Music has been synonymousThe Mind Creative March 2014
with Bollywood movies since the thirties and
a production that has no songs, in fact, might not be considered a “proper
“movie at all. The success of most movies in Bollywood is driven by the
songs and music that they offer. The industry produces over 800 movies
every year and the number of songs would run into many thousands.
However, it is quite sad, that Bollywood has often failed to recognise the
“behind the curtain” skills and talents in the music industry. Some of these
momentous talents have made priceless contributions to the music industry
and yet have faded into nothingness. This is one of those stories.
The larger than life world of Bollywood cinema is synonymous with the
name of Amitabh Bachhan (often known the Big B). In a movie produced
in 1977 titled Amar, Akber, Anthony, this erstwhile actor in one of the
overdone scenes, jumps out of a giant egg and breaks into a song “My
Name is Anthony Gonsalves”. However, there was hardly anyone who
realized that the song was specially created by Pyarelal (one of the
composers of the movie) as a tribute to his mentor Anthony Prabhu
Gonsalves.
Anthony Gonsalves was
born in Majorda, Goa. His
father, a choir master,
trained him on the violin at
a very early age in Western
classical music and urged
him to play the violin at the
village church. A child
prodigy,
Anthony
was
appointed the choir master
at the church at the age of
twelve. By the time he was
sixteen, he was already a
seasoned musician and in
1943 he decided to go to
Bombay to work as a
Composing at the piano
musician. In tinsel town,
his skill and talent were recognized quickly and he soon made a name for
himself as music teacher. He also joined music director and maestro
Naushad as a violinist.
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