23rd JULY 2015 SHIRIN BABURAO PATEL ( 2nd)
B-TOWN BUNGALOW MIRED IN DISPUTE
— By | Aug 13, 2014 12:19 am
Hours after actress and singer Sushilarani’s death, a woman calling herself the grand-daughter of Baburao Patel’s second wife, occupied the first floor of the bungalow Girnar, sparking a row
Mumbai : Within a week of actress and singer Sushilarani Patel’s death, the Pali Hill bungalow which was her home for half a century has become the scene of a sordid succession drama.
Some hours after her death on July 24, a woman named Geeta Patel D’Souza, who calls herself the grand-daughter of Baburao Patel’s second wife, Shirin Patel, occupied the first floor of the bungalow, Girnar. Sushilarani married Baburao Patel, a film producer and journalist, in 1945. She was his third wife and they had no children.
While Sushilarani lived on the first floor of the stately bungalow, the ground floor was used by the Sushilarani Baburao Patel Trust, which conducted music, dance and yoga classes. The bungalow was used in the shooting of the evergreen Kishore Kumar movie, ‘Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi’.
The trustees complained to the Khar police about Geeta but were sent back by the cops who said that they could not do anything since the matter was in court. Geeta had filed a suit in the high court in 2011 claiming that she owned the bungalow.
The trustees say Baburao had settled all the claims and had willed the bungalow to Sushilarani, who formed the trust in 1989. “Geeta has been disturbing our classes and yelling at us to move out of the bungalow,’’ said Neela Shinde, chairperson of the trust.
On Tuesday morning, Geeta allegedly abused and hit a trustee named Ranjana and her husband Ramji. “Geeta grabbed me by my hair and kicked me. Her sister-in-law Chandan D’Souza beat up my husband when we came there on hearing that Geeta was creating a scene at the yoga classes,’’ said Ranjana. They approached Khar police station which registered it as a non-cognisable case.
Geeta was summoned at the police station too. However, at 12.30 pm on Tuesday, she allegedly locked the gates trapping the yoga teacher, Pradish Raj, and the caretaker, Kartik Ramachandran, inside, while Sushilarani’s maid Maria and the watchmen were pushed outside. “Geeta had brought two men with her who were also telling us to get out. Karthik and I were locked inside until the police came and rescued us,” said Raj.
Asked for her version, Geeta said, “I won’t stoop so low. For all you know, they might just end up saying I did cartwheels on them. All of the trustees are just delusional.”
“We have no interest in acquiring the property. We are simply following what Sushilaji has told us in her will and that is to take care of this property and carry out the cultural activities there. I was never directed to hand over the keys of the house to someone else,” said Shinde.
Sindhu J Mansukhani
Cops tell ‘interloper’ to behave
— By | Aug 14, 2014 12:20 am
Mumbai : A day after trustees of the Sushilarani Baburao Patel Trust complained that a woman claiming to be the heir to Sushilarani’s bungalow, beat them up and locked them out, the Khar police has told her to behave and is sending a report to the High Court.
The High Court is to hear a suit filed by the claimant, Geeta Patel D’Souza, later this month. Geeta occupied the first floor of the 900-sq ft Girnar bungalow when Sushilarani died on July 24. She claims to be the grand daughter of Baburao Patel from his second wife, Shirin.
The trustees say that Geeta has been harassing them so that they vacate the ground floor where they run yoga and music classes.
“Since we cannot take any action against Geeta, we are going to send a report of the exact events to the high court,” said Senior Police Inspector of Khar police station, Dattatray Bhargude. A non-congnisable complaint was registered at the police station on Tuesday after Geeta allegedly beat up a trustee, Ranjana and her husband Ramji.
On Wednesday, chairperson of the Sushilarani Baburao Patel Trust, Neela Shinde, broke open the lock put by Geeta on the bungalow’s gate.
“Geeta said she did not have the keys, so I broke the locks to get our cars outside,” said Shinde. According to her, Geeta had locked all the entrances of the bungalow in an attempt to intimidate the trustees who hold cultural events there.
Sushilarani had willed her bungalow to the trust.
“We have important documents, Sushilaji’s jewellery and cash on that floor. What if she destroys them?” said Shinde. However, the police has been reluctant to interfere in the matter as it is a civil matter and is being currently being heard in the high court.
Geeta had filed a suit for the ownership of the bungalow in 2011, which was opposed by Sushilarani. After the latter’s demise, the trustees have been fighting the battle in high court, which has ordered a status quo saying that the bungalow belongs to the trust. “After she broke the status quo on Tuesday we gave Geeta a warning. If she repeats her actions, the high court will take proper action against her,” Bhargude said.
Geeta has alleged that Neela Shinde, Ranjana and Radhika Nayak are not trustees of Sushilarani trust. The police have asked them to submit proof of the same. The police will then forward the documents to the Charity Commission for examination.
The trust carried out its usual yoga classes on the ground floor of the bungalow on Wednesday without any disturbance. Meanwhile, Shinde has also set in motion the process to apply for an emergency chambers hearing with Justice R D Dhanuka. “We are keeping ourselves ready for an emergency hearing in case she does anything,” said Shinde, a Kathak dancer and a social worker from Bandra. She has been the chairperson of the trust since 2010.
Sindhu Mansukhani
Submitted by jalpa.gandhi on
Searchtext:
Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Anil Kapoor and classical musician Sushila Rani Patel at the book launch
Image:
Photo Reference:
Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Anil Kapoor and classical musician Sushila Rani Patel at the book launch
Caption:
Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Anil Kapoor and classical musician Sushila Rani Patel at the book launch
A Guitar is perhaps the only instrument that almost everyone “plays”. Quite often, we see someone “playing” an ‘Air-Guitar’ (acting as though you are playing the Guitar with both hands, but without any real instrument!). I am sure you would have “played” air-guitar at least a few times and perhaps often. I guess most of the songs accompanied by the air-guitar were lively and energetic ones!
R D Burman used guitar beautifully in Churaliya hai tumne (Yaadon ki baaraat) – guitar played by 
become an all-time classic in South Indian film music. S P Balasubrahmanyam, makes this an easy and soothing song to the ears with his mellifluous voice. S P Balasubrahmanyam also recounts an anecdote about the recording of this song. Apparently, this song was okayed after 16 takes because Ilayaraja, the perfectionist, wanted the right notes from the guitar and the guitarist
interludes, there is a beautiful amalgam of sitar playing to the beats of tabla and drums. This song incidentally was the inspiration for a song that won a Grammy award! (Black Eyed peas used this song as the basis for their song Don’t phunk with my heart. Black Eyed Peas acknowledged the original creators Kalyanji-Anandji in this song.). However, I will use the term Fusion in this post to mean something totally different from a mere fusion of instrumental music.
In the context of Hindi film songs, I will use the term Fusion to mean a mix of two different singing styles in the vocals in the same song.
Another golden era stalwart, Ravi was known to compose simple and soothing songs. He challenged himself to come up with a lovely fusion that blends Asha Bhonsle’s fast paced party song style with Mahendra Kapoor’s slow style in Zindagi ittefaq hai (Aadmi aur Insaan). Ravi cleverly used the technique of making Asha utter words like “wah wah” during Mahendra Kapoor’s singing. These words and fillers by Asha ensure the transition from Mahendra Kapoor to Asha Bhonsle is smooth and not sudden or unexpected.
t crop of composers. Pritam did a wonderful job with the melodious fusion of a western song with Atif’s singing in Tera hone lagaa (Ajab prem ki ghazab kahani). Shreya Ghoshal was delightfully sweet in Vishal-Shekar’s Bahara Bahara hua dil pehli baar ve (I hate luv stories). This song is a melodious fusion of folk and romantic styles and is very soothing to the ears. Among the many songs that have bits of folk songs mixed with the main melody, this song can perhaps be rated among the best.
discrete note. The pioneering musician, Cawas Lord was instrumental in introducing them to Hindi film music. He and his son Kersi Lord played the instrument in several songs. Later, percussionists like Homi Mullan also played Castanets in a number of songs.
Madan Mohan, the king of soulful melodies showed the ‘western ‘ side of his music in Thodi der ke liye mere ho jao(Akeli mat jaiyo) that makes extensive use of Castanets.
effortlessly and Mohd Rafi sings with a twist in his vocals. R D Burman also contributed to this song with his claps in the prelude, which is a delightful mix of Arabian and Flamenco styles.
instrument Mridangam in Saathi for an innovative and different type of western beat. Listen to these delightful beats in Mera pyaar bhi tu hai (by clicking the arrow below). You can hear these innovative beats throughout the vocal melody sung by Suman Kalyanpur and Mukesh. I must admit that there is no lead performance by rhythm in this song. I included it only to demonstrate innovation in western beats.
Saraswati Chandra and Vishwas gave them enviable recognition from peers and critics and provided additional momentum to their ascent to the top tier by the end of 1960s. They were focused on melodic content and lyrics in their songs in the 60s. Some of their songs in the 60s became iconic songs with immediate recall and association with popular festivals and national days that symbolized patriotic fervor (example:Govinda aa laa re from Bluffmaster, Mere desh ki dharti from Upkar).
dimension to Kalyanji-Anandji’s music as their assistant. A wizard with percussion instruments and a master of rhythm, he introduced several innovative elements to their films. Instead of the traditional background music for suspense or crime scenes, Babla used bongo to provide a distinctive appeal in Victoria No. 203. In addition, a number of their movies featured haunting background music (Example: Dharmatma). In a later post, I will discuss more innovations by Babla.
Safai, Apradh, Dharmatma, Banarasi Babu featured lovely duets that became huge hits. In the 60s, Kalyanji-Anandji composed melodies predominantly with an Indian base, at the same time scoring with popular western tunes (example: Nain milakarfrom Aamne Saamne). However, in the 1970s (especially after 1974) they adapted easily to the popular tastes and made their compositions predominantly western.
Himalay ki goud mein or the hilly orchestration in Ek tha gul (Jab Jab phool khile). Also, notice how a lovely Indian melody in Wada karle saajna (Haath ki safai) was attractively presented with a touch of class using saxophone, piano and plucked string instruments.
directors. They did not see such associations as risky and guaranteed musical success for someone starting out on their first directorial venture. Manmohan Desai, Sultan Ahmed, Prakash Mehra, Arjun Hingorani, Subhash Ghai, Feroz Khan, Manoj Kumar, Chandra Barot had huge hits with Kalyanji-Anandji in their debut movies as directors. They were also associated with debutant lyricists like Gulshan Bawra, M G Hashmat, Anjaan. A majority of their soulful and popular numbers had lyrics by Indeevar though they also worked with other famous lyricists.
Naushad’s music carries a strong flavor of folk music from UP, Rajasthan, Punjab and other parts of the northern belt. Rattan was a super hit and its folksy music became the craze all over the country. One of the reasons for such popularity was Naushad’s use of singers with a folksy twang like Zohrabai Ambalawali. Her Akhiyan milake is hugely popular even today. Of course, in later years, Naushad employed mainstream singers like Rafi and Lata for folk songs like Tan rang lo (Kohinoor). It needed all the professional skill and talents of a singer like Rafi to sing Nain lad jaihen re (Ganga Jamuna) in a chaste local dialect.
Naushad seemed to compose his songs with loving care. Being a perfectionist, he created songs that caressed the lyrics lovingly. Some of his songs were unhurried, languid spending a lot of time in bringing out the best in lyrics with an easy flow. As a result of this unhurried style, a number of his songs were graceful apart from being easy for the ears. Observe the two Dilip Kumar piano based numbers in Andaz (1949) and Ram aur Shyam (1967). Both Jhoom Jhoom ke (Andaz) and Aaj ki raat (Ram aur Shyam) seem to flow easily, lazily without any hurry whatsoever. His musical interludes also had the same unhurried and smooth, caressing flows. Lata’s Jogan ban jaaongi (Shabab) also seems to flow gracefully and easily throughout the song accompanied by the delightful flute. Even in a predominantly western song like Mujhe duniya walon (Leader), the musical interludes and the song flow easily as if Rafi had all the time in the world to sing the song. Perhaps this style of music reflects Dilip Kumar’s acting and dancing styles – measured, unhurried. Also, like Dilip Kumar’s dialogues – the impact is mesmerizing.
There are many other reasons why Hemant Kumar’s music is haunting. One obvious reason is Hemant Kumar singing his own compositions. Blessed with a rich, deep and sonorous voice, his singing left a deep impression. When you hear his songs, you can feel the vibrations and deep resonance of his voice. When such a rich and resonant voice sings songs of yearning, love, wistfulness the effect can be very haunting. There are several songs that Hemant Kumar composed where he sang songs that are full of resonant humming and stress on a few notes like Tum pukar lo (Khamoshi) or songs that touch low notes and accentuate his deep resonant voice as in Ye nayan dare dare (Kohraa). In Tum pukar lo, the music, the humming, the ‘whistle’ and the words leave you spellbound. Similarly, the humming in Ye nayan dare dare leaves you enthralled. These two are perhaps the best examples of his resonance where you can feel the vibrations and humming long after the song is over. A similar song, but without humming is Ya dil ki suno (Anupama). The song without any percussion has Hemant Kumar resonating beautifully with its heart tugging melody. These songs keep playing in your head over and over again long after you finished listening to the songs.
