And the SOY Award for the Best Music Director of 1942 goes to?
After the Overview Post, Wrap Up 1 of the best male solos, Wrap Up 2 of the best female solos and Wrap Up 3 of the best duets, it is time for the final Wrap Up 4 to discuss the best music director 0f 1942. There were at least two musical blockbusters in the year: Bhakt Surdas (composed by Gyan Dutt) and Basant (Pt. Pannalal Ghosh/Anil Biswas). The reason I am crediting like this is that Pt. Pannalal Ghosh is officially credited as the music director, but it is said that Anil Biswas was the actual music director, who could not use his name because of contractual reasons; Pt. Pannalal Ghosh only gave background score. This trivia has been mentioned so many times at different fora that I would henceforth use only Anil Biswas as the music director of Basant. There are some more films in the year in which Anil Biswas was the music director without any confusion.
Besides the two stalwarts, Kamal Dasgupta made a huge impact in his debut Hindi film, Jawab. In this film Kanan Devi and Asit Baran had some excellent songs. The doyen of Punjabi School of Music, Ghulam Haider, created a wave with Khandan in which he introduced Malika-e-Tarannum Noorjehan. She went on to achieve great fame in India, and after the Partition, in Pakistan. The musical kaleidoscope is embellished by several other music directors, including some of the greatest legends, who shone with only one Memorable Song in the list.
Readers’ Choice
Anup chooses Gyan Dutt and Anil Biswas as the joint best music directors of the year. Obviously he credits Anil Biswas as the music director of Basant. Mahesh endorses the duo selected by Anup. He also has some fascination for Khemchand Praksh for the number of films he did in the year. Arunkumar Deshmukh chooses Kamal Dasgupta as the best music director.
Raunak Joy holds Jawab by Kamal Dasgupta as the best ‘album’ of the year. Here he seems to be with Arun ji. But, soon after, he chooses Gyan Dutt and Anil Biswas as the joint best music directors, mirroring the choice of Anup and Mahesh. There is a nuance here. His fascination for Anil Biswas is for the film Roti. I believe, others have Basant in their mind.
Neeruahaf votes for Gyan Dutt as the best music director.
On the basis of Wrap Up 1, Wrap Up 2 and Wrap Up 3, I am presenting below a consolidated list of the best male solos, best female solos and best duets of the year.
Consolidated list of the Best Male Solos, Female Solos and Duets of 1942
| Rank | Best male solos |
Best female solos |
Best duets |
|
1. |
Nain heen ko raah dikha prabhu (Gyan Dutt) |
Tumko mubarak ho oonche mahal ye (Pannalal Ghosh/Anil Biswas) |
Jis jogi ka jog liya wo jogi base bides (Gyan Dutt) |
|
2 |
Madhukar Shyam hamaare chor (Gyan Dutt) |
Panchhi baawra chaand se preet lagaye (Gyan Dutt)
|
Gori mose Ganga ke paar milna (Pannalal Ghosh/Anil Biswas) |
|
3 |
Man moorakh kahna maan (Meenakshi, Pankaj Mullick) |
Kuchh yaad rahe to sun kar ja (Kamal Dasgupta) |
Door desh ka rahnewala aya des paraya (Kamal Dasgupta) |
|
4 |
Maiya mori main nahin maakhan khayo (Gyan Dutt) |
Hua kya qasoor jo humse ho door (Pannalal Ghosh/Anil Biswas) |
Kaanta laago re sajanwa mose raah chali na jaye (Pannalal Ghosh/Anil Biswas) |
|
5 |
Nis din barsat nain hamaare (Gyan Dutt) |
Rahne laga hai dil mein andhera tere bagair (Anil Biswas) |
Aya basant sakhi biraha ka ant sakhi, ban ban mein chhaayi bahaar (Pannalal Ghosh/Anil Biswas) |
|
6 |
Mujrim hun mohabbat ka jo chaahe saza dena (Muqabala, Khan Mastana) |
Tu kaun si badli mein mere chaand hai aa ja (Ghulam Haider) |
Sar pe kadamb ki chhaiyan muraliya baaj rahi (Gyan Dutt) |
|
7 |
Dost hua hai dushman-e-jaani haye mohabbat haye jawani (Society, Rafiq Ghaznavi) |
Giridhari ho Giridhari, chhed muraliya pyari (Chandni, Khemchand Prakash) |
Chaandni raat aur taare khile hon (Gyan Dutt) |
|
8 |
Kabhi jalwe dikhaye jaate hain (Gharib, Anil Biswas) |
Toofan Mail, ye duniya Toofan Mail (Kamal Dasgupta) |
Gori kaahe khadi angana atariya pe aao (Apna Paraya, Anil Biswas) |
|
9 |
Ban chale Ram Raghuvir (Shankar Rao Vyas) |
Ai chaand chhup na jana (Kamal Dasgupta) |
Baras gayi ram badariya kaari bujhi na pyas hamari (Station Master, Naushad) |
|
10 |
Ab ayi basant bahar ujade se is jeevan mein (Saugandh, RC Boral) |
Mere liye jahan mein chain na qaraar hai (Ghulam Haider) |
Choori laya nahin manihar ki choori bin na rahihaun (Chooriyan, SN Tripathi) |
We can now present the same table music director-wise as follows:
Music directors of 1942 having most number of the Best Songs
| Sl No. | Music Director | Male solos | Female solos | Duets | Total |
| 1 | Gyan Dutt | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 2 | Pannalal Ghosh/ Anil Biswas | – | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 3 | Kamal Dasgupta | – | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | Anil Biswas | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | Ghulam Haider | – | 2 | – | 2 |
| 6 | Pankaj Mullick | 1 | – | – | 1 |
|
7 |
Khan Mastana | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| 8 | Shankar Rao Vyas | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| 9 | RC Boral | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| 10 | Naushad | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | Rafiq Ghaznavi | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| 12 | Khemchand Prakash | – | 1 | – | 1 |
| 13 | SN Tripathi | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 |
Though numbers are not a perfect indicator of quality, to the extent they achieved fame and acclaim here are the music directors who composed most songs:
Gyan Dutt: 8
Anil Biswas: 8
Kamal Dasgupta: 4
These happen to correspond with the readers’ choices. Therefore, I have no hesitation in declaring –
Gyan Dutt and Anil Biswas are the joint winners of the SOY Award for the Best Music Director of 1942.
As I come to the end of the review of the songs of 1942, I must express my gratitude to the people and sources who have helped me.
Acknowledgements:
1. Arunkumar Deshmukh for sharing his notes for the year.
2. Atul Song A Day
3. Hindi Film Geet Kosh
4. YouTube
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes,
A perfect analysis!
Anup
🙂
Anup,
Thanks a lot.
The final choice is so logically arrived at that there is hardly any room for disagreement.
Kamal Dasgupta in the subsequent years may not top the popularity chats, but his music certainly had very strong following, among mass and class!
Ashokji,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation.
Wonderful work, AK ji. i am so happy that both Gyan Dutt ji and Anil Bisws ji won. Is there a post on Gyan Dutt ji?
And yes, a very Happy 2024 to you.
Neeruahaf,
Thanks a lot. There does not seem to be a post dedicated entirely to Gyan Dutt, but he figures prominently in the posts on Amirbai Karnataki – she sang the maximum number of songs for him – and Shamshad Begum.