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Journalism of Courage
If passion could be a long-playing record, it would always be spinning in Babubhai8217;s head. The 59-year-old Hindi film music enthusiast has problems hearing you 8212; only because the music in his head drowns out the rest of the world.
Every night, as he waits up for the black and white classics on Zee Cinema at 2.30 am, he goes thorough his collection of Hindi film songs, which date back to 1934. Like insects pinned and labelled neatly by an entomologist, he too has numbered his music. Sub-classifications according to composer, singer and film in his wide-spaced writing can also be found on cassette covers.
But this labelling is not out of a desire to slot his music. It is borne out of an impatience. A need that makes him want to get his hands on the music of his choice, post haste. Otherwise, Babubhai is his best encyclopaedia.
Name a composition and Babubhai reels off the film, year of release, composer, singer et al. quot;It8217;s all in here,quot; he says, pointing to his head. quot;I inherited this love for music from my father. He used to play the gramophone at 6.00 every morning. And my mother told me that when I was just one year old, I would be tapping along,quot; he reminisces. Babubhai spent his childhood in Surat and moved to Mumbai with his family in 1952. Here Roshan, the music director of yesteryear who lived next door to him, heard him sing and told him to learn classical music. quot;I started, par classical palle pada nahi,quot; he says, with no pretensions. Though he might have found the riyaaz tedious, the principles of music struck a chord. Today, he also has the songs tagged according to the raagas they are based on.
And, it is this specialisation picked up as a mere child that has all the top composers of the film industry, bar none, flocking to his modest Santacruz flat. quot;Aah! The real music directors don8217;t exist anymore. Today they come to me and say, Babubhai, koi moodwallah slow song dijiye8217;.
Sometimes, they also tell me the raaga they would prefer the song in,quot; he says. And accordingly, this music man provides them long-forgotten originals originals which inspire today8217;s super hit8217; songs. His collection and knowledge run so deep that R D Burman once asked him to record his complete repertoire, since he didn8217;t have his entire collection, himself. And when Pandit Ramprasad Sharma died, his composer son, Pyarelal referred journalists to Babubhai as he regarded him a better authority on his father.
But today8217;s successes are mixed with yesterday8217;s disappointments. His mother hated the gana bajana and when he started performing at shows during Ganesh Chaturthi, he was thrown out of the house. quot;I found out that even friends desert you. So, I meekly went back and took up a clerical job at the mills,quot; he laughs. But even the tedium of a nine-to-five job could not kill the music in him. He would sing in the evenings and entertain his office friends. However, nothing compensates the sense of loss he felt when his mother threw away his father8217;s music collection after his death. quot;I missed so much music,quot; he says. As if to make up for lost time, after his retirement, he has immersed himself completely in music. He has attended every record shop sale and visited chor-bazaars of every city. Besides film music, his collection has some jewels like the ad jingles sung by Mohammed Rafi and bhajans sung by Mukesh.
Occasionally, his thoughts flit to the future of his mammoth music collection once he is gone. quot;I have been thinking about it nowadays, but I don8217;t know8230;,quot; he trails off. His concern forgotten, his attention claimed by his first love. An old R D Burman song has started playing and Babubhai must respond to its call.
