Forgotten Composers: SN Tripathi

14.03.1913-28.03.1988

For every 'great' music director, there are those who were no less talented but whose circumstances did not allow them to rise to the heights their more successful contemporaries did. Yet, their music lives on after them.

I begin this section with Shri Nath Tripathi – or SN Tripathi, as he was popularly known. Except for music aficionados, few people remember the composer even though the songs he composed continue to be popular. But SN Tripathi was not just a composer; he was a musician, a music director, a singer, an actor, a writer and a director. For a man who wore so many hats, and quite successfully at that, his name still does not figure among the pantheon of the greats.  Perhaps it was because much of his work was for the looked-down-upon genres of mythologicals and historicals that he was never considered ‘top-rung’? The question is moot but SN Tripathi’s melodies elevated the films he composed for, and several have overcome changing times and tastes.

SN Tripathi was born into a traditional Brahmin family in Benares on 14 March 1913. His grandfather, Pandit Ganesh Dutt Tripathi was the principal of Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Kashi, and his father, Pandit Damodar Dutt Thakur the principal of Government High School, Kashi. Thus, SN Tripathi had a good grounding in Sanskrit and Hindi. He completed his early education in Benares and moved to Allahabad where he completed his BSc.

The young lad had always been interested in music. So, he enrolled in Marris College, Lucknow (now the VN Bhatkande Music Institute) for his formal training in classical music. At the same time, he took private tuitions in light classical and folk music. At Marris College, one was his teachers was Khurshid Minocher Homji, whom Hindi film music buffs will better recognize by her nom de plume, Saraswati Devi. She was so impressed with his talent that when movie mogul Himanshu Rai visited Marris College and offered her a contract with Bombay Talkies, she invited Tripathi to accompany her.

SN Tripathi joined Bombay Talkies in 1935 as a violinist and soon, became Saraswati Devi’s assistant, starting with Jeevan Naiyya. He also acted in the film. It was a small role, but he got to sing a song (Ai ri daiyya lachak lachak). At this time, acting was only a hobby; his passion was always music. In 1938, after the release of Bombay Talkies’ Bhabhi, SN Tripathi struck off on his own. But his tutelage under Saraswati Devi had taught him much – he now knew how to make notations as well as how to arrange music.

His first film as an independent composer was Chandan, which began filming in 1939 but only released in 1941. However, it was Panghat (1943) that made him famous; he not only composed the film’s songs, he also sang the duets. The first song he recorded was the duet, Nanha sa dil deti huun pardesi preet nibhana (with Rajkumari).

Ten years after his debut as an actor, he was offered a chance to act again. The film was Uttara Abhimanyu (1946), for which he composed the music. Basing his compositions on Rabindra Sangeet, he delivered a bouquet of melodies that became immensely popular. This film gave an impetus to his acting career. In 1948, he composed the music for Shri Ram Bhakt Hanuman, and enacted the role of Hanuman to Trilok Kapoor’s Ram. The film was a box-office success, and Tripathi would reprise his role as Hanuman in several other mythologicals, including his first directorial venture, Ram Hanuman YudhI (1959).

By now, mythological films were being replaced by historical and fantasy films. But the versatile SN Tripathi, proficient in many genres of music, reinvented himself again and again: Rabindra Sangeet-inspired compositions in Panghat, ghazals in Lal Qila, classical music-based compositions for Rani Roopmati and Sangeet Samrat Tansen, Arabic music-inspired melodies for Hatim Tai and Alibaba aur Chalis Chor, etc.

Like Kishore Kumar, SN Tripathi even forayed into direction; many of his films were better-than-average successes at the box office: Rani Roopmati, Kavi Kalidas, Sangeet Samrat Tansen, etc. He also wrote the dialogues and screenplays for several movies like Luv Kush (1967) and Mahasati Tulsi (1974). But as time passed, musical tastes changed as well, and there were few takers for his music.

SN Tripathi passed away on 28 March 1988. Here are some of my favourite melodies composed by this maverick music director in chronological order.

Aaj achanak jaag uthe kyun
Laxmi Narayan (1951)
Singers: Geeta Dutt, Sulochana Kadam
Lyrics: BD Mishra

Before Meena Kumari became successful with Baiju Bawra, she acted in several mythological and fantasy films. Laxmi Narayan, opposite Mahipal, was one of them. This unknown film, however, has a wonderful musical score by SN Tripathi.
 
Ho sake to dil ke badle
Alladin aur Jaadui Chirag (1952)
Singers: Chitragupt, Shamshad Begum, Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle
Lyrics: Pandit Chand 

Another Meena Kumari-Mahipal adventure, and this time, in a Homi Wadia film, with special effects by Babubhai Mistry. The film is crazy, but fun (and if you haven’t watched it already, you should) and SN Tripathi’s music is the icing on the cake. This is a lovely quartet, with Rafi and Asha singing playback for Mahipal and Meena Kumari; Shamshad Begum sings for Urmila, but I don’t recognize the actor for whom Chitragupt is singing. I hope one of my readers can identify him.
 
Ae sabaa unse kah zara
Alibaba aur Chaalis Chor (1954)
Singers: Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle
Lyrics: Raja Mehdi Ali Khan
 

Like our folktales and myths, the Arabian Nights proved to be a treasure lode for Hindi films. The tale of Alibaba and the forty thieves has been filmed several times not just in Hindi but also in other regional languages. This was yet another Wadia production and had fantasy’s staple tropes in place. While Mahipal remains the hero, Shakila takes over as Marjina and this lovely Rafi-Asha duet trips along melodiously. (If you can overlook the fact that in the original story, there was no romance between Alibaba and his maid, Marjina.)
 
Zara thehro main haal-e-dilsuna luun phir chale jaana
Inaam (1955)
Singer: Suraiya
Lyrics: Raja Mehdi Ali Khan
Not much is known about this film other than its cast – Suraiya and Nasir Khan. Perhaps because this is such an obscure film, I cannot even find a video of the song. I came across this song while searching for SN Tripathi songs, and it has quickly become a favourite. Suraiya infuses the ghazal with emotion, and though melancholy, SN Tripathi’s music makes it almost buoyant.
 
Parvardigaar-e-aalam tera hi sahaara
Hatim Tai (1956)
Singer: Mohammed Rafi
Lyrics: Akhtar Ramani 

 

Yet another fantasy feature from Homi Wadia (for Basant Pictures) starring Shakila (in a twin role as Gulnar and Husn Pari) and P Jairaj as Hatim Tai. Parvardigaar-e-aalam was the most popular song from this film, and film lore has it that the Nizam of Hyderabad had the song rewound a dozen times at the screening in Hyderabad.
 
Zara saamne to aao chhaliye
Janam Janam ke Phere (1957)
Singers: Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar
Lyrics: Bharat Vyas

 

“Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air” wrote Thomas Gray in an Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. That could well be SN Tripathi’s epitaph. Janam Janam ke Phere is a mythological film starring Manhar Desai and Nirupa Roy that few will recall today. But, strangely, this song, a devotional duet by Rafi and Lata, swept the popularity charts, edging out the scores of Pyaasa, Nau Do Gyarah, Paying Guest (SD Burman); Chori Chori (Shankar-Jaikishan); Tumsa Nahin Dekha, Naya Daur (OP Nayyar); Dekh Kabira Roya (Madan Mohan), to name only a few, to reach the No.1 slot on Binaca Geetmala. 

This film would also see the beginning of a long, creative collaboration between lyricist Bharat Vyas and SN Tripathi.
 
Ud jaa bhanwar maya kamal ke/ Aa ja bhanwar sooni dagar
Rani Roopmati (1959)
Singers: Manna Dey, Lata Mangeshkar
Lyrics: Bharat Vyas

Aa laut ke aaja mere meet is perhaps the most popular song from this film, but Rani Roopmati had several lovely songs. Here, SN Tripathi falls back upon his classical music roots to give us these fabulous semi-classical back-to-back solos by Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar. The first, Ud jaa Bhanwar, based on Raag Darbari Kanada, has Manna Dey singing playback for the character of Tansen (IMDB lists the actor playing him as Arvind Pandya). In the song, he exhorts the bee to flee its imprisonment and the power of music is such that by the end of the song, the bee has departed the flower. This is followed by Rani Roopmati (Nirupa Roy) taking the stage, to beg the bee to return – the flower is desolate in the bee’s absence. And such is the impact of her song (sung by Lata Mangeshkar) that the bee returns voluntarily to be imprisoned within the lotus flower once again. The second song is based on Raag Brindavani Sarang.
 
Lagta nahin hain dil mera
Lal Qila (1960)
Singer: Mohammed Rafi
Lyrics: Bahadur Shah Zafar /Seemab Akbarabadi

 

The self-confidence of a music director is to be seen when he doesn’t feel the need to over-embellish a tune, when he allows the lyrics and the voice to stand alone without filling every pause with sound. Here, in this ghazal by Bahadur Shah Zafar, filmed on M Kumar playing the eponymous role, SN Tripathi keeps the music to the minimum. It is Mohammed Rafi’s voice and the poignancy of the lyrics by the emperor that take the spotlight. 

 Of the four couplets in this song, only three have been penned by Bahadur Shah Zafar. The couplet below has since been acknowledged by Urdu scholars as that of Seemab Akbarabadi:
Umr-e-daraaz maang ke laaii thi char din
Do aarzoo mein kat gaye do intizaar mein
 
Nigahon mein tum ho khayaalon mein tum ho
Jadoo Nagri (1961)
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri

 

This is a beautiful melody picturized on Vijaya Chowdhury and Ranjan; the film is yet another escapist fantasy, long forgotten.
 
Picnic mein tik tik karti
Piya Milan ki Aas (1961)
Singers: Manna Dey, Geeta Dutt
Lyrics: Bharat Vyas
 

This song is a complete contrast to anything I have listed so far, not the least because it is so unexpected. A western-music based composition complete with ‘Bambaiyya’ Hindi (who would expect that from Bharat Vyas?), this song is also unique in that it only has a mukhda, which is repeated over and over. Ah, and Manna Dey yodels like a dream. The choreography by veteran Surya Kumar combines Tap and Jitterbug, resulting in a very trippy number. [Young A tells me that the beginning moves are something called 'Attack Dance' - never heard of it, but I will bow to his superior knowledge.]
 
Aankh mili to dil dhadka
Cobra Girl /Naag Kanya (1963)
Singers: Asha Bhosle
Lyrics: Prem Dhawan

Picturised on a beautiful Ragini, Mahipal and our very own Edwina (who plays the harp) this Asha solo is just one among the several beautiful numbers in this fantasy flick. I'd initially chosen the beautiful Suman Kalyanpur-Mubarak Begum duet picturized on Rani and Madhumati, but while Ragini has danced better, I love the way Asha sings this song. 

Films like these are generally looked down upon as ‘B-grade’ or low-grade entertainment, but they provide quite a lot of fun, intended or otherwise (and are definitely more progressive in their outlook than many other more popular movies). They are the perfect antidote to a depressing evening. Do watch for the fabulous sets, the great costumes, the spectacular special effects (considering the period and the budget), and, basically, good clean fun!
 
Raag Bhairav pratham shaant ras jaake (Raga Maalika)
Sangeet Samrat Tansen (1962)
Singer: Manna Dey
 

This is out of chronological order, but I wanted to end with this classical masterpiece. I had heard the more popular songs from Sangeet Samrat Tansen before this – Jhoomti chali hawa (Mukesh) is a very popular song, and Lata’s Sakhi kaise dharuun main dheer has always been a favourite. But it was my husband who introduced me to this brilliant rendition by Manna Dey and I have been listening to it continuously since. In the film, Tansen (Bharat Bhushan) has just completed his training. His mentor, Swami Haridas (M Kumar) asks him to describe the classical ragas and sing his interpretation of them – Tansen names each raga and describes them – Bhairav, Malkauns, Hindol, Shree, Deepak and Megh Malhar.
 
SN Tripathi had a towering task ahead of him – his score would always be compared to veteran Khemchand Prakash’s towering compositions for the original Tansen (1943), essayed by KL Saigal. But that he was more than up to the task is proved by the songs he composed for this film – Sudh bisar gayi aaj apne gun kii (a superb duet by Mohammed Rafi and Manna Dey); the Rafi solo Deepak jalaao and Meha aayo re (a lovely duet by Lata and Asha), among others.
 
What SN Tripathi songs do you like? Tell me in the comments below.