A tribute to the lyricist Rajendra Krishna (6 June 1919 – 23 September 1987) on his 34th Remembrance Day by guest author Hans Jakhar
(The lovers of old film music regard Rajendra Krishna with a lot of respect for a large number of immortal songs he wrote. His most prominent association was with C Ramchandra, the unique craftsman. C Ramchandra was not only reckoned as the tallest composer for a number of years, rivalled by only Naushad, he was also known for breaking new grounds with his unconventional songs, and his very fast output. Rajendra Krishna was his regular lyricist for many of these superhits.
Many readers have mentioned that the lyricists deserve more coverage on SOY. Fortunately, there are some among our guest authors who are ever willing to fill up the gap. Hans Jakhar has been interacting with me about some prominent lyricists he would like to write on. He got busy in some personal matters which affected his participation on the blog. But he has been able to send me his article on Rajendra Krishna on his most famous association with a composer, as his tribute on his 34th Remembrance Day. The readers may please note that many sources, including film credit titles write his name as Rajinder Krishan/Krishen. But being conditioned by Akashvani, I prefer to write it as Rajendra Krishna. (And the readers must have, of course, noticed that ‘Albela’ and ‘Karigar’ both are names of films which had Rajendra Krishna-CR songs.)
Hans needs no introduction to the regular readers of SOY. His writing is backed by data, it is functional and precise and he is very knowledgeable. He is a retired government official. As the readers can make out, this article is the start of a series; Hans would cover Rajendra Krishna’s association with a few other important composers in due course. Thanks a lot Hans for this excellent guest article.- AK)
Rajendra Krishna penned more than 1500 songs in 232 films with 34 composers, but his fame is not commensurate with the quality and quantity of work that he produced. As the focus has always been on composers, only those lyricists who were inalienably linked with some prominent composers were discussed more. There were exceptions like Sahir Ludhiyanavi who kept themselves in the news in some way or other. But Rajendra Krishna, like Ravi in the composers, was a low-key, simple person who did not believe in self-propaganda. His most commonly known story is his winning the jackpot in horse races and even in that people are not sure about the time of the occurrence.
Rajendra Krishna was a well-read literary person, who not only wrote lyrics on a wide range of subjects, but also wrote dialogues, screenplays and a few stories. Though it is difficult to know the dialogue and screenplay writer etc. without watching titles of the films, I have counted more than 80 films for which he wrote dialogues etc. in addition to lyrics. That is a huge number by any standards. This connection with story and screenplay is the reason why his songs look part of the scene and situation. He rarely departed from the situation and never tried to interpose his own theories while writing lyrics. Not only that, he adjusted admirably to the inclinations of the composer while writing songs. That is why you will find him doing with equal finesse light songs like ‘Mere piya gaye rangoon‘, ‘Gore gore O baanke chhore‘, ‘Shola jo bhadke‘ with CR, while with Madan Mohan he would come up with high class ghazals like in Adalat.
I always feel sorry that I am not able to satisfy the curiosity of some friends with biographical details or anecdotes. I mostly cover the work of the personality at hand. Biographical details can be had from Wikipedia. For Rajendra Krishna, Wikipedia says he was born in Gujarat district of the present-day Pakistan and worked in the municipal office of Shimla before moving to Bombay in the mid-40s. I can further mention what Manek Premchand wrote about him in his book ‘Yesterday’s Melodies Today’s Memories’ for those who have not read the book. Premchand wrote, “Generations of music lovers have enjoyed virtually hundreds of songs written by Rajendra Krishna, while sadly remaining blissfully unaware of who wrote those songs.” After doing his matriculation in 1935, Rajendra Krishna went to Shimla and worked with a local electrical company. He got married in 1941 and had four sons and two daughters. A wealthy person Kamal Rai took Rajendra Krishna to Bombay and he did the role of a Pandit in the 1943 film Shahanshah Akbar. The film was a sound flop with people breaking chairs in the cinema hall and he decided to restrict himself to writing. Premchand also described his work style as told to him by Rajendra Krishna’s son Bunty:
“Bunty took me to his parents’ bedroom and demonstrated how his dad used to sit cross-legged on his bed, facing the wall, cigarette held between the index and middle finger, closed-fist style, and taking deep drags. Ash spread over the bed. And either Income Tax papers or songbooks opened in front of him.”
Rajendra Krishna’s wife Savitri Duggal and his sons Ravi and Bunty shared with Premchand some personal memories when he visited their house. They told him he was not methodical and was mostly absent-minded. Sometimes he would go to the fridge and open the door and would forget for what purpose he had come, as suddenly some idea would come to him and he would go to his writing place. Once his daughter Pappu was playing with her Dutch friend who was singing a Dutch play song Ina Meena Deeka, from which he suddenly got the idea for that song. He loved to drink and was a non-stop smoker of Gold Flake cigarettes and he never remembered to flick the ash. I think I have this time satisfied the curiosity of friends to some extent.
Now I come back to the start of his career. His first films for lyrics as well as dialogues came in 1947 itself. He debuted as lyricist in Janta for which he wrote lyrics for two songs. Details of Zanjeer are not known, but it is said he wrote dialogues for the film. In the meantime, he had been employed by Famous Pictures with which Qamar Jalalabadi also worked. He shared lyrics of two hit films Pyar Ki Jeet (1948) and Badi Behan (1949) with Qamar, while doing Aaj Ki Raat alone. ‘Tere nainon ne chori kiya‘ was an instant hit in Pyar Ki Jeet, while all songs written by him for Badi Behan were hits. In the meantime, he wrote the non-film song ‘Suno sun ae duniyawalo bapuji ki amar kahani‘ after the death of Mahatma Gandhi. This was an instant hit and now his name was known to everybody in the film world. The owner of Famous Pictures, Baburao Pai gifted him Austin car for this song. Soon his career was on a roll and he wrote lyrics for 23 films in the three years of 1948 to 1950. Lahore, Patanga and Samadhi were other prominent films of this period. Details of prominent films with other composers would come in the coming series. Now I focus on C Ramchandra.
Rajendra Krishna’s association with CR started in 1949. I don’t know whether film Sipahiya, in which he wrote one song, or Patanga came first, but it is sure that he did not come in Patanga on CR’s recommendation, which some people believe, because he wrote dialogues also for the whole film. Whatever was the reason, the success of Patanga started a decade long association between the two. In fact, in the eight years between 1951 to 1958 when their partnership broke, it was as if CR did not know any other lyricist, because out of 39 films he did in this period in 29 Rajendra Krishna was the lyricist. It may be that for the other films the film maker or Director might have specifically gone for other lyricists. Suddenly in 1958 after Amar Deep, when Lata walked out of CR’s record room Rajendra Krishna was also discarded. After Amar Deep they had only one film together, Payal Ki Jhankar (1968).
Their association was one of the most fruitful pairing with huge benefits to both. They worked in 33 films together and of all the composers, Rajendra Krishna wrote the maximum number of songs – 283 – for CR. Like Patanga and Samadhi, in the 50s too there were some great hits like Albela, Sagaai, Anarkali, Azaad, Asha and Amardeep. There were some other prominent films music-wise. Of the 283 songs, details are not known for 4 and out of 279, exactly two third 186 were solos and the remaining one third 93 duets. Female solos had lions share with 145 of which Lata Mangeshkar with 115, Asha Bhosle with 20 and Shamshad Begum with 5 had the major share. On the male side, CR himself (known as Chitalkar as a singer) with 9, Kishore Kumar with 8, Talat Mahmood and Rafi with 7 each were the main singers. In the male-female duet songs which were 60, Lata Mangeshkar with 35, Asha Bhosle with 13 and Shamshad Begum with 8 on the female side, and CR with 29, Rafi with 16 and Talat with 7 on the male side were main singers. There were 13 all male, 11 all female and 9 multiple singer songs.
Now I come to the song selection. I have altogether left Anarkali and Azaad for the selection and only taken one sample song from Patanga – their first hit film – and one from Albela as a representative of Chitalkar solos. Similarly, I have left out the parting hits of Lata from Amar Deep. It being well known that CR-Lata combo is special, I have tried to focus on a variety of songs which Lata sang to show the range of both of them. I have tried to accommodate other singers where possible. Due to this the list has become too long. I hope friends would like the selection and pardon the long list. Here it is.
1. Pyar ke jahan ki nirali sarkar hai – Patanga – 1949 – Lata Mangeshkar and Shamshad Begum
The glory of Patanga has already been shown in its brightest colours with a special article on the film by AK. The lyrics and music were mesmerising. The lyrics of this one has a unique imagery and a lot of similes and perfectly fitting for a fun song. Dil is thanedar, havaldar and chowkidar of ‘muhabbat ka thana’. ‘Ankhon ka daakhana‘ ‘nazron ka taar (telegram) ‘ is used in the first antara. Then in the second antara he compares ‘pyar‘ to a ‘class‘ where ‘koi koi paas hai (only a few are successful in this class). This song also shows how different was Shamshad Begum as a person. She allowed more than equal share to Lata in the song, which Lata never allowed new singers when she was established.
2. Wah paas aa rahe hain hum door ja rahe hain – Samadhi – 1950 – Lata Mangeshkar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GttwFzRFarM
This was the film which had the blockbuster ‘Gore gore O banke chhore’. Lata had at the time a natural tinge of sadness in her voice which she lost later. That is the reason her sad songs of the time, particularly with CR, had special charm. Rajendra Krishna was at his best with lyrics. Amazing choice of words. Look at the last antara how beautifully he uses the words roothna and manaana, हम रूठ कर ख़ुशी से ग़म को मना रहे हैं.
3. Kabhi kaali ratiyan….O betaji kismat ki hawa kabhi naram – Albela – 1951 – Chitalkar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DPN72QhjH8
CR was very fond of fun songs and in his quest he created gem after gem. This was one of such songs where his solo singing also shone forth. Lyrics department was taken care of well by Rajendra Krishna.
4. O daddy ji meri mummy ko satana nahin achha – Sagaai – 1951 – Lata
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsm4JinSBSE
Rajendra Krishna was an expert at finding words for every situation. Here he is expertly handling the words where a male has to be castigated for his misdemeanours. Just simple lines for the light song. Later he wrote a similar fun song against female ‘Jawan ho ya budhia‘ in Bhabhi. Lata had by now become indispensable for CR. This song is also a visual treat with special antics of Gope along with his thumkas.
5. Hum hain yahan…Ankhon se jo bhi aansoo bahega – Sagaai – 1951 -Lata Mangeshkar
The mukhda may suggest the song is a sad one but, this one is also a song in light vein. Again, simple lines to go with the situation. Rehana was for a certain time period quite popular. She made an unusual pair with Premnath but the film was a blockbuster, probably due to the songs.
6. Dil-e-beqaraar soja, ab nahin kisi ko tera intezar – Ghunghroo – 1952 – Lata Mangeshkar
A perfect sad song for a person who is feeling melancholy believing nobody cares for her. The first para says don’t talk about your woes because nobody listens. The second para tells ‘Teri tadap par hanste hain chaand taare’.
7. Meri sakhi bata teri pee bin kaisi gujri raat re – Hungama – 1952 – Rafi and Chitalkar
This song appears to be some nautanki song. As in nautankis of old times parts of females were also played by males, the song presents Rafi singing the male part and Chitalkar the female part without any change of voice. Words are again simple. The song must have titillated the audience no end.
8. Azal se husnparasti likhi thi…Mera mizaaj ladakpan se aashiqana hai – Saaqi – 1952 – Rafi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z61PzSIHcnM
This was the year when Rafi was singing songs of irritating flirtation to Nadira in Aan. Here Premnath gets paired with the beauty Madhubala and he is busy having fun in the song, boldly presenting his ‘dil‘ as nishana.
मुझे डराएंगी क्या मुश्क़िलें ज़माने की
के मेरे सीने को आदत है तीर खाने की
ऐ हुस्नवालों ज़रूरत नहीं निशाने की
ख़ुशी से तीर चलाओ ये दिल निशाना है.
9. Aarzooyein ro rahin hain…..Kise maloom tha ek din muhabbat bejuban hogi – Saaqi – 1952 -Talat Mahmood and Lata Mangeshkar
CR sang a number of duets with Lata. But he also gave a number of duets to the Lata-Talat duo ousting Rafi who was his initial favourite. I don’t know whether it was because Lata felt more comfortable with Talat or whether CR used Talat more because his main adversary Naushad was not using him. Whatever be the reason this combo produced one of the sublime duets penned perfectly by Rajendra Krishna in the ghazal format. Sample:
Kabhi ik khwab dekha tha, mere pehloo men tum hoge,
Kahani pyar ki ankhon hi ankhon men bayan hogi
CR gave the couplet before the mukhda to Lata instead of Talat, who was a master in this craft.
10. Mohe laage sara jag pheeka pheeka – Jhaanjhar – 1953 – Lata Mangeshkar
If there is a song where full credit can be given to the composer, it is this. CR gave such twist to words like pheeka and teekha with well-timed repetitions that you do not care for once for lyrics at all. He was master of this craft and created songs like ‘Baabdi boobdi bum bum‘. In fact many thought he overdid this trick sometimes. This song is total fun and Lata is equal to the task. She sang a number of such saucy songs in the early period, particularly with CR. Later, she changed tack and even castigated Raj Kapoor for the way he picturised ‘Main ka karun raam mujhe budha mil gaya’.
11. Ghir ghir aayi kari badariya – Shagufa – 1953 – Lata Mngeshkar
Shagufa and Sin Sinaki Babla Boo were films whose names had special attraction for me in radio days. Even till the 1970s songs from these films were played on Radio Ceylon regularly. The female announcer’s voice coming on short wave gave a special effect to names of these films, which I remember till now. Shagufa has many songs worth listening. Premnath produced this under the banner PN Films and entrusted direction to HS Rawail who was director of his successful films like Sagaai and Saaqi. I don’t know how this one fared on box office, but I like its music. I considered 3-4 songs but chose this because it is classical based and shows CR’s range of composition.
12. Teri ik ik ada jhhothi….Maan kare kya rang roop ka tu kaagaz ka phool hai – Kavi – 1954 – Talat Mahmood
CR declared that he would create another film like Baiju Bawra with Talat Mahmood, but the film proved a resounding flop. But, music-wise, if you listen to the songs, the film has quite a few good songs. This song has great lyrics and perfect coming from the slighted lover. He goes on berating her with negative superlatives. Rajendra Krishna has kept his senses while writing the lyrics. He used the lines ‘Shabnam khud ko saagar samjhe ye shabnam ki bhool hai‘. Here shabnam is not used in a bad sense but it tells shabnam has its limits quite like ‘Haseen ho tum khuda nahin ho’.
13. Dekh ke gora ora mukhada…Achhi soorat hui ya musibat gali men aana jaana band – Pehli Jhalak – 1954 – Lata Mangeshkar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnx0Dhsm4EU
This film can be watched just for Vyjayanthimala’s dances. Writing this I suddenly remembered that Bhatiaji was fond of her dances. This film has a number of great songs picturised on her. I selected this beause this is one of the best worded songs of self-praise.
कैसे रोकूंगी मस्ती भरी चाल को
काट लूँ कैसे ज़ुल्फ़ों के इस जाल को
सारी दुनिया से हो गयी अदावत
गली में आना जाना बंद
14. Humein lakh na karod na hazaar chahiye – Duniya Gol Hai – 1955 – Lata Mangeshkar
‘Daalo karodon pe babuji khak, muhabbat ki duniya hai laalach se pak‘ sings Lata penned by Rajendra Krishna. She also sang ‘Lara lappa‘ in the film Ek Thi Ladki (1949) which had lines ‘Baabuji se mange paise, babuji bole paise kaise, len den par khak mubabbat paak bade farma gaye hain‘ written by Aziz Kashmiri. Totally opposite sentiments in the two songs.
15. Aai jhoomti bahar laai dil ka qaraar dekho pyar ho gaya – Insaniyat – 1955 – Lata Mangeshkar and Talat Mahmood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRicVSMr1kY
This film was an ambitious project of Gemini Pictures with both Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand in it, but cold response at box-office brought all the effort of CR and Rajedra Krishna to naught. This song is as sweet as any love duet with all ingredients for success, but ill luck put this in the list of forgotten songs.
16. Aasha ke jab deep bujhe tab man ka deep jala.. Apni chhaya men bhagwan bitha le mujhe – Insaniyat – 1955 – Rafi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQRbBmPkFIM
In this film CR suddenly remembered there is a singer named Rafi and used him in 9 of the 17 songs. Later with Nausherwan-e-Aadil, Amar Deep and Paigham, Rafi was quite regular with him. This is a song of absolute submission to God with a sense of ‘sanyaas’, filmed on Dilip Kumar in a grand temple.
Na gham ka gham na khushi ki khushi,
hai andhera bhi mere liye roshni,
main jiyun jab talak aajma le mujhe
17. Nazar ke saamne jab lut gaya jahan mera…Mujhe bhi maut ka paigam aa jaye to achha ho – Lutera – 1955 – Lata Mangeshkar
In the last song Dilip Kumar was in a sanyaas mood and in this one his brother Nasir Khan has caused the extreme sentiments of seeking death in his lover’s mind. The same year saw CR using a similar tune in Yasmin in the eternal love duet ‘Tum apni yaad bhi dil se bhula jaate to achha tha’. Mark the words in the second antara:
Mubaarak ho tujhi ko ab khushi ke jaam ae duniya,
Yahan to zahar ka ik jaam aa jaye to achha ho
18. Kahan hai mere dil ki duniya…Veeran mera dil hai dil ki bahar aaja – Lutera – Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar
I think at a later stage of life CR must have realised what this pair of top singers could have added to his career after having a relook at such gems. This is a song of long distance at the time of separation with despair and hope built in the lyrics of the song beautifully by Rajendra Krishna.
19. Ishq aya meri duniya mein to aise aya..Ashqon men doob doob ke aayi hansi to kya – Teerandaz – 1955 – Lata Mangeshkar
In Anarkali Rajendra Krishna wrote ‘Zindagi pyar ki do chaar ghadi hoti hai’, but here the sentiments have reversed. All six songs of this film went to Lata Mangeshkar and most of them are gems. About this one I don’t want to say anything except copying the lyrics.
अश्क़ों में डूब डूब के आयी हंसी तो क्या
मर मर के दो घड़ी को मिली ज़िन्दगी तो क्या
बुलबुल ने जब कफ़स में ठिकाना बना लिया
अंगड़ाई लेके शाख से फूटी कली तो क्या
रो रो के बुझ गए मेरी आँखों के जब चिराग
फिर ज़िन्दगी में शम्मे मुहब्बत जली तो क्या
जब ज़िन्दगी में कोई तमन्ना ही न रही
तब दाग़-ए-दिल को इश्क़ की मंजिल मिली तो क्या
20. Udhar chali ja Janaki jidhar chalen tere Ram – Devta – 1956 – Manna Dey
This is one of the great songs sung by Manna Dey. Feminists may make wry faces on the lyrics, but the lines written by Rajendra Krishna conform to the values of those times. This song is presented for Mumbaikar8, so that she can consider ‘Tumhin mere mandir’ as a lesser evil.
21. Haal tujhe apni duniya ka nazar to aata hoga – Aasha – 1957 – Kishore
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKOeMFRNopU
I think there would be hardly any person who has not listened to the twin version song ‘Eena meena deeka‘ a number of times. But, for variety I am presenting a hard hitting song addressed to God and describing the condition of this world. These sentiments have been expressed in different manner in different songs. The following lines are relevant at all times.
Nafrat is duniya ka tohfa, ulfat ik ilzaam,
Jhooth yahan ki subah, haqiqat is duniya ki sham,
Bol kya tujhe apne kiye par taish na aata hoga.
22. Ek nazar mein dil le jaye soorat ho to aisi ho – Baarish – 1957 -Talat Mahmood, Rafi, Francis Vaz and Chitalkar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOQku0JMfSA
Nutan is being teased by four mawaalis in four different styles. This song is a unique creation. Earlier in the film Nutan teased Dev Anand, with a song ‘Zara dekho to soorat huzoor ki’, when he went to her village to convey money sent by her brother. This film has a number of good songs.
23. Mr John ya Baba Khan ya Lala Roshandaan – Baarish – Asha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sVXczfC6NQ
This is a club song and Asha Bhosle’s presence immediately tells the difference she could make. And this was the time when she had not gone into the so-called OPN mould. She is just a class by herself.
24. Jap jap jap jap jap re jap re preet ki mala – Sharada – 1957 – Mukesh
In my reckoning CR gave Mukesh just two solos. This one, and another in Wahan Ke Log (1967) – (Hum tujhse mohabbat kar ke sanam duniya ka fasana bhool gaye). This song is a marvel of picturisation and word play for giving a comic effect. Raj Kapoor and Meena Kumari change places as frequently as words are changed in the song with perfect understanding between composer and lyricist. Those who call Mukesh a limited singer need only to listen to this song. Listen with what ease he repeats the word ‘jap’ so many times. I think before this era of playback/pause it would have been a great challenge to count this word in each stint and in total. Even with the modern facilities, it will take a lot of time with pencil and paper in hand.
25. Lene se inkar nahin aur dene ko tayyar nahin – Amar Deep – 1958 – Rafi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrqqxAZJ5AE
If you listen to this song, you would think Johny Walker is lip-syncing. But, surprisingly it is Dev Anand himself and he does not lag behind JW in antics. Many film lyricists have described paisa in various ways but the description by Rajendra Krishna in the song beats them all. It is the most vivid description, covering so many aspects of money. Must listen song.
26. Mose rooth gaye more Ram re – Kaarigar – 1958 – Lata Mangeshkar
I have never seen such lines to describe the Sita-tyag situation. Here is the whole song:
मोसे रूठ गए मोरे राम रे – 2
अपनी सीता को दे बैठे इक पतिता का नाम रे
कौन जतन से, लछमन भ्राता, रूठे राम मनाऊं
वो बोलेँ तो, शीश नवा कर, धरती बीच समाऊं
मरते मरते, भी होठों पर, राम का होगा नाम रे
काहे जीती, सीता सुनकर, राम से ऐसी बानी
पर क्या करती, गर्भ में उसके, थी जो राम निशानी
जान पे दुःख सहकर भी जीना, है माता का काम रे
27. Shabaab aane se pehle unka aalam aur hi kuchh tha…..Nazar bhar rama taka bhi na jaaye – Kaarigar – 1958 – Smt Chand Agarwal
This is one of the songs which shows CR’s multi-faceted talent as a composer. Slow recital of high quality couplets combined with the mukhda ‘Nazar bhar rama taka bhi na jaaye, ghoonghatwa jo khole karejwa hilaye‘. The singer is some classical singer rarely used in films. But what performance she has given. Meenu Mumtaz dance is icing on the cake.
In the above selection Lata Mangeshkar has naturally the lions share with only CR and Rafi coming in 2 or more songs. Despite the long list the songs cover just about one-tenth of the combo. So friends will have chance to post a number of great songs. Since this is a post on a lyricist, it would be better if something about lyrics is highlighted when posting the songs, though this is not must do.
Acknowledgements and Disclaimer:
The song links have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.
{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
very good article. No doubt Rajendra Krishan is the most underrated poet/ Kavi or Shair of NFM who never got his due. His association with CR was tremendous but unless we mention his excellent association with Madan Mohan and Ravi no tribute to him would do justice to his contribution
Avinash Kumar,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation. As you would have noticed in my introduction, Hans plans to write a few more articles on Rajendra Krishna’s association with other prominent music directors. Madan Mohan is surely the most prominent among them
Hans,
Kudos to your efforts in bringing out this post. You have provided so many additional details in the post. Many Thanks for the same.
I could be completely wrong especially since you have mentioned the fact that RK wrote the maximum songs for CR amongst the many composers that he worked with.
But then, I feel CR is not the first composer that comes to mind when we talk of RK. It is always Madan Mohan, I suppose.
Is it because MM’s songs written by RK were more famous than CR-RK’s ?
Regarding Mukesh and CR, you are right that there are only two film solos. Their entire collaboration consists of 2 solos, 1 duet and one NFS.
Thanks.
Hans Jakhar ji,
My sincere apologies for not adding the customary “ji” to your good name in my above comment. It was indeed inadvertent please.
Mahesh
Hans Jakhar ji
I very much enjoyed reading your tribute to Rajendra Krishan.
I was in Bombay during the 70s. When Rajendra Krishan cracked the jackpot during a race day, it made NEWS ! Only one person had correctly predicted the winner of all races and it took a while to locate the winner. It was a huge amount he got and probably became more famous because of this rather than the lyrics he wrote.
Just a digression.
Thanks for bring out the much awaited combination! This team of CR/RK indeed produced wonderful results in the fifties. Later on along with Rajendra Krishna and Lata many combinations including Rafi and Talat also started drifting from CR. It is interesting to note that in the sixties only Mahendra Kapoor and Asha Bhosle were his prominent singers till he brought back Rafi and Kishore in Rootha Na Karo with some wonderful results which did not get noticed as it should have!
Avinash Kumar,
Thanks for the kind words. I think you have hit the nail on its head. RK did not get his due. He was a literary genius, who excelled both in prose and verse. He adjusted admirably to various composers, song situations and changing times and that is why I am going by the composers. Madan Mohan comes next.
Mahesh,
I am extremely fine with Hans. I request you and everybody else to write Hans instead of putting ‘ji’. Hans reminds me of my childhood when everybody called me by this name and I feel younger. 😉
Regarding the topic, I think you are absolutely right when you say the first composer one remembers for RK is Madan Mohan. There association is a long lasting one. CR had just a few more songs but had composed about 50 per cent more songs than MM. MM’s 268 out of 600 odd is much better than CR’s 283 out of 900 odd.
Regarding your other point about MM’s songs being more known than CR’s may also be true in the sense that CR’s success story was getting limited as 50s wore on and he also relied too much on Lata, while MM had a lot of variety singer-wise and in songs too he showed his versatility on a regular basis. However, I would say that CR had a number of hits with RK, most of which I have kept out of the list, as explained.
Thanks for your comments, which are always apt.
Seshadri ji,
Thanks for the nice words. For music lovers like me RK’s role as lyricist would always come first. In fact, the jackpot was just an additional luck and he and his family never made a show of this. Otherwise he had earned a lot with his hard work in the film industry and with his added diligence he was one of the richer lyricists.
KB,
Thanks for the appreciation. I think only Lata moved away from CR on her own, while others you named were sidelined by CR himself. But, it goes to his credit that he did some great songs with Mahendra Kapoor and Asha Bhosle.
A very informative writeup on RK of the RK – CR combo and their songs for which I am thankful . It is rightly observed that lyricists contribution has not received due attention.
The opening sentence of the piece gives figures and that raised my expectations for even more data by the time I finished reading. A lot of effort has gone into putting so much in this very readable composition as a tribute to the great Rajinder Krishna. 283 songs in around 8 years shows how well the combo worked.
I always thought that only Lata – CR association had broken down but now I feel the breakup was of the very successful trio at the same time and this is intriguing.
Here is one of their famous songs…
Mujh se mat…’ / 1953 / ANAARKALI / Rajinder Krishna / CR / Lata
https://youtu.be/g-tctJCNPcU
Nice
Kunal Bidra,
Welcome to SOY.
Hansji
Praise and more praise for writing the above article with all round information about the lyricist Rajendra Krishna and his close relationship with C.Ramchandra.
In my conversation with C.Rmacahndra when he visited London in seventies and then again in eighties I asked him “Do the words come first or the tune you compose and write the lyric together becomes a song.
He said both help each other. Then there is a story line and the actors as well. For the film Albela he had considered the main characters of the actors Bhagvan and Geetabali. In case Bhagvan he said he did not have much literary angle. So he had to go very light with him. And about Geetabli he said she had ability to go deeper in acting of the songs.
When he had some idea he would give it to the lyricist.
In their relationship he was more insistent on his points and Rajndra Krishna would work together. Rajendra Krishna according him was more in taking challenges of lyric posed but he worked on them without tears. Words came to him easily.
Extremely interesting and I hope AK will continue to explore more about the lyricists in this blog.
Shalan La
Josephji,
Thanks for the encouraging words.
I agree with you that as per my standards number of stats is on the lower side, but, as is clear by now that this is first part of the series, there is time for more to come.
Writing on lyricists is always more hard work because one has to listen to whole songs multiple times, even in case of well known songs. Both of them were hand in glove during the creation of songs, so the number and quality are on the higher side.
The song posted by you is a great ghazal, preceded by these lines in the alaap.
‘parwana jal raha hai, magar jal raha hai kyun,
ye raaj jaanana hai to khud ko jala ke dekh’
I had given a slip to this film’s songs, but they are in fact the high point of creation for this combo. RK wrote 7 of the 12 songs and easy method to remember them is all three songs where Hemant Kumar is involved, plus two versions of the unforgettable ‘ye zindagi usi ki hai’ plus this one and ‘muhabbat main aise kadam dagmagaye'(the sharabi song). RK got his fame as a ghazal writer from this film which culminated with the top quality ones with Madan Mohan.
Kunal Bidla,
Thanks.
Hansji,
I enjoyed reading the post and the tidbits of interesting information you have interspersed it with. I presume Anarkali has not been included by you because C Ramchandra used 5 lyricists out of which one was Rajinder Krishan. There is a lot of controversy about the music direction of the movie as well. I had recently explored this movie in one of my posts – One Movie, Many Lyricists. You may like to read the post. https://anitamultitasker.wordpress.com/2021/08/28/one-movie-many-lyricists/
Jhaanjhar which was released in the same year as Anarkali was produced by C Ramchandra himself. (https://www.cinestaan.com/movies/jhanjhar-14307/cast-crew) Some websites also mention Lata as the producer. (https://ohfact.com/21-interesting-facts-about-lata-mangeshkar/)If this were true then it would suggest that Rajinder Krishan was perhaps the chosen one of both Lata and C Ramchandra at least in the early 1950s.
Please correct name from Rajendra Krishna to Rajinder Krishan Duggal or more popularly called, but correctly as:: Rajinder Krishan.
Vijay Duggal,
Welcome to Songs Of Yore. About the name I have explained in my introduction in the beginning that this is a conscious choice followed by this blog.
A points to note here: Rajendra Krishna is a very versatile lyricist and appears to get along with every composer which can be seen from the fact that he has worked with almost all composers from the vintage era to modern times starting from SDB and also produced excellent results !
Hans ji and AK ji,
There is an interesting story about how CR and RK split. This was told by CR to his friend and film Historian Isak Mujawar-a prolific writer on old films in Marathi, Hindi and English. Here it is….(I had quoted it in one of my articles, which I remembered.)
From the time of Vasan’s multilingual Blockbuster, Chandralekha’s success in 1948, it dawned on south producers that a huge market in Hindi belt was available for their successful south films. One after another hit films started from South, like Nishan-49, Mangala-50,Bahar-51, Mr. Sampat-52, Miss Mary-57, Asha-57 and such other films, which were either remakes of Tamil/Telugu hit films or films made in Madras.
During this period, C Ramchandra and his songs were very popular in south. At the same time, his favourite Lyricist Rajendra krishna also had a great demand in south. Rajendra Krishna worked for both AVM and Gemini films. Vasan wanted that Rajendra krishna should work only for Gemini and not AVM. However, Rajendra Krishna continued working for AVM, so Vasan decided not to take Rajendra krishna for Gemini films anymore.
In 1957, AVM’s film Bhabhi became a Hit film. Rajendra krishna had written all the songs for Bhabhi. In 1958, when Vasan Planned to make Raaj Tilak in Hindi and its Tamil and Telugu versions, at the same time, he selected C Ramchandra as its Music Director. That time CR was working for film Amardeep-58 in Bombay and Rajendra krishna was the Lyricist. CR knew that Vasan will not take Rajendra krishna as a Lyricist for Gemini films anymore. At that time only, P L Santoshi met CR. He had fallen on bad days and requested CR for his help.
With consideration for past successful association with Santoshi, CR recommended Santoshi’s name to Vasan. He also agreed. When Rajendra Krishna came to know this, he did not like it and he severed ties with CR.The two never worked together again ever. The year 1958 was not a good year for CR anyway. Lata had given indications that after Raaj Tilak, she would not sing for CR. She did only 1 solo and 1 duet in this film. After Rajendra krishna split with CR, he started recommending Chitragupta, Madan Mohan and others to South producers. CR stopped getting their offers. In addition film Raaj Tilak also did not do so well……
-AD
An interesting write up by Shri Deshmukh. I have also observed that several changes occurred since 1958 with CR losing contact with other singers and lyricists also! Since this time upto the end of sixties CR had to rely on Asha Bhosle, Mahendra Kapoor, himself and occasionally Mannadey due to some strange reasons known to himself. His favorite singer Talat was also not heard since then. Similarly he had to partner with Shakeel Badayuni , Majrooh and Sahir also (Bahurani )!
Arunji, KB,
Thanks a lot for the interesting story of CR-Rajendra Krishna’s break-up and your detailed comments. Unfortunately, all adverse factors started working together against C Ramchandra around that time.
Shalanji,
Your praise is worth gold for me. The films as well as songs are teamwork. I think RK worked in perfect harmony with his composers and his work has shadows of their thought too. It is necessary too because the overall responsibility of the music is on MD. Lyricists also advised about the tuning of the words. I cant understand CR’s undermining Bhagwan. Albela was a grand success under his direction and he was producer too. He produced some other films too.
Anita,
A big thank you to you for the nice words and the number of links given.
I have given the reasons for not including Anarkali. I have left out other prominent films too so that some of the lesser known but good songs of the combo could be covered. There were 4 lyricists for the songs. Besides the 7 for RK, 2 each were by the SJ team, Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra and one by Jan Nisar Akhtar. These historical films contained some shero shayari at various places and Sardar Jafri perhaps wrote some of them.
CR produced 3 films Jhanjhar, Lehren and Duniya Gol Hai under his production house of New Sai Productions. As per my information Lata had nothing to do with the production of Jhanjhar.
Vijay Duggal,
I share your concern for the correct name, because I know he himself was very particular about the name being given as Rajinder Krishan in the titles. His name is being spelled otherwise here just for consistency at the SOY.
There is a query. Are you one of the Duggal family. If so, that would be really nice, because, here there is a lot of respect for him and we would love to have someone from his family.
KB, @ 20
Your observation about RK is absolutely perfect. It matches with my view and in the coming parts of the series it will become clear how he worked in perfect harmony with other MDs.
Arunji,
Thanks for the story of their split. You know I always suspect such stories and try to test them on the basis of facts. This prompted me to do some research on Madras based production houses.
The first premise of the CR story is that RK worked for both Gemini and AVM. First, Gemini – in their first 6 films Chandralekha, Nishan, Mangala, Sansar, Mr. Sampat and Bahut Din Hue, they used Pt Indra for most of the songs with a few written by JS Kashyap and Bharat Vyas. They also used mostly south based composers like Nageshwar Rao, Parthasarthy, Shashtri and also BS Kalla. It was in Insaaniyat in 1955 they used CR and RK. They continued to use CR in Raaj Tilak and Paigham, after which they got Ravi for Ghunghat and continued with him.
RK started working for AVM with their first film Bahaar and continued till Meherbaan in 1967 for 15 films. He wrote dialogues also for these films, so we can say he was a full timer with them and there was a special bond with them. But, even AVM used pair of Chitragupta and GS Nepali for Shiv Bhakta, SJ with their natural lyricists in Chori Chori and N Datta and PL Santoshi in Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke. In the 50s AVM had done 11 films. In the 10 films (minus Ladki – 1953), they used 7 MDs. The 11th film was Ladki which had two MDs, CR composed 3 songs and remaining went to the pair of Sudershanam-Dhaniram. I dont know why CR composed only 3 songs, but it is clear that AVM never used him again.
On the CR analogy, were they changing MDs on the recommendation of RK. Answer is no. Every producer or director hires them as per their needs. For Shiv Bhakta they used Chitragupta and Nepali on the basis of the success of the film Tulsidas, as the film was a Bhakti film. Chori Chori was RK film so there was no choice. On CR analogy, RK should have severed his ties with AVM because they used others in place of him.
CR’s claim that Gemini advised RK not to work for AVM is not only wrong on the basis of my proving that RK was not working regularly for Gemini, but also due to the fact that Gemini continued to work with Ravi who was working for both of them. So I find no substance in his claim.
Otherwise too RK was not the type of person who severed ties on such ground. If this had been true he would not have been able to work for so long for so many famous composers and written 1500 songs. Even after 1958 CR and RK worked together in Payal Ki Jhankar in which RK was doing story, screenplay, dialogues and lyrics.
Hans ji,
It is difficult to prove these stories right or wrong, as persons connected with them are not there to give proper explanations. So it is entirely upto us to decide its authenticity and everyone has his methods to do so.
I can not claim this way or that way. I only put what is available in a book.
It is almost impossible to predict how a human being will react in a given situation, because we donot know everything. In the film industry such stories always circulate. Neither all are wrong nor all are right.
I appreciate you method of going about systematically to arrive at a conclusion.
-AD
Excellent post. Enjoyed listening to the songs. Some brought back old memories, some others were new. All this when the masterpiece, Anarkali, finds only passing mention. Kudos Mr Hans.
‘Mera mizaj ladakpan se ashikana hai’ has become an immortal quote. Is it Rajinder Krishan’s original, or taken from some other shayar?
Arunji,
I agree with you fully on what you have said. But, this is not exactly a story. It is an accusation by one man on another without the other getting due opportunity to counter it. There are thousands of such stories circulating and most of them would have been accepted but there is one stumbling block and that is HFGK. The data given there have inverted many a theories and stories. If there was not HFGK then a lay man could not have known that RK was not working with Gemini but was working with AVM regularly. Gemini had nothing in their future kitty after Insaniyat until 1958 while AVM gave 5 hit films in 1956 and 57, in 3 of which RK not only gave lyrics but also wrote dialogues.
I would reject any such claim even if RK had made it, though he has much more credibility in my eyes. In N Dutta-Asha post in para 4, I refused to accept the story attributed to RK about N Dutta having composed two songs as assistant to SDB.
Thanks again for your response.
Subodh,
Thanks for the appreciation. Coming from a classical expert, approval of my list of songs means a lot. Besides some films I left deliberately to include lesser known songs, a number of songs have already been covered in the series on CR by AK.
‘Mera mizaj ladakpan se aashikana hai’ seems to be RK’s innovation. He used many historical stories and prevalent philosophies or folk lore ideas, but mostly he used them in his own words.
Hansji has panned his camera over wide range, while focusing long shot over an interesting combination of CR-RK.
I beg pardon to stray from the main subject since the article and various learned comments about RK’s other associations have sparked his most unusual association with Shankar Jaikishan in College Girl, 1 1960 film. I have no idea why this must have happened!
This is why perhaps Shankar did many films with him when he was forced to work solo after Jaikishan’s death.
Vaishnavji,
Thanks for the nice response. We can only speculate about College Girl. T. Prakash Rao was director of the film, he also directed Amar Deep. May be he got RK to do this film. But, he later worked with SJ again in films like Sasural, Hamrahi and Suraj with their usual lyricists. Similarly, Shammi Kapoor worked with RK in Mem Sahib, but later worked with SJ in other films, also with usual pair. Later though Shammi Kapoor’s films Brahamchari (one song), Sachaai and Tumse Achha Kaun Hai had RK with SJ. May be later SJ started using RK after the death of Shailendra.
SJ worked with RK in 7 films in the year 1969 and 70 when Jaikishan was very much alive. They worked in 3 films in 1971 with RK, about which no one can be sure they were done without Jaikishan. After 1971 Shankar used RK in just 3 films, 2 in 1972 and 1 in 1973.
Hans
Here too taking advantage of my late arrival I will ditto praises showered by the esteemed readers
Enjoyed reading and listening.
Appreciate your hard work.
“This song is presented for Mumbaikar8, so that she can consider ‘Tumhin mere mandir’ as a lesser evil.”
Agree tumhin mere mandir seems lesser evil. This Sharda song would make him the king of patriarchy.
Bhagwaan Zara Dheere – – Sharada
https://youtu.be/zjPizha83S4
Jokes apart the depth in the lyrics of other song from the same movie depicts his versatility.
Teri justajoo to khwaab ki hai dastan
Tu hi raasta hai aur tu hi karwan
Yeh talaash khayal ek waham ka hai jaal
Jhuthe sapnon ke peechhen na bhag re
Do I need to praise manna dey?
Chaahe Zindagi Se – – Sharada
https://youtu.be/UYLBG9mBsqg
Mumbaikar8,
Thanks for your appreciation which means a lot, because you are one of those who understand the lyrics and their importance.
RK is one of those lyricists who writes as per situation and does not care if somebody would label him this way or that way. The Manna Dey song you posted only confirms this. Manna Dey had another good song in the movie filmed on the drunkard Raj Kapoor.
LATA MANGESHKAR NOT SINGING FOR C RAMCHANDRA (CR ) BECAME A DEATH NAIL FOR HIS MUSIC DIRECTOR ‘S CARRIER ONCE FOR ALL, ALSO WITH OUT HER, HIS CARRIER CAME TO NIL EXCEPT FOR V SANTHARAM’S HIT NAV RANG WHERE ALL SONGS WERE SUNG BY ASHA. HAD CR HAD THE GUTS TO USE SUMAN KALYANPUR IN REPLACE MENT OF LATHA HE WOULD HAVE GONE TO GREATER HIGHTS, EVER WITH OUT LATHA, SAD HE DIED A BROKEN HEARTED MAN