Mohan Lal Aima was born in a family of ‘Datatreya Kauls ' of Fateh Kadal, Srinagar . This area was across the Jhelum river and close to Syed Ali Akbar locality . His father , Pandit Vedh Lal Aima had earned respect and goodwill in the society even with his modest means and simple living. The family got Aima nickname as some elder from this clan was a gifted osteopath (Waatangor) who cured many people with fractures and dislocations.
After completing his LLB, he was to join Bar and establish himself as an advocate, but contrary to that, he gave a surprise/shock to his family and the conservative Kashmiri Pandit society ( at that point of time) when he decided to opt music and singing as his career. During those days, it was something like a rebellious act for his middle-class family. And he earned the nickname" Mohan Chhakri ".
Veteran playwright , Padamshri Moti Lal Kemmu writes :-
" Mohan Lal Aima, as the director and composer of music for the opera (Bombur Yemberzal) had to work strenuously with majority of amateur singers. Similarly all the musicians and instrumentalists did not know the notation and had to remember the tunes and pieces by intuition. The opera when produced and performed during Oct.-Nov.-1953, created a stir and the number of audience increased appreciably.
When a song in chorus form in Bombur Yemberzal had to be conceived and written, Nadim Saheb asked for a tune which would be fit, attractive, vigorous and forceful. Many tunes and songs were sung and suggested. Finally, Nadim Saheb liked the Shamas Fakir's song, "Shuniya Gachithay oas meyoan Oalooy--Amay ashq naran zooloyea" which is sung by popular Chakri singers and each line ends with broken Hay Hay Haay. Nadim wrote Bombro Bombro chorus with simple, forceful words and when set to tune by Mohan Lal Aima Saheb every actor and musician congratulated the director. Nadim had changed Hay Hay Hay with Ho Ho Hao commensurate with the word voice-image of last word of the each line. Bombro Bombro is sung in quicker pace than Chakri artiste's traditional tune, which goes to the credit of Mohan Lal Aima Saheb, the first and foremost music composer Kashmir had produced.
This type of tune in Chakri style is called Sahrai. In this style abrupt pauses with short silences are considered embellishments. In olden days there were no transport facilities. After day's toil villagers would go home in each others company. While crossing over the Karevas they would sing their favourite songs. While singing against the flow of winds, some impediment would cause pauses while one began to sing. Therefore a longer Ha will get broken into Ha Ha Ha . So this form of folk singing developed and was named Sahrai.
Aima Saheb gave us an improvised tune of Sahrai. When people would come out of Nedous Hotel, after having seen 'Bombur Yambarzal' every one would sing and mutter Bombro Bombro. Because of its popularity, it was sung in College entertainment programmes, and on Chakri tune by Kashmiri women.
The only one Rof song in the opera was also tuned after a popular Rof tune which has been forgotten now. The song was led by Mr Rah and all other actors acting as flowers used to sing in two rows of Rof formation. Rest of the songs of the Opera were all composed in music by Aima Saheb with his creative effort and ability. Mr Pushkar Bhan maintained comic-satirical mood of the song Hu Hu Hu of Harud on a time beat. Since Aima Saheb acted Toofan himself, he sang the song of Toofan with wind like movements and the words, "Wah Wah Wah Wah Yam Bar Zal" would echo in the Hall.Aima Saheb, the director of the opera wanted to assign the role of Yambarzal to Miss Zia Durani, a handsome non-Kashmiri speaking enthusiast but the authorities decided the role for Zoona Begum, a popular Chakri singer-dancer.
Every musician has a background of classical semi-classical or folk music which enables him to compose new tunes and melodies. Mohan Lal Aima, as a producer-composer in Radio Kashmir had done Yeoman's service to Kashmiri music from 1949 to 1964. Most of his compositions are reported to have been erased from the tapes but the opera Bombur Yambarzal is said to be in tact. This opera was re-produced with some different cast during the time Kreshchov and Bulganian visited Kashmir. In 1964, I produced its shorter version and the shows were presented in Kerala, Tamil Nadu besides Jammu."
( A composition of Mohan Lal Aima )
"I have memorable association with Aima sahib. He was senior to me. In fact when I was in college , he had completed his MA. He was handsome and initially started acting in plays. Music, especially Kashmir's folk music was in his veins. He was a pioneer in bringing Kashmir''s folk music to Radio. We stayed together in good old days in Residency quarters . It was ordered by Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah ,who ,apart from being prime minister also happened to be the minister for information and broadcasting that Radio staff should reside close to the station. He created the original tunes for Nadim Sahib's opera Bombur Yemberzal. Many versions were done of this opera but his tunes were retained. The version shown to Russians had orchestration by Varinder Mohan on tunes created by Aima Sahib. While none could match him in respect of his knowledge about Kashmir''s folk music, he did not focus towards Hindustani classical music. He had mastered Kashmiri folk instruments especially Noett and Tumbaknaar. He scored the music of Kashmiri version of Shaayar e Kashmir' Mehjoor . The Urdu version was handled by Prem Dhawan. He went on deputation to Kabul, came to Srinagar ,went to Delhi and finally Mumbai. His brother Omkar Ji was also handsome and talented. He was the hero in the first Kashmiri film MaenzRaat. Omkar Ji also did some roles in Hindi films and was a successful model in Mumbai. "
Bihari Kak , actor , producer and director informed me this :-
“ Whenever he would come to Srinagar , he would come to my shop located at Hazuri Bagh . He was like a father figure . He would appreciate the work I was doing in theatre and television. . He would generally come with G R Santosh . They ate together , fought like children over small issues and loved each other like real brothers . Santosh Sahib had a perfect understanding with Aima Sahib. Aima sahib had a heart of gold. He would get angry if things didn’t go the way he wanted them to be especially in fields where he had put his hard work and sincere efforts .In spite of his anger which was always momentary , he was affectionate towards even his foes . He was helpful to every Kashmiri in any manner he could do. I met him in 1979 in his Saat Bunglow ( Andheri West ) apartment . Bollywood actress cum dancer Helen also lived in those apartments . I had a group of about 18 persons with me. I had actors , Bhaand artists and some singers notably Ghulam Gassan Sofi . We had come to Mumbai to perform for our theatre . It was Aima Sahib who arranged free accommodation for our team otherwise we had no place to stay in Mumbai. I met him again in 1990. At that time , was confined to bed and was suffering from cancer . I needed a Dejhur for our shooting . We were shooting Pran Ji's tele-serial Gul Gulshan Gulfaam. Aima Sahib’s wife readily offered her own Dejhur for the shooting . I had my camera with me . I clicked about twelve photographs of Aima Sahib and he wanted to see them all. Unfortunately all the photographs clicked by me had missed to capture Aima Sahib and some turned out total blank . When I returned to Jammu, I was informed that Aima Sahib had left for his heavenly abode . It was a sad news and that meant the end of an era.“
Mohan Lal Aima gained immense popularity in Kabul during the period he was on deputation to Radio Afghanistan as its Director-General .Alas! he stands forgotten in his own Kashmir. No reward, no award and no recognition from any quarter. Is it not incumbent upon every Kashmiri to introduce him and his contribution to our younger generation ?
‘ Shiv ka vishpaan tau sunaa hoga,
( You must have heard of Shiva’s poison-drinking feat,
CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.
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