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Mahendra Kapoor

, The legend speaks

 
 
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> Mahendra Kapoor, The legend speaks
suhana_safar
post Sep 28 2004, 11:07 AM
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Here is a interview of Mahendra Kapoor. Nice read and love the lines that I have highlighted in red where he speaks about "Besura Singers" (that exist in plenty nowadays). Shockingly at least one is laughinghly being tried to be given the legendry label by some (jokers).

From the early ‘60s to the mid-‘80s, Mahendra Kapoor was one of the biggest names in playback-dom. A fixture of sorts with B.R.Chopra from Dhool Ka Phool in 1959 to his TV serials in the ‘90s, and as the voice of Manoj Kumar and (Gopi onwards) of Dilip Kumar, Mahendra Kapoor’s Hindi film career spanned from Madmast (in which he made his debut under V.Balsara) in 1953 to Dillagi under Jatin-Lalit and Sukhwinder in 1999. His many highs include classics that range from the romantic (‘Chalo ek baar phir se...’/Gumrah, ‘Mera pyar woh hai ke...’/ Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi, ‘Aadha hai chandrama...’/Navrang) to patriotic (‘Mere desh ki dharti...’/Upkar, ‘Hai preet jahaan ki reet sadaa...’/Purab Aur Paschim, Ab ke baras...’/Kranti) and from the poignant (‘Aur nahin, bas aur nahin...’/Roti Kapada Aur Makaan) to the comic (‘Do bechare...’/Victoria No.203).

From Ashok Kumar to Anil Kapoor, and with particular felicity under Ravi, Kalyanji-Anandji, O.P.Nayyar, Chitragupta, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and C.Ramachandra, Mahendra Kapoor’s career (which also included major hits in Gujarati, Punjabi and Marathi) never struck a dull ‘note’ for over 25 years after he made the grade with Sohni Mahiwal, Navrang and above all, Dhool Ka Phool.

But suddenly, Mahendra Kapoor seemed to disappear from films from the late ‘80s. Why was that so? Says the veteran candidly, “Trends and heroes changed, and I do not suit today’s needs. But frankly, I am not missing anything. Today’s music does not have everlasting quality, and nor do we have live recordings. A besura singer can be made to sound in key with pitch-correction technology! How low can music fall?”

The singer goes on, “There is much more creativity in private albums, whether devotionals, romantic or philosophical. I also keep doing shows all over the world, and after a series of them in Canada I will soon leave for concert tours in the USA. So I occupy my time, I use my creativity, my vocal chords keeps getting exercised, and I get good money in all this. Why should I sing lyrics and music of low calibre?”

But Kapoor has sung for current composers like Anu Malik, Jatin-Lalit, Nadeem-Shravan, Aadesh Shrivastava, Sukhwinder and even Anand-Milind and Raamlaxman. Where does he rate these composers? “Dekhiye, I would say that these music directors lack the environment to be creative,he says.”Today’s filmmakers do not give importance to music and lyrics, and therefore the music director has neither the time nor the inspiration to come out with great music. Similarly the system of recording on tracks hardly is conducive to good singing. In the olden days, the entire team would take anything from ten days to two months over the creation and rehearsals of one song.”



And what is happening today on the album front? “Two of my devotional albums are just out on a company named My Music - Ganesh Mahima and Maa Tere Bhawano Mein, both composed by Surinder Kohli and written by Balbir Nirdosh. Rohan has sung with me on the latter, and is also doing a romantic album of his own. I am now working on a Sufi album that I am also composing.”

Isn’t this his debut as a composer? “I have composed Punjabi albums before, but they were recorded and produced in London,” he replies.”This will be my first Hindi album as a composer.”

Obviously, Mahendra Kapoor has realized that the way to remain evergreen is to rest on his many laurels rather than mitigate his consistent career highs with trivia. And so instead of subscribing to the thoughts behind his Sahir-written ‘Sansar ki har shay ka itna hi fasana hai/ Ek dhund se aana hai, ek dhund mein jana hai...’(Dhund), Mahendra Kapoor seems to prefer the unalloyed optimism of his Majrooh-written duet with Lata Mangeshkar from Abhinetri,‘Milte hi rahenge hum badle sau nazaarein/Yug yug ke rang jitne utne roop hamaare...’


Reference: musicindineonline.com


PLAYBACK SINGING STARTS AND ENDS WITH RAFISAAB. IN TERMS OF QUALITY, CONSISTENCY & VERSATILITY, RAFISAAB IS INFINITE LIGHT YEARS AHEAD OF ALL SINGERS BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER HIM.
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