And the SOY Award for the Best Female Singer goes to?
As the readers are aware from the year-wise reviews, the female solos on the average far outnumber the male solos. In the Overview Post of the best songs of 1941, I had included 71 songs. In the Wrap Up 1 about the best male solos in the year I mentioned there were 17 male solos distributed among 7 singers in the list of MEMORABLE SONGS in the overview post. If you run down the same list you would find 35 female solos divided among 19 singers as follows:
| Serial # | Singer | No. of songs |
| 1. | Khursheed | 8 |
| 2. | Shamshad Begum | 5 |
| 3. | (Mrs.) Ghosh | 2 |
| 4. | Kanan Devi | 2 |
| 5. | Rajkumari | 2 |
| 6. | Ramdulari | 2 |
| 7. | Suprova Sarkar | 2 |
| 8. | Amirbai Karnataki | 1 |
| 9. | Brijmala | 1 |
| 10. | (Miss) Heera | 1 |
| 11. | Husn Bano | 1 |
| 12. | (Miss) Iqbal | 1 |
| 13. | Ila Ghosh | 1 |
| 14. | Kalyani | 1 |
| 15. | Lela Chitnis | 1 |
| 16. | Nalini Jaywant | 1 |
| 17. | Sheela | 1 |
| 18. | Vatsala Kumthekar | 1 |
| 19. | Umrao Zia Begum | 1 |
| Total number of female solos | 35 |
Male solos this year was a one-horse race with Pankaj Mullick in Doctor. In the female solos, Khursheed was far ahead of the others. But there was a long tail, and many had some extremely melodious songs popular till today. Many sang no less melodious songs though they required careful listening. Some are so good that they can’t be left out of discussion. If not in the main list they have to find a place in Special Songs. Some are beyond my list of Memorable Songs that have been added by the readers. Let me start with the readers’ comments.
Readers’ comments
Arunkumar Deshmukh is always prompt and unambiguous in his choices. Arunji’s choice for the best female solo is Inhin logon ne by Shamshad Begum from the film Himmat, composed by Govind Ram. We know it as the superlative mujra in the film Pakeezah by Lata Mangeshkar, composed by Ghulam Mohammad. Some years ago I had written on Shamshad Begum with 3G: Ghulam Haider, Ghulam Mohammad and Govind Ram. Now we know the tune was ‘originally’ created by Pt. Govind Ram, who reused in Aabroo (1943), on Yaqub in drag. Though it appears that it must be a pre-existing tune.
Anup Phadke goes for Khursheed as the best female payback singer for her songs in the film Beti and Pardesi.
Raunak Joy gave his preference for top 10 female solos in order of preference, which are as under:
1. Hamri laaj nibhao swami by Kanan Devi from Lagan
2. Nainon se naina mila ke by Khursheed from Beti
3. Lagti hai chot jigar pe by Bibbo from Akela
4. Madbhari madbhari by Kanan Devi from Lagan
5. Armaan kuchh to dil mein by Khursheed from Beti
6. Tum bin kal na aave by Kanan Devi from Lagan
7. Man dheere dheere rona by Shamshad Begum from Khazanchi
8. Tum jaao jaao bhagwan bane by Ramdulari from Chitralekha
9. Ye titli by Bharati Devi/ Binota Roy
10. Aayi jawani jiya lahraye by Nalini Jaywant from Bahen
Finally, he sums up his choices for the best for different categories and chooses Kanan Devi as the best female singer for her songs in Lagan.
Special songs
1. Inhin logon ne le leena dupatta mera by Shamshad Begum from Himmat (1941), lyrics Aziz Kashmiri, music Pt. Govind Ram
Our familiarity with this song is from Pakeezah (1972) sung by Lata Mangeshkar. In the review of the best songs of 1943 we came across a version sung by Yaqub in drag, also composed by Pt. Govind Ram. Now this version by Shamshad Begum. A terrific song. It is clear this traditional mujra song must have been immensely popular.
2. Bata do koi kavan gali more Shyam by Leela Chitnis from Kanchan (1941), lyrics DN Madhok, music Naushad
This is said to be the first song composed by Naushad but the film was delayed. Meanwhile he got independent assignment a year earlier with Premnagar (1940).
3. Madhoji Madhoji Bharat mein phir aao by Miss Heera from Mala (1941), lyrics DN Madhok, music Naushad
With the series on year-wise reviews we are discovering some excellent music composed by Naushad in his early years, before his record-shattering Ratan (1944). I find the film Mala had some excellent songs by some unknown singers. This song by Miss Heera in a masculine voice I especially like. HFGK mentions two lyricists in the film – DN Madhok and Balam. Three songs have been identified as written by Balam. Rest are blank. The YT link identifies the lyricist as DN Madhok.
4. Phulwaran laagan chor malaniya soye rahi by Sheela from Sikandar (1941), lyrics Pt. Sudarshan, music Mir Saheb and Rafiq Ghazanvi
Sikandar was a historical magnum opus of Sohrab Modi. Here is an excellent folk song by his regular actor-singer Sheela. The lyrics are very typical of a traditional folk song – As the (lady) gardener is asleep, thieves have trespassed into the garden.
5. Tera anokha singar ri dulhan albeii by Khursheed & chorus from Shadi (1941), lyrics Munshi ‘Dil’ Lakhnavi, music Khemchand Prakash
A perfect Banni song. The name of the film suggests it must be about a marriage ceremony with a number of songs on that theme – kind of the original Hum Aapke Hain Kaun!
6. Jaaye na paiho hamari gali aye ke by Vatsala Kumthekar (1941), lyrics (?), music Khemchand Prakash
HFGK does not mention the name of the singer. ASAD identifies it as Vatsala Kumthekar. A great song.
7. Dil hai tumhari yaad ki duniya liye huye by Kalyani from Ghar Ki Laaj (1941), lyrics Ehsan Rizvi; Music Annasaheb Mainkar
This song follows the stock tune of Begum Akhtar’s iconic ghazal, Deewana banana hai to deewana bana de. She reprised this tune in Roti (1942) in the song Rahne laga hai dil mein andhera tere bagair. Also Khursheed’s Pahle jo mohabbat se inkar kiya hota (Pardesi, 1941, Khemchand Prakash) is based on this tune. This is another one on that stock tune, but some tunes became ultra-popular for a reason. Just enjoy this great song.
8. Ek meethi nazar ban ke duniya mein sama jaao by Rajkumari from Sasural (1941), lyrics DN Madhok, music Gyan Dutt
Talking about stock tunes here is another one, now sung by Rajkumari, and composed by Gyan Dutt. It has the same meter and 90% the same tune, but Gyan Dutt stretches the last few words in each line to make it sound different.
9. Aapan jeevan darpan nyara by Ila Ghosh from Doctor (1941), music Pankaj Mullick
HFGK credits this song to Bharti who was in the song. I believe it is misattribution that has happened because of the practice of those days of gramophone records bearing the name of actor on whom the song was picturised. I think it was sung by Ila Ghosh, the YT link correctly credits her.
10. Aayi jawani jiya lahraye by Nalini Jaywant from Bahen (1941), lyrics Safdar ‘Aah’, music Anil Biswas
1941 was the debut year of Nalini Jaywant not only as an actor, but also as a singer. She has sung in both Nirdosh (1941), music Ashok Ghosh and Bahen (1941), music Anil Biswas.
Best songs
1. Nainon se nain mila ke nyari chhabi dikhla ke by Khursheed from Beti (1941), lyrics (?), music Gyan Dutt
This song was not in the master list in the overview post. This was added by Raunak Joy in his comments. Let me quote him, “A masterpiece, especially in the way it has been composed by GD and sung by his favourite Khursheed. Particularly noteworthy is the subdued yet sublime orchestration work done by GD here.” This song reminds me of Khursheed at her poignant best, such as in Bhakt Surdas (1942), coincidentally composed by Gyan Dutt, and Tansen (1943). There is some confusion about lyrics. The Hindi Film Geet Kosh mentions two lyricists in the film, DN Madhok and BR Sharma, but this link mentions Pt. Indra as the lyricist. A beautiful song, deserves to be in the main list of best songs.
2. Neelkamal muskaye bhanwra, jhoothi kasmein khaye by Ramdulari from Chitralekha (1941), lyrics Kidar Sharma, music Ustad Jhande Khan
This Chitralekha was a superhit, but its remake (also by him) in 1964 was not, though its music by Roshan was outstanding. The older Chitralekha also had landmark music By Ustad Jhande Khan, a musical doyen of the time. It is said he decided to compose all its songs in Raag Bhairavi. Ramdulari is not a well-known singer of the era. But she was the lead singer in the film. I have been charmed by her songs in the film since I heard them some decades ago. Ramdulari was also in the cast. Does it mean that all the songs in the film were picturised on her? This is counter-intuitive, because Mehtab was the lead female actor in the film. Were there no songs on her? Only those who have seen the film can answer it.
3. Tum jaao jaao bhagwan bane, insaan bano to jaanein by Ramdulari from Chitralekha (1941), lyrics Kidar Sharma, music Ustad Jhande Khan
I don’t know whether Sahir Ludhiyanvi was inspired by this song for Sansar se bhaage phirte ho, bhagwan ko tum kya paaoge, but it is remarkable how the two films 23 years apart had songs with lyrics having similar meaning. Even if Sahir had not looked at this song, the source material is the same and the core of the Bhagawati Charan Verma’s classic novel was the conflict between desire and spirituality; the novel propositions that an ascetic need not struggle with the thoughts that his meditation would be distracted by the presence of a woman towards whom he feels inexorably attracted.
4. Pahle jo mohabat se inkar kiya hota by Khurheed from Pardesi (1941), lyrics DN Madhok, music Khemchand Prakash
Khursheed had a distinct full-throated voice and this was the era when she was the top female singer. Khemchand Prakash (and Gyan Dutt as we have just seen) had an important role in creating some immortal songs for her. Here is one of the most memorable songs, it follows the familiar tune of the iconic Begum Akhtar ghazal, Deewana banana hai to deewana bana de.
5. Tum bin kal na aave mohe by Kanan Devi from Lagan (1941), lyrics Arzoo Lakanvi, music RC Boral
This song sets the theme of the film. You can make out KL Saigal is a writer-composer-singer in a theatre. Kanan Devi is smitten by the song (as well as Saigal). Saigal is impressed that she still remembers his song and she demonstrates her competence by singing this song. The impresario is mighty pleased as if his prayers are answered.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRNjlAA7aIo
6. Madbhari madbhari matwari by Kanan Devi from Lagan (1941), lyrics Arzoo Lakhanvi, music RC Boral
I don’t know how I missed to include this song in the master list in the overview post. This was mentioned by Raunak Joy is his comments. It is a beautiful song and equally beautifully picturised. A shy and delicate Kanan Devi is singing before the theatre owner and some audience, but the shy pupil is always looking to her mentor KL Saigal on the piano. Saigal is beckoning her not to look behind, but at the audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tFFRLNaydY
7. Ye dard-e mhabbat hai kaise wo bhala jaanein by Khursheed from Beti (1941), lyrics DN Madhok, music Gyan Dutt
I have included two songs from Beti in my master list. This one and Arman kuchh to dil mein tadap ke hi rah gaye. Both are superlative and it is difficult to choose one between these. Therefore, I have decided to keep both in the main list of the best ten.
8. Armaan kuchh to dil mein tadap ke hi rah gaye by Khursheed from Beti (1941), lyrics DN Madhok, music Gyan Dutt
The only crib you can have about a surfeit of Khursheed songs in this list is that most of the songs are ghazals sung in the style of those days. But the songs I have included are all superlative. In fact I had to despatch a great favourite of mine to the list of ‘Special songs’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99TU6nQUAUU
9. Bitaai kahan ratiya O maharaja by Husn Bano from Aasra (1941), lyrics Dr Safdar ‘Aah’, music Anil Biswas
Anil Biswas was the Bhishm Pitamah of music from his debut in mid-30s to early 40s. This song in dadra style. similar to the famous Bhairavi Hato kaahe ko jhoothi banaao batiyan. Is my great favourite. This song is a gift of this exercise of year-wise reviews.
10. Diwali phir aa gayi sajni by Shamshad Begum & chorus from Khazanchi (1941), lyrics Wali Saheb, music Ghulam Haider
Khazanchi not only give a new female playback singer, Shamshad Begum, to the Hindi film music, it launched a new vigorous style of music, the Punjabi School of Music. You can see dholak prominently in the video link of the song. A bevy of girls on bicycles singing Saawan ke nazaare hain in gay abandon is the best known song of the film. I always took it as a Shamshad Begum solo, but a male voice (of Ghulam Haider himself) is quite distinct in that song. This Dwali song is equally lively and in the chorus only Shamshad Begum’s voice is prominent, hence it qualifies as a solo as per my practice.
In conclusion,
The SOY Award for the Best Female Singer or Solo goes to Khursheed.
Acknowledgement and Disclaimer
I have to repeat all the acknowledgements and disclaimer I made in my overview post.
1. Arunji for generously sharing his notes with me for the year 1941.
2. Prof. Surjit Singh’s site is a goldmine of information on the vintage era.
3. Hindi Movies / Films Songs (hindi-films-songs.com)
4. http://hindi-films-songs.com/articles/1941.html
5. Atul Song A Day
6. Hindi Film Geet Kosh
The song links have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of music lovers. This site claims no copyright over these songs, nor does it have any commercial interest. The copyright rests with the respective right holders.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Your observation
“there was a long tail, and many had some extremely melodious songs popular till today. Many sang no less melodious songs though they required careful listening. Some are so good that they can’t be left out of discussion”
aptly represents the essence of the females song for 1943
Ashokji,
Thanks a lot for your endorsement.
AKji
I appreciate the efforts and time expended to produce this series. As you go back further back in time, data would be scarce, but I am sure you will bring out another well researched post.
Special Song 3 : Singer is mentioned as Brujmala. Could be the first name of the singer.
Special song 6: The tune reminds of anaother iconomic song – Paayoji
mene ramratan by D V Paluskar. There are four
lyricists – B R Sharma, D N Madhok, Munshi Dil and
Pandit Indra
Best Songs 1 Two luricists – D N Madhok and B R Sharma
Majority of songs are not appealing to me at least. Nearly 83 years back in time.
I am reminded Harold Laski saying – No theory of state is ever intelligible save in the context of its time.
Extending this to film songs I venture to state
No any song is sweet to the ear save in the context of its time
I have nothing useful to contribute in these posts and any effort on my part would be infructuous. You have done too good a work.
Mr DP Rangan,
Thanks a lot for nice words. Special song #6: You are so right to observe its similarity to DV Paluskar’s Payoji maine ram ratan dhan payo. I had thought of mentioning it, but I forgot about it.
Akji,
Although I was not able to involve myself and participate in the discussions as I used to in the early years of this series, I went through the curtain raiser and the two wrap-up posts. I compliment your perseverance and effort in continuing this series for the 13th year.
I enjoyed listening to the “large Variety of songs” (20 songs by 13 singers) presented in this post. You wrote there were 178 songs, rendered by female singers, for which the names of the singers are known and I further gather that there were roughly 55 singers in the fray. That is quite a lot. And the only female singer to get a place of honour in your curtain raiser post was Umrao Zia Begum. And the four singers, whose songs could not get a place in any of the two lists, were Suprova Sarkar, Amirbai Karnataki, Brijmala and Miss Iqbal.
I endorse your selection of Khursheed as the Best female singer for the year 1941. Ram Dulari certainly deserves to be among the top three along with Khurshed and Kanan Devi. And coming to the numbers, once again Khursheed takes the lead with Raj Kumari followed by Shamshad Begum, Leela Chitnis and Nalini Jaywant.
Since tomorrow is Independence day, I would like to post a song, which was based on a patriotic marching song composed by Kazi Nazrul Islam .
Jaag jaag jaag jaag re ab to jaag by Vasanti & Chorus, film Beti, lyrics Butaram Sharma, music Gyan Dutt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS5ayE6GoC4
Akji,
Firstly let me wish you and all the readers of SoY, happy independence day.
I appreciate your efforts and your enthusiasm for collecting and analysing the data. It’s a stupendous work.
I am yet to listen to all rhe songs. Will do it today.
Anup
🙂
Venkataramanji,
Thanks a lot for your deeply insightful comments. With so many singers and some quite dominant, it was inevitable that some singers would fail to get included in either of the lists. Jaag jaag jaag jaag re ab to jaag is anice chorus song of arousing the masses.
Anup,
Thanks a lot for your greetings.
Great analysis, as is expected from you, Akji. Feels nice to see that two of the songs which were not in the master list, were able to make it to the list of Best songs of 1941. Of course, all the credit for that goes to the makers and singers of the songs in question.
And yes, as far as I know, Begum Akhtar’s iconic ghazal and its subsequent film versions were all based on an even older traditional tune.
Raunak,
Thanks a lot for your generous words. You deserve compliments for mentioning some female songs I had missed or had not heard.
Begum Akhtar’s iconic ghazal: Would you know which was the earliest one?
Thanks for the very nice wrap up. Anything for so far away from our present is so difficult to fathom. But, I would say you have perhaps gone by the reputation rather than the actual songs. Raj Kumari sang 25 songs in that year of which 14 were solos, barring a couple of them all are available for listening on the youtube. When I first heard her old songs in a casette in those record player times, I was stumped. She was such an accomplished singer even in 1941. You have just included one of her songs in special songs and only two in your list. I think you did not even listen to the other song ‘chhalko chhalko na ras ki gagariya’ from Anjaan in which only the mukhda is sung in the beginning and then there is just instrumental music. Since you included ‘ek meethi nazar’ from Sasural, you could have listened to ‘wo apna jadoo nigahon se aajma rahe hain’ and found that this was one of her most iconic songs. I am giving here a selection of her 5 songs which to me are any day better – and certainly with more variation – than the bunch of Khursheed songs.
Wo apna jadoo nigahon se – Sasural – Gyan Dutt – DN Madhok
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGVMFFJ2NJM
Birhan jaage aadhi raat – Swami – Rafeeq Gaznawi – Pt. Indra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6sx-Ud1DeE
Chal saajan ek chhoti si duniya – Torpedo – Shanti Kumar/Shyam Babu – Kaabil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74VBUnqS9YQ
Babul ke dware jhuki aayi re badariya – Chandan – SN Tripathi – Pt. Indra. This film also had another song ‘ek maina thi mastani’ which is also great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGLAAkVsNGQ
Jeevan ki aashayen – Manthan – Baldev Nayak – Pt. Faani
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54TZBJhyFls&t=99s
Hans,
Thanks a lot for adding 5 songs of Rajkumari. She is my favourite singer. Birhan jaage aadhi raat is a very nice song and it has a very good audio quality. Wo apna jadoo nigahon se is an excellent song, its poor audio quality mars it.
The songs in the Overview post figure there after listening. All the available songs online I don’t listen, it has to hold my interest for a few seconds. The choice in music is quite subjective. I note that in 1941 you find Rajkumari superior to Khursheed.
AK,
I rarely use the phrase ‘music is subjective’ and try to argue my case with facts and the singing qualities of the singer. But, you are free to do that. Since you say that and also that Raj Kumari is your favourite singer, it must follow that she got the status with all your subjectivity in listening music. If that is so then a favourite singer who sang 14 solos does not find a single song of her going into the best songs category is unbelievable. In 1942 Raj Kumari sang 67 songs of which MDs like Naushad, Khem Chand Prakash, Anil Biswas, Gyan Dutt and SN Tripathi gave 36 songs to her. She sang in 23 of the 98 films of that year. So she was a very important singer for that year. The next singer in that year was Shamim who had 16 songs. But none of the songs of Raj Kumari found a place in the 10 best songs of that year. And in the memorable songs only 3 of her solos out of 42 found a place.
You say songs in the overview post figure there after listening. You have included two songs in the name of Mrs. Ghosh, which are in fact sung by a male singer named Sheetal Ghosh. In HFGK the name is written as Smt. Ghosh which might be a dictation mistake when somebody mistook Sheetal Ghosh as Smt. Ghosh. But, in the song descriptions on the youtube the name of Sheetal Ghosh is clearly mentioned. Sheetal Ghosh also sang a solo in the other Naushad film of the year Darshan. He also sang a male-female duet with Miss Gulab in film Sasural in the same year.
AK,
There was one more fact about Raj Kumari which I forgot to add in the above comment. From 1941 to 45 Raj Kumari and Amirbai Karnataki were the two most important female play back singers. Raj Kumari sang 193 and Amirbai 166 songs while Shamshad had 76 songs. From 1946 Shamshad and Zohra bounced in a big way and thick voices took control of the Hindi film industry singing on the female side.
Great study and a nice presentation. I am enlightened about the personalities and the film music of that distant year 1941 . A lot of hard work. I enjoyed the songs selection and each has its own beauty . I am further awed when I learn that this analysis would go on upto the year 1931 which involves so much more efforts !! The comments from the learned participants added more information .
Almost 50% of the songs have not been considered as they are without name of singers. I may be asking too much but there could be many gems in this category and so we could consider selecting the best songs from this ‘unknown’ category also.
Why not start from the year 1931 and move towards the later years as the seniors of that period would be available now and could be expected to comment now while they are fit and fine ?
Unable to select the best song …. mainly as I would not be able to listen to all the songs and also I would not be able to list the reasons for selecting the best song . All the readers have not voted for the same best song .
19+ singers in that year whereas in the 50s to 70s one would get the impression that Lata and Asha were the only singers in the Hindi film world . Such dominance of two singers for so long sets one thinking.
The many cross references in this article made me feel the need for hypertext format.
@3 ; I agree … No any song is sweet to the ear save in the context of its time .
Mr S Joseph,
Thanks a lot for your generous words.
‘Unknown category’: Some ‘unknown’ songs do figure in theses posts. But you are right, I can do it more systematically to search the net. But to be realistic. Even the songs with credited singers are mostly unknown songs. Because of the distance in time, there are more unknown songs in the list in the Overview Post.
Is starting from 1931 better, because of availability of seniors? There would be no one available from that era. Yes, seniors are available who were fond of these songs through radio. Let us all wish them a long healthy life. Let me also add many fans of old film songs somehow have a mental block to relate to vintage era songs. For most of us old film songs are from 1950 onwards.
I have mentioned several times the contrast between the Golden Period (1950s and 60s) and Vintage Era (1949 and earlier) in female singing – monopoly or duopoly versus a kaleidoscope of a variety of female voices.