THE arrival of sound in cinema with Alam Ara (1931) put the careers of those stars of the silent era that did not sound ear-friendly and those stars that had a roaring and booming voice became the heartthrob of film fans. Such was the magic of voice that even the blind thronged the cinema halls showing Sikandar to hear the booming voice of Sohrab Modi and Prithviraj Kapoor portraying King Puru and Alexander in the film.
After days, it was realised that in the world of entertainment, an ear-friendly voice, changing the pitch of voice, the right pauses and body language, etc add punch to the performance. Later on actors like Moti Lal, Dilip Kumar, Balraj Sahani and Dev Anand etc pioneered a shift from the theatricality of Sohrab Modi and toned down the volume of Prithviraj Kapoor’s dramatics with a natural dialogue delivery uncluttered by mannerisms and flourishes.
The versatile artistes not only in emoting but also in negotiating the textual dynamics made the best use of their grandiloquence. Balraj Sahani brought an aesthetic sensibility to his role in Do Bigha Zameen.In Jagte Raho,Raj Kapoor, a villager, comes to a city and enters a locality to quench his thirst, but the crowd throughout the night thinks him to be a decoit,chases him. The way Raj Kapoor reacted; the audience could actually feel his seething anger and revulsion. With strong and flamboyant means of articulation which had the audience listening to him in amazement in Mughal-e-Azam, Prithviraj Kapoor depicted the compulsions of emperor Akbar when he admonished Madhubala saying Salim tujhe marne nahin dega aur hum, Anarkali tujhe jeene nahin deengey, ek londiya Hindustan ki mallika nahin ban sakti etc.
Dev Anand has a slight sing-song cadence and certain sauciness in his voice that suits the characters he generally plays, but he was dramatic and subtle in Guide when he said, Raju samajh ley keh karnewala koi aur hai tu to sirf bahana hai, Kam uska naam tera...His words oozed charisma. In Ganga Jamuna, Dilip Kumar is shot in the last scene; he utters Hey Ram before dying. The poignancy and reverence with which Hey Ram reminds the audience of the last moments of Mahatma Gandhi.
In Naya Din Nayi Raat, Sanjeev Kumar embellished nine different roles with inflexions of his voice and the audience wondered if these nine different voices were from one individual.
Raj Kumar’s words Jaani sounded as if these had been chewed to pulp to draw spontaneous applause. His voice had an element of posey when he says Aap ke paaon dekhey, bahut haseen hain, inhen zameen par mat uttariyega, mailey ho jayengey, in Pakeezah. Till his death, Jaani voice remained his strongest connection with the masses and mandarins.
Without his rich baritone, Amitabh Bachchan’s career graph would have survived the downers, In Deewar in a confrontation with Shashi Kapoor his harsh and grim voice seethes in fury and anguish, Bhai pahele us aadmi ke sign lekar aao jisne mere haath par chor likha hai, pahele us aadmi ke sign lekar aao jisne hamari maa ko vidhva banaya tha.... Similarly, Shatrughan Sinha’s thundering abhi is dharti par hamain marne wala paida hi nahin hua...in Ganga Tera Paani Amrit and in Kundan, his thundering voice renamed his as Shotgun.
Meena Kumari and Nutan are whispering was enough to identify them with our eyes closed. Meena Kumar’s quivering timber saying Doctor Sahib Aap mujh se badla to nahin lenge in Dil Ek Mandir conveyed the agony of a wife whose husband is dying of cancer. As an orphan Dalit girl in Sujata, she displayed a riot of emotion saying agar hawa mujhey choo sakti hai to insaan kyon nahin. Madhu Bala oozed grace and magnanimity in her voice when she said Jahanpanah ki behisaab bakshishon key badley, Anarkali Shahenshah Akbar ko apna khoon maaf karti hai in Mughal-e-Azam. In the use of her voice, Rekha strives fro perfection—in diction and pitch – and invariably, she achieves it. She knows how and which groove is right for which mood and moment. Smita Patil’s dialogue delivery could be dramatic and subtle. In romantic mode, she kept her range on a leash, but let her demons out when it came to a scene of catharsis. In Mirch Masala she breathes fire and brimstone while refusing to dance to the tune of the lecherous Subedar. Her voice was as wounding as a whiplash. Contrast the volatile pitch of Shabana Azmi in Godmother with the tenderness of her voice in Aarth when pleading with her husband not to divorce her. Her tremulous voice conveys the agony and dilemma of a wife left in the lurch for no fault of hers.
Nana Patekar’s Pratap in Krantiveer walked away with the audience’s applause on the strength of dialogue delivery. Naseeruddin Shah in Sparsh, Om Puri in Virasaat provided lessons in vocal artistry. Last but not the least, who can forget Pran, whose Banne Khan, Zanzeer’s Khan and above all oo thik haina thik...still sounds the ears. Cinema is meant not only for the eyes, the audiences have ears too. Are Kaalia tera kya hoga...aaaah...aaaah Amzad Khan in Sholey, Sara sahar mujhe lion ke naam se janta hai Ajit’s sensational voice was the pull of sound on screen when the talkie was provided voice.
After days, it was realised that in the world of entertainment, an ear-friendly voice, changing the pitch of voice, the right pauses and body language, etc add punch to the performance. Later on actors like Moti Lal, Dilip Kumar, Balraj Sahani and Dev Anand etc pioneered a shift from the theatricality of Sohrab Modi and toned down the volume of Prithviraj Kapoor’s dramatics with a natural dialogue delivery uncluttered by mannerisms and flourishes.
The versatile artistes not only in emoting but also in negotiating the textual dynamics made the best use of their grandiloquence. Balraj Sahani brought an aesthetic sensibility to his role in Do Bigha Zameen.In Jagte Raho,Raj Kapoor, a villager, comes to a city and enters a locality to quench his thirst, but the crowd throughout the night thinks him to be a decoit,chases him. The way Raj Kapoor reacted; the audience could actually feel his seething anger and revulsion. With strong and flamboyant means of articulation which had the audience listening to him in amazement in Mughal-e-Azam, Prithviraj Kapoor depicted the compulsions of emperor Akbar when he admonished Madhubala saying Salim tujhe marne nahin dega aur hum, Anarkali tujhe jeene nahin deengey, ek londiya Hindustan ki mallika nahin ban sakti etc.
Dev Anand has a slight sing-song cadence and certain sauciness in his voice that suits the characters he generally plays, but he was dramatic and subtle in Guide when he said, Raju samajh ley keh karnewala koi aur hai tu to sirf bahana hai, Kam uska naam tera...His words oozed charisma. In Ganga Jamuna, Dilip Kumar is shot in the last scene; he utters Hey Ram before dying. The poignancy and reverence with which Hey Ram reminds the audience of the last moments of Mahatma Gandhi.
In Naya Din Nayi Raat, Sanjeev Kumar embellished nine different roles with inflexions of his voice and the audience wondered if these nine different voices were from one individual.
Raj Kumar’s words Jaani sounded as if these had been chewed to pulp to draw spontaneous applause. His voice had an element of posey when he says Aap ke paaon dekhey, bahut haseen hain, inhen zameen par mat uttariyega, mailey ho jayengey, in Pakeezah. Till his death, Jaani voice remained his strongest connection with the masses and mandarins.
Without his rich baritone, Amitabh Bachchan’s career graph would have survived the downers, In Deewar in a confrontation with Shashi Kapoor his harsh and grim voice seethes in fury and anguish, Bhai pahele us aadmi ke sign lekar aao jisne mere haath par chor likha hai, pahele us aadmi ke sign lekar aao jisne hamari maa ko vidhva banaya tha.... Similarly, Shatrughan Sinha’s thundering abhi is dharti par hamain marne wala paida hi nahin hua...in Ganga Tera Paani Amrit and in Kundan, his thundering voice renamed his as Shotgun.
Meena Kumari and Nutan are whispering was enough to identify them with our eyes closed. Meena Kumar’s quivering timber saying Doctor Sahib Aap mujh se badla to nahin lenge in Dil Ek Mandir conveyed the agony of a wife whose husband is dying of cancer. As an orphan Dalit girl in Sujata, she displayed a riot of emotion saying agar hawa mujhey choo sakti hai to insaan kyon nahin. Madhu Bala oozed grace and magnanimity in her voice when she said Jahanpanah ki behisaab bakshishon key badley, Anarkali Shahenshah Akbar ko apna khoon maaf karti hai in Mughal-e-Azam. In the use of her voice, Rekha strives fro perfection—in diction and pitch – and invariably, she achieves it. She knows how and which groove is right for which mood and moment. Smita Patil’s dialogue delivery could be dramatic and subtle. In romantic mode, she kept her range on a leash, but let her demons out when it came to a scene of catharsis. In Mirch Masala she breathes fire and brimstone while refusing to dance to the tune of the lecherous Subedar. Her voice was as wounding as a whiplash. Contrast the volatile pitch of Shabana Azmi in Godmother with the tenderness of her voice in Aarth when pleading with her husband not to divorce her. Her tremulous voice conveys the agony and dilemma of a wife left in the lurch for no fault of hers.
Nana Patekar’s Pratap in Krantiveer walked away with the audience’s applause on the strength of dialogue delivery. Naseeruddin Shah in Sparsh, Om Puri in Virasaat provided lessons in vocal artistry. Last but not the least, who can forget Pran, whose Banne Khan, Zanzeer’s Khan and above all oo thik haina thik...still sounds the ears. Cinema is meant not only for the eyes, the audiences have ears too. Are Kaalia tera kya hoga...aaaah...aaaah Amzad Khan in Sholey, Sara sahar mujhe lion ke naam se janta hai Ajit’s sensational voice was the pull of sound on screen when the talkie was provided voice.
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