01 May 2018 | 05:58am IST
Frank Fernand – The Wizard of Konkani Films
Frank Fernand, a legendary musician and the man who launched the first Konkani film ‘Amchem Noxib’ (Our Luck) under the banner of Frank Films (Goa). Cafe gives an elaborate recounting of the life and career of the brilliant Frank
Goans have a passion for music and have excelled in music
around the world. The credit for this goes to the churches and
temples that, in the yesteryears, were nurseries for development
of the trait of song and music with a ‘catch them young’ attitude.
This training benefited many, even directing them towards
Hindi film music. Their sincere dedication continues to leave
an indelible mark in this field as we see many Goan musicians
making it big in Hindi films. Frank Fernand was one such
Frank Fernandes, popularly known as Frank Fernand,
was born on May 3, 1919, after the demise of his father, at
Curchorem – a railway station and mining centre in South Goa;
he was baptised by the saintly priest, Fr Agnelo de Souza. He
received his initial training in music at the hands of local maestro
Diogo Rodrigues, where he could master violin and trumpet.
Thereafter, his presence was seen in the village bands, where
he played for feasts, weddings and funerals.
According to him, music should be played as
per one’s feelings; music is a language by which
one expresses his feelings. The technique is
secondary but passion is primary.
At the tender age of sixteen, he migrated to erstwhile
Bombay for studies at Don Bosco, where the priests discovered
his calibre. Later on, he worked for Bata Shoe Co. where his first
pay was 12 annas. After work, he used to practice and play for
Hotel Majestic at Colaba. In 1940, he joined the Jazz Listening
Club. He took part in the live concert for Bombay Swing Club
in 1948, which earned him lot of fame. His first assignment in
music was to play at Green’s Hotel and Taj Mahal Hotel under
the leadership of George Theodore – an East Indian. Most of the
Goans played for hotels patronised by the elite Parsi and Khoja
community, who fancied American commercial music.
In 1942, he left Mumbai for Mussorie to play at Savoy Hotel
under Rudy Cotton band. It was there that he got a good
opportunity to be a Jazz musician. The same year, he
had a brief stint in New Delhi. In 1946, he set for Bombay
to participate in Mickey Correia’s band. Frank could play
cornet, cello, string bass and drums with ease.
With the imposition of prohibition in Bombay, the
hotels lost their clients and the musicians had to look for
alternate employment. In 1927, many studios sprung up
in erstwhile Bombay as the Indian cinema was passing
through a golden era. The Hindi music directors did not
have formal training in music and Goans filled that void
as music arrangers, which required 25 to 30 musicians
for orchestra, playing Western and Hindi music. Cine
Musicians Association lent a helping hand.
Frank’s first pay-packet in the film industry
was Rs 250 and that too only for playing
the violin. He contributed 35 years of his
service to Bollywood, wherein he handled
70 Bollywood films as music conductor, assistant music
director and arranger, though he did not receive due credit
The year 1948 saw him joining the film industry as a
musician to the popular music duo Shankar-Jaikishan. He
was proud to be associated with the success of R K Films’
Raj Kapoor’s super hit ‘Barsat’. He also worked under music
directors of repute viz. Kishore Kumar, C R Ramchandra,
Roshan, Ravi, Anil Biswas, etc. His last assignment with
Kalyanji-Anandji as his first assistant is fondly remembered
by the Hindi film music community. He excelled in musical
arrangements for these music directors.
In the 1950s, he along with director A Salaam and music
director Ravi planned to produce a Hindi movie. But it had a
wrong start up. Famed Guru Dutt was not ready to star with
Meena Kumari and the project had to be stalled.
Frank was a true patriot. In the footsteps of the liberation
of Goa, for the immense love he had for Konkani and with the
vast knowledge of film craft in his possession, he launched his
first Konkani film ‘Amchem Noxib’ (Our Luck) under the banner
of Frank Films (Goa), starring C Alvares and Anthony Mendes
in the main roles at a cost of Rs 1,25,000. Apart from being its
producer, the film had melodious music composed by him.
This film cast a magic spell on the spectators and its immense
popularity brought him adulation. He expressed his gratitude for
the patronage received for his first film, which enabled him to
boost his enthusiasm. However, he regretted that Portuguese
and English speaking Goans did not appreciate the film and
To counteract this criticism, he produced his second film,
‘Nirmonn’ (Destiny) based on Lord Tennyson’s character Enoch
Arden for which he set music in his own style at a cost of
Rs 1,80,000. This film had a powerful story and bagged the
Certificate of Merit for regional films – the first of its kind for
Konkani at the hands of the then Prime Minister late Indira
Gandhi. S S Vasan of Gemini Films praised his efforts. This film
had memorable performances by C Alvares, Shalini, Anthony
D’Sa and Jacinto Vaz. The lyrics and scenes of both films have
been beautifully captured on mementos of these films, entitled
‘Sargam’. ‘Nirmonn’ was remade into Hindi as ‘Taqdeer’, directed
by A Salam with Shalini in the lead role. Besides these two films,
Frank also provided the musical score for Konkani film ‘Mhoji
Ghorkarn’ (My Wife) directed by A Salam, starring Shalini, C
Alvares and Jacinto Vaz. He also composed music for Hindi films
‘Chor Darwaza’ and ‘Gogola’.
As a classical Jazz player he performed the Trumpet
Concerto by Handel under music maestro Victor Paranjoti. In
1958, he organised a concert wherein he played the Evolution
of Music, Jazz, starting with Negro Spirituals, Dixie Land Jazz,
followed by New Orleans Jazz, Sound of America commercial
music, Symphony Jazz and Ravi Shankar’s Caravan.
With the success of the two Konkani films, Frank
ventured to produce a Hindi film in 1965 entitled ‘Priya’,
starring Sanjeev Kumar and Tanuja with music by Kalayanji-
Anandji. This film flopped because it was considered an art
film by the audience and not a commercial one; he suffered
a loss of Rs 1,50,000. Not loosing heart, in 1974, Frank
again attempted to produce another Hindi film ‘Aahat
- Ek Ajeeb Kahani’, starring Dr Shriram Lagoo, Jaya
Bahaduri and Vinod Mehra. The film, inspired by the
popular English film ‘Wait Until Dark’ was made under
the banner of Vishal Gomantak Films with screenplay
by G D Madgulkar and Kishore Rege as director. The
film was over-budgeted at Rs 18,00,000 and could
not be released as the distributor was arrested under
COFEPOSA. The film was later released in February
2010. Frank set music to lyrics of works by popular
Konkani poet Dr Manohar Sardesai for HMV Recording
Co. for which he bagged the Bombay Journal Award.
Cine Musicians honoured him as founder and he was
bestowed the Goan Review Award. In the eighties, he
staged tiatr ‘Bekar Patranv’ which, for the first time,
had a ten-piece orchestra.
Unfortunately, this great artiste was struck with
Parkinson’s disease since 1985.
Frank’s magical touch is seen in the song ‘Mere Desh
Ki Dharti’ in ‘Upkar’ and ‘Mera Jeevan Kora Kagaz’ in
Frank breathed his last on April 1, 2007 in Mumbai and
was cremated at Dadar as per his wishes. His legacy lives on.
(Isidore Dantas is a freelance journalist and author
from Pune who writes frequently on Goan cultural topics)
