A Muskaan for Pankaj fans
ASC

Muskaan
(T-Series)

OF late, there has been a whispering campaign against Pankaj Udhas that his voice has lost its velvet touch. As if to silence his critics, he has come up with this album after a lot of preparation. And the result shows. His voice may not be quite as smooth as it used to be when he was in his prime, but he is certainly not over the hill as yet.

It is quite a varied bouquet. The leitmotif is romance but there is a lot of pathos, and yes, an ode to sharaab.

As is his wont of late, Pankaj has not depended on big-league lyricists. He sings qalams of such poets as Zafar Gorakhpuri, Waseem Barelavi, Qaiser-ul-Jafri (two ghazals), Mohammed Alvi, Shevan Bijnori, Naseem Akhtar and Anjum Rehbar. And my word, all of them have contributed first-rate poetry! My favourite happens to be Barelavi’s "Mohabbat nasamajh hoti hai samjhana zaroori hai …." Interestingly, due credit has been given to Akhtar Azad for "compiling the lyrics."

If "Wo ban sanwar ke chale hain ghar se …" and "Tod kar har qasam aap ke shehar mein …" are filled with joy de vivre, "Tum bin bada udaas raha chaudvin ka chand …" and "Ghungruon ki khanak bhi ubharti nahin …" resonate with melancholy.

Pankaj has himself composed the music and has made sure that these numbers are not even remotely similar to his earlier creations.

This album is the first-ever anthology of 22 mantras covering the life span of a human being from the time of birth to the time of death and beyond. These age-old mantras are the legacy of the Vedas.

The album begins with the auspicious and well-known Gayatri Mantra, which is repeated here 16 times as prescribed by the sacred texts. There is also the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra. Then there are mantras which address specific needs and bring more precise results. Among them are the Lakshmi Prasannaarth Mantra, Graha Sampatti Praapti Mantra, Vidya Praapti Mantra, Mansik Shuddhi Mantra and Krodh Shaantarthya Mantra.

These have been rendered by playback singer Suresh Wadkar. His foray into films, which began with Seene mein jalan … in Gaman (1974) under Jaidev, makes people ignore his deep grounding in classical music. Born and brought up in Mumbai, Suresh started learning at the age of four under Parshwanath Digrajkar, a bhajan singer and a close associate of the family.

At the age of 10, he went to the gurukul of Pandit Jialal Vasant to take formal training in music. Since his guru believed in training the students in all the variations of vocal and instrumental music and dance, Suresh learnt Kathak, besides the sitar and tabla. His versatility becomes obvious in the mellifluous rendering of these mantras.

Composer Narayan Mani has taken care to preserve the essential flavour of purity.