Pt. Janardhan Mitta on music, life in Chennai and more

“I came to Chennai on January 20, 1959. So I will complete 60 years as a resident of this city in 2019,” says Pt. Janardhan Mitta with a smile. Even his speech sounds musical as the words fall soft on the ears just as his sitar notes do.

The octogenarian, a direct disciple of the legend Pt. Ravi Shankar, recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Amir Khusro Sangeet Academy, Chennai.

“My father’s encouragement and my passion for Hindustani music made me opt out of the engineering course. And it was because of Master Venu that I began to play music for films and this continued till 2000, when I cut down on the assignments to concentrate on classical music,” says Mitta.

Recalling his training days under Pt. Ravi Shankar, he says, “My guru was a strict teacher, but also benevolent and fun-loving. We, his students, would often share memories of those wonderful days.”

Did playing for films affect his classicism? With an emphatic, “No,” Mitta adds, “Please don’t think playing film music is easy. It is more demanding since we have to play to the satisfaction of the music composers. I was lucky as I could meet their expectations and they always accepted whatever suggestions I made. I am also privileged to have worked with all the great composers of the South. They were all remarkable in their own way.”

Special contribution

Any film in which he made a special contribution? The film without dialogue, Pesum Padam (Pushpak in Hindi). Mitta contributed to the re-recording using two other instruments apart from minimal orchestration. “Once I surprised music director Ghantasala by playing a sombre sitar piece as the background score for a scene of pathos,” he says.

Mitta is impressed with the way classical music is promoted in Chennai, not only in December but throughout the year.

“It is encouraging. I agree that instrumental music draws less audience, but that is because Carnatic music is based on sahitya, unlike Hindustani, where the ragas are the base on which the concerts are designed.”

From 2000, Mitta has been involved with Vishwa Kala Sangama, Chennai, to promote Hindustani music.

“We conduct a three-day programme annually in which a Carnatic music veteran and a Hindustani artiste are honoured.” “It has been a rewarding journey — sharing the stage with Carnatic and Hindustani maestroes and working for great composers,” he says about the award he just received.

Where two genres met

The programme, ‘Sham-e-Mauseeqi,’ had three segments. The first featured Lakshmi Sreeram’s Hindustani vocal concert followed by the award ceremony. The evening ended with a ghazal recital by singer and voice trainer Humble Shine.

Lakshmi presented dwi-madhyama raags. Sham Kalyan bearing semblance to Hamsanadam, was her first choice with a vilambit bandish ‘ Jiyo more laal,’ set to teen taal. It moved to a faster tempo after detailing the charm of the raag in a slow and steady manner. Lakshmi’s husky voice added appeal to the presentation.

Her exchanges with the harmonium player Kedar Patwardhan were interesting and enjoyable both in vilambit and durita sections. Breathtaking akaras and fast-moving phrases made her exercises significant. Lakshmi’s second serving was raag Sohnipancham (a la Hamsanandi) with a bandish by Pt. Vilayat Hussain Khan. She rounded off her recital with an Amir Khusro verse as a prelude to a Mira bhajan connecting with a string of raags including Kedar, Nand and Bilawal. Lakshmi was supported on the vocals by her daughter Vibha and on the tabla by Sumit Naik.

The audience loved the ghazal recital by young Humble Shine, who has an intense but pliable voice. He opened with Ghalib’s ghazal ‘Aah ko ek umr asar hone tak.’ The audience lapped up what followed — ‘Kal chaudhvin ka raat thi’ (Jagjit Singh) and ‘Apni tasveer ko ankhon se lagata’ (Ghulam Ali).

He explained the strong and unique notes of raag Suryakant and went on to sing ‘Khuli jo ankh toh woh tha na woh zamaana tha ’ (Mehdi Hassan). More ghazals followed. Humble was supported by Bhargav Gandhi (harmonium) and Sumit Naik (tabla).

It was good to see a lot of youngsters in the audience, who kept cheering each piece.