my favorite MD of the past (nadeem shravan among the MD'S of today )

[oye_sonu]

Ahmed bhai thanx for the interview of ravi saaab............
to me he is no3 in terms of melodiuos music................
no 1 is SJ , then MM and then ravi saab

though it is debatable whether ravi saab were able to give all sort of music or were good only in tradional film music.........

i think iss cheez mai thodi kami hai else he is just superrrrrbbbbbbbbbb.............

i want to start a new post on interviews of RAvi saab. coz not many people know ravi saab


God bless

Sonu