Egg-centric but still an anthem

With Easter week upon us and Easter Sunday just two days away, the inside story of the iconic number, My Name Is Anthony Gonzalves from Amar Akbar Anthonyu00a0

Before the underworld took over our movies, there was the anda-world.u00a0Amitabh Bachchan popping out of that Easter egg to sing, My Name is Anthony Gonzalves in Amar Akbar Anthony was egg maze ki baat... truly the height of entertainment Manmohan Desai style. Recalling the glorious genesis of this Kishore Kumar--Amitabh Bachchan number composed by the formidable duo of Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Amitabh Bachchan or the Big B as he is known says, "Manmohan Desai, one of my dearest friends and collaborators, would come up with the wackiest ideas.


It's showtime yolks: Amitabh Bachchan emerges from an egg and
does an Anthony Gonzalves with 'Jenny' played by the late Parveen Babi

He would make one of his suggestions and we would all look at him as though he was completely mad. But he would push on undeterred. When we finally saw the result on screen, we were convinced, here is a man who could get away with anything. When he suggested the Anthony Gonzalves song, I looked at him quietly with a look that meant, 'Not again!' But he did exactly what he wanted."

The Anthony Gonzalves song was born when Desai suggested an Easter numberu00a0 for the Catholicu00a0 hero with the Big B popping out of an egg. The name 'Anthony Gozalves' came from composer Pyarelal who wanted to pay a tribute to his Goan violin teacher. That was the genesis of Big B's celebrated character and the song.

Almost everyone associated with the number, barring the Big B and composer Pyarelal are no more. Pyarelal's creative partner, Laxmikant died in 1998. During his lifetime,u00a0 Laxmikant and Pyarelal composed music for a majority of Manmohan Desai's blockbusters like Roti, Chacha Bhatija, Dharam-Veer, Parvarish. Amar Akbar Anthony was the most successful of the Laxmikant-Pyarelal/Manmohan Desai collaborations.

Besides the Gonzalves song by Kishore Kumar, the two qawwallis, Pardah Hai Pardah and Shirdi Wale Sai Baba sung by Mohammed Rafi were also very popular. The love song Humko Tumse Ho Gaya Hai Pyar Kya Karein had the unique distinction of being filmed on all the three heroes and their screen sweethearts. While Kishore Kumar sang for Amitabh Bachchan, Mohammed Rafi for Rishi Kapoor and Mukesh for Vinod Khanna, Lata Mangeshkar sang for all the three heroines -- Parveen Babi, Neetu Singh and Shabana Azmi.

Says Amitabh Bachchan, "When Manmohan Desai devised the song with me emerging from an egg to tease the character actor Zebisko (who passed away) about Jenny (Parveen Babi)u00a0 Kishore-da was the natural choice to sing the number. Then Manmohan suggested I do a spot of recitation in the beginning of the song. It was a time when there was no such thing as rap music. I just recited the gibberish that I remembered in a play Jonah & The Whale from school.Yashji (Yash Chopra) and I used to play around with these tongue-twisters. I incorporated them into the song."

This was the first time that the Big B did playback singing. "You can't call it singing. Kishore-da sang. I just put in my two-bit. During those days, everyone had to be together for a song recording. Sou00a0 I wasu00a0 there with Kishore-da, composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal, lyricist Anand Bakshi and Manmohan Desai. Shooting the number was great fun.

I was made to dress up in a formal suit with a hat and a tail-coat because I was playing a Catholic character. We had a whale of a time." u00a0In 2007, director E Niwas named his film, My Name Is Anthony Gonzalves as a tribute to the song in Amar Akbar Anthony.

Peace and harmony
We should rise above our selfishness and lead a life of peace and joy
-Fr Anthony Charanghat, Director, Catholic Communication Centre (CMC)

In the light of the recent religious fundamentalism all over the world, we as Christians should become channels of peace by adhering to the teaching of Jesus. We should rise above pettiness and ghettoism
-Rev. Fr. Joseph H Pereira is the Founder and Managing Trustee of the Kripa Foundation, an NGO that works in the field of drug abuse

I would want peace and harmony between various communities. Also there should be efforts to uproot corruption from various Catholic institutions in the city
-Greg Pereira, President, Association of Concerned Catholics (AOCC)

Easter for us means hope and new life. It means liberation from the slavery of sin. I hope that as a community we should believe in honest living and honest governance. As far as the role of women in church is concerned, they are limited to consultative bodies as decisions are taken by clerics. If governance and priesthood are de-linked, then women can participate in decision-making process too
- Astrid Lobo Gajiwala, consultor, Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI)
- Sudeshna Chowdhury