A fan’s tribute to Yash Chopra

Shahvaar Ali Khan recreates hit Kabhie Kabhie song.

KARACHI:

Shahvaar Ali Khan loves the limelight. His instant fame of “Filmein shilmein” featured in Desi Boyz and then an impressive single on Indo-Pak peace, “No Saazish, No Jang,” has made him popular in both countries. Khan’s most recent song that has gone viral on social media is a tribute to Yash Chopra, the king of romance, on his demise.

Khan’s song titled “Mai har ek pal ka shayar houn” (I’m a poet of every moment) is his way of remembering and admiring Yash Chopra for his contribution to the Indian cinema, and of course nobody can deny that he was equally popular in Pakistan. The tribute is from the original song “Mai pal do pal ka shayar houn,” featured in 1976 Kabhie Kabhie which was produced and directed by Yash Chopra.

“If I can give a tribute to Ustad Mehdi Hassan Khan sahab on his demise then why can’t I also admire Yash Chopra’s work?” Khan said to The Express Tribune in an interview.

“I am humbled that I was the first artist in Pakistan or India to honour Mehdi Hassan sahab in my small way after he passed on.  If Indian singers can do the same since Mehdi sahab was equally popular in India, then I can also appreciate Yash ji in my own way.”

Chopra’s last film, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, had the biggest film opening in the history of Pakistani cinema a testament to the director’s fan following in Pakistan.

“As a Pakistani artist, and an ardent fan of film music, whether Indian or Pakistan, ‘Mein Har Ik Pal Ka Shayar Hoon’ was just made intuitively from my heart,” shared Khan. “It was in adulation of the Lahore-born man who defined films and music for an entire era, not just for Indians, but also for the world.”

“Main pal do pal ka shayar hoon” was written by the renowned poet, Sahir Ludhianvi and was sung by the evergreen Mukesh for Kabhie Kabhie.  Khan’s childhood memories are tied to the tunes from the film and during his school days, he discovered that four geniuses had worked for Kabhie Kabhie’s successful soundtrack: Chopra, Ludhianvi, Mukesh and Khayyam — the film’s music composer.

“It seemed like a befitting and humble tribute from a fellow Lahori to a man of Yashji’s stature in an effort to augment my own learning curve in music,” said Khan. “The lyrics of the song hauntingly and ironically define the existence and passing of a great creative genius; his momentary yet immortal connect with his audience and hence the twist — Mein har ek pal ka shayar houn.”



Not every remake or remix of an old song gets approval from its listeners. There have been cases when melodious songs have been wasted by new musicians; however, Khan has tried to maintain the beauty of this globally famous song from the ‘70s. He believes that his version has the smoothness of the original melody and he hasn’t forced his vocals in it.

“The task of revamping a classic melody is extremely challenging and daunting,” said Khan. “I began work with sheer excitement at first; but then I realised that the scale at which Mukesh sahab had sung the song and the way Khayyam sahab set it was a bit higher than my natural scale,” explained Khan. “No other scale could do even remote justice to the song!”

The idea was to keep the soul of the melody. He said the musical arrangement was perfect as it was, and he only wanted to embellish it with electronic rock music influence to give it a contemporary sound. Khan would make his musicians and his father, Matin Khan, listen to the song and critique his work so that he could perfect it. Since Matin is a serious classical and film music lover, his input of the initial scratch tracks helped in honing the final track.

“I know that these are very big shoes to fill and in no way am I trying to compare my cover with the original classic track; but I hope I was able to do one percent justice to the song and at least give today’s younger generation an insight into this classic/poetic, esoteric Yash Chopra track.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2012.          

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