Situated in one of the by lanes of Borivli, is the shop cum residence of Jeetendra Savla one of the many LP record collectors of Mumbai and probably the last few major record collectors we have. Jeetendra has over 8,000 LP records and counting. His most prized collection is the 509 titles of Laxmikant – Pyarelal (350 LPs, 100 EPs, and the rest in CDs), a collection which he swears will never leave the confines of his room. He has even made T – Shirts with the duo’s image on it.

Jeetendra took to collecting LP records only about a decade ago. He earlier worked as a Life Insurance employee, until things went awry and he had to take up alternate jobs. His love for music however was always in him. Slowly he began his collection and within a short span of time has grown large and wide. His shop has literally no space to stock more LPs.

Jeetendra is also buys and sells turntables, and presently he has a Cosmic and Dual up for sale. “I advertise on online sites as a buyer for turntables and LP records, so I can increase my collection” says the Gujarati bachelor.

Jeetendra has dozens of customers not only from different parts of India but from as far Japan and Europe too. He also has people calling him up from London for specific titles of which he sources and sends to the client. He tries not to disappoint anyone. “There is one French national who lives in Mumbai and regularly comes to my shop for classical music. He has been my regular customer since the past many years.” Jeetendra also dispatches LPs and also turntables anywhere in India. “People call me for certain titles and if I have them I send them across to them by courier” says Jeetendra reassuringly. He has sheets of thermocol stacked on a shelf. He shows me how he packs the LPs which have to be dispatched to cities in India or abroad. He continues. “Even if I throw the package of LPs from the 10^th floor of a building, none of my LPs will break, because I pack them up in such a way that no damage can come to them.”

As much as one may love listening to LP records, keeping the player in shape and maintaining the LP records is time consuming, more so with the dust settling on LPs and cleaning them before playing. Jeetendra uses plain water to clean his LPs before playing them and advises on using the inside plastic sleeve to keep them, so that dust doesn’t settle on the grooves. Another problem many customers complain is that sourcing the stylus (needle) for the cartridge. Jeetendra puts you at ease. “I have over 50 Shure cartridges and styluses. Anyone who needs a stylus or a cartridge for any turntable, I will be able to provide it to them. I charge about Rs. 3000 for a Shure cartridge and a stylus (Classic 700D) about Rs. 300.

Jeetendra also has a few rare LPs in his collection and also a few colored LPs. He proudly displays his most prized LP record of the Bollywood movie Night in London. He has two copies of this movie soundtrack. One is from a label who released it in Pakistan and the other in an India based record label. He tells me that both these LPs are very rare and probably never seen before. He shows me a purple colored LP, a red LP and a transparent LP. While 75 per cent of his collection is Bollywood film music, he also has a fairly good collection of Western Music LPs. Displaying his collection from stacks of LPs on metal racks he says. “There are many who come to the shop asking for rock bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and other bands. If I don’t have them, I source them out and make sure the customer gets it.” Most of the LPs are priced from Rs. 200/- and also depend upon the title and condition of the record.

Jeetendra’s biggest moment was when he met music composer Pyarelal in the flesh. “I am a big fan of Laxmikant – Pyarelal. I love their music and have every song composed by them. Sadly I never got a chance to meet the duo, but I did meet Pyarelal a few years ago. He was surprised to see my knowledge of his music and also the fact that I had all his songs” beams Savla. Besides LP records, Jeetendra also has hundreds of rare movie film posters and lobby cards of the 60s, 70s and 80s. These were the posters that were placed in lobbies in theatres, and most were hand painted, unlike today’s posters most of which are a bunch of screen printing images. He also has old copies of movie magazine Filmfare of the 60s, which in today’s day would fetch a couple of thousands for sure. Not only that, he has rare black and white photos of yesteryear composers and film stars in their heyday. The female stars surely look quite a dish.

Jeetendra states that the quality of movies then and now is very much different, not only that even the music is very electronic. He says that in his days, the film reels would be sent from one theatre to the other physically so that the next theatre could screen it at the next show. He is also sad on the state of the music in films today and comments. “The music of today is utter nonsense. There is no variety in it, no creativity. Bappi Lahiri was the last person I can think of who really gave the industry good music. In today’s age and day, the music has no melody and no beauty to it; it has lost the touch of the old days, when you would love to listen to it again and again. Today once you listen to the song, you don’t feel like listening to it again. I have stopped watching movies because of this. There is no substance to the music anymore. The days of music by Laxmikant Pyarelal, R. D. Burman, S. D Burman, Kalyanji – Anandji, Shanker Jaikishen, and other such composers is gone. They created evergreen songs that are still loved even today.”

Jeetendra lives a simple existence and interacts with anyone interested in LP records. He is ever ready to help anyone who wants to enhance his knowledge on music, especially old Bollywood songs, something which he is a genius at. It is sad that in the year of India celebrating 100 Years of Cinema, no one has bothered to feature or give importance to a connoisseur who has a wealth of knowledge of Indian film music of the early 60s. But this doesn’t bother Jeetendra who tries to spread his knowledge to all around. With his shop situated bang on a side street, you cannot miss the sound of an old recording playing on a gramophone player. Jeetendra has no other means of livelihood and lives on the profit he earns through the buying and selling of LP records and turntables. For him, money is secondary, even though he has to settle a bill of Rs 10,000 a month as rent for his shop. With no siblings and dependents, Savla only companion is his music. For he says, “If it wasn’t for my music, I don’t know what I would have done.”

Interviewed by Verus Ferreira