Indian Playback Singer Sudha Malhotra, Recepient Of The Shyam Munshi Award For Lifetime Achievement In The Arts, On Her Musical Career
I STARTED SINGING WHEN I CAME TO BOMBAY AND WAS INTRODUCED TO A POPULAR MUSIC DIRECTOR IN THOSE DAYS CALLED ANIL BISWAS – I MUST HAVE BEEN 14-15 YEARS OLD.
He heard me sing and he gave me my first song in a film called Arzoo. That was the beginning of my film career. Before that, I used to sing on AIR Lahore before Partition. In fact, when the riots were on, they would send a van and police escort to pick me up at the house, I must be around seven or eight years old, to come and sing for the children’s programme.
I also remember a big Red Cross function. I must not have been very tall, very short, so they put me up on the table, with an orchestra behind me. A fan sent a picture of that, a little girl sitting on the table with the orchestra behind me.
After Pakistan and Lahore, we came to Delhi and I also sang on AIR Delhi and did lots of shows etc. After that first film song in Bombay, I got really serious about music. Thanks to my parents, I had been doing pretty well earlier, too, but now I put my heart and soul into the music. I practiced late in the afternoons, did recordings and all kinds of hard work that anybody who has to do something in life, has to do. All artists start early. There is a time when you can mould yourself and start doing what you have to and have the energy to practice and take it forward. This is what I was trying to do in the best way. God was really giving me rewards for everything.
As for my film career, some of the songs which you may have heard, in the 1960s: Kabhi kabhi mere dil me khayal aata
hai, a very popular number. But I got married. I chose between my career and home and I thought I wanted to get married in to a family whom I knew well. My husband is Girdhar Motwani, my father-in-law is Nanik Motwani,
all Rotarians. I thought I had done enough from childhood till 25 so, I thought I would settle down a bit. I continued to sing: doing my practice, bhajans, going around the world doing shows, I just gave up singing for the films because that is a lot of hard work and I can’t do both. So, that is the answer I gave everybody.
Eventually, Raj Kapoor heard the ghazal I sang for Jagjit Singh in Pune, and this was much after I had given up my film career. He said I had to sing for him. I said, ‘Raj ji I don’t sing for anyone anymore’. He persisted but I kept
quiet. Some time passed. My husband and I came to America on work, and I got a call from Raj ji. ‘You have to come and sing for me; I am coming to pick you up just now!’
I said, ‘Wait, let me talk to my husband and see if he agrees.’ Of course he agreed because he was a great fan of Raj Kapoor and couldn’t say no and I didn’t want to say no because I was dying to sing. So, I sang the song in Prem Rog – ‘Yeh pyaar tha ya kuch aur tha’. It is a very pretty song and it came out very well. He was the greatest artist of all time, I think he could bring out the best in any artist.
I sang many songs for him but this one of them. Thereafter I sang ghazals for Jagjit Singh and Marathi Bhavgeet –and I sang Vande Mataram when Nehru ji came to Sanchi to inaugurate the Stupas. He asked Mr. Shankar Dayal Sharma who was the little girl singing. I was introduced to him and he was very happy to meet me. In fact, at one point, Mr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, Chief Minister of Bhopal in those days, offered me a seat in politics in Congress. I said ‘no, thanks, I am happy with my music and my home, I am not joining’.
The Padma Shri also came as a surprise to me. I didn’t think I would get it. I got a phone call early in the morning, ‘Mrs. Sudha Malhotra?’ I said, ‘Yes’. They said they were calling from the Ministry of Broadcasting and Information
and that I had been offered a Padma Shri. I thought it was a joke. So, I asked for their telephone number and called them back to verify. I was grateful to the whole nation, the President, and everybody. Finally, I got an award.
My most famous songs, the qawwali, ‘Ishq Ishq’ was popular, everyone liked it very much. I sang a couple of bhajans like ‘Darshan do Ghanshyam’, and then my most popular song, ‘Tum mujhe bhul bhi jaao to yeh haq hai tumko’. Now that song, there is a little story. The music director in that cast fell ill and couldn’t compose anything, so, the lyricist Sahir Sahab gave me this song and said, ‘Sudha ji you have to compose it’. I said, ‘I have not composed anything in my life.’ He insisted I do it. I took the lyrics home, tuned them overnight, and recorded it the next day. And that is my most famous song. So, God has helped me in many ways and I am so grateful to him. I am so happy that all of you old and young remember me.
[Sudha ji sings a few lines of the songs]
ROTARIANS ASK
Who were your favourite male playback singers?
All of them. Rafi, Kishore, Mukesh, Mahmood, they were all wonderful. They respected me, gave me courage because I was new and young, and they were all seasoned singers. Actually, Talat and I almost started together. They give me
a lot of moral support, whoever sung with me was my favourite, I can’t choose.
Any incident that you probably remember about the three superheroes, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor? One of your first songs was in a Dilip Kumar film.
Dilip Kumar and I travelled by train many times together. This goes back to the ’50s when he was not as great an actor and I don’t think he could afford a car. So we travelled first class local train together to our respective destinations. But he was an extremely knowledgeable man and actor. He knew a lot of Urdu ghazals, shayaris and was very talented, educated and goodlooking. That is what I remember of him, wearing a white shirt and white trouser and looking so handsome. I fell for him like everybody else.
Dev Anand was so handsome, Dharmendra was also my favourite and he told me once, ‘Sudha ji you need me to speak about you anytime anywhere, just call me and I will speak for you’. I must have been lucky to have these super people and actors around me.
What would you suggest to young aspiring singers before they jump into rap and Bollywood music? Would you
recommend giving more stress on riyaaz and classical and then break into further forms?
Absolutely. When I started singing, it was classical singing. Riyaaz is the foundation, you have to practice as much as you can and then get onto stage. Children who come and sing on platforms such as Indian Idol work very hard. They sing so well and they have to work hard. I have stopped riyaaz due to my age but when I used to sing, my voice used to be in the air and I could pick up a note from anywhere.
Children today are lucky to have platforms. In my days it was pure hard work, we had to record a song for the film and then go to Pheroze Shah Mehta Lane to record it again, one mistake and you had to do it all over again. It was very tough. Now there are many opportunities but the foundation has to be there.
Who were your favourite music directors of your time?
Roshan came with lots of good songs. Jaydev, Burman sahib, OP Nair, Madan Mohan, Shankar Jai Kishan, the best part is that they used to sing and I had to put my little bit, mould my voice according to that. I think it comes naturally
after you know who are you singing for. That was great and I enjoyed that.
Do you follow modern music and do you have any favourite music composers or singers?
There are some very good ones but I can’t follow 90 per cent of them. However, the 10% that I do follow, are excellent. AR Rehman, and more. They are excellent, they have to go with the time, the fast singing, dancing music. It doesn’t stay for too long because my time’s music stays even today. Indian Idol youngsters sing them even now. I am not saying the music directors are not doing good, they are going with the time. You have to change with time and I am so glad that youngsters are taking it ahead.
I would like you to share the story of when you were discovered by Ghulam Haider in the famous show in Ferozepur. Tell us something about that.
I was too tiny to remember everything but I remember it is not that he discovered me to that extent, he talked about me, he said there is a child prodigy who is going to do very well in the future and thanks to my parents, they took it very seriously and they took an effort to see that I would go in this line and do my best. They were my everything, guided me, otherwise I would have just been in school, eating and doing math and not doing music at all.
I was too tiny, people could not see me, I don’t remember much now but yes, he did discover me that time. Later for films, it was Anil Biswas who gave me the first song in Arzoo, filmed on Sashikala.
How many hours did you spend a day on riyaaz and were there any dietary restrictions?
When I was recording, say about three-four hours, and when not recording, six-seven hours. I would wake up at 7 am. My sitar would be in my room, my staff would wake me up, I would get ready and start singing. No dietary restrictions to take care of my throat but I was always allergic to cold due to sinuses but, otherwise, things like pickles were ok.
