Mr. Himesh Reshammiya par gussa kyon aata hai?

Hello Everyone.

If there’s one man we love to hate, it has to be Himesh Reshammiya. It’s an all or none event with him; either you love him or hate him! And it reaches fantastic heights. People hate him for his attitude, his antics on C-2005 and his ever-stagnant music. But there’s no doubting the fact that he’s on top now. And people love him for that.

An article called him a role model for youngsters. Maybe. We need to look at the reasons as to why he’s so hot now.

1) The Indian youth believes in aping the west. It goes to such a height that speaking in your own mother tongue with friends is considered un-cool! God save the country! In such a time, HR comes out with totally western styled club tracks with lots of adrenaline pumping beats and technical gimmicks. Why wouldn’t the youth be attracted? MTV phenomenon? Just bakras…actually.

2) Indian traditional values of old have taken a beating, to such an extent that humility, respect, values, etc are considered out, and throwing your weight about, being arrogant, in-your-face, aggressive is considered in. Western phenomenon again? HR is a personification of the above phenomenon.

3) Our music industry is going through a phase akin to the depression of the 80s. Absolutely lame, inane, copied music floating about. In these times, HR, being an astute marketing brain, has launched his brand of music which is different.

4) Our youth does not understand the beauty or variety of Indian Music. The MTV phenomenon makes them believe that whatever western is the best. They think that music is only to titillate the senses and a medium to dance to, in clubs and discotheques. Pop Culture rules. So people with no music sense also make hay under the sun. Someone heard of Harry Anand?


We have no problem with the man making such music. We have no problems with the man being at the top. But some people who are die hard fanatics, have accused us of being jealous of his success. Were we jealous of Dada Burman’s success? His commercial success remains unparalleled today. Were we jealous of Rafi Sahab, whose repute as a singer remains unchallenged? Or are we ever jealous of Lataji, who commands such respect that would be the dream of Kings? No. Then why accuse us of jealousy?
On what basis? We, who have nothing to do with music and are just listeners, are jealous of the man? The need doesn’t arise. If we don’t like something, we just won’t listen to it. It’s as simple as that. No one made such a hue and cry over Anand-Milind and Nadeem-Shravan and Pritam etc getting accolades. They were quite pathetic too. Why only HR and Anu Malik and the likes? It’s because of the way they go about doing their job and their attitude in the media. It’s how their aggressive and obsessive marketing strategies are spoiling the aesthetics of the Indian Youth.

Let’s have a review of his antics on C-2005, when he first came into the public glare. Compiled below are some of his comments and misdemeanour –

a) ‘Aajkal Rafi ko kaun sunta hai’ – Well, him being a composer should know that one singer who can never ever go out of the minds of people is Rafi sahab. He himself has said that Rafi was one of his inspirations. Quite contradictory. Or was that statement just to demoralize a contestant who sang his song?

b) ‘Yeh gaana to aapke south ke SPB aur Yesudas bhi nahin gaa sakte’ – Well, him being a music composer should know the capabilities of these two great Padmashris, who’re known for their versatility and who’ve achieved the zenith the realms of both classical and popular music.

c) ‘Yeh SPB ka hangover nahin gaya abhi bhi tumhara’ – Does he mean to say that if a South Indian participates in a Hindi contest, he shouldn’t be influenced by his favourite south Indian singer? He talks as if it were a sin to sing like a legend, and that too, when the poor contestant was the only one with a truly original voice. Whereas his contestant was an out and out clone.

d) ‘Investing in my contestant is like investing in the country’ – What will the country gain by ‘investing’ in a 17 year old singer? It’s too ridiculous to even analyze.

e) ‘Please vote for my contestant’s love’ – Whereas all the time we thought it was a singing contest.

f) ‘Assam ki voice is not India’s Voice’ – Well well, here we were all thinking that Assam was a part of India. By supporting this statement directly, he launched a direct attack on the sensibilities of a part of the motherland which has witnessed much discrimination and violence. By doing this, he was helping in just furthering this discrimination. Legally, he is liable to be booked under Treason and Harming National Integrity.

g) There is a reason the teams were called Gharanas. In Indian Musical tradition, a Gharana is a unique entity which belongs to a certain place, and whose members are classical musicians. They take training from their Gurus in the style of the Ancient Gurukul system…i.e. oral tradition. There are certain norms to be followed both by a student and his Guru. Without going into the details, let us talk about the humanitarian aspects. A Guru is responsible for his ward’s educational upbringing as well as moral upbringing. A Guru ceases to be a Guru when he ceases to concentrate on both. Apart from teaching his student music, a Guru in a Gharana teaches him devotion, humility, respect for his art and respect for his people. He corrects the student when he does a mistake and reprimands him when he goes wrong. He appreciates his student when he does well, but takes care that his praise doesn’t make the student arrogant.
What Himesh did was totally the opposite. He ignored his other wards, praised his favourite to the skies, never corrected his mistakes, made him believe he was the best, deteriorated his singing (apparent in his last few performances…that nasal touch in ‘Saathi-yoNN’) and taught him to sing with an ‘attitude’ apparently. He marketed him so aggressively that people slowly lost interest in his student. He used all sorts of methods to gain votes for him, major one being the Love Story. He asked for votes saying he’ll reveal Vinit’s love in the finals, and then we come to know that it was all a gimmick. Since there is money involved in this, Himesh is also liable to be booked under Section 420 (A) of the IPC for ‘Cheating’. Leave the legal bit; it’s morally not correct to do that. It was a singing contest and all this nonsense shouldn’t have been used to gather votes. If he really had confidence in his singer, he wouldn’t have resorted to this. And he made his student so arrogant, that the classical masters would be flabbergasted at Gajji for using the words ‘Gharana’ and ‘Guru’ in this context. Eg of Vinit’s arrogance – Excerpt from his interview – “If there had been judges, I’d have won the contest. Debojit is not a bad singer, but everyone knows that there were faults in the voting system”. Reeks of arrogance? Yeah, has a typically HR trademark on that. Can you imagine any of the olden or contemporary greats talking about their fellow singers like that? Rafi Sahab, the gentlest and humblest singer, would’ve been ashamed of being Vinit’s idol! No true musician undermines other musicians. HR’s contempt of Debojit and consequent ill treatment of him makes him a dubious person to be called a musician.

That was about his conduct on a show watched by millions of people on National TV.
A composer should be well versed with most forms of music. In India, it translates into Classical, Folk, Western classical and folk and some other forms. The zamana now is such, that most people don’t understand the Sa of classical music. It’s quite easy for anyone with cursory knowledge to shoot off high sounding words and impress the public.

Some excerpts regarding this and some explanations -

1) Is there a key philosophy to your music?
I love to simplify the ragas and use them in my music as much as possible. Simplified ragas and lively orchestrating. And you catch the attention of the young, and slowly older audiences surrender too to the music. Mr. HR should know some basic information about Ragas.
A raga is a set and a predefined scale with a set ascending and descening pattern, depending upon the mood of the raga; i.e. the bhava with which the mind is to be painted. These base scales are used in compositions and there are certain rules. YOU SIMPLY CANNOT TAMPER WITH A RAGA AND STILL KEEP ITS TRUE NATURE. It is science; science of sound. Each note corresponds to a certain frequency, ordained in the sounds of nature. You cannot ‘simplify’ a raga.
Here’s the Bilawal raga, pray, someone simplify and give it to me –
Aa - S R G m P D N S’ : Av – S’ N D P m G R S.
When a song is composed, you have an option of composing to a set raga, or use a melody of your own. When a raga based song is composed, composers take care to use only the notes of the raga, and use the grace notes as less as possible.
Eg – Man Tadpat Hari Darshan Ko Aaj – Raag Malkauns, one of the prime examples of a pure raga being used to the point. Composer – Naushad.
Or you can use the notes of a raga and follow its pattern very loosely and attach grace notes of your own. That allows you to waver from the original mood of the raga and do whatever gimmicks you want to. It’s a misconception that all raga based music is melancholy. Here are some examples.
Eg – Yeh Hawa Yeh Raat Yeh Chandni – Raag Darbari Kanada, Sajjad Hussain. Veer Rasa raga used to compose a romantic tune, with grace notes.
Eg – O Duniya Ke Rakhwale – Raag Darbari Kanada, Naushad. Minimum or nil use of grace notes, used to compose the saddest song ever. Has the reputation of being the finest song ever composed. A Veer Rasa raag used to compose a sad song.
Eg – Pag Ghungroo Baandh – Raag Darbari Kanada, Bappi Lahiri. Use of a lively western rhythm in conjunction with a tarana styled composition which is an out and out fun song. Again, interesting use of the raga.
We observe that the raga here is not simplified, but has been used in different ways by different composers.

2) Some critics say that your Sufiyan kind of songs with Middle Eastern layers of music sound too similar.
I truly believe in variation. Even then, the critics would be surprised by the soundtrack of some of the forthcoming films. Variation? What variation is he talking about. If you closely observe some of his recent compositions, the metre of the songs is the same, the refrains are the same, the chords are the same. What kind of variation is that? And he recycles his beats too. Moreover, he recycles his orchestration a lot too. The opening violin notes of Jhalak Dikhlaja, ABA and Tera Suroor are just marginally different, same scale, same melodic pattern. One more thing; Sufi is a genre of music that has its roots in Persian and Hindustani Classical music. Sufi music is ALWAYS sung for the one above, and is high pitched and based on a raga or a Persian mode. Afterall, many Hindustani Raags are derived from Persian Modes. Simply because he sings in a high pitch does not mean what he sings is Sufi, because the lyrics are NOT in the praise of the lord. And one more rider. When you sing high pitched, you are not nasal. Look at Rafi Sahab’s songs and then decide. Examples later.

3) What have you taken most from your father?
Him constantly telling me to be humble, and I think that is very important in any field. He was an innovator in his own field, and he was also responsible for introducing electronic instruments in the movie industry. I have learned from him to be daring and experimental. He has claimed that he learnt classical music from his father Vipin Reshammiya. I’d like to investigate that claim. There’s a reason behind that. His father was a brass player in L-P’s orchestra. If you read Salil Choudhry’s interviews, you’ll find he’s a master of Western Classical music. In those days, the two-man teams had quite good orchestrations. Why? Because one man was the composer and the other man was an orchestrator. Why? Because the orchestra does NOT play according to Indian notations! That’s why people like Naushad, Madan Mohan, Salilda had an upperhand, because they knew and they could adapt their tunes well to the demands of a western orchestra. If Vipin Reshammiya was a brass player, then how could he know the intricacies of classical music that only a teacher will know? That’s one point. Second thing is that it was Kalyanjibhai of Kalyanji-Anandji, who gets the credit for introducing the first electronic instrument into Indian Film Music…the Claviolin. Then it was Pancham who introduced the Keyboard, and Bappi Lahiri who introduced the electric guitar. L-P have a distinction in the sense that they’ve been the only music composers of the time who kept their music completely Indian in nature. They made extensive use of the Dholak, the Tabla, the Sitar, Violin etc. They used western instruments very sparingly; in fact, you can count the songs on your hands. What use would that make of electronic instruments? It’s these kinds of ambiguous places where HR misleads the Indian Public.

4) You are also known for the speed with which you compose.
I am restless. I think I have more than a 1,000 tunes in my song bank. But I also know that unless I have worked on those tunes a lot and they are set to good lyrics, they are not going to be successful. Many people do not know how hard I work. There are many days I work more than 18 hours. I am prepared to work even 24 hours if a particular tune is not working out well to my satisfaction. I will only rest when I am truly satisfied with it. 1000 tunes in his song bank? Well, looking at the extreme similarity of his songs, he will definitely have 1000 tunes in his song bank. Naushad sahab did 67 films in 60 years, and each and every tune of his is immortal and a classic. Most of the great composers took pain to compose a song, and used to have 10 distinctly different tunes ready. There was quality. That’s why people like Jatin-Lalit and Shantanu-Moitra and AR Rahman stand out in today’s time. They do quality work, not quantity. Moreover, HR has quite a few lifts to his credit in his short career. Will come to that later. That’s where people like L-P went wrong. They signed around 300 films a year in the 80s, and it’s the most disgusting phase of their music. The same tunes, recycled, the same beats, the same dholak, the same violin and cheap lyrics. And HR counts L-P as his inspiration…hmmm.

5) You have given a break and encouragement to a number of singers including Tulsi Kumar. What are some of the things you tell them?
Being associated with the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa contest has brought me close to many aspiring singers. One of the contestants, Vinit Singh, has sung for me in Rocky. Himani Kapoor is another talented singer. I ask them to listen to the best songs of Lataji (Mangeshkar), Ashaji (Bhosle), Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar and Alkaji (Yagnik). There are many more wonderful singers. I tell the new singers the importance of practice. And I try to inspire today's singers to sing like the legends. I tell them if they cannot emote the notes, if there is no real shruti in the music and singing, the songs just won't appeal. Well, I really don’t understand that why if he stresses on practice, did Vinit’s singing deteriorate towards the end? And if he wants them to sing like the legends, why is he tiring Vinit and Himani out in Stage Shows rather than putting them through classical training, which is a must for any aspiring singer? And in what context is he using the word Shruti?
Shruti in the carnatic sense = Melody. Well, let’s leave that factor out. His songs don’t have an element of melody anyway.
Shruti in the Hindsutani Sense = Microtone. The frequencies between two major notes. Between Sa and Re, there are three shrutis, the second of which is the Komal Re, known as a semitone. I don’t understand what he means by ‘if there’s no shruti in the music’. He simply doesn’t make any sense there.

6) Anuradha SenGupta: Most of your songs are love songs.
Himesh Reshammiya: I only like doing romantic songs because love is a universal emotion which will work with everyone. Everyone has been in love at least once in his life. There’s a difference between a love song and a lust song. I’d categorise most of his songs as Lust songs. Love is a subtle emotion which is never in-your-face. Telling someone ‘Jhalak Dikhlaja…ek baar aaja’, or ‘a a aashiqui mein teri, ja ja jayegi jaan meri..de de dil china town mein’, is not love. The tunes are so brash, there’s nothing of the soft sensuousness of a love song. Let’s have a look at some classic love songs, which truly evoke the Shringara Rasa.

Tere Mere Sapne Ab Ek Rang Hai. SD Burman, Rafi
Paon Chuu Lene Do Phoolon Ko Inayat Hogi. Roshan, Lata-Rafi
Isharon Isharon Mein Dil Lene Wale. OP Nayyar, Asha-Rafi
Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas. Kalyanji-Anandji, Kishoreda
Aapki Nazaron Ne Samjha. Madan Mohan, Lata
Chaudhvin Ka Chand Ho. Ravi, Rafi
Sau Baar Janam Lenge. Ravi, Rafi
Ek Haseen Shaam Ko. Madan Mohan, Rafi
Balma Khuli Hawa Mein. OP Nayyar, Asha
Akeli Hoon Main Piya Aa. OP Nayyar, Asha
Jalte Hain Jiske Liye. SD Burman, Talat. One of the MOST sensuous love songs composed ever.
Pehla Nasha. Jatin-Lalit, Udit.
Piyu Bole. Shantanu Moitra, Sonu-Shreya
Nahin Saamne. ARR, Hariharan.

The major componants of a love song are its lyrics and the melody. Each note of music denotes an emotion. It’s imperative that you choose such a raga that has an infusion of the prem bhava, or create a melody that evokes such a feeling. Choosing the right lyrics are important. Telling someone ‘Ek Baar Aaja’ is more like inviting a whore to your bedroom rather than painting love thru words to your beloved. Similarly, lyrics like – Teri yaadein, teri baatein, tanha raatein, tera tera tera suroor don’t make much sense. What’s the connection between tanha raatein and someone’s baatein and their suroor???

7) Anuradha SenGupta: I’m going to ask you something, promise me that you will not get angry. You don't sound nasal at all. Then why is it that it is said that you sound nasal. Is it because of a few songs that you've sung?
Himesh Reshammiya: I will explain you why is it so. Actually it is about the style in which you sing a song. It has to be sung in a way that it works. I have to sing in a high pitch—a song will only work when sung in that manner. Otherwise it will not work.
Then why would you call that nasal? I'm only singing a song in a pitch that it suits and will work. I like to attach an identity of my voice to my song.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sang for 30 years in the high pitch. Why nobody called him nasal then? This is absolute bullshit. Does he mean to say that there have been no songs sung in lower octaves that haven’t been hits? What nonsense. The list of songs I’ve given above were smashits. Absolutely NONE of them are high pitched songs. Infact, two of them are in the lowest octaves and sung at quite low scales. If you take a survey of Hindi songs, most of the songs are composed in the lower and middle octaves. Mostly, sad songs are composed in the higher octave with a scale starting at somewhere near the Ni. Because Ni is the swara that corresponds to the Pathos emotion.
Any idiot will make out that being nasal and singing high pitched is not one and the same. Claiming that is ridiculous. Rafi sahab was one with a phenomenonal rage of 3.5 octaves in his natural voice. Show me one high pitched song where he’s gone nasal and I’ll stop listening to any kind of music. Here are some examples where he’s sung in the higher scales of the 3rd octave and has never once gone nasal.
O Duniya Ke Rakhwale, Naushad, Baiju Bawra
Dil Jo Na Keh Saka, Roshan, Bheegi Raat
Aane Se Uske Aaye Bahar, L-P
Waadiyan Mera Daman, RD, Abhilasha
Chahoonga Main Tujhe, L-P, Dosti

You can also sing at a lower pitch and still sound nasal. Prime examples are our legends, K L Saigal, Pankaj Mullick, Mukesh. Saigal never sang out of the first octave and still was nasal. Leave all that, let’s take HR’s own songs – Jhalak Dikhlaka, Humko Deewana Kar Gaye and Hai Hai Yaad Sataye Teri. All three are in the middle octave (the first two) and the lower octave (the third one). And he sounds incredibly nasal in the third one and it doesn’t need a genius to figure out that it has been deliberately done. So his theory falls short then and there.
Moreover is the fact, that he manages to muder the Hindustani language. His pronunciation of words is pathetic, and he deliberately does that to attach a ‘different’ tag to his songs. Listen to Hai Hai Yaad Sataye Teri, I Love you o sayyoni A A Aashiqui and Lagi Lagi. Diction is a very important element of singing in Indian Music. Saying words differently changes the entire feel of the song. People like Lata, Asha, Hariharan, Pankaj Udhas etc took Urdu training for years to get their diction right.

8) Continuously, I have sung in different pitches and in lower, middle and high octave. Had there been a fourth octave, I could have sung in that also. My goodness!!! He can sing in the fourth octave? ROFL!!! Does he know that there are 6 octaves on a Grand Piano, and Western Music DOES allow singing in the fourth and fifth octaves, albeit in a falsetto and that falsetto singing is an art? The maximum human natural range is 3.5 octaves and the only people I know who can sing in 3.5 octaves are – Lataji, Rafi Sahab, Begum Parveen Sultana, Pt. Jasraj, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Ust. Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ust. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. And that Indian Classical Music debars people from singing in Falsetto? And then he says he isn’t being arrogant! Wow! Rafi’s throat bled when he tried to go past 3.5 octaves in O Duniya Ke Rakhwale.

9) Anuradha SenGupta: You have a lot of young fans and there is this one guy who I know is a big fan of yours. He actually asked me to ask you this. He says that, "I could be dancing to your song and yet the song could actually be a heart that is crying," Isn't it?
Himesh Reshammiya: When you go to a party or a pub even if you are enjoying the music, somewhere you have some different emotions running at the back of your mind. It can be anything from unfulfilled love to having some memories of the past, the desire to be with the someone or may be just looking out for the right kind of partner-all these emotions are attached to your mind when you are rocking to a thumping beat.
That emotion is always there at the back of my mind. I always try to tap that emotion of the listener and I think that is why they want to listen to it again and again. I don’t think that I'm doing anything wrong. Someone please explain to him that music is not just for Dancing in pubs and getting sad, but to satiate our hunger for beauty and also to satiate the 9 emotions of humans. Music is the most beautiful thing on Earth, and it has certain rules. You cannot set sad lyrics to a thumping beat and still call it a sad song. It takes away the pain out of it, whatever the lyrics be. Some examples of classic sad songs –

O Duniya Ke Rakhwale, Naushad, Rafi
Mere Naina Sawan Bhadon, RD, Kishoreda
Jane Kahan Gaye Who Din, S-J, Mukesh
Naina Barse Rimjhim Rimjhim, Madan Mohan, Lata
Toote Hue Khwabon Ne, Salilda, Rafi
Teri Aankh Ke Aansoo, C.Ramachandra, Talat
Sur Na Saje Kya Gaaon Main, S-J, Mannada

10) Himesh Reshammiya: When money and reputation is at stake, I can't take chances. Producer, director, actors and music company's interest is at stake, I certainly can't take chances. I have taken a chance in Benaras and a lot of appreciation came falling on it. Yet it did not sell. Then I thought of a way to compose such music, which would sell, be extremely popular especially among the youngsters.
Anuradha SenGupta: Do you see youngsters as being your main target?
Himesh Reshammiya: Absolutely. I target them only. Youngsters who are below 20 years of age or still in there 20's are my target audience. Because they are the ones who atleast buy my music CDs and cassettes. All the youngsters today are really looking out for melodies. If you just compare the melodies of Aapki Kashish, Zara Jhoom or Aashiq Banaya Apne then you will find that these are superior melodies than Tere Naam. Tere Naam were very simple melodies. Apki kashish is a very soulful raag based composition, yet a very difficult song. That’s the difference between good composers and bad composers. Good composers don’t compose for money. They don’t worry about the market. They make good music, everlasting music. If you try to target a certain group, you’re going to stagnate in your music. The music of Benaras didn’t sell because it was mainly a rehash of his old songs. There’s actually no melody in the three songs he’s quoted. They’re all beat based, set to certain metre, compositions. Aap Ki Kashish is certainly not raag based, certainly not difficult. Tere Naam melodies are actual melodies which are raga based. He doesn’t himself know what he’s talking about.

Regarding his Lifts, here are just a few of his lifts. I am sure if we listen to all his music, we’ll find he lifts quite a lot. Mostly he doesn’t life a song in its entirety, but he does lift signature beats, melodies, chords etc. Some examples –

1) Odhni Odh Ke Naachoon – Tere Naam – from Ali Zafar’s song
2) Songs of Tere Naam – Were rehashes of Laxmikant – Pyarelal’s melodies of the 70s and 80s.
3) Gela Gela Gela – Note for note, lifted, from R Kelly’s ‘Thioa Thiong’
4) Aashiuq Bana Aapane – lifted from Junaid Akhtar’s ‘Na tu aayegi na chain aayega’
5) Aap Ki Kashish – lifted from a single of a local Karachi band
6) Marjawan Mit Jawan – Lifted from a Pakistani song of the same lyrics
7) (Insert the title of KK’s song in ABA) – Lifted from Ali Zafar’s ‘Rangeen’.
8) All the remaining songs in ABA were lifts from Pakistani numbers too
9) Kitna Pyar Karte Hain – Is a rehash of 2 Nadeem Shravan songs from Saajan
10) Lagi Lagi from Aksar is in parts a copy of Pyar Humein Kis Mod Pe Le Aaya from Satta, composed by Pancham
11) The song sung by Vijay Yesudas and Shreya Goshal in Chupke Chupke is a loose copy of Salim-Suleiman’s song in Iqbal.
12) The song in Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, where Sushmita gets drenched in rain wearing a yellow saree is a copy of an Anu Malik – Sameer song
13) The songs he composed for Vinit in C-2005 Megafinals and for Sonu in Benaras are the same songs…and the beats are lifted from Michael Jackson’s hit single.
14) He reuses quite a lot of his tunes. The refrains Janaab-E-Ali and Janaab-E-Jaaniya in songs of the same title are set to the same tune. If he has a bank of 1000 tunes, why does he need to recycle his tunes??

He talks about divine intervention in his life, compares himself to Ust. NAFK, keeps on ranting about delivering 27 hits in 6 months…well, that reeks of arrogance. Nothing more to say. Good composers don’t shoot their mouths off about their work. We’ve never ever seen an AR Rahman, a Jatin-lalit, a Naushad, a Roshan, a Madan Mohan etc give such interviews which reek of insolence and arrogance. On the other hand we have Annu Malik. Hmmm….

We rest our case.