Tuesday 16 October 2012

Rahul Dev Burman: Nikammaa (1976)

Nikammaa

Here's one more with a somewhat vague history. From what I'm able to make out, there was no film entitled 'Nikammaa' released in or around 1976, the year given on this soundtrack LP. There is however one by that title and with the right songs dated 1983. To confuse things further I've seen mentions of what appears to be the same film using the alternate title 'Jaan-E-Jaan', but from 1979. The Internet isn't being very helpful; none of the above are listed on the IMDb or similar places. Lucky for me then it's the music that concerns me, not the films. (But feel free to enlighten me, anyone who can.)

Not that this is among Burman's best soundtracks. Songs such as 'Koi Shama Shishe Ki Laya', 'Jane Ja Duniya Se Na Dar' and 'Gao Senorita Geet Pyar Ke' all have their share of nice instrumental details making them worth a listen or two, but in terms of melody they're not very memorable. Asha Bhosle's lively 'Tere Bina Kabhi Ek Pal' is more fun to listen to, and the atmospheric 'Tere Bina Main Kuchh Bhi Nahin' is quite lovely, but all in all this seems to me to be a score done on autopilot.

Track listing:
1. Kishore Kumar: Koi Shama Shishe Ki Laya
2. Kishore Kumar & Chorus: Jane Ja Duniya Se Na Dar
3. Asha Bhosle: Tere Bina Kabhi Ek Pal
4. Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle & Chorus: Tere Bina Main Kuchh Bhi Nahin
5. Mohd. Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle & Chorus: Gao Senorita Geet Pyar Ke
6. Kishore Kumar: Koi Shama Shishe Ki Laya

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for this one, PC. A little background on the film: this is one of those long-delayed projects Burman was associated with. It started off as Nikammaa but was eventually released in 1983 under the name Jaane Jaan. Greta mini-reviewed it here: http://memsaabstory.com/2010/08/26/mini-review-jaane-jaan-1983/

    I bought a CD by Universal several years ago which included this soundtrack under the name Jaane Jaan, and also had Darling Darling and Shaukeen on it. Look forward to comparing this rip with that one and seeing if there's anything extra.

    Also, there's an interesting album out there named Untold Stories with was narrated by Burman's longtime friend and lyricist Gulshan Bawra which featured 8 songs all with stories of how the songs came to be. Tere Bina Main Kuchh Bhi Nahin was on that compilation and as the story goes, the director Ramesh Behl really liked the background score Burman composed in another film (Khel Khel Mein) and coaxed him into creating a song based on that atmospheric theme in this film.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Many thanks for that symaster. Yes, I also read about the link between 'Tere Bina Main' and the 'Khel Khel Mein' score. I've just had a quick listen to the instrumentals on that and the Title Music does have a similar sort of vibe – perhaps even more so on the incidental background music?

    ReplyDelete