getting facts straight

Screen recently had a little blurb (ripped off from an old interview elsewhere) about Anu Malik's genius ( ... "a contradiction in terms"). The reporter (a certain M. A. Khan) who gathered/researched/filched/copied-and-pasted this information clearly had absolutely no clue whatsoever about hindustani classical music. Or perhaps it was the typesetter. Here's the extract (I've added colours to indicate the faux pas and underlined text that might offer some avenues for giggling): looking at Anu Malik's work to date proves his versatility. From the popular 'Yeh kaali kaali ankhen...' (Baazigar) to the class 'Paanchi nadiyaa pawan ke jhoke...'(Refugee), he has shown his vast range. It has to do with his genes, being the son of composer Sardar Malik, since Anu himself has declared that he has not got any formal training in music. His father never encouraged him to his profession since he had to struggle a lot. So how did Anu acquire the skill? "Well, it's God's gift," says the composer, "I had this 'rare' ability to compose a tune, though I never knew the ragas on which they were based. Even today, it's the same. Tunes just come to me."

One such tune that came to him was for J.P. Dutta's Refugee. The song 'Aisa lagta hai...' was instrumental in getting Anu the National Award for the Best Music Director. Though the composer himself was unaware of the ragas he used in this particular song, his father Sardar Malik pointed out to him that he had come up with a 'rare composition' that was an amalgamation of Raag Yemen and Raag Bihar. The line 'Aisa lagta hai dil yeh mera khone ko hai...' is in Raag Yaman, while the next line 'Warna dil kyon dhadakta...' is based on Raag Bihar.

It's not too difficult to figure out that Raag Yemen is nothing but Raag Yaman (thankfully the reporter/typesetter/both) corrected the gaffe in the second instance. And there ain't no such thing as Raag Bihar. The closest correction is actually the correct one: Raag Bihag.

On a related note: a better source (and for me, a more plausible source, since tunes "come" to Anu Malik) for aisaa lagataa hai is the a.ntaraa of din pyaar ke aa_e.Nge [ISB lyrics] (R D Burman) from Saveray Wali Gadi.

Another Anu Malik quote