Pankaj Rag has a well-kept secret. The director of Punebased Film and Television Institute of India, who authored a book on music directors, has a collection of about 500 unreleased songs sung by Bollywood's greatest singers.
Rag, a 1990 batch IAS officer, is on deputation as the director of FTII, the premier filmmaking institute in the country . "I may not be the only person to have such a collection. But I am not aware of any other collector," he says. "I have been collecting songs over these years and right now I have 2,000 cassettes which contain some rare gems. It was a difficult task and money was not involved in it. Everything worked through friendship with other collectors and exchange of songs with them."
Rag's tryst with songs started in 1982. It later turned into a hobby and soon assumed the shape of an obsession which continued through his professional life. "I got interested in songs when I was studying in class X. No one in my family then was even remotely connected with songs or had even seen a film magazine. I started listening to songs and started collecting. I started buying them from the market. I even started reading magazines like Madhuri and Filmfare, which gave elaborate information about the film industry. The articles published in these magazines helped me keep a tab on recordings happening in studios. Gradually, it became an obsession which grew over the years. There are a few songs that I want, but they are just not available."
it could not find distributor after it was made. "Song recording is the earliest part in any film, which is the trend even today. So many films were grounded after announcement, as the producer could not arrange funds or distributors refused to take the film to the theatres," he adds.
His collection contains unreleased songs of Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosale, Mohammad Rafi and Talat Mehmood. Mukesh's songs top in his list. "Since I have been a fan of Mukesh, I have even those numbers whose records (gramophone records) were not made, since the films never took off. But the songs were recorded. For example , there was a composition of Salil Chaudhuri for a movie called Mitti Ka Tel.
Rag, a 1990 batch IAS officer, is on deputation as the director of FTII, the premier filmmaking institute in the country . "I may not be the only person to have such a collection. But I am not aware of any other collector," he says. "I have been collecting songs over these years and right now I have 2,000 cassettes which contain some rare gems. It was a difficult task and money was not involved in it. Everything worked through friendship with other collectors and exchange of songs with them."
Rag's tryst with songs started in 1982. It later turned into a hobby and soon assumed the shape of an obsession which continued through his professional life. "I got interested in songs when I was studying in class X. No one in my family then was even remotely connected with songs or had even seen a film magazine. I started listening to songs and started collecting. I started buying them from the market. I even started reading magazines like Madhuri and Filmfare, which gave elaborate information about the film industry. The articles published in these magazines helped me keep a tab on recordings happening in studios. Gradually, it became an obsession which grew over the years. There are a few songs that I want, but they are just not available."
it could not find distributor after it was made. "Song recording is the earliest part in any film, which is the trend even today. So many films were grounded after announcement, as the producer could not arrange funds or distributors refused to take the film to the theatres," he adds.
His collection contains unreleased songs of Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosale, Mohammad Rafi and Talat Mehmood. Mukesh's songs top in his list. "Since I have been a fan of Mukesh, I have even those numbers whose records (gramophone records) were not made, since the films never took off. But the songs were recorded. For example , there was a composition of Salil Chaudhuri for a movie called Mitti Ka Tel.
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