Just a couple of talents

I watched Vishal Bhardwaj's Omkara on Sunday. And no, I am not going to review it here. (Damn, I read too many reviews before going for the movie, and now everything's all messed up in my head, making me unable to arrive at my own review of the movie.)

Instead, I am going to talk about something that caught my ear while watching the movie.

Laakad jalke koyla hoye jaaye
Koyla hoye jaaye khaak
Jiya jaley toh kuchh na hoye re
Na dhuan na raakh

("Wood burns to form coal
Coal burns to form ashes
A burning heart forms nothing
Neither smoke nor ashes.")

I sat up. That voice was immensely beautiful, and it added that x-factor to the song that made it mind-blowingly soulful. So after the movie ended, I went to check up who'd sung it, and it turns out the singer is someone called Rekha Bhardwaj. At once, I googled to find out the connection between Vishal Bhardwaj and Rekha Bhardwaj, and turns out my suspicion was right - they are indeed husband and wife.

Having had a not-so-good impression of music directors who try to give their spouses' failing careers a lift by giving them a break in their albums (Anyone remember the 'Jab nahin aaye they tum' song in the album 'Dev' directed by Aadesh Shrivastava? It was sung by his wife Vijeta Pundit -- the actress with a very innocent looking Kumar Gaurav in 'Love story' -- and sank without a trace), I was very much taken in by how extremely talented Rekha Bhardwaj is. The last I remember being this impressed by the magic of someone's voice was when I'd heard Shreya Ghoshal in Jism.

There's no doubt Vishal is extremely talented. I've been a big fan since his Machis days. I even felt that swayam Lata Mangeshkar did not do justice to his 'Pani pani re'. Not only is he a remarkable music director, he's shown his skills in movie-making too. And then I heard another stunner of a song 'O sathi re' from Omkara and found out that he was the male lead in it. I nearly fell on the floor in shock because he gives such perfect company to Shreya Ghoshal in the song, you'd think it's a seasoned singer. In fact, I'm having a tough time trying to decide whether I like his voice more or Rekha's.

Gosh, so much talent in one household, it almost makes me faint with admiration.

This also reminds me of another mind-blowingly talented couple. Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi. Two years ago, when I was young(er) and (more) foolish, I camped outside the Grand Hyatt to catch a glimpse of the Bollywood stars who were in Singapore for the IIFA awards. I was there for a few days, at really unearthly hours, and I caught most of them on camera, albeit a bit shaky because of other young and foolish fans who kept shoving and pushing each other. Security was tight, and we were not allowed to go close to the stars.

Suddenly I spotted Javed Akhtar near the hotel entrance. Surprisingly, no one was making a big fuss over him. I suspect no one really recognised him. Shabana was standing a few steps behind him. I yelled out his name. He looked at me and gave me a smile for my camera. But I wanted the 'perfect shot' of the 'perfect couple'. I gathered courage and motioned to him to call Shabana too. What cheek! He could have easily done the 'Photo lena hai toh le, warna chal chal hawa aane de' but he actually motioned me to wait, and turned back to call her. She came forward, he put his arm around her shoulder and posed again. When the crowd saw Shabana, they started screaming and she started to wave everywhere. But Javed waved only to me. I was so floored by his gesture I almost dropped my camera.















The shot came out really shaky because of the moron behind me, who had precariously balanced himself on the artificial rocks near the Grand Hyatt's fountain, and in an attempt not to fall into the fountain, decided to use my shoulders as an anchor. Bhai ko hila dala kambakht ne. :|

I did not come back with my 'perfect shot', but I was floored by Javed's humility. No wonder his lyrics are so earthy -- the man is earthy himself. In spite of being Javed Akhtar.

And for the first time, the very idealistic muhavra we'd learnt in school made sense.

"Ped par jitne zyada phal hote hain, woh utna hi zyada jhukta hai."

The more fruits a tree has, the lower it bows.