If you remember...

 Bhupender Singh is no more. But his voice lingers on. His voice is a distinct one that gently sways with emotions. The strains of melancholy are too much to withstand.

I first heard this voice in a theatre at Chennai. The film was Parichay. My Parichay with Hindi had begun just a year back. Then there was this song Biti na Bitai raina. The music was by R D Burman and lyrics were penned by Gulzar. Jaya Badhuri and Sanjeev Kumar had acted in the film. From my small knowledge of Hindi and through the scenario I made out the sequence thus.  Jaya Badhuri is the daughter and Sanjeev Kumar, the sick father. Her mother is no more. Jaya Badhuri sings a song. Lata had lent voice. The song appears to have been written by Sanjeev. Midway  Jaya loses the lines. Sanjeev picks up from where she had left.  My soul was stirred by the voice. The voice was that of Bhupender. Sanjay recalls the moments that were lost in the slow grind of time. The voice of Bhupender brought more essence and substance with its own strains of melancholy

And then there was the film Garaundha (The nest)  Here in the Great city of Bombay there were two with a small middle class aspiration of owning a flat.  They work in the same office, Sudip and Chaaya.  The petals of friendship unfold and the flower of love blossoms. They decide to marry each other and begin to save for owning a flat of their own. They handover a sizeable amount to a man  for booking the flat . He disappears one day with the money.  The dreams of middle class are like a sand castle built near the sea. It is washed away in no time as the waves strike the shore.

A film called Bazaar was released in the early eighties. These were times when art found expression through middle cinema. There were so many of them. Naseeruddeen Shah Shabma Azmi Om Puri and Smita Patel have arrived on the scene. Bazaar was one of such movies.

 Despondency has its roots. Where it runs deep who knows?  May be we can find it in the voice of Bhupender

T Santhanam