Table Of ContentPankaj Mullick's Contribution to Indian Film Music
AliTSHETH
Music as an element of performance is far less separate in India
than inthe West intermsofitsplacewithin the overallstructureof
sound expression in all areas of culture. With the advent ofsound
infilm in 1931 in India, unlike the film movement abroad, music came to
playa rolewhich was more than equal to othercinematicelements. In fact,
songs came to be regarded as the most integral part of film expression.
But whereas the film-makers had Western films to look at for ideas
regardingtechnique and treatment, the music composers in films had no
precedents to refer to. Musicians trained in the classical tradition, who had
only the folk theatre and certain modern theatre movements in Parsi,
Bengaliand Marathi societies to fall back upon,faced a uniquechallengein
films. These early composers were in search of melodic forms whichcould
be sung in exclusive drawingrooms, crowded marketplaces, as well as the
countryside. .
Pankaj Mullick was the first among the early film-music composers who
couldidentifyinTagore's musicthe versatilitywhich filmmusicneeded. He
founda music form truly representing the spirit of new India. In itstruest
sense, Tagore's music is a synthesis of Indian classical music, folk-song
for~s, ~nd even Western music, with a very distinct identity of its own.
Indiancmema,when it became talkie in 1931 wasinsearchofaform which
t~lkies
wouldreflect the characterofmodern India. Composersof the early
In Bengal, particularly Pankaj Mullick, found ready-made material m
Tagore's melodies to meet their needs.
So, when Pankaj Mullick was invited by the famous impresa~o, Haren
Ghosh, to play background music from the orchestra pit for the silent films
.ChorKamaand ChasharMeye produced by the International FilmsCrafts
Company (later renamed New Theatres) he took the opportunity to use
Tagore's melodies as background music 'in these films. It was a historic
occasion though few realized it. The year was 1929.
A few years later when films became talkie Pankaj Mullick went 10
Tagor~
Rabindranath to seek permission to reco;d hisfamous poem 'Diner
~heShe"
set to music by Pankaj Mullick himself. It wasfor a Bengalifilmto
edirected by P.C. Barna under the New Theatresbanner. Tagoreshowed
Songee, ,valak No. 100 : April-June 199t
76 AlIT SHETH
keen interestinthestoryandsuggested thetitle'Mukti' forthe film.Tagore
also recommended that two of his other songs be incorporated inthefilm
and even changed certain words of his poem 'Diner sheshe' to improveits
rendering in music by Pankaj Mullick. Thus, with the film Muktiin1935,
Pankaj Mullick introduced Tagore's songs in talkie films for the firsttime.
He then continued to use Tagore's songs successfully in most of Neo'
Theatres' Bengali films, Pankaj Mullick set an example and inspiredmost
of the Bengali film composers who began using Tagore's songs forvarious
situations that a film story demanded. Since then Tagore's songshave been
regularly used in Bengali cinema and the trend continues even today.
Another epoch-making work Pankaj Mullick did was to get Tagore's
compositionstranslated from Bengaliinto Hindi while retainingtheoriginal
meaning, metre, and melody. This was a great success and startedachain
reaction in Bombay's Hindi-film world. Anil Biswas, S.D. Burman, and
Hemant Kumar in the early years and R.D. Burman and Bappi Lahiriin
recent times, and even non-Bengali composers like Naushad, Ravindra
Jain, and Rajesh Roshan began usingTagore's melodies in theirHindifilm
songs. Some adapted the melodies to suit their needs. Others;inspiredby
theoriginal, took the libertyofdeveloping it for their purposes.Thus,sin~
1935, when Pankaj Mullick started using Tagore's songs in films, thiS
processhascontinued unabated.Tagore'smusic hascontinued toenrichthe
works of many Hindi-film composers in the last 60 years though, unlike
Pankaj Mullick, few have acknowledged their debt to Tagore. Our
all-pervading film-music culture today, which is so much a part ofour
national psyche, owes its popular presence partly to the genius ofTagore.
And to Pankaj Mullick who pioneered in this field. ,
Pankaj Mullickalso realized that Tagore was a true vaggeyakar,Tagore
composed his songs with due regard to the musical value of wordsand
phrases. The texture of his verse- the beginnings. pauses, and ends-are
all in tun~ with its music. The poetry never clashes with- in fact italmost
invariably suppOrts- the music. To Tagore words came clothed inmUSK
and the two were inseparable. . .
Pankaj Mullick took a cue from Tagore in this respect too. He reabzed
that ?nly such happy combinations could generate and reinforce hum~
emotions. He educated himselfon how the verbalsequences havetobe
perfect accord with the sequence of musical notes-only then canasong
arouse emotion. The songs in the Hindi films Nertaki, Kapalkundala,and
Docwrsungby~imself. and manyotherswhich K.L. Saiga!immortalized:
the films Dhurti Maw, Zindegi, and Dusbmun, bear testimony to ~ank J
MuJhck's understanding of this aspect. The intimate union of mUSICand
words, the strongest force in Pankaj Mullick's compositions in Ne-
Panna
and Pankaj Mullick in New Theatres• Doctor. Courtesy:
78 AJIT SHETIl
New Theatresdiscsfrom Dushman, 1939. and Dhani Mata, 1938, withmusic by PankajMulIki.
Courtesy: Society of Indian Record Collectors.
Theatres films, wasa feature which at the time of the advent ofthetalkie
was not so prominent in the Bombay Hindi-film world.
Further, the musicalstructure in a song expanding into four coupletsor
quatrains-sthayi, antara, abhog, and sanchari-properly develofl.Cd as
well as simplified by Tagore in his works, inspired Pan~aj .MulliC~
structuringhisownsongcompositionsboth inBengali and Hindifilms·
use of interlinking musicbetween sthayiand antara for-connectingcam~
sequences in films wasanotherconcept thatevolved from PankajMW:;C S
fertile mind. He also experimented with various innovative rhythme ectl
in a song. -
offilDl
In the film Yatrik (1952), Pankaj Mullickintroduced a newforrn
songbvysseettttimg to musi.cSanskrit verses, totally I.D,hisown ~tyiiee,inord{errotm0
mat.ch the mood of the story. He set to music the opemng cantos'Shil7
Kalidas's Kumarasambhavam describing the Himalayas and alsothe
Stotra' of Adi Shankaracharya in a style appropriate for the modern,~
The style is quite different from the orthodox procedure for Sa~~ I
chants as laid down in various technical works. To compose musIc ~
chant qUit~ di~erently from the orthodox manner of chanting andtorask'
the versesID differentmatrasofPakhawaj 001areindeedachallengw~ tlJt
and none but a composer ofSUperior intellect could have succeededIII
PANKAJ MULLICK 79
venture. Here Pankaj Mullick really stood out as a world-classcomposer.
PankajMullick was an erudite scholar in Sanskrit. Right from hisyoung
agehe had shown a penchant for Sanskrit. Sanskrit songs were his loving
choice,notprompted by professional interest. Much before Yatrik,Pankaj
Mullick hadset to tune the 'Shiva-mahimasrorra' in the filmNarraki.After
NewTheatres closed down in 1956, he attempted music on certain hymns
from the Tsititiys Brahmana of the Rig Veda in the Bengali film VigaJita
KarunaJahnaviJamuna. 'MahishashuramardinP-theone-hour devotional
musicprogramme in Sanskrit which he used to broadcast in the early hours
ofMahalayaday preceding the Puja festivalfrom Radio Calcutta-made a
profound impact on the Bengali consciousness for over two generations.
The intricate changes in the rhythmic patterns of Pakhawaj and the
excellent blending of the choral singing-all had that definite stamp of
Pankaj Mullick. The style was distinct and different from that of
Rabindranath Tagore and hiselder brother.whoinitiated thisformofgroup
prayerinBrahmoSamaj prayer musicin the latterpart ofthe 19thcentury.
Pankaj Mullick would open all his musical soirees with an invocation
from Sharangadeva's Sangita Ratnakara: the'Vandana shloka'. He loved
andrevered Sanskrit. He even got some ofTagore's songs translated into
Sanskrit, 'Rebi pranam' and'Rabi preshesti', which he got Banikumar to
wnte, wereSanskrit lyricsin praise ofRabindranath..Before settingtune to
varioushymnsand verses from the Sanskritscriptures, Pankaj Mullickused
tocheckwith and refer to eminent Sanskrit scholars like Govinda Gopal
Mu~~e~ji,
Dilip Kumar Roy (who was himself an eminent musician), and
~umh
KumarChatterji.NewTheatreshad an elephantsymbolwithamotto
III Sanskrit, 'Jivatang Iyotiretu Chhayam', which was selected and set to
tune by Pankaj Mullick. .
Pankaj Mullick was the music director for Nitin Bose's film Dhoop
t~chnique
Chhaon (Bhagya Chakra in Bengali). which used the playback
for the first time in India. The story goes that on his way to the Ne,,:
Theatres studio one morning, Nitin Bose stopped 10 pick up Pankaj
Mulhck. While wailing for him, he heard Pankajbabu singingalong With a
~n~fr~m hisneighbour's gramophone and thisgave Nitin Bosethesudden
IllSptratlOn for using pre-recorded music in films-whal is now known as
histori~
playback.In Pankaj Mullick's own words: "Iwaswitnessto a event
that would revolutionize Indian cinema. I was witness to the birth of
pla~back.
I wasn't merely a mute witness, but, more by accident than
deSIgn, I found mysel) saddled with the leading role"
Pankaj Mullick was also a great teacher. But his unselfish nature and
10lal self-effacement have made this facet of his character go almost
80 AJIT SHETH
The New Theatres e,mblem
,,-jlh its moUO: JI\'ataIl!
jyotiretu chhayam- .
Courtesy: Narayat1 Mulan..
unnoticed. His abilities as an excellent music teacher have been gratefully
Kan~?
acknowledged by accomplished singers like K.L. Saigal and De".
Althougha singer himself,he let otherssingthe bestof hiscompoSItIOns.In
doing so, the fame that should have been his became theirs. For Panka)
Mullick was one of those rare human beings who desire nothingfor
themselves but only that their cause be served. And for Pankaj Mulbck
there wasbutonecause-music. 0
