In his understated but illustrious acting career, the late Rishi Kapoor had some great music going for him. One such album is the 1985 released ‘Saagar’ from powerhouse duo RD Burman and Javed Akhter. Filmmaker Ramesh Sippy made a major comeback with this one after the debacle of ‘Shaan’. Set in Goa, it’s one of those eternal love triangle co-starring Dimple Kapadia and a very fine Kamala Hassan.

Side A opens up with the now classic duet, Saagar Kinaare by Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar. The song’s melody is taken from RD Burman’s father, SD Burman’s song from the movie, ‘Naujawaan’ (1951), and it’s a complete winner with that typical RDB guitar twang. Interestingly, this melody has no less than 10 avatars in the Indian Cinema music history, ranging from takes by Roshan, Madan Mohan, and RD Burman himself on earlier occasions. The next track, Sach Mere Yaar Hai is essentially a beautiful sentimental solo sung by SP Balasubramaniam (SPB) in his quintessential fluid, silky style. The intro to the song is a comb being brushed through the teeth. Yet another RD innovation.

This is followed by what I feel is a lovely seductive version of the classic Abhi Na Jao Chor Kar (from ‘Hum Donon’). The classic woman wants to leave and the man wants her to stay scenario. If the Hum Donon song was beautiful in its innocence, Jaane Do Na (Asha Bhosale and Shailendra Singh) is beautiful in its sexual energy. The last song of the side is a Goan feel track O Maria, inspired by the song Mamunia from the album ‘Band On The Run’ by The Wings. RD often used to do this…Take the Mukhda from another track and then build a different world around it. Some call it plagiarism; I choose to call it getting inspired.

Side B opens up with a brilliant instrumental, Jalpari Theme, with RD himself humming the melody bit. Later he turned this into a full-fledged song, sung by SPB and Anuradha Paudwal (called Aaja Meri Jaan). The next song is where RDB, Kishore and Guitar get in their elements to give a lovely ode, sung absolutely brilliantly on screen by Rishi Kapoor. Those were Doordarshan and Chitrahar days, I was a kid and whenever this song would come, I would think it can’t be anyone else than the actor on the screen (Rishi Kapoor) singing and playing the guitar. His mannerisms and expressions were so authentic.

The next track is a fun, camaraderie track, Yunhi Gaate Raho sung by Kishore Kumar and SPB followed by a slow and sad version of Saagar Kinare by Lata Mangeshkar. In toto, ‘Saagar’ is another RD Burman gem with not a single wrong note. Rishi Kapoor played a musician in a few movies (‘Karz’, ‘Hum Kissie Se Kum Nahin’) and as I mentioned earlier, always did it with such authenticity that one wouldn’t even doubt for a second that he is just acting. A rarity for those days, when most actors didn’t even know how to hold a guitar. And Chintu Ji always carried that same authenticity in every role that he played, till his dying day. Travel well, good sir.

Year: 1985

Label: Music India Limited / Universal

Genre: OST

Rating: 4.5/5

Reviewed by Meraj Hasan

Meraj Hasan is a Mumbai based communication professional (and an amateur poet/musician) with a passion for listening to music the vinyl way. His 25 year old Technics turntable along with a humble collection of LPs across genres like Classic rock, Classical, Blues and Jazz (amongst others) are his prized possessions.

He can be reached at +91 9833410791 or email: meraj.hasan@gmail.com