04 September,2022 07:39 PM IST | Mumbai | Nidhi Lodaya
Dr Prakash Joshi has over 1,000 records, which he categorises alphabetically. Music composer late OP Nayyar has a whole drawer to himself
Dr Prakash Joshi's obsession is perfectly matched to his 100-year-old cottage: A thatched roof, a ceiling high enough to insert a mezzanine, a sunken sitting room, and the kitchen opening up to a verandah ruled by a traditional jhula. Within whispering distance is the 100-year-old Shri Venkatesh Balaji mandir and Banganga holy tank.
"This is where I used to have my mehfils," says the 76-year-old general practitioner, speaking of evenings spent with musicians, composers and music directors from the golden era of the Hindi film industry. We're here to meet Dr Joshi ahead of his exhibition at Piramal Art Gallery at NCPA that displays a fraction of his collection: black-and-white portraits of Bollywood's leading ladies.
This collection is an off shoot of his larger preoccupation - vinyl records of Hindi movie soundtracks collected since the 1970s. Eight to 10 drawers in his living room are filled with records dating from the 1930s to the '70s, arranged alphabetically by movie title, as well as music composer. "I have an entire drawer dedicated to OP Nayyar," he beams. The music composer was also a frequent presence at Dr Joshi's mehfils in the courtyard, as were others such as Anil Biswas and Salil Chowdhury. The courtyard was alive with the sound of music from the 1990s till the early 2000s.
Unable to put an exact number to his collection, the doctor estimates it to hover above 1,000 records. The sleeve of many of these bears a message and autograph from a musician or composer. OP Nayyar signed Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi in 1999.
When he began collecting vinyls, a record would cost around Rs 50 in Chor Bazaar. Then came video cassettes and later, VCDs from London, Karachi, Hong Kong, Dubai, and South Africa. A trophy record that he played this writer had OST (original soundtrack) of the 1953 hit Anarkali on one side and the 1954 blockbuster Nagin on the other. Manufactured in South Africa, it wasn't available in India.
"There was an atmosphere of music at home," he says. "We had a 78 RPM record player, and my mother would sing." Radio was the main source of entertainment in his childhood, which played Marathi natya sangeet (songs from plays), shastriya sangeet and Hindi film music. "Ten to 15 homes would share a radio, and we'd come together to tune into Radio Ceylon which played Hindi film songs," he recalls. "I used to look forward to Ameen Sayani's programme, Binaca Geetmala, which was a super hit in Pakistan and other neighbouring countries too."
From 1965 to 1970, the years he was in medical school, Dr Joshi would try and watch what his tight study schedule in the field of medicine and trickle of money allowed. "In those days, streets in Mumbai turned into communal theatres during Ganeshotsav when films were projected on a white bed sheet, and I watched a lot of them at the pandals," he says.
When he became a family physician, now a fading breed, he started collecting records. Eventually, this led to booklets (handout advertisements for upcoming movies) and lobby cards (mini posters pinned in the lobby of movie theatre for yet-to-be released movies). Chor Bazaar and Lamington Road, once known as the hub for film paraphernalia became his go-to places to add to his ever-expanding collection. He would visit Chor Bazaar every Friday.
"Slowly, I acquired songs which even the music directors didn't have [a copy of]," he says with pride. He loves Kishore Kumar, but "my blood group is L"; L for Lata Mangeshkar, whose work dominates his collection.
"My main passion has been films and songs; these pictures just happened on the way," he says as he pulls out promotional lobby cards, booklets and posters, each categorised alphabetically under the decade of the movie's release. They are wrapped in plastic and then slipped in a paper bag. "I have also digitised everything," he says. Each movie booklet is made up of four to five leaves detailing the synopsis of the movie, its cast, songs with lyrics, and the names of the composers as well as other technicians. This information was repeated in Urdu and Marathi.
The upcoming exhibition has promotional pictures and posters of actors such as Noor Jehan, Madhubala, Helen, Nutan, Meena Kumari, Kamini Kaushal and others that were circulated around their films. Piramal Art Gallery's curators Mukesh Parpiani - former photo-editor at this newspaper - and Ashok Dabhade helped choose the 75 photos and 10 posters on display from September 10 to 13. Dr Joshi will walk guests through each of them personally, and also hold a talk.
His greatest joy has been sharing his music through his mehfils. "If I don't play for music lovers, what's the point of collecting?" he says with a smile. "I have met so many people; I really enjoyed that."
