Reliving the magic Of Lataji’s ‘Gori Hai Kalainyan’ in Mudassar’s comedy Mere Husband Ki Biwi in this special Subhash K Jha feature that includes Lataji talking about recording the original song.
Okay, I confess Mudassar Aziz’s new comedy won me over the minute Lataji’s ‘Apna banale mujhe baalma’ from her super-chartbuster ‘Gori hai kalainyan’ played in Mere Husband Ki Biwi. I seriously doubt Lataji would have approved of her song being transcreated so insouciantly: in principle she was against remixes.
“The composer, singer, lyricist have done what they wanted to with the song. Why tamper with a classic?” Lataji had once told me.
That said, I do recall her excitement after recording the song for the very versatile and misunderstood Bappi Lahiri.
Lataji and I had spoken about the 1990 chartbuster. She said, “The recording was long. Almost ten minutes. Since I record all my songs in the standing position, I was quite exhausted during the recording.”
Lataji recalled she was above 60 when she recorded the effervescent ‘Gori hai kalaiyan’. “When we were rehearsing the song, we had no idea it would turn out to be one of the biggest hits of my career. Logon ne iss gaane ko bahot pasand kiya. I had told Bappida during the recording that it was very catchy. Logon ke zubaan pe turant baith gayee. I have noticed that the songs which sit easy on the listeners’ lips are the more successful. The ones with too many intricate moves take longer to register.”
Recalling the ‘Gori hain kalainyan’ craze, Lataji had said, “It is one of the biggest hits of my career. Bappida is known as a disco song. But his grasp of Hindustani classical and folk music is zabardast. The composition and arrangement of Gori hai kalainaya is very earthy. This is a song close to the Hindustani heartbeat. Yeh gaana har shaadi, har tyauhar, har khushi ke mauke pe bajegi.”
Lataji was right. The bangles may be green or saffron, they continue to adorn every festive occasion in Lataji’s timeless voice.
