#recordist

by

Dinesh Shankar Shailendra

2 hrs

·

MANGESH DESAI... Born : 19th February 1923.

Many of my friends must be wondering who this man is ! To some, who read the credit titles of the films they see, his name will be familiar.... From Satyajit Ray to Raj Kapoor, from Ramesh Sippy to Yash Chopra, Mangesh Desai was the man all these great film-makers depended upon for the soundtracks of their films.... We, generally, cannot shoot our films in absolutely controlled conditions.... The Arriflex cameras that we used, used to make it's own whirring sound.... Add to that, incidental sounds that would occur at the shooting spot.... Traffic sounds, the irritating cawing of a crow, a siren, the Director's instructions.... ANYTHING !!! So, after the shooting is complete, all the actors have to 'dub' their dialogue... ( Repeat their lines under controlled conditions )....This gave us the complete dialogue track.... Next came the sound-effects track.... Incidental sounds like footsteps.... water being poured into a glass, something falling.... All according to the script of the film.... Then came the background music track.... I have just named three... But in a film, there can be many more sound-tracks.... The job of finally mixing all these tracks, to make one FINAL SOUNDTRACK, lies with the person who controls the volume levels to suit the final picture.... Mangesh Desai was the genius at this job ! He sat in Rajkamal Recording Studios that belonged to V Shantaram..... I would be in awe of this simple-looking Maharashtrian man who was the MASTER at his job.... He would see the complete film once, and then, reel by reel, mix the sound.... We were warned in advance, that if he found fault with any of the tracks, he would throw out the tins of film and entertain us only after we rectified the errors ! He was so much into his job, that he once told us how, he would put on his portable tape-recorder the moment he left his house for the Studio, recording all the incidental sounds on the way and use them whenever required..... Needless to say, that his Studio would be booked well in advance ! I remember, once, while we were working there, he called his assistant on the talk-back and asked whose film cans were being brought in.... We heard him saying in Marathi... " Yash Chopra ??? Tell them to come next month ... I am too busy ! How dare they just unload their cans without booking the studio !!!" You can imagine.... If that man could talk about Yah Chopra like that, how it would have sent shivers down the spines of lesser mortals like us...

That was the man called Mangesh Desai....

A GENIUS VERY FEW PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT !