Jaidev – The Sensitive & Soulful Music Director who didn’t get his due.

While a lot has been written and spoken about Sahir Ludhiyanvi the lyricist, the composer of this melody doesn't draw the same attention unfortunately. Would like to draw your attention to Jaidev Verma the supremely talented composer of this delightful gem, an absolute nugget from “Mujhe Jeene Do”, an enticing mujra imbued in moonlit drizzles of sheer romance – Raat bhi hai kuch bheegi. Jaidev’s brilliant composition is lifted to divine heights by Lata Mangeshkar’s soulful singing and Waheeda Rehman’s subtle seductive dance steps are in perfect sync with the enigmatic setting of the song. Pandit Lachhu Maharaj choreography of this song is evident in the delicate mudras and the bhaavas. In the song she dances on a large mirror which had been painted black and reflects everything that is around thus making the lighting of the set technically very tricky but still managing to impart a mysterious and interesting effect…

Sahir's astounding lyrical philosophy heightens Jaidev's heavenly notes to lend vision and wisdom to every frame. While Lata's “Raat Bhi Hai Kuch Bheegi” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onjfs_QCEbc

and “Tere Bachpan Ko Jawani Ki Dua Deti Hoon” mesmerise you, Asha's “Maang Mein Bharle Rang Sakhee” and “Nadi Naare Na Jaao Shyaam Paiyyan Padun” hypnotise you into another world and you cannot decide who is better between the two sisters in delivering a musical note. Not to be outdone in vocal brilliance is melody king Rafi with “Ab Watan Azad Hai” that is sheer bliss for listeners and the artistic weavings of the maestros makes the film an unforgettable cinematic delight.

Jaidev was a sensitive and thinking composer and his compositions were of an exalted order – soulful and sublime, spiritual and transcendental, ethereal and heavenly. His music, due to the aesthete value, lacked the so called mass or popular appeal. Ergo, he was considered ideal for music of low budget films, seminal films and art films.

Jaidev’s path to the music industry was chequered. He debuted in films as a child actor, an attempt which did not add value to his career. His training in music was continuous though, culminating in a stint under sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan. Jaidev assisted Khan in Navketan’s third film, Aandhiyaan (1952). He played the sarod and the surmandal (harp), especially for background scores. When director Chetan Anand left Navketan to go solo with Joru Ka Bhai (1955), Jaidev was his choice for composer. However, Chetan’s films, in spite of brilliant music, especially in the inordinately delayed Kinare (1963), fared miserably. It is not known whether Jaidev’s decision to assist SD Burman went against him, as Hum Dono (1961), the only project he did independently for Navketan, remained his last film with the Anands — both Chetan and Dev. This despite the undying popularity of the songs from the Dev Anand-Nanda-Sadhna starrer — Abhi na jao chhod kar, ke dil abhi bhara nahin is just one example. His partnership with Sunil Dutt and Ajanta Arts, which started off on a positive note with Mujhe Jeene Do (1963), failed to survive the winds of change as Reshma aur Shera (1971) flopped.

Luck, as always, had a decisive and rather cruel part to play in Jaidev’s story. Ved Rahi’s Pyaasi Aurat, renamed Prem Parvat (1973), which had one of the most well-known songs of the ’70s ( Yeh dil aur unki nigahon ke saaye) sank without a trace. So did Aalingan (1974), which had the radio favourite Pyaas thi phir bhi takaza na kiya, a film where he was forced to take on Pyarelal as an assistant. Even small-time producers and directors stayed away from Jaidev.

Though he came back to prominence with Bhimsen's Gharonda (1977) and Muzzaffar Ali’s Gaman (1978), Jaidev’s associations with Hrishikesh Mukherjee ( Alaap, 1977) or Basu Chatterjee ( Tumhare Liye, 1978) did not bring him much success. He never became the preferred composer for any filmmaker, good or bad, even when the misfortune of films hardly had anything to do with the music. He was the only Hindi film composer of his time to receive three national awards. Curious as it may be, the same is the number of his films which were declared a hit, from a list of 40-odd titles.

Today, the songs for which Jaidev is remembered are steeped in loneliness. Be it Ek akela is sheher mein ( Gharonda), or Seene mein jalan, aankhon mein toofan sa kyon hai or Aap ki yaad aati rahi raat bhar (both from Gaman). Maybe his life followed the dichotomy expressed by Sahir Ludhianvi in Kabhi khud pe kabhi halaat pe rona aaya ( Hum Dono). Jaidev lived and died on the fringes of Bollywood, much like his own composition from Kinare: Chale ja rahe hain, mohabbat ke maare, kinare, chale ja rahe hain.

Jaidev passed away on tearful Tuesday, 6 January, 1987 unsung and unfeted, enduring the fierce onslaught of fate right from the dawn of his sensibilities. What more could he long for in life and what more could he crave for from the ruthless world.

जग में जिस रोज़ से आया, बड़ी रुसवाई है,

जिस्म पाया है तो जीने की सज़ा पायी है।

(Jag mein jis roz se aaya, badi ruswayee hai,

Jism paaya hai to jeene ki sazaa paayi hai)

Legendary maestro Naushad’s couplet says it all: Jaidev lived to suffer and suffered to live. Life verily unraveled a unique, unreasonable and unkind cut to him. But, death was more than gracious to emancipate him from the catastrophes of life. When he died, he failed to bequeath a fortune for his family. Because he neither made a fortune in his life time nor did he have a family of his own to bemoan his demise; none existed of his kin for him to hand down his property.