A tribute to old Hindi film music. Songs of the 30s through the 60s.

Music Directors

The silent giant-killer and the man of many-splendoured talents: Ravi

March 7, 2019

A tribute to the music director Ravi on his 7th death anniversary (3 March 1926-7 March 2012) How do you describe Ravi winning the Filmfare Award for the Best Music Director for the film Gharana (1961)? This was the year in which the giants of Hindi film music, Naushad (Ganga Jamuna) and Shankar-Jaikishan (Aas Ka […]

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Greatness in the shadow of the giants: Pandit Shyam Sundar

January 14, 2019

At the historical concert on the occasion of Noorjehan’s return to Bombay after 35 years, in 1982, Saajan ki galiyan chood chale was Lata Mangeshkar’s reply to her Didi’s Aawaaz de kahan hain. It was difficult to say which song excelled the other. No list of the best songs of Lata Mangeshkar is complete without […]

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Remembering my father and the legend Madan Mohan

December 25, 2018

Guest article by Sangeeta Gupta, daughter of Madan Mohan, wishing Merry Christmas to the readers (Sangeeta Gupta discovered ‘Songs of Yore’ like any other person who stumbles upon this blog while searching for something relating to old film music, and started commenting like any other reader, without wearing her identity on her sleeve. Arvinder Sharma […]

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Rafi’s best duets by Madan Mohan

December 14, 2018

The best songs of Rafi for any music director would include a number of duets. So it is for Madan Mohan, despite the fact that his solos for Rafi are significantly more than the duets. That is an exception to the general trend of duets being far more in number than male solos. Since we […]

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Roshan’s songs for ‘other’ singers

November 16, 2018

A tribute to Roshan on his 51st death anniversary (14 July 1917-16 November 1967) DP Rangan started a tandem series on Madan Mohan-Roshan on July 14 which, in a unique coincidence, happened to be the birth anniversary of one, and the death anniversary of the other. I have since written a number of posts on […]

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Rafi’s duets by Roshan

November 5, 2018

My post on Rafi’s solos by Roshan appeared more than six years ago, several years before I started the series on the stalwart music directors. And the reason was simple: Roshan ranked among the top in my reckoning for Rafi songs, along with Naushad, SD Burman and OP Nayyar. Duets have no less importance in […]

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Madan Mohan’s tuning with Lata Mangeshkar

September 28, 2018

Wishing Lata Mangeshkar a very happy 89th birthday (b. 28 September 1929) Among all the music director-singer combinations Madan Mohan-Lata Mangeshkar ranks among the very top. This article by Anirudh Bhattacharjee and Srijit Mukherji quotes OP Nayyar as having once said, “It is difficult to figure out whether Madan Mohan was made for Lata Mangeshkar […]

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King of Ghazal Talat Mahmood with Ghazal Maestros Madan Mohan and Roshan

September 18, 2018

DP Rangan set-off a tandem series on Roshan-Madan Mohan with their classical-based songs. I have since written on their songs for Rafi (Madan Mohan’s; Roshan-Rafi covered earlier); Qawwalis; Mukesh; and Asha Bhosle. Several readers requested that I write on their ghazals. Since I am covering them generally by singers, ghazal would have been an overlapping […]

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Roshan aur Madan Mohan ki Asha

September 8, 2018

Greeting Asha Bhosle on her 85th birthday (b. 8 September 1933) with her best songs by Roshan and Madan Mohan In Lata Mangeshkar era, music directors could be divided into two groups: Those who were like their wings chopped-off without her; and those who equally wanted her, but could survive even without her. (OP Nayyar […]

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Best of Mukesh by Roshan and Madan Mohan

August 27, 2018

A tribute to Mukesh on his 42nd death anniversary (22 July 1923 – 27 August 1976) Roshan and Madan Mohan were in tandem in relation to Mukesh at least in one respect: Both used him very prominently in 1950 – Roshan in Bawre Nain, which was his second movie, in which Mukesh sang a solo, […]

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