(It is always difficult for a blogger to find out a perfect way to return to his blog - specially after such a long gap. The last strand is long forgotten; too brash a post may be frowned upon while too dull a post may not even make people realise that he is back.
Fortunately for this blog, all that I have to do is select one of the gems from Pancham's vast repertoire and post it - and more often than not, it works.
So, after all this verbosity to wake up all Pancham fans, here is a lilting tune from one of the flop movies of 1980s.)
Rajesh Khanna, the first ever superstar of Hindi Cinema, was at that point in his career by late 70s where nothing seemed to be going right for him. There were a string of flops and audience had unanimously decided to reject his romantic hero and accept the angry young man & anti hero - brought alive by Amitabh Bachchan.
Kaka needed an image makeover and perhaps that is why he chose a few movies which were an absolute anti-thesis to his established image. One such movie was Red Rose, a remake of a Tamil movie Sigappu Rojakkal that had originally Kamal Hasan & Sridevi in the lead roles.
The movie was directed by Bharati Raja, also the director of original Tamil movie, and had Kaka reprising Kamal hasan's character that had a hidden dark side - a sex-maniac preying on young females before killing them.
Unfortunately, despite an interesting story line - quite misogynist in its treatment though - the movie remained trapped in the cliches of those times. As a result, it was befitting for the main character, if having a negative shade, to have no choice but to die in the end - in this case due to efforts of the heroine.
However, just imagine, the interesting possibilities this movie could have had in the current age of sequels & dark-noir movies - with perhaps each new movie with the same hero & a different - may be tougher - heroine.
The female lead in Red Rose was played by Poonam Dhillon - who celebrates her birthday today - for whom this was first major movie outside Yash Chopra productions, and she performed the interesting role with quite an ease.
The movie's background score was a tailor made opportunity for Pancham and he excelled in that. However, there was limited scope for the songs, and yet the two songs that Pancham composed for the movie, have remained amongst some of his best compositions.
The one showcased here remains amongst my favourite duets from 80s. It begins with the strings of Irani Santoor - played by Pt. Ulhas Bapat - and the instrument remains the back-bone of the song through-out. Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle bring in their expert & flawless rendition - you just need to listen to their variations while singing Adaayen & Sadaayen in the mukhda - bringing alive the romance that was penned by Nida Fazli.
Kiski Sadaayen Mujh ko Bulayen
Anjane Sapne Neenden Churaye
Teri Adaayen Jadu Jagaye
Dharti Sanware Mausam Sajaye
Teri Adaayen Jadu Jagaye
Dharti Sanware Mausam Sajaye