08 February,2009 08:01 AM IST | | Ayesha Nair
To sit across and have a conversation with 88-year-old Padma Shri Juthika Roy, a Meera bhajan singer whose most famous fan was Mahatma Gandhi, was a humbling, and dare we say once-in-a-lifetime, experience. In the city to accept an award instituted by singer Anup Jalota, Roy talks about an era gone by
Roy's father used to listen to records of artistes like Master Madan who recorded with The Gramophone Company. Her father's work as a school inspector kept them traveling and hence her music teachers constantly changed. Finally her mother decided to permanently move to Calcutta so that Roy could get a firm grounding in music. So she began her Sunday classes with Gyanendra Sengupto. On one of these Sundays she met her soon-to-be mentor, Kazi Nazrul Islam. A lyricist and music director, Islam was at a high post at The Gramophone Company. Roy says of their first meeting, "He had long hair and wore only silk. He was very good looking with big eyes. He used to eat a lot of paan. His laughter was loud and we also laughed along, even though we did not understand what was so funny." She says, since it was her father's wish that she record with The Gramophone Company, he requested that Islam listen to his Renu (her nickname) sing. Her first recording did not go off very well, she says. Later she recorded the song Ami Bhorer Juthika that became a nationwide hit.
Hitting the high notes
From there on it was like living a dream. Live programmes on All India Radio and recording albums with The Gramophone Company followed. As soon as she returned home to Calcutta from one performance, she would find telegrams requesting her to perform at other cites in the then undivided India. She talks about Professor Deodhar, a musicologist, who invited her to Bombay. "In 1939 when I was around 17-18 years old, Professor Deodhar invited me for a charity performance to Bombay. I was initially afraid of the reaction from people in Bombay. But the response was so overwhelming that after one performance, I had to partake in two more," she breaks into a smile. She then started making regular one-month trips to the city. In 1946 while performing in Hyderabad for a charity event at a school, Sarojini Naidu expressed Mahatma Gandhi's appreciation of her songs. Roy says, "Sarojini Naidu told me that Gandhiji likes my songs very much and before prarthana, he plays my records. She also told me that I must meet Bapuji."
Meeting Gandhi
Roy says that when Gandhiji was involved in the freedom struggle, meeting him was no easy feat. Once freedom was attained, riots broke out and Calcutta too was not spared. The city was burning and Hindus and Muslims were segregated, she says. At this time, Gandhiji came to Calcutta. Roy, her mother, sisters and uncle, Kakji, as she refers to him, went to meet Gandhi who was residing at a house in Beleghata. On reaching there, they were told that the Mahatma was not meeting anyone but they could have his darshan from far. Roy and her family thought they would get a chance to meet him when he took his walk but were disappointed to know that he was already done before they reached. As luck would have it, while they were waiting outside the gate, it began to rain. Roy says, "My uncle could not take it any longer and yelled 'let Bapuji know that Juthika Roy is here to see him.' Soon Manu Gandhi came outside with an umbrella and a towel. Gandhiji had big glasses and when he looked at you it felt he could see right inside you! As soon as he saw us, he began laughing.
It was a Monday, the day Bapuji had his maunavrat, so he wrote on a piece of paper and gave it to Abha Gandhi. She told me that Bapuji had a lot of work, which he would complete in the other room. I should keep singing till he entered the room again. I sang so many songs. He invited me to sing at the prayer meeting he had at a ground in Calcutta. I walked alongside him, Manu and Abha Gandhi to the ground. There was a sea of people. Once the programme was over, he dropped my family and me home." Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi have also been avid listeners of her bhajans.
Then and now
Roy says that the film industry never excited her. She did not like the music they made and so stayed studiously away from it despite many offers. Finally, she says, towards the end of her career, Bengal's great director Debaki Bose asked her to sing for his movie. Roy says, "I agreed to sing only a bhajan." She believes that now film songs are being given a lot of importance and not bhajans. "The film music is so bad. They do not use Indian music, only foreign music. They make a khichdi of it," she says with slight irritation.
