The house of music

Dr Prakash Joshirsquos obsession is perfectly matched to his 100yearold cottage A thatched roof a ceiling high enough to insert a mezzanine a sunken sitting room and the kitchen opening up to a verandah ruled by a traditional jhula Within whispering distance is the 100yearold Shri Venkatesh Balaji mandir and Banganga holy tankldquoThis is where I used to have my mehfilsrdquo says the 76yearold general practitioner speaking of evenings spent with musicians composers and music directors from the golden era of the Hindi film industry Wersquore here to meet Dr Joshi ahead of his exhibition at Piramal Art Gallery at NCPA that displays a fraction of his collection blackandwhite portraits of Bollywoodrsquos leading ladiesPromotional photographs of heroines from Dr Joshirsquos collection will be on display at the NCPAThis collection is an off shoot of his larger preoccupationmdashvinyl records of Hindi movie soundtracks collected since the 1970s Eight to 10 drawers in his living room are filled with records dating from the 1930s to the rsquo70s arranged alphabetically by movie title as well as music composer ldquoI have an entire drawer dedicated to OP Nayyarrdquo he beams The music composer was also a frequent presence at Dr Joshirsquos mehfils in the courtyard as were others such as Anil Biswas and Salil Chowdhury The courtyard was alive with the sound of music from the 1990s till the early 2000sUnable to put an exact number to his collection the doctor estimates it to hover above 1000 records The sleeve of many of these bears a message and autograph from a musician or composer OP Nayyar signed Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi in 1999Dr Prakash Joshirsquos obsession with vinyls branched into a collection of lobby cards photos booklets and movie posters PicsPradeep DhivarWhen he began collecting vinyls a record would cost around Rs 50 in Chor Bazaar Then came video cassettes and later VCDs from London Karachi Hong Kong Dubai and South Africa A trophy record that he played this writer had OST original soundtrack of the 1953 hit Anarkali on one side and the 1954 blockbuster Nagin on the other Manufactured in South Africa it wasnrsquot available in IndialdquoThere was an atmosphere of music at homerdquo he says ldquoWe had a 78 RPM record player and my mother would singrdquo Radio was the main source of entertainment in his childhood which played Marathi natya sangeet songs from plays shastriya sangeet and Hindi film music ldquoTen to 15 homes would share a radio and wersquod come together to tune into Radio Ceylon which played Hindi film songsrdquo he recalls ldquoI used to look forward to Ameen Sayanirsquos programme Binaca Geetmala which was a super hit in Pakistan and other neighbouring countries toordquoFrom 1965 to 1970 the years he was in medical school Dr Joshi would try and watch what his tight study schedule in the field of medicine and trickle of money allowed ldquoIn those days streets in Mumbai turned into communal theatres during Ganeshotsav when films were projected on a white bed sheet and I watched a lot of them at the pandalsrdquo he saysWhen he became a family physician now a fading breed he started collecting records Eventually this led to booklets handout advertisements for upcoming movies and lobby cards mini posters pinned in the lobby of movie theatre for yettobe released movies Chor Bazaar and Lamington Road once known as the hub for film paraphernalia became his goto places to add to his everexpanding collection He would visit Chor Bazaar every FridayldquoSlowly I acquired songs which even the music directors didnrsquot have a copy ofrdquo he says with pride He loves Kishore Kumar but ldquomy blood group is Lrdquo L for Lata Mangeshkar whose work dominates his collectionldquoMy main passion has been films and songs these pictures just happened on the wayrdquo he says as he pulls out promotional lobby cards booklets and posters each categorised alphabetically under the decade of the moviersquos release They are wrapped in plastic and then slipped in a paper bag ldquoI have also digitised everythingrdquo he says Each movie booklet is made up of four to five leaves detailing the synopsis of the movie its cast songs with lyrics and the names of the composers as well as other technicians This information was repeated in Urdu and MarathiThe upcoming exhibition has promotional pictures and posters of actors such as Noor Jehan Madhubala Helen Nutan Meena Kumari Kamini Kaushal and others that were circulated around their films Piramal Art Galleryrsquos curators Mukesh Parpianimdashformer photoeditor at this newspapermdashand Ashok Dabhade helped choose the 75 photos and 10 posters on display from September 10 to 13 Dr Joshi will walk guests through each of them personally and also hold a talkHis greatest joy has been sharing his music through his mehfils ldquoIf I donrsquot play for music lovers whatrsquos the point of collectingrdquo he says with a smile ldquoI have met so many people I really enjoyed thatrdquo