Bollywood Retrospect: Dattaram Wadkar -The brilliance behind 'Aansoo Bhari Hai' from 1958 film Parvarish

This week’s piece is about another Goan musician but one cast in a completely different mould than Chic Chocolate’s. You may not have heard of Dattaram Wadkar (his death anniversary is on June 8) but you would surely have heard songs he either composed, arranged or played the dholak, tabla or daf for.

Dattaram Wadkar, born in Goa in 1929, moved to Bombay in 1942 and learnt playing the tabla and the dholak there. He got his big break when he met Shankar and joined Shankar – Jaikishan’s team as arranger and percussionist.

While another Goan musician, Sebastian D’Souza, conducted their orchestra, Dattaram managed Shankar – Jaikishan’s rhythm section. His friendship with Shankar – Jaikishan led to opportunities to compose music for films independently. He was one of the few composers who made a successful move from being an assistant to a full-fledged music director. Despite initial successes as a music director, he continued assisting Shankar – Jaikishan, and never really broke out on his own like Ravi (who assisted Hemant Kumar) and Laxmikant – Pyarelal (who assisted Kalyanji – Anandji) did. Even his music as an independent music director had strong imprints of Shankar – Jaikishan’s style on it. I highly recommend that you watch the documentary embedded at the end of this post to get to know more about this low-profile musician.

Here are my pick of 5 songs to remember Dattaram Wadkar by:

Maalik Tere Jahan Mein (Ab Dilli Door Nahin, 1957)

“Ab Dilli Door Nahin” (1957) was Dattaram Wadkar’s debut as an independent music director. Raj Kapoor, who was producing this film, had asked Shankar – Jaikishan to compose the music for this film. Since the film was low-profile and Raj Kapoor was not acting in it, the duo decided to recommend Dattaram. They even quelled Raj Kapoor’s apprehensions about a first-time composer by offering to help Dattaram out if the need arose. Dattaram more than validated the faith reposed on him by composing a musical score that went on to become very popular. My most favorite song from the film is the lovely “Maalik Tere Jahan Mein” sung by the underrated Sudha Malhotra.

Chhun Chhun Karti Aayi Chidiya (Ab Dilli Door Nahin, 1957)

This was, by far, the most popular song from “Ab Dilli Door Nahin”. “Chhun Chhun Karti Aayi Chidiya” is a children’s song sung with gusto by Mohammed Rafi. In an interview, Dattaram attributed to this song the genesis of the dholak rhythm that became very popular in Hindi films and came to be known by his name in film circles - "Dattaram theka" or "Dattu theka”. 

Haal-E-Dil Hamara Jaane Na (Shriman Satyawadi, 1960)

This is a classic Dattaram song that could easily be mistaken for a Shankar – Jaikishan song. Dattaram’s predilection for his mentors’ musical grammar is understandable. This was a Mukesh song on Raj Kapoor – a genre of song that Shankar – Jaikishan had perfected. Why fix something that’s not broken? Fun fact – While “Haal-E-Dil” was written by Hasrat Jaipuri, most of the songs in “Shriman Satyawadi” were written by Gulzar, who was credited as Gulzar Deenvi in those days. “Shriman Satyawadi” was among his earliest released songs. “More Gora Ang Laila” (“Bandini”) is considered Gulzar’s first recorded song but it came out three years later, in 1963.

Na Jaane Kahan Tum The (Zindagi Aur Khwab, 1961)

Suman Kalyanpur was a duet specialist of sorts and this duet with Manna Dey is among her best.

Aansoo Bhari Hai Yeh Jeevan Ki Raahen (Parvarish, 1958)

Parvarish is probably Dattaram’s most accomplished album and “Aansoo Bhari Hai Yeh Jeevan Ki Aankhen” the song he’ll be most remembered for. This is a great melody, full of pathos and sung very well by Mukesh. Dattaram’s minimalistic arrangement for the song enhances the songs beauty but was not a matter of choice. He was forced to keep the arrangement simple because of the Cine Musicians Association was on a strike! Other than Mukesh’s baritone, all we hear is a tabla, a veena and a sarangi, played by the son of the legendary Ustad Bundu Khan, Ustad Zahoor Ahmed Khan.

Here is a documentary made on Dattaram Wadekar by Rajshri Productions, named 'Masti Bhara Hai Sama'.