Chalte Chalte: Ode to Bollywood’s quintessential ‘hit-man’

Outspoken music director, Aadesh Shrivastava will be remembered for his contribution to a shared popular culture

KARACHI:

On the break of the 90s, it wasn’t just cricket that was witnessing a new domain of showmanship in our part of the world. Cinema has always run parallel to societal changes that have occurred in the Indo-Pak region. Film music was seeing a change of hands in India.

The Madan Mohans, R D Burmans and the Laxmikant-Pyarelals were hanging up boots one after the other, passing the mantle to new age musicians who were itching to experiment with classical roots. They had an ear for quirky lyrics and bawdy numbers that despite making little sense, were being hummed by every second person.

Aadesh Shrivastava was one of the many who assumed charge as the heirs to the throne of Bollywood music. Despite remaining in the shadows for years, every once in a while he would emerge from the dark to belt out a track that would continue to blare from the neighbour’s window, public bus’ rusty stereo or the sound system hired for detailed family weddings.

The outspoken musician and singer who was consumed by cancer this week, broke into the film industry as a small-time film score producer. He not only worked on numerous war and period films, but also produced timeless classics that are still played on repeat across Karachi’s buses and minibuses. As time took a turn, his hits like Say Shava Shava and Kya Ada Kya Jalwe Tere Paro began to make less sense. Many might never admit but these were the same tracks that back in the day enjoyed acclaim exactly the way today’s item numbers and risqué songs have.



The late musician was the brother-in-law of top music composer duo Jatin-Lalit. The three collaborated numerous times, be it the soundtrack of Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (2001) or Chalte Chalte (2003). The Bollywood of elaborated wedding storylines, clichéd rom-coms and propaganda films that feeds the collective understanding of the 90s today owes a great deal to the late music composer. He cemented the brands of Sonu Nigam, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Sukwindar Singh, Alka Yagnik and numerous others.

Shrivastava’s struggle against cancer is a tale of both inspiration and grief. He never enjoyed the company of most of his peers throughout the period and only after his death did some of them return to help the financially unstable family. He had witnessed a lot of turbulence within the family in the recent past. His older brother Chitresh Shrivastava’s Eyeline Telefilm and Events was implicated as a facilitator in the Rahat Fateh Ali Khan black money case.

Towards the later part of his career, Shrivastava was known majorly for his camaraderie with Amitabh Bachchan. It was Bachchan’s home where Pakistani music director Sahir Ali Bagga met Shrivastavafor the first time. Talking to The Express Tribune, Bagga expressed grief over the sad demise and said he knew the late musician personally. Music director and singer Waqar Ali voiced similar sentiments.

Shrivastava’s last professional endeavour was a collaboration on the music of Welcome Back (2015); the response to which he could not live to see.

He even appeared on numerous singing reality shows, partly to keep the stove burning and partly to remain visible within the industry that waits for no one. There were a few incidents when scripted outbursts against Pakistan and Pakistani singer Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan led to controversies that died at the same pace as the reality shows did. This gave birth to an impression that followed Shrivastava to his deathbed; the man who played a key role in the shared popular culture of India and Pakistan was a staunch believer of political prejudices.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2015.

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