Film historian Dr Raajeev Shrivaastav’s ‘Saat Suron ka Mela’ focuses on the history of film music

Dadasaheb Phalke, father of Indian cinema, passionately rooted the seeds of film making in our country. He made Raja Harishchandra in 1913 and the film making has been evolving since then. Indian films, in recent times, are gaining global recognition. Music has been an integral part of our films in all languages. To educate today’s generation of the Indian film music and everything around it, Dr Raajeev Shrivaastav took pains for decades to incorporate all the information  about film music in a book titled ‘Saat Suron ka Mela’ (सात सुरों का मेला). 

The book ‘Saat Suron ka Mela’ speaks about the foundation of Hindi film music in context of the Silent Era and the status of songs in Indian films. The introduction of playback in films was another milestone in Hindi film music which brought the charismatic wonders in film songs. Decade wise success story, literature, folk elements and communication parts are explained on one hand while on  the other hand  the work and contribution of lyricists, composers and singers are penned. It is believed that Cinema and Literature are synonymous to each other which is well explored in this book. The changing pattern in film music, milestones, achievements and trends in various decades are also a part of this book. The authenticity of the book can be easily understood when we see the names of the personalities and luminaries contacted and interviewed for the book. Composers like Anil Biswas, Khayyam, Prem Dhawan, Pt Ravi Shankar, Sardar Malick, Kalyanji-Anandji, Ravi, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Ravindra Jain, Sonic-Omi etc, lyricists like Pradeep, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Hasrat Jaipuri, Indeevar, Yogesh, Swanand Kirkire etc and singers like Shamshad Begum, Suraiya, Lata Mangeshkar, Mukesh, Manna Dey, Mahendra Kapoor, Nitin Mukesh, Amit Kumar, Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu and many others’ versions are documented in the book.

Hindi Film Music gained worldwide acclaim way back in the 1950s itself. The journey of the Indian Film Music started with the first ever Talkie film Alam Aara (1931). Since then the Hindi songs in Indian films have been an integral part of each and every film. It may be  surprising for the music lovers that after nine decades of emergence of the film music in India now only, in the year 2020 a book is authored and published in Hindi language as the history of Hindi Film Music entitled ‘Saat Suron ka Mela’ authored by Dr Raajeev Shrivaastav.

This book is the result of 30 long years of research and meetings/ interviews of the personalities of various fields of Indian Film Industry. Since 1991 onwards till the first quarter of 2020 a one man army, Dr Raajeev Shrivaastav; a well known author, film historian and a visiting faculty for various media and film institutes in India and abroad took the task on the priority basis to pen the research based authentic history of Hindi Film Music. This book mainly focuses on the history of film music in respect to the literature, folk elements and communication in Hindi film songs. This aspect of the book provides a wider perspective through which a strong bond and relationship may be observed and explored in between Cinema and Literature.

The lesser known lyricists, composers and other personalities during the bygone eras are also mentioned in this book prominently as per their works and contributions they made in their times. The big litterateur of Hindi literature both in prose and poetry who had been in association with Hindi films are also discussed with the volume of work they did in cinema and in the music field. Luminaries who joined Hindi films from Hindi literature such as Premchand, Kamleshwar as writers and Pradeep, Sumitra Nandan Pant, Amrit Lal Nagar, Gopal Singh Nepali, Neeraj as poet-lyricists and many others are included in this book.

This book also describes the literary analysis of many songs which will make you realize the meaning, feel, under current, flavor, impact and resonance of the wordings, tune and rendition part of various songs. How the trio of lyrics, compositions and singing makes a song immortal are elaborated so nicely that this takes the readers to another zone of creativity. Writing on films and books is not considered a serious work as a part of literature but when you go through this book, its content, language, grammar, presentation and the treatment gives you the natural feel of literature and folk parameters. It is a literary delight. While reading the book, sometimes you feel the poetic narration of the subject and get mesmerized. The purity of Hindi language, literature substances and quality materials are one of the attractions which will ensure your complete involvement in the subject.

The preface of the book is penned by Arvind Kumar, the former Editor of ‘Madhuri’ (Filmfare) and ‘Sarvottam Digest’ (Reader’s Digest). His explanation, expert opinions and recommendations certify the importance and quality of the book. The span of ninety years of film music in India is summarized in the book in such a way that apart from history, literature, folk and communication it also narrates various memories and anecdotes. A very special part of this book is connected with the rare and unpublished poetry of legendary poet-lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri exclusively penned for this book way back in 1995. Two decades later, after the demise of Hasrat Jaipuri in the year 1999, his poem appeared in this book which is a marvelous gift for the music lovers. At the end of the book a song list is given decade wise from 1931 to 2020 covering most loved and all-time great songs of Hindi Film Music which gives the complete scenario of the film music at a glance.

Ten chapters of this book bring the ten different pictures and shades of Hindi film songs containing all possible aspects of the charismatic wonders in various categories. The printing part of the book is equally aesthetic with art paper, all color pages, art work and portraits by the world fame artiste Prof. S Pranam Singh. The content running into 320 pages is priced very reasonably. For the common readers as well as for the students, scholars and research people, this book is the only available reference link for all those who are into music and want to do any sort of study and research on the subject. The author of the book is himself a film historian and a filmmaker well  known for his quality work, research based content and authenticity. The music schools, colleges, institutes and all universities having faculty in music, literature and communication must include this book into the syllabus. This book is also required to be translated in all Indian languages including English and all other foreign languages. Such a rare and important book must reach every nook and corner of the world.