And the Award for the Best Duet goes to?
We have seen in some years that either male solos or female solos may be tepid, but duets never disappoint. That has to do with combinatorics. If there are, say, 3 prominent male singers and 4 female singers in a year, there are 12 possible voice combinations. Even if the music directors use half of them, you get six interesting combinations of singers for duets. This adds extra colour. It also makes some difference whether the male or the female singer takes the lead. Another dimension is added if it is a male-male or a female-female duet, or it becomes a triad or multiple-singer song which I have been treating as a duet.
The same goes for the year 1945. You have the iconic all-female qawwali, Aahein na bharin shikwe na kiye kuchh bhi na zubaan se kaam liya, sung by Kalyani, Zohrabai Ambalewali and Noorjehan, and we have K L Saigal, Mukesh and G M Durrani with different female combinations. My list of MEMORABLE SONGS in the Overview post contains 58/59 songs of which 17 are duets, which is about the same as male solos (16 songs). Generally, long term average for duets was 1.5 times the male solos. If we consider the total 370 songs of the year in which the singers are identified we should get significantly higher number of duets than male solos. As we all know, female solos outnumber both the male solos and duets by a big margin.
Duets in MEMORABLE SONGS
Since 17 is not a very large number, let me mention all the songs in the MEMORABLE SONGS in the alphabetical order of the films in which they figure.
1. Maalan bata de kiske liye haar banaya by Dhiren Mitra and Kanan Devi (Banphool), music K Datta
2. Koi humein bata de by Kanan Devi, Krishnakant and Kamal Mitra (Banphool)
3. Tera jalwa jisne dekha wo tera ho gaya by Rafi and SD Batish (Laila Majnu), music (Rafiq Ghazanavi and) Govind Ram
4. Aaj hans hans ke do do baatein ki hain sanam ne hamaare by Hamida Bano and Suraiya (Main Kya Karun), music Ninu Majumdar
5. Badariya baras gayi us paar by Mukesh, Khursheed and Hamida Bano (Moorti), music Bulo C Rani
6. Pahli nazar ka teer re by Mukesh and Naseem Akhtar (Pahli Nazar), music Anil Biswas
7. Upar ho chaand tara, neeche jahan sara, beech mein hum tum pyar karenge by Surendra and Smt Ghosh (Parinde), music Pt. Govind Ram
8. Pardesi dhola kaahe ko jagaya aadhi rate re by Mukesh and Mohantara Talpade (Prabhu Ka Ghar), music Khemchand Prakash and Bulo C Rani
9. Ratiyan guzaarun kaise haye Ram ninidiya na aawe by Surendra and Zohrabai Ambalewali (Ratnavali), music Pt. Govind Ram
10. Jaanewale kuchh kahta ja, kuchh hamri bhi suntan ja by G M Durrani and Amirbai Karnataki (Samrat Chandragupta), music C Ramchandra
11. Duniya chadhaye phool main aankh chadha dun by Amar and Zohrabi Ambalewali (Sanyasi), music Naushad
12. Sunoji pyari koeliya bole by Amar and Zohrabai Ambalewali (Sanyasi)
13. Rani khol apne dwar, milne ka din aa gaya by K L Saigal and Suraiya (Tadbeer), music Lal Mohammad
14. O pardesi raja koel kook rahi hai by Amirbai Karnataki and an unknown female singer (Village Girl), music Shyam Sundar
15. Aji dil ho kaabu mein to dildar ki aisi taisi by G M Durrani, Rafi and Chorus (Village Girl)
16. Man phoole nahin samaaye by Asit Baran and Bharati Devi (Wasseeyatnama), music R C Boral
17. Aahein na bharin shikawe na kiye kuchh bi na zuban se kaam liya by Kalyani, Zorabai Ambalewali, Noorjehan (Zeenat), music (Mir Saheb) and Hafeez Khan
Readers’ additions and choices
Arunkumar Deshmukh (Arunji) is as usual prompt and unambiguous in his choices. His top choice is the iconic all-female qawwali Aahein na bharin shikawe na kiye.
Among duets Anup has added there is a fun song by Rafi and Amirbai Karnataki, Topiwale babu ne dil cheena, from the film Kulkalank, composed by Allah Rakkha. His favourite song is Badariya baras gayi us paar, but he says that if choosing a ‘duet’ is a must his choice would be Rani khol de apne dwar, milne ka din aa gaya. I take it that he was not aware that more than two-singers songs are also counted as duets, in which case his choice for the best song is Badariya baras gayi us paar.
Canasya’s top favourite is Rani khol de apne dwar milne ka din aa gaya.
Mahesh’s top favourite is Badariya baras gayi us paar.
Neeuahaf and Raunak go completely off-beat. Neeruahaf’s top favourite duet of 1945 is Kya sitam hai zulam hai by Rafiq Ghazanavi and Amirbai Karnataki from Laila Majnu, music Rafiq Ghazanavi (and Pt. Govind Ram). This did not figure in my list; HFGK does not mention the singers’ names, so you can imagine its rarity. Neeruahaf is also highly impressed by another rare duet for which the singers are not credited in the HFGK and is not in my list. The song is Bhulaanewale humein bhi na yaad aaya karo by Zahoor Raja and Naseem Akhtar from the film Ghazal, music Gyan Dutt, and she recommends honourable mention for it.
Raunak considers Prem ki naiya ko mila hai prem nadi ka kinara by Jagmohan and Kalyani from Meghdoot, absolutely brilliant and his choice for the Best Duet of the Year. This too is outside my list. He has also given a list of ten duets in the descending order. In the nine remaining songs four are outside my list of 17.
Special songs
In the list of 17 duets there are some unknown songs, even if you have heard them you will have to rack your brains to remember their tune. Some have achieved everlasting fame, remaining are in the middle, generally known to lovers of vintage era film songs. It is easy to select the Best Ten of the Year, but before that let us hear some ‘Special songs’ which have something unique about them, This section also allows scope for including some songs which I had missed to include, but which are as good as any in the above list and some readers’ top choices for the year.
1. Prem ki naiya ko mila hai prem nadi ka kinara by Jagmohan and Kalyani from Meghdoot, lyrics Faiyaz Hashmi, music Kamal Dasgupta
I start with this beautiful song which is Raunak’s choice for the best duet of the year. In his words, “The song perfectly captures the mood and essence of a lovers night out on a boat, with soft romantic tune, aided favbulously well by Kamal Dasgupta’s orchestral excellence. Like ‘O, varsha ke pahle baadal’, this song too is fabulously arranged, especially in the climatic portions of the song.” Absolutely agree with you, Raunak.
2. Kya sitam hai zulm hai bedaad hai, main yahan aur tu wahan by Rafiq Ghaznavi and Amirbai Karnataki from Laila Majnu (1945), lyrics Tanvir Naqvi, music Rafiq Ghazanavi (and Pt Govind Ram)
It is fair that we carefully listen to Neeruahaf’s choice for the best duet of the year. This film had two music directors, the other being Pt Govind Ram. But unlike later years when the famous music duos, such as Husnlal-Bhagaram, Shankar-Jaikishan, Kalyanji-Anandji, Laxmikant-Pyarelal etc. were hyphenated, in the earlier era often the songs were separately composed. HFGK credits this song to Rafiq Ghaznavi.
3. Ae gham-e-dil kya karun ae wahshat-e-dil kya karun by Masood Parvez and Renuka Devi from Ghulami (1945), lyrics Majaz, music, SK Pal
Talat Mahmood’s rendering of Majaz’s nazm in Thokar (1953) became one of his immortal songs and cemented his position as the King of Ghazals. It was interesting to come across this version of the nazm in a 1945-film, though this is nowhere near Talat’s version. This duet was brought to my notice by SOY’s Singapore-based reader Shekhar Gupta who comments occasionally, but from time to time he shares with me on mail some superb information. He is a specialist in Pakistani singers and ghazals. This special song I inadvertently posted in Wrap Up 2 for female solos. Neeruahaf pointed out that this rightfully belonged to the Wrap Up for duets. Therefore, I am repeating the additional information Shekhar sent me. Ae gham-e-dil kya karun – the nazm had 15 stanzas of which Thokar used only two, whereas the song in Ghulami used four stanzas, as a duet between Masood Parvez and Renuka Devi. Since both are in the star cast of the film, it must have been picturised on them. Here is the full nazm in Devanagari script. You can also find the full nazm in Roman script here.
3. Aji dil ho kaabu mein to dildar ki aisi taisi by G M Durrani, Rafi and chorus from Village Girl (1945), lyrics Wali Saheb, music Shyam Sundar
This year had two ‘Special Duets’ of Rafi. One, Tera jalwa jisne dekha wo deewana ho gaya (Laila Majnu, 1945), in which Rafi gave company to S D Batish, was Rafi’s first ‘screen appearance’. This was included in the ‘Special Songs’ in my overview post at No.1. We know that Rafi had a couple of cameo appearances in his initial years, including the well-known one in the film Jugnu (1947).
Aji dil ho kaabu mein dildaar ki aisi taisi is regarded as Rafi’s first recorded song in Hindi films, though the release of the film was delayed and Naushad’s Pahle Aap (1944) beat it to it, which had Rafi’s voice in three songs, with Sham (I guess it is Shyam Kumar). You can’t fail to notice that in the initial years Rafi was the secondary voice to G M Durrani, Shyam Kumar and S D Batish. They would have scarcely imagined that one day this gawky young man would leave them far behind.
4. Rut ayi suhani hai by GM Durrani and Noorjehan from Village Girl (1945), lyrics Wali Saheb, music Shyam Sundar
There are several duets in the year vying for ‘Special’ tag, some mentioned by the readers. It is not possible to all. But here is one I had missed in the overview post. This is a terrific jhoola song picturised on the joyous couple Nazir and Noorjehan. Durrani sings for Nazir while Noorjehan sings for herself. I heard it for the first time while working this post. Though this is a very short song but deserves to be in the Special List.
Best ten duets of 1945
Now we have a fair amount of clarity to select the best ten duets of 1945. A clarification is in order. Some readers have observed why the best ten have to be confined to the list of MEMORABLE SONGS in the Overview post. Even the songs posted by the readers outside the list should be considered eligible. I agree that this cannot be a sacrosanct rule. I remember in one particular year I did include a song from outside the list in the main selection. But by and large our attention is focussed on the top two or three songs. For the remaining we have more than adequate choice to select songs which have acquired everlasting fame over the years. Therefore, I find it more prudent to include ‘new’ discoveries in ‘Special Songs’.
In 1945, male and female solos had clear strong favourites, but three duets stand out and it is difficult to choose one as the definitive best. The fairest outcome seems to be to give joint top three positions to Badariya baras gayi us paar, Rani khol de apne dwar milne ka din aa gaya and Aahein na bharin shikawe na kiye. Mukesh became Mukesh in 1945. His duet with Naseem Akhtar, Pahli nazar ka teer re laga pahli nazar ka teer (Pahli Nazar) is also mentioned with great respect. Man phoole nahin samaaye by Asit baran and Bharati Devi (Waseeyatnama) has appeared on this blog eight years ago in my post on Asit Baran. It has long been my favourite. It has the special charm of New Theatres and R C Boral, and has been mentioned by Raunak with great respect.
For the remaining five, Upar ho chaand tara neeche jahan sara, beech mein hum tum pyar karenge is a delightfully naughty song by two lovers, sung by Surendra and Mrs Ghosh (Parul Ghosh?) in very different from their characteristic style. Aaj hans hans ke do do baatein ki hain sanam ne hamaare has a slow solo version in the voice of Suraiya, but its faster duet version by Suraiya and Zeenat Begum is full of verve. I give the remaining three slots to Ratiyan guzaarun kasie, Koi humein bata de, and Maalan bate de kiske liye haar banaya.
1-3. Aahein na bharin shikawe na kiye kuchh bhi na zuban se kaam liya by Kalyani, Zohrabai Ambalewali and Noorjehan from Zeenat (1945), lyrics Nakhshab Jarachavi, music (Mir Saheb and) Hafeez Khan
If there ever was an iconic song, this all-female qawwali, the first of its kind in the films is one. This became the model for filmi qawwalis in future.
1-3. Badariya baras gayi us paar by Mukesh, Khursheed and Hamida Bano from Moorti (1945), lyrics Pt Indra, music Bulo C Rani
This song has never gone out of the airwaves and from our memory.
1-3. Rani khol apne dwar, milne ka din aa gaya by K L Saigal and Suraiya from Tadbeer (1945), lyrics Swami Ramanand, music Lal Mohammad
The top actor-singers of the era create this wonderful duet. I remember to have read somewhere written by ‘knowledgeable’ persons that though Saigal and Suraiya acted together in three films, they never got to sing a duet together. That was a catchy information, but surprising because this duet has been very popular.
4. Pahli nazar ka teer re laga pahli nazar ka teer by Mukesh and Naseem Akhtar from Pahli Nazar (1945), lyrics Dr Safdar ‘Aah’, music Anil Biswas.
Dil jalata hai to jalane de, the Mukesh solo made him Mukesh and marked his arrival with a bang as a great playback singer. While this song is contemplative, the Title song is a peppy duet with Naseem Akhtar.
5. Man phoole nahin samaye by Asit Baran and Bharati Devi from Waseeyatnama (1945), lyrics Zakir Hussain, music RC Boral
6. Upar ho chaaand tara neeche jahan sara by Surendra and Parul Ghosh from Parinde, lyrics Rammoorty Chaturvedi, music Govind Ram
7. Aaj han hans ke do do baatein ki hain sanam ne hamaare by Hamida Bano and Suraiya from Main Kya Karun (1945), lyrics DN Madhok, music Ninu Majumdar
8. Ratiyan guzarun kaise haye Ram, jiya ghabraye by Surendra and Zohrabai Ambalewali from Ratnavali (1945), lyrics Rammoorti Chaturvedi, music Govind Ram
This is a fabulous song. I heard it in the internet era. The singers are erroneously mentioned in the link (as well as in HFGK) as Zohrabai Ambalewali and Shamshad Begum. Surendra’s voice is very clear and there is no Shamshad Begum. Is it possible that this duet had another version sung by these female singers?
9. Koi humein bata de by Kanan Devi, Krishnakant and Kamal Mitra from Banphool (1945), Pt Madhur, music Dhiren Mitra
10. Maalan bata de kiske liye ye haar banaya by Dhiren Mitra and Kanan Devi from Banphool (1945), lyrics Pt Madhur, music Dhiren Mitra
In conclusion,
The Award for the Best Duet of 1945 goes jointly to:
1-3. Aahein na bharin, shikwe na kiye kuchh bhi na zubaan se kaam liya
1-3. Badariya baras gayi us paar
1-3. Rani khol de apne dwar, milne ka din aa gaya
Acknowledgement and Disclaimer:
The song videos have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog does not claim any copyright over these songs which vests in the respective owners, such as Saregama India Limited and others.
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
A great post with a lot of careful study and reasoning . Digesting all this would not be easy for a learner like me . A large selection of songs (many I am not familiar with) have been mentioned for me to listen to.
Have always been of the view that without standard measuring techniques , there always will be a criticism of bias in any selection of the best songs .
However the hypothesis that I have come across for the first time in this post that …’duets never disappoint’ (para 1 of this post) is thought provoking and whoever establishes this as a universal law would certainly attain celebrity status .
The Wrap up 3 for duets for the duets 1945 certainly is up to the high standards of Wrap ups of SoY.
1945 being the year or More Unknowns, the detailed analysis of duets for the year also makes a very interesting case.
As can be expected, there is vast variation in the choices of different readers.
Selection of the Best in this type of uncharted terrain is indeed a tough task. But the conclusion drawn herein is indeed an optimum that can be attained through such a well-thought out, inclusive, churn.
Mr Joseph @1,
I remember your views on ‘standard measuring techniques’. But I remember many of us expressed doubts whether any technique can be devised to measure preferences in music. But thanks a lot for your appreciation. I hope you are able to delve more into the songs I have presented.
Ashokji @2,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation. 1945 seems to be a watershed when we would be entering more unknown territory. I was comparing with 1946 when we had lot more familiar songs thanks to Naushad’s Anmol Ghadi and Shahjahan.
AKji,
A great post. I will go through it in detail later.
I’m still not sure how three singers make a duet?
Then what’s a trio or quartet?
Anup
🙂
Anup,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation. As for your query, 3+ singers songs are very few warranting a new category. Therefore, for classification I put them under ‘duets’ so that we do not miss any good song in a year.
Just rushed through the post and am a little surprised that a song which is technically not even a duet has been adjudged the joint winner. The qawwali is iconic, no doubt, but in my opinion should have been included in the special songs section. Putting it in the special songs category would have ensured that “we do not miss any good song in a year”. Kind of unfair to other songs.
Neeruahaf,
Anup has made the same point about the qawwali, but on different grounds. It is really a definition issue. We can rule out multiple singer songs from any ‘Best’ category. But for this exercise I have been including all such songs, if there are more than two identified singers, as duets.
Your point is different which I perfectly understand.
I went through the entire post. It’s of course a collection of good songs.
I got your point of ‘not missing a good song’, still…
But I agree to Neeruahaf’s suggestion that trios or quartets be added to the category of special songs to include them on the list.
And, I’m again requesting you to continue the series beyond 1955 and go further as per your choice, say up to 1965 0r 70.
Anup
🙂
Anup,
Both points noted.
It was good to listen to the songs and special songs again, though I had listened to these as well as other songs as per my yearly practice. I think song no 3 was given this ranking due to this being a unique duet by KL Saigal and Suraiya. Same seems to be the case with song no. 4. Song nos 6 and 8 composed by Gobind Ram, consequently suffered. Gobind Ram gave a lot of good songs in 1945.
About song no 8. I had listened it earlier a few times and marked three singers in my HFGK copy. In my view there is clearly a 3rd female voice at about 2.00 which sings in slow mode which is followed by Zohrabai’s faster pace. I would request you to hear it again.
On the point of including trios and quartets in duets, I am with AK. I think on radio all such songs have always been announced as ‘do gana’. There is also no other way to include them. There has been inconsistency in classifying solos and duets. Some solos which had other voices were taken as solos while some with even just humming have been taken as duets, not only in film versions but also in records. There were some special cases where the songs were recorded as solos and were mixed in the film version to give it a form of a duet.
Hans,
On trios, quartets and higher order songs, I preferred to include them in duets so that they figured in some category. Otherwise, these songs can only me mentioned as ‘Special Songs’. But some readers have difficulty in accepting this, for them a duet has to have precisely two singers.
About a variety of duets: one singer just humming, or having minimal words, we can go by how they are identified as in the records, radio, HFGK etc. Songs like Bol Radha bol sangam hoga ki nahin has to be treated as a solo, disregarding a few words uttered by Vyjayanthimala, but Ye hansta hua karwan zindagi ka would be treated as a duet. Difference between film version and record version: Many songs appeared in different fragments in the film, but a standard form of record was created. I think we go by that. In most cases there will be no problem of classification.
AK ji, Hans ji ;
……one singer just humming, or having minimal words,……
I remember we all had a great fun bringing out such songs in open house . Like humming we did some exercise to include whistling and yodeling too. But can we consider those songs as duets too ?
AK ji, Hans ji ;
Like Vyjayanthimala , Saira Banu too had few words and lines to sing along ….which again were subjective to be considered as duets.
AK ji
It is a post which required a lot of groundwork. Thanks for a very diligently created post.
Regards.
KS Bhatiaji @13, 14,
On this the theme of one singer only humming and other asymmetric duets the post titled ‘Asymmetric Duets‘ will refresh your memory.
Tyagiji @15,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation.
AKji:
The three duets with the SoY award for 1945 are all iconic. There is little scope for disagreement here. I was wondering if this was the last post in the series on year-wise review of HFM of the 1940s (going backward)? If so, that would be sad. A similar series for the 1950s (going forward) would not be the same.
Here is a song by Geeta Dutt and SNT for Aadhaar (MD: SNT). One commentator on YouTube attributes it to Shahzadi, but ASAD credits it to Geeta Dutt.
‘Aayi balloon waali aayi re’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKC26x-bKos&ab_channel=AshishTiwari
Canasya,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation. I am open either way, because many readers prefer 50s songs over 40s or earlier. 1944 is the year of Rattan, 1943 of Tansen among very well-known, and so many less-known or forgotten gems. That also needs to be explored.
Aayi baloon wali is an excellent song. ASAD must have credited it to Geeta Dutt because of the uploader Parang Sankla who manages a site dedicated to her, but this would require rewriting her history. That site maintains her accepted debut that it was in Bhakt Prahlad (1946). So there is a contradiction here. Let us accept the attribution in HFGK which also mentions Shahzadi (though it does not mention the male voice). Thanks a lot for this interesting aside. Parag Sankla and his team should make their record consistent and if they intend to change the accepted history they should explain their sources.
Can we consider Songs with three or more singers under the category of “GROUP SONGS”?
With warm regrards
PARTHA CHANDA
Partha Chanda,
Welcome to SOY. There is no problem in doing that. The only problem is that such songs are very few compared to the other categories. Therefore, it would not be viable to have a separate category for them.
Top post as always. It’s really heartening to see the efforts you put in every post of yours. The song choices are delectable too. Wish wholeheartedly that you continue with this series further and preferably do it backward from 1944 and cover the 40’s and 30’s. My reason for saying so is that while there are quite a few sites where songs of 50’s and 60’s are discussed with great pleasure, the songs of the vintage era are hardly given their due importance. SoY is the only one place which I believe can do justice towards these neglected gems from a bygone era. After all, its not like that great songs were not produced during 40’s and 30’s . It’s just that information regarding the same is generally hard to come by , and its exactly here that I feel SoY, with its passionate patrons, can help to fill in the lacunae.
Raunak,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation. Your point about continuing the series for earlier years noted. I am lucky to get such receptive readers.
Best songs from 1945 to 1955, but you skipped 1952, any particular reason, or its has to do something with Baiju Bawra?
Naghma,
I have explained in the series from time to time that I undertook the exercise for pre-Filmfare Award years. This explains the exclusion of 1952 and also 1954, and inclusion of 1953 and 1955 because no film of these years got the Awards. That was because the qualifying period for seeking nominations was not exactly coterminous with the calendar year because of the administrative requirements of their processing.