Wednesday, February 27, 2008

S. Dev Burman: Chhupa Rustam (1973)

Chhupa Rustam isn't bad, but I can't help thinking , haven't I heard that before, but it was better when I heard it last. It feels like S. D. Burman is copying a sound that is popular for that time. And honestly, I actually don't mind really cheesy songs if they can make it up with great melodies or fantastic beats and instrumentals. So, when a song feels empty, like most on the record, it kind of gets on my nerves. That's the problem I have with S. D. Burman, it's like trying to squeeze juice out of a rock.

Asha Bholse totally saved this album by breathing some life into her songs, that without her, would have been static. In short I would have dissed this soundtrack if it wasn't for her.

The best songs are the last three. "Suno Suno Suno" has a nice earthy more traditional vibe. "Jaloon Main Jale Mera Dil", has a nice atmosphere, but tries to much to be a "Helen song" that doesn't quite do the trick. My favorite and last tune is "Main Hoon Chhui Mui" because of the vocals and again the songs jazzy atmosphere.


Here is Part 1 and Part 2 of the video for the qawwali , it's ok but nothing great.


Also, I am not shure if I like or dislike this video for the song "Jo Main Hota" ... you decide.

I think that people who haven't heard many Hindi soundtracks will certainly enjoy this album more than I did. But I am telling you that there are much better choices out there. And knowing Vijay Anand films, his movies, from my personal point of view, are better than the music in them.


Tracks:


Side 1
1. Manna Dey & Chorus: Chhupe Rustam Hain
2. Kishore Kumar & Asha Bhosle: Jo Main Hota
3. Kishore Kumar & Asha Bhosle: Bolo Kya Ham Ko Doge


Side 2
4. Kishore Kumar: Dheere Se Jana
5. Lata Mangeshkar: Suno Suno Suno
6. Asha Bhosle: Jaloon Main Jale Mera Dil
7. Asha Bhosle: Main Hoon Chhui Mui


Lyrics: Neeraj & Vijay Anand

Stella_1's score: 3/5

Get the music now: S. D. Burman Chhupa Rustam

6 comments:

litlgrey said...

The senior Burman was at the end of his career here, but do you think it's possible that Rahul Dev did the duties on the more western or modern sounding tracks, as he had consistently done for his father throughout the 1960s?

Sanket Vyas said...

Not one of S.D. saab's best efforts & almost cartoony in parts but it does contain one of my favorite Kishore Kumar songs of all time. 'Dheere Se Jaana' is actually a parody of a classical non-filmy song that was sung by... S.D. Burman himself.

S.D. Burman was a very accomplished singer (classically speaking) but his true love & major success came in the world of music composing. His rendition of the title song over the opening credits of 'Guide' is one I can listen to over & over again.

Anyway, Kishore originally does a quick line of this song in 'Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi' in the song Paach Rupaiya - he imitates S.D.'s nasally singing style and gets away with it only because S.D. was his godfather. He does the song again in this movie and does the whole nasally thing again in the middle. And now you know the rest of the story... :)

litlgrey said...

SD was Kumar's godfather? Really?

Sanket Vyas said...

Well not in the classic sense. Ashok Kumar asked S.D. Burman to help his younger brother (Kishore) out when he first started out in Bollywood. Kishore was a big fan of K.L. Saigal and imitated his voice often when he sang. S.D. told him that if he ever wanted to make it 'big' he needed to do it on his own terms and find his own voice.

Kishore took the advice to heart and it was S.D. Burman that guided Kishore through his early years and was the composer for his 2nd (major) breakthrough with 'Aradhana'. I did a 5 part series on Kishore over on my blog, yes, I am what you would call an obsessive fan ;)

litlgrey said...

Well then I don't know anything what I had either known or imagined, because my sense was that Kishore Kumar imitated the ballad style of Mohammed Rafi in his early career, and proportionately found his voice even as Rafi - probably wrongly - was becoming overlooked as too identified with the evergreen style.

Which of course is wrong, because Rafi proved himself an able master of western styles as well - he handled everything with guileless facility.

During the later Rafi revival of the 1970s, Rafi proved he could hold his own in an industry which Kumar absolutely predominated. That said however, Kumar was the voice of the times, and no male singer better suited the Bollywood music of that era.

Anonymous said...

will u pls re-upload this album, link is dead.