30 Years Of Viju Shah's Mast-Mast Mohra: A Look Back At Viu Shah's Iconic Soundtrack
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Sampling international music, concocting catchy synth hooks but keeping the soul distinctively Indian: music pundits had awarded (but almost compartmentalized) Viju Shah as the One Man (Synth) Band after the successful but similar music of Tridev (“Tirchi Topiwale”) and Vishwatma (“Saat Samundar Paar”).
But things were going to be slightly different with director Rajiv Rai, lyricist Anand Bakshi and composer Viju Shah’s next soundtrack. With the 1994-thriller Mohra, starring Akshay Kumar and Raveena Tandon, the trio had “decided to make songs of all kinds.” Shah recalled in a Scroll interview.
Digging his inventory, he found, amidst global sound samples, a 30-year-old shelved song sung by Mukesh, written by Indeevar and composed by Kalyanji-Anandji: “Na Kajre Ki Dhaar”. Shah decided to revive it as a duet.
Moreover, moving in the same direction, Shah decidedly made Mohra more melody-driven, doffing a hat to the old-school compositions of his father and uncle, strokes of which are visible in the ditties “Subah Se Lekar Shaam Tak” and “Kaash Kahin Aisa Hota”.
But of course, there were samples too (is it even a Viju Shah album if it doesn’t have a sample or two?)
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s qawwali “Dum Mast Qalandar” became “Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast” (one of Khan’s favourite Bollywood “copies”, as he noted in an interview). And–saving the best for last–the opening melody of Dr Alban’s “Roll Down Di Rubber Man” founded the hook of “Tip Tip Barsa Paani”.
Interestingly, these two songs, which themselves were sampled from elsewhere, would be remade again as “Cheez Badi” in Abbas-Mustan’s Machine (2017), and “Tip Tip” in Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi (2021).
The soundtrack also featured an “unpicturised” upbeat Kumar Sanu & Alka Yagnik duet “Dil Har Koi Deta Hai”, a tipsy and foreboding Kavita Krishnamurthy solo: “Main Cheez Badi Hoon Mast”, and two solo male and female, “sad” versions of “Na Kajre Ki Dhaar” (typical of Viju Shah’s earlier acts).
30 years ago today, Mohra hit the big screen, its soundtrack became the second-most-sold Bollywood album of the year, and Viju Shah got his first-ever solo Filmfare nomination.
But things were going to be slightly different with director Rajiv Rai, lyricist Anand Bakshi and composer Viju Shah’s next soundtrack. With the 1994-thriller Mohra, starring Akshay Kumar and Raveena Tandon, the trio had “decided to make songs of all kinds.” Shah recalled in a Scroll interview.
Digging his inventory, he found, amidst global sound samples, a 30-year-old shelved song sung by Mukesh, written by Indeevar and composed by Kalyanji-Anandji: “Na Kajre Ki Dhaar”. Shah decided to revive it as a duet.
Moreover, moving in the same direction, Shah decidedly made Mohra more melody-driven, doffing a hat to the old-school compositions of his father and uncle, strokes of which are visible in the ditties “Subah Se Lekar Shaam Tak” and “Kaash Kahin Aisa Hota”.
But of course, there were samples too (is it even a Viju Shah album if it doesn’t have a sample or two?)
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s qawwali “Dum Mast Qalandar” became “Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast” (one of Khan’s favourite Bollywood “copies”, as he noted in an interview). And–saving the best for last–the opening melody of Dr Alban’s “Roll Down Di Rubber Man” founded the hook of “Tip Tip Barsa Paani”.
Interestingly, these two songs, which themselves were sampled from elsewhere, would be remade again as “Cheez Badi” in Abbas-Mustan’s Machine (2017), and “Tip Tip” in Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi (2021).
The soundtrack also featured an “unpicturised” upbeat Kumar Sanu & Alka Yagnik duet “Dil Har Koi Deta Hai”, a tipsy and foreboding Kavita Krishnamurthy solo: “Main Cheez Badi Hoon Mast”, and two solo male and female, “sad” versions of “Na Kajre Ki Dhaar” (typical of Viju Shah’s earlier acts).
30 years ago today, Mohra hit the big screen, its soundtrack became the second-most-sold Bollywood album of the year, and Viju Shah got his first-ever solo Filmfare nomination.
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