As I waited to get into the auditorium to watch yet another play, I listened to Annu Kapoor on FM 92.7 as he played songs and narrated a few anecdotes from the Golden Era of Hindi cinema. Here are three of them:
18. When Nasir Hussain decided to make the movie Teesri Manzil, Vijay Anand was given the responsibility of directing it. His first choice for the lead was his brother Dev Anand and for the music director it was S. D. Burman. But Dev was busy with Guide those Days. So it was decided to cast Shammi Kapoor instead. Burmanda wasn't keeping well so the hunt was on for the music director. Nasir Hussain thought of Pancham aka R.D. Burman. Since Shammi Kapoor was known to possess a keen sense of music and get involved closely with the music of his movies, Nasir told him about his idea. But Shammi wasn't in favor because during those days his movies' music was composed mostly by either the duo Shankar-Jaikishan or O.P. Nayyar. What can only be seen as a sign of the healthy competition that was the norm of that era, Jaikishan himself told Shammi to give Pancham a chance. Even writer Sachin Bhowmik suggested the same along with Nasir Hussain. Finally, Shammi agreed to listen to the tunes that Pancham had composed.
The words of any of the songs were yet to be written but the very first tune that Pancham played before Shammi was for the song Diwana Muzsa Nahi Iss Ambar Ke Neeche. No sooner did he sing the tune for the first line, Shammi hummed the rest of the tune and told Pancham that it is from a Nepali folk song. Then he asked Pancham to play his original composition. Pancham was taken aback, he came out of the room and started smoking. He told Nasir that he wouldn't be able to work with Shammi because the guy obviously knew a lot about music. Nasir told him to relax and play one of his own compositions. The next tune that Shammi listened to was for, and I am not sure if I remember it right, the song O Haseena Julfowali. He loved it and then for the next one hour listened to the tunes for the rest of the songs. Pancham bagged the movie and the rest, as they say, is history.
19. The second anecdote is of the famous actress, late Nargis Dutt. She was in London and went for shopping in one of the famous stores there. When she paid her bill she realized that she has forgotten to buy a pair of stockings. She went back, got them and thinking that she has already paid for them proceeded to the exit with her purchases. At the gates she was stopped because of the stockings for which she had not paid. The manager was called and he in turn called the police. NargisJi was so rattled by this whole experience that by mistake she agreed to have committed shoplifting. She was asked to come to the court the next day to pay the fine.
NargisJi knew that if the British media got wind of this incident, it will soon be all over the newspapers in India. So she called the then High Commissioner K Natwar. K Natwar Singh (in fact Annu Kapoor acknowledged that he had read about this incident in one of Mr. Singh's books) and requested him to do something to stop British media from getting to know about this. He in turn called a high-ranking British officer who told him that since NargisJi had confessed to shoplifting nothing could be done. Then he asked for her passport. When he looked at the name on the passport, he was surprised to see the name 'Fatima' instead of Nargis. Then he said that the whole affair could be hushed from the media if NargisJi went to the court as an ordinary Indian woman Fatima keeping her face covered with a pair of sunglasses. NargisJi did exactly that, paid her fine and the media, British or Indian, never learned about this.
20. A listener asked Annu Kapoor who had sung the words 'Yahoo' in the famous Shammi Kapoor song from Junglee. Was it Rafi or was it Shammi Kapoor? Annu kapoor said that it was neither of them but writer-director Prayag Raaj.
18. When Nasir Hussain decided to make the movie Teesri Manzil, Vijay Anand was given the responsibility of directing it. His first choice for the lead was his brother Dev Anand and for the music director it was S. D. Burman. But Dev was busy with Guide those Days. So it was decided to cast Shammi Kapoor instead. Burmanda wasn't keeping well so the hunt was on for the music director. Nasir Hussain thought of Pancham aka R.D. Burman. Since Shammi Kapoor was known to possess a keen sense of music and get involved closely with the music of his movies, Nasir told him about his idea. But Shammi wasn't in favor because during those days his movies' music was composed mostly by either the duo Shankar-Jaikishan or O.P. Nayyar. What can only be seen as a sign of the healthy competition that was the norm of that era, Jaikishan himself told Shammi to give Pancham a chance. Even writer Sachin Bhowmik suggested the same along with Nasir Hussain. Finally, Shammi agreed to listen to the tunes that Pancham had composed.
The words of any of the songs were yet to be written but the very first tune that Pancham played before Shammi was for the song Diwana Muzsa Nahi Iss Ambar Ke Neeche. No sooner did he sing the tune for the first line, Shammi hummed the rest of the tune and told Pancham that it is from a Nepali folk song. Then he asked Pancham to play his original composition. Pancham was taken aback, he came out of the room and started smoking. He told Nasir that he wouldn't be able to work with Shammi because the guy obviously knew a lot about music. Nasir told him to relax and play one of his own compositions. The next tune that Shammi listened to was for, and I am not sure if I remember it right, the song O Haseena Julfowali. He loved it and then for the next one hour listened to the tunes for the rest of the songs. Pancham bagged the movie and the rest, as they say, is history.
19. The second anecdote is of the famous actress, late Nargis Dutt. She was in London and went for shopping in one of the famous stores there. When she paid her bill she realized that she has forgotten to buy a pair of stockings. She went back, got them and thinking that she has already paid for them proceeded to the exit with her purchases. At the gates she was stopped because of the stockings for which she had not paid. The manager was called and he in turn called the police. NargisJi was so rattled by this whole experience that by mistake she agreed to have committed shoplifting. She was asked to come to the court the next day to pay the fine.
NargisJi knew that if the British media got wind of this incident, it will soon be all over the newspapers in India. So she called the then High Commissioner K Natwar. K Natwar Singh (in fact Annu Kapoor acknowledged that he had read about this incident in one of Mr. Singh's books) and requested him to do something to stop British media from getting to know about this. He in turn called a high-ranking British officer who told him that since NargisJi had confessed to shoplifting nothing could be done. Then he asked for her passport. When he looked at the name on the passport, he was surprised to see the name 'Fatima' instead of Nargis. Then he said that the whole affair could be hushed from the media if NargisJi went to the court as an ordinary Indian woman Fatima keeping her face covered with a pair of sunglasses. NargisJi did exactly that, paid her fine and the media, British or Indian, never learned about this.
20. A listener asked Annu Kapoor who had sung the words 'Yahoo' in the famous Shammi Kapoor song from Junglee. Was it Rafi or was it Shammi Kapoor? Annu kapoor said that it was neither of them but writer-director Prayag Raaj.
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