“संसार है इक नदिया” – (सोनिक) ओमी
..............शिशिर कृष्ण शर्मा
13 जनवरी 1939 को स्यालकोट (पाकिस्तान) में जन्मे ‘ओमप्रकाश सोनिक’ के पिता का ज़मीनें खरीदने-बेचने का कारोबार था और मां एक आम घरेलू महिला थीं। आठ भाई और दो बहनों में ओमप्रकाश तीसरे नम्बर पर थे। उन्होंने चौथी तक की पढ़ाई स्यालकोट में की थी। उन्हीं दिनों बंटवारा हुआ तो उनका परिवार पठानकोट, अमृतसर और यमुनानगर में रूकता-ठहरता आख़िर में दिल्ली आकर बस गया। ओमप्रकाश के सगे चाचा ‘मनोहरलाल सोनिक’ अभिनेता ओमप्रकाश के बड़े भाई बक्षी जंगबहादुर की ‘म्यूज़िकल डांस पार्टी’ में बतौर गायक नौकरी करते थे और बंटवारे के समय कार्यक्रम के सिलसिले में देहरादून गए हुए थे। मनोहरलाल जब दो बरस के थे तो उनकी आंखें चली गयी थीं। लाहौर के ब्लाईंड स्कूल से ब्रेल में मैट्रिक करने के बाद उन्होंने संगीत में विशारद किया था। उन्होंने कुछ समय बतौर सहायक, पंडित अमरनाथ के साथ काम किया, और फिर उन्हें ‘म्यूज़िकल डांस पार्टी’ में नौकरी मिल गयी थी।
मुम्बई में मनोहरलाल सोनिक की पहचान के सिर्फ़ दो ही लोग थे, जिनमें एक थे पंडित अमरनाथ के संगीतकार बेटे हरबंस और दूसरी गायिका शांति शर्मा, जिन्होंने लाहौर में मनोहरलाल सोनिक से गायन की शिक्षा ली थी। 40
के दशक के आख़िर में शांति शर्मा ने रईस, धूमधाम, शौक़ीन, वीर घटोत्कच और आहुति जैसी कुछ फ़िल्मों में गीत गाए थे और फिर वो मुम्बई छोड़कर दिल्ली जा बसी थीं।
मुम्बई पहुंचकर मनोहरलाल और ओमी जी शांति शर्मा से उनके खार (पूर्व) स्थित निवासस्थान पर जाकर मिले और उसी दिन शांति शर्मा के साथ उन्हें रेकॉर्डिंग पर जाने का मौक़ा मिला। ओमीजी बताते हैं, ‘मेरी उम्र उस वक़्त महज़ नौ बरस की थी इसलिए ये तो मुझे याद नहीं है कि वो फ़िल्म या गीत कौन सा था लेकिन वो एक युगलगीत था और चूंकि रेकॉर्डिंग पर पुरूष गायक नहीं पहुंच पाया था इसलिए संगीतकार हरबंस ने वो गीत शांति शर्मा और चाचा की आवाज़ों में रेकॉर्ड कर लिया था।‘ ये एक अच्छी शुरूआत थी जिसके बाद मनोहरलाल ने मास्टर सोनिक के नाम से हुस्नलाल भगतराम और गुलशन सूफ़ी जैसे संगीतकारों के लिए कई गीत गाए। साल 1955
में बनी फ़िल्म ‘घमंड’ में गुलशन सूफ़ी के संगीत में उनका गाया सोलो गीत ‘सुबह का भूला शाम को गर लौट के घर आ जाए’ उस दौर में बेहद मशहूर हुआ था।
मुम्बई में ओमी जी के एक मामा सरदार मानसिंह राणा भी रहते थे जो आज़ाद हिंद फ़ौज से अपने जुड़ाव की वजह से कॉमरेड कहलाते थे। नेताजी सुभाषचन्द्र बोस के निधन के बाद वो मुम्बई चले आए थे, जहां उन्होंने कॉमरेड प्रताप राणा के नाम से निर्माता हल्दिया के साथ मिलकर फ़िल्म ‘परवाना’ बनाई थी। साल 1947
में रिलीज़ हुई फ़िल्म परवाना के.एल.सहगल की आख़िरी फ़िल्म थी। उसके बाद कॉमरेड प्रताप राणा ने अकेले ही फ़िल्म ‘विद्या’ (1948)
और ‘जीत’ (1949)
बनाईं। जीत उनकी पहली पत्नी का नाम था जिनके गुज़र जाने के बाद उन्होंने निर्देशक मोहन सिंहा की बेटी विद्या के साथ दूसरा विवाह किया था। लेकिन साल 1947
में प्रसव के दौरान विद्या का भी देहांत हो गया था। कॉमरेड प्रताप राणा ने अपनी फ़िल्मों के नाम श्रद्धांजलि स्वरूप अपनी दोनों स्वर्गवासी पत्नियों के नामों पर रखे थे। विद्या की नवजात बच्ची को उसके नाना मोहन सिंहा पाला-पोसा और उसका नाम भी अपनी स्वर्गवासी बेटी के नाम पर ही रखा। ओमी जी के मामा की उस बेटी को आज हम अभिनेत्री विद्या सिंहा के तौर पर जानते हैं, और ओमी जी के मामा की बेटी होने के नाते वो इनकी ममेरी बहन हैं।
मदनमोहन के बाद मनोहरलाल सोनिक संगीतकार रोशन के अरेंजर बने। इसके अलावा उन्होंने उषा खन्ना की पहली फ़िल्म ‘दिल देके देखो’ में भी बतौर अरेंजर काम किया। रोशन की फ़िल्म ‘बाबर’ में उन्होंने बतौर कोरस-गायक गीत भी गाए। उधर रफ़ी के गाए फ़िल्म ‘बाबर’ के मशहूर गीत ‘तुम एक बार मोहब्बत का इम्तहान तो लो’ की रेकॉर्डिंग के दौरान संगीतकार रोशन के असिस्टेंट ‘मारिया’ नहीं पहुंच पाए तो रोशन ने ओमी जी की मदद ली जो हमेशा ही अपने नेत्रहीन चाचा का सहारा बनकर उनके साथ मौजूद होते थे। उस रेकॉर्डिंग के दौरान ओमी जी की मेहनत और लगन को देखकर रोशन इतने प्रभावित हुए कि उन्होंने ओमी जी को भी स्थायी तौर पर अपना असिस्टेंट बना लिया। उल्लेखनीय है कि वर्तमान में मुम्बई के पुलिस कमिश्नर राकेश मारिया, रोशन के उन्हीं असिस्टेण्ट ‘मारिया’ के बेटे हैं।
‘दिल ने फिर याद किया’ अपने दौर की बहुत बड़ी म्यूज़िकल हिट साबित हुई। लेकिन उसके बाद दो साल तक ‘सोनिक-ओमी’ की इस जोड़ी को अच्छे ऑफ़र के इंतज़ार में ख़ाली बैठे रहना पड़ा। उस दौरान छोटी-छोटी फ़िल्मों के ऑफ़र्स तो उन्हें मिलते रहे लेकिन ऐसे तमाम ऑफ़र्स को वो ठुकराते चले गए। उधर संगीतकार बन जाने की वजह से असिस्टेण्ट और अरेंजर का काम मिलना भी बंद हो गया था। ओमी जी बताते हैं, ‘इतनी बड़ी हिट देने के बावजूद संघर्ष का दौर एक बार फिर से शुरू हो चुका था। हम आख़िर कब तक साईनिंग अमाऊंट पर निर्भर रह सकते थे। नतीजतन एक वक़्त ऐसा आया जब हमें जो भी काम मिला उसे मंज़ूर करना ही पड़ा। साल 1968 में रिलीज़ हुई हमारी दूसरी फ़िल्म ‘आबरू’ का संगीत भी बेहद लोकप्रिय हुआ था।
यों तो साल 1989 में रिलीज़ हुई ‘देश के दुश्मन’ ‘सोनिक-ओमी’ द्वारा संगीतबद्ध की गयी आख़िरी फ़िल्म थी, लेकिन पहले से बनती आ रही उनकी कुछ छोटी-छोटी फ़िल्में बाद तक भी रिलीज़ होती रहीं। साल 1998
में रिलीज़ हुई फ़िल्म ‘हिंद की बेटी’ को उनकी आख़िरी रिलीज़ कहा जा सकता है।
क़रीब चार साल पहले यूनिवर्सल कम्पनी ने ‘अनहर्ड मॅलोडीज़’ के नाम से एक ऑडियो सी.डी. रिलीज़ की थी, जिसमें सोनिक-ओमी के 14 बेहद कर्णप्रिय ऐसे गीतों को शामिल किया गया है जो किसी वजह से अभी तक बाज़ार में नहीं आ पाए थे।
फ़िल्म ‘नया दौर’ के गीत ‘ये देश है वीर जवानों का’ में रफ़ी के सहगायक एस.बलबीर ओमीजी के बेहद क़रीबी दोस्तों में से थे। बलबीर ने ‘आज क्यों हमसे परदा है’ (साधना), ‘भेज छना छन’ (अब दिल्ली दूर नहीं), ‘चाहे ये मानो चाहे वो मानो’ (धर्मपुत्र), ‘ये माना मेरी जां, मोहब्बत सज़ा है’ (हंसते ज़ख़्म), ‘जी चाहता है चूम लूं’ (बरसात की रात), ‘जो मामा आ जाएगा’ (हीर रांझा) जैसे कई हिट गीत गाए थे। सत्तर के दशक की शुरूआत तक तो उनके इक्का-दुक्का गीत बाज़ार में आते रहे लेकिन फिर अचानक ही बलबीर का नाम सुनाई देना बंद हो गया। अनमोल फ़नकार के साथ बातचीत के दौरान एस.बलबीर की ग़ुमशुदगी की वजह पर से परदा हटाते हुए ओमी जी ने बताया कि बलबीर की शादी नहीं हुई थी, और वो अंधेरी (पश्चिम) के यारी रोड-वर्सोवा की कोली बस्ती में एक कोली महिला के साथ लिव-इन रिलेशनशिप में रहते थे। सन 1970 के आसपास पंजाब के उनके गांव में उन्हें क़त्ल कर दिया गया था। उस वक़्त उनकी उम्र क़रीब 40 साल थी।
मनोहरलाल सोनिक का जन्म 24
नवम्बर 1923
को गुजरांवाला में हुआ था। 9 जुलाई 1993 को उनका देहांत हुआ जिसके बाद ये जोड़ी हिन्दी सिनेमा के इतिहास का हिस्सा बनकर रह गयी। अब पिछले कई बरसों से ओमी जी ‘इंडियन परफ़ॉर्मिंग राईट्स सोसायटी’ (आई.पी.आर.एस.) के निदेशक पद पर कार्यरत हैं। आई.पी.आर.एस. वो संस्था है जो गीत की रॉयल्टी को लेकर गीतकारों, संगीतकारों, निर्माताओं और म्यूज़िक कंपनियों के बीच सामंजस्य स्थापित करते हुए इन सभी के हित में काम करती है।
एक बेटे और एक बेटी के पिता ओमी जी यानि कि ओमप्रकाश सोनिक अपने बेटे सोम सोनिक, बहू और दो पोतों निखिल और करण के साथ रहते हैं। उनकी बेटी का विवाह हो चुका है और वो मुम्बई के ही पवई इलाक़े में अपने होटल व्यवसायी पति के साथ रहती हैं। ओमी जी कहते हैं, ये तो फ़िल्मी दुनिया का दस्तूर ही है कि जो ऊपर चढ़ा, उसे एक रोज़ नीचे भी गिरना ही होता है। जिसने फ़िल्मी दुनिया की इस सच्चाई को समझ लिया, उसे हालात से समझौता करने में कभी भी परेशानी नहीं होती। ख़ुशकिस्मती से मैं भी ऐसे ही लोगों में से हूं।
ओमी जी का निधन 7 जुलाई 2016
को 77
साल की उम्र में मुम्बई में हुआ|
We
are thankful to –
Mr. Harish Raghuvanshi & Mr. Harmandir Singh ‘Hamraz’ for their valuable suggestion, guidance and support.
Mr.
S.M.M.Ausaja for providing movies’ posters.
Ms.
Aksher Apoorva, Mr. Gajendra Khanna & Ms. Maitri Manthan for the English
translation of the write ups.
Mr.
Manaswi Sharma for the technical support including video
editing.
Omi ji On BHD
“Sansaar Hai Ik Nadiya” – (Sonik) Omi
..............Shishir Krishna Sharma
In the 1960’s decade a new composer duo entered with a bang in the
world of Hindi cinema. This composer duo was ‘Sonik-Omi’ and the film was the 1966 release ‘Dil Ne Phir
Yaad Kiya’ which was made
under the banner of ‘Rawal Films’. This film was
directed by C.L.Rawal along with the stars like Nutan, Dharmendra and Rehman in
the main lead. Written by G.L.Rawal and composed by Sonik-Omi, all 10 songs of this film are still just as popular
even after 48 years from its release. Within a career span of almost 2 ½
decades, Sonik-Omi composed
music for almost 100 films. And then after Sonik’s demise in 1993, the duo became a
part of Hindi cinema’s history. Omi Ji of this set of two is still very much
hale and hearty and resides in Andheri West’s Yari Road with his son and
daughter in law. During his
interview with ‘Beete Hue Din’, Omi Ji was kind enough to
speak in detail about his personal and professional life.
Born on 13th January 1939 in Sialkot (Pakistan), Om Prakash Sonik’s father dealt in
buying and selling land whereas his mother was a regular housewife. Om Prakash was the third of 8 brothers and sisters. He
studied till the 4th grade in Sialkot. And as the partition
happened, his family travelled haltingly through Pathankot, Amritsar, Yamuna Nagar and finally to Delhi. Om Prakash’s Chacha (father’s younger
brother) ‘Manohar Lal Sonik’, used to work as
a singer in actor Om Prakash’s
elder brother, Bakshi Jang Bahadur’s ‘Musical Dance Party’ and due to his work schedule, he was in Dehradoon during
the partition. Manohar Lal had lost his eye
sight when he was merely 2 years old. After passing his Matric in Braille from Lahore’s Blind School he did his ‘Visharad’ in music. For some time he assisted Pandit Amarnath after which he landed a job in ‘Musical Dance
Party’. Omi Ji tells us, ‘as soon as we
reached Delhi, Chacha Manohar Lal also came from Dehradoon to Delhi where he got a
job in the ‘Manik Lal Theatre Group. Chacha was approximately 17 years older to
me. I was very fond of music as well and so naturally I was quite close to him.
Once Chacha decided to go to Mumbai and try his luck in films, my father
decided to send me with him as a support since he was visually handicapped. And
so in the year 1948 we both came to Mumbai.’
Manohar Lal Sonik knew only 2 people in Mumbai, one of whom was
Pandit Amarnath’s composer son Harbans and the other was singer Shanti Sharma who had learnt
music from Manohar Lal Sonik in Lahore. Towards the end of the 1940’s Shanti Sharma had sung for a few
films like ‘Raees’, ‘Dhoomdhaam’, ‘Shaukeen’, ‘Veer
Ghatotkach’ and ‘Ahuti’ and then she left Mumbai for Delhi.
(In case any reader has any kind of information about
singer Shanti Sharma, we request you
to kindly get in touch with ‘Beete Hue Din'. Thank you!)
On reaching Mumbai, Manohar Lal and Omi Ji went to meet Shanti Sharma at her
residence in Khar (East) and fatefully got a chance to go to a recording with her on the
same day. Omi Ji tells us, ‘since I was merely
9 years old, I won’t be able to tell you which song it was or for which film it
was, but I do remember that it was a duet as the male singer didn’t turn up and
hence composer Harbans decided to record
the song with Shanti Sharma and Chacha. This
was a truly good start as hereafter Manohar Lal sang many songs for composers like Husnlal Bhagatram and Gulshan Sufi under the
pseudo name ‘Master Sonik’. His solo song ‘subah ka bhoola
sham ko gar laut ke ghar aa jaaye’ from the 1955 film ‘Ghamand’ composed by Gulshan Sufi was rather popular at that time’.
Omi Ji had a maternal uncle Sardar Man Singh Rana in mumbai who due to his alliance
with Azad Hind Fauj was called Comrade. After the demise of Netaji Subhash
Chandra Bose, he had settled in Mumbai where under the name of Comrade Pratap Rana he produced the
film ‘Parwana’ along with
producer Haldia. Released in
1947, film ‘Parwana’ was K.L.Sehgal’s last film. Thereafter Comrade Pratap Rana producer films ‘Vidya’ (1948) and ‘Jeet’ (1949) on his
own. Jeet was his first wife’s name and after she passed away he married director Mohan Sinha’s
daughter Vidya. But unfortunately in 1947 Vidya too passed away during
childbirth. Comrade Pratap Rana kept the names of his films after his two deceased wives as homage to them. A
grandfather now, Mohan Sinha raised
his daughter vidya’s newborn daughter and even named her after his late
daughter. Today we know that daughter, Omi Ji’s maternal uncle’s
daughter, as Vidya Sinha who would
also be his maternal cousin.
On the other hand producer Haldia also produced two films ‘Ishwar Bhakti’ (1951) and ‘Mamta’ (1952) after ‘Parwana’. He entrusted the
music of both the films to Manohar Lal Sonik. During the film ‘Ishwar Bhakti’, Manohar Lal joined hands with
Haldia’s manager Girdhar and furnished the
films music under the duo of ‘Sonik-Girdhar’. While he was
credited with composing film ‘Mamta’s’ music on his own, of the
films 8 songs at least 1 had been composed by Hansraj Behl. But neither of the films could leave any impression on the
box office. At the same time since Sonik had become a composer, now
he started receiving less and less work as a singer and consequentially his
struggle to survive started once again. Omi Ji tells us, ‘Chacha utilized that difficult
period of his life to learn the nuances of film music from V.Balsara and thus mastered
the ‘Harmonium’ and very soon he started getting bookings as a Harmonium player. During one such recording, composer Madan Mohan used him as an arranger and Sonik proved
himself in this new arena as well. Actually Madan Mohan had to compose
songs and music with an Indian feel to it and his arranger ‘Chic Chocolate’ who was an African origin Trumpet player was well versed
only in western music.’
After Madan Mohan, Manohar Lal Sonik became an arranger
for composer Roshan. Other than this, he also worked as an arranger
for Usha Khanna’s debut film ‘Dil Deke Dekho’. He sang songs as
a chorus singer for Roshan’s film ‘Baabar’. During the
recording of Rafi’s song ‘tum ek baar mohabbat ka imtehaan to lo’ from the film ‘Baabar’, composer Roshan’s assistant ‘Maria’ didn’t turn up
and so Roshan took Omi Ji’s help as Omi Ji was ever present with his
visually challanged Chacha as his support. During this recording session Roshan
was so impressed by Omi Ji’s hard work and diligence that he decided to hire
Omi Ji as his permanent assistant. It’s worth mentioning that Mumbai’s present Police
Commissioner Rakesh Maria, is the same ‘Maria’s’ son who was the then assistant to Roshan.
Omi Ji tells us, ‘we kept working
continuously with Roshan Sahib and during that time I learnt all the nuances of
music from both my Chacha and Roshan Sahib. For the
very first time, in Roshan’s 1963 film ‘Dil Hi To Hai’ starring Raj Kapoor and Nutan, my name was attached with Chacha as an arranger and we
were recognized as the duo arranger ‘Sonik-Omi’. On seeing our name the film’s producer G.L. Rawal has
spontaneously said that the name sounds like a composer duo and soon he proved
his words to be a prophecy when he gave us the musical responsibility for the
film ‘Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya’.
‘Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya’ proved to be a
big musical hit of its time. But after that the duo ‘Sonik-Omi’ had to stay put at home in wait of a good offer for
almost 2 years. During this phase they did receive offers of small budget films
but they kept refusing all such offers. And since they had become a composer
they stopped receiving work as an assistant and arranger. Omi Ji tells us, “Even after giving such a big
hit, our struggling days had started all over again. Till when we could sustain
on signing amounts. And hence the day came when we had to accept whatever work
that came our way. The music of our 2nd film, 1968’s ‘Aabroo’, had become very
popular as well. Such precedence of success was set by our 1969 release ‘Mahua’ and our 1970 release ‘Sawan Bhadon. But the small
films we signed during our struggle left a bad impact on our career and we
started being known as B-grade film composers. Although whenever we had a
chance we did try to maintain our standard despite the grade of the films, be
it ‘Dharma’ or ‘Raftaar’ or ‘Umar Qaid’. To the extent
that the music of occasional producer-director-actor Joginder’s
films like ‘Bindia aur Bandook’, ‘Do Chattanein’ and ‘Fauji’ also went on to
become hits. But freelancing has its own set of problems because of which once
our career graph came down it could never climb up again.
Omi Ji had even revived his passion for
singing with film ‘Mahua’ where he sang
alongside Asha Bhonsle. But he never took this passion of his
seriously. Omi Ji sang almost 40 songs in 30 films like ‘Ek Khiladi
Bawan Patte’ ‘Mehmil’ ‘Dharma’, ‘Shahi Lutera’, ‘Yari Zindabad’, ‘Veeru Ustad’, ‘Apna Khoon’, ‘Bhakti Me Shakti’, ‘Ram Kasam’, ‘Teen Ikke’, ‘Zulm Ki Pukaar’, ‘Badla Aur Balidan’, ‘Jwala Daku’, ‘Khoon Ki Takkar’’, ‘Ramkali’, Sitapur Ki
Geeta’, ‘Tera Karam Mera Dharam’ and ‘Desh Ke Dushman’ but even then his
identity remained primarily of a composer. After Meena Kumari passed away, HMV Company had produced a
private album of 2 ghazals written by Meena
Kumari herself and sung in the voice of Omi Ji.
Though the 1989 release ‘Desh Ke Dushman’ was the last film
composed by ‘Sonik-Omi’ but some smaller
ongoing projects were completed later, some of these smaller films were
released later on as well. Film ‘Hind Ki Beti’ released in 1998 was officially
their last film release.
Almost 4 years ago Universal Company had released an
audio CD album called ‘Unheard Melodies’ which was a
collection of Sonik-Omi’s 14 previously unreleased melodious songs
Rafi’s co-singer S.Balbir from
the film ‘Naya Daur’s’ song ‘ye desh hai veer jawaano ka’ was Omi ji very close
friend. Balbir has sung many hit songs like ‘aaj kyon humse
parda hai’ (Sadhna), ‘bhej chhana chhan’ (Ab Dilli Door Nahin), ‘chahe ye
maano chahe wo maano’ (Dharampurta), ‘ye maana meri jaan mohabbat saza hai’ (Hanste Zakhm), ‘jee
chaahta hai choom loon’ (Barsaat Ki Raat), ‘jo mama mera aa jayega’ (Heer Ranjha). Till the beginning
of the 70’s decade one would still hear a couple of songs once in a while sung
by Balbir and then suddenly his name vanished from the music scene. While talking with ‘Beete Hue Din’, Omi Ji shed light on Balbir’s sudden disappearance and
said that Balbir was not married and he was in a live in relationship with a
Koli woman and lived with her at the Koli Basti on Yari Road-Versova in Andheri (West). He was murdered during the beginning
of the 1970’s decade around his village in Punjab. He was just 40 years old at
that time.
Manohar Lal Sonik was born on 24th
November 1923 at Gujarawala. He
passed away on 9th July 1993 after which this composer duo became a part of cinematic
history. For the last few years Omi Ji has been presiding as the Director of ‘Indian Performing Rights Society’ (IPRS). IPRS is the body that is working towards trying to standardize
policies in regard to royalty between the lyricists, composers, producers and
music companies.
Father of a son and a daughter, Omi Ji or Om Prakash Sonik lives with his son Som Sonik, his daughter in law and two grandsons Nikhil and
Karan. His daughter is married and lives in Mumbai’s Powai area with her
hotelier husband. Omi Ji says that, “this
is the glamour industry’s nature that the one who rises has to fall down one
day. The one who does understand this law of the film industry doesn’t face
problems in compromising with changing times. Luckily I am one of those
people.”
Omi ji died on 7 July 2016 in Mumbai at the age of 77.
