Dattaram Part 1: Under the shadow of big banyan tree with songs of Mukesh and Manna Dey

Dattaram resembles the famous Amritraj Brothers.

AK ji,

JAB SE TUMHE DEKHA HAI, 1963.

Mohammad Shah rangeele
Gaavat aaj prem raag…

A beautiful Manna Dey song. Listen to the way he sings Mohammad Shah…quaint, I would say.

I remember we discussed Mohammad Shah rangeele from NADIR SHAH in one of the earlier posts.

An excellent informative post on this low-profile and under-appreciated composer.

Its nice to know more details about his life and musical journey.

Dattaram did very few films as an individual composer but didn’t seem to have much regrets. There is a Dattaram Reminisces – Documentary on YT, where talks more about his association with SJ.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khnjcKjw7UE&t=1s

For me, Parvarish is an immortal score, I can hear its songs anytime and any number of times!!

I am also fond of all his Manna Dey duets, both with Lata & Suman.

Thanks for beginning the list with Aansoo bhari hai…

Here’s another

FARISHTA, 1968.

Dekhi teri duniya, dekhe tera kaam
…

The title song could be Mukesh ‘s last song for Dattaram, and, also, one after a long gap.

AK ji,

Two successive posts with Mukesh dominating half a dozen initial songs.
I have no words to express my joy. A hat-trick will make me mad.
Dattaram was in fact very much part of the banyan tree.
I think they was overflow of talent and opportunity at that stage and Dattaram made the most of what was offered to him.
“Dattu-Theka”, what Arunkumar ji has rightly mentioned has been described in detail by the composer himself as to how it became a way of life in the songs composed even by others at that time.

Here is one more of Mukesh from Santan (1959) with both the happy and sad versions.

https://youtu.be/L8H7f5zJ8-4

Lastly, I think you would like to sort of rearrange the words in your sentence @11 w.r.t the title song by Usha Mangeshkar.

Very good posts, covering some lovely songs of Dattaram with Mukesh and Manna Dey. Have you noticed, Dattaram has many a times chosen Mukesh for the solos and Manna Dey for duets. I wonder why?

I would add,

Mil Gaye Duniya Mein jeene ke sahare from Dark Street

https://youtu.be/EqFkdpOsxVQ

Venkataraman ji,

14 for Mukesh is correct. Incidentally, I just completed compiling. 15th is the duet with Suman Kalayanpur from the Magdi film.

https://youtu.be/5tHH5NuVbu0

Here is the audio link of the solo from First Love (1961) which is easily available.

Good and interesting post on Dattaram who remained loyal to SJ till the end. He had the ability to compose music independently and could have walked away from the great duo but did not. So were assistants like
Jayadev (SD Burman), GS Kohli (OP Nayar) who also remained with their bosses.

As most of the songs I know that were composed by Dattaram has already been listed by readers/followers of this great blog, I am not adding any song.

Maheshji @ 26,
Thanks for the break-up.
If we count the sad and happy versions of ‘Dil ne use maan liya jiska andaaz naya’ as separate songs, then the count will be 15.

AKji, Maheshji,
Maheshji has given a synopsis of Mukesh’s films. Thank you Maheshji.

As stated by Arunji, Dattaram scored music for 19 films- 17 Hindi films, 1 Magadhi film and 1 Marathi film. Out of the 113/114 songs he composed for these 19 films, Mukesh songs account for 14/15 and Manna Dey’s songs 16 (revised). That leaves us with 83 songs for next part(s) on Dattaram.

One triad (Mukesh, Suman & Mahendra Kapoor) from the film Shriman Satyavadi, and two quartets from Jab Se Tumhe Dekha Hai (Lata,Asha,Manna & Rafi) and Raaka (Manna, Rafi, Asha & Kamal Barot) are yet to be posted. Links for the two duets of Manna Dey from the Magadhi film are not yet available.

Here is the list of all the fulms for which Dattarm scored music with Mukesh and Manna Dey songs.

1. Ab Dilli Door Nahin – 1957 – No Mukesh or Manna Dey songs
2. Parvarish – 1958 – 1 Mukesh solo – 3 Manna Dey duets
3. Santaan – 1959 – 2 Mukesh solos – 1 Manna Dey duet
4. Qaidi No. 911 – 1960 – No Mukesh songs – 1 Manna Dey Duet
5. Kala Aadmi – 1960 – 1 Mukesh Solo – No Manna Dey songs
6. Shreeman Satyavadi – 1960 – Mukesh 3 solos, 1 triad – Manna Dey 1 duet
7. First Love – 1961 – Mukesh 2 solos, 1 duet – No Manna Dey songs
8. Zindagi Aur Khwab – 1961 – 1 Mukesh solo – 1 Manna Dey duet
9. Dark Street – 1961 – No Mukesh songs – 1 Manna Dey duet
10. Neel Aankhen – 1962 – 1 Mukesh solo – 1 Manna Dey duet
11. Jab Se Tumhe Dekha Hai – 1963 – No Mukesh songs – 1 Manna solo, 1 duet & 1 quartet
12. Tarzan Comes to Delhi – 1965 – No Mukesh or Manna Dey songs
13. Raaka – 1965 – No Mukesh songs – 1 Manna Dey quartet
14. Farishta – 1968 – 1 Mukesh Solo – No Manna Dey songs
15. Balak – 1969 – No Mukesh or Manna Dey songs
16. Beqasoor – 1969 No Mukesh or Manna Dey songs
17. Ek Din Aadhi Raat – 1971 – No Mukesh or Manna Dey songs

Magadhi Film
18. More Man Mitwa – 1965 – 1 Mukesh duet – 2 Manna Dey duet

Marathi Film
19. Savli Premachi – 1980 – No Mukesh songs – 1 Manna Dey duet

N Venkataraman ji @ 31

What I have said is ” He gave music to 19 Hindi ( 109 songs) and one each of Marathi, Magadhi and Bhojpuri films.”

You have missed 2 Hindi films.
1.Hum sab ek hain -68 (UR) 4 songs, but HFGK shows only 1 song
2. Choron ka Chor-1970 4 songs.

-AD

AKji @ 19,
There are several sites which states that Gulzar began writing lyrics for films under the pen name Gulzar Deenvi. Since he was born in Dina in the Jhelum district (now in Pakistan), he might have adopted the name.

I gathered the information from the introductory part of the interview with Gulzar (Guftagoo). (01:50) in the RS TV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJQ0sh-BU_8

In an article Naqsh Lyallpuri recalls “ there were four other lyricists besides him in Choron Ki Baraat and one of them was Gulzar Deenvi, who later became famous as just Gulzar. Gulzar wrote, ‘Yeh duniya hai taash ke patte, isko karo salaam’ for the film. That was the time when all of us were writing at a feverish pitch to make ends meet. He might not even remember it today.”
https://www.idiva.com/entertainment/bollywood/naqsh-lyallpuri-dk-bose-is-an-embarrassment/12529

Quoting from another article, ‘’ Bollywood Retrospect: Dattaram Wadkar -The brilliance behind ‘Aansoo Bhari Hai’ from 1958 film Parvarish” in DNA
.… “While “Haal-E-Dil” was written by Hasrat Jaipuri, most of the songs in “Shriman Satyawadi” were written by Gulzar, who was credited as Gulzar Deenvi in those days. “Shriman Satyawadi” was among his earliest released songs. “More Gora Ang Laila” (“Bandini”) is considered Gulzar’s first recorded song but it came out three years later, in 1963.”
https://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report-bollywood-retrospect-dattaram-wadkar-the-brilliance-behind-aansoo-bhari-hai-from-1958-film-parvarish-2092864

Thus it appears that Gulzar penned lyrics for a few films like Shreeman Satyawadi (1960), Choron Ki Barat (1961), Diler Hasina (1962) under the name Gulzar Deenvi.
There is a lot of confusion as to Gulzar’s first film as lyricist.
He also wrote a song each for Kabuliwala (1961) and Prem Patra (1962). Both the films released before Bandini.

From an article in Femina- “He did odd jobs in the city, which included working as a mechanic, supervising the painting of cars. But in time, he began writing lyrics for films under the pen name Gulzar Deenvi. During his media interactions following the release of his collection of poems titled Pluto, Gulzar had likened the ouster of Pluto from the family of planets to his own position as a poet in a family of businessmen.”
https://www.femina.in/celebs/indian/the-life-and-times-of-gulzar-99267.html

Finally, Mira Hashmi, the granddaughter of Faiz Ahmed Faiz and a writer of repute, in a book on Gulzar, also mentions this information. I do not remember the name of the book. It was a part of the series of three books on Gulzar written by three different authors.

I could find no information on any other ‘Gulzar Deenvi’.
So till we find any information to the contrary can we consider that Gulzar and Gulzar Deenvi were one and the same person?

AK ji,

I slightly disagree with your views that Usha Mangeshkar’s voice is closer to Lata’s . Meena ‘s sounds much closer to me.

In the few movies that Lata has produced and given music for, she has used Meena more than her other siblings. She has, also, sung under her direction.

AK,
A very nice write up and the song selection bringing out the essence of his compositions for both singers. You will never find another example of the same tune – with slight changes – bringing four hits. I am talking about song nos. 7,8,9 and 11. Even the tune for no 10 is not very far from these tunes, but that was not a hit of the magnitude of the other 4.

There is talk of the banyan tree and comparing him with assistants like Ravi, Ghulam Mohd, N Datta, Jaidev etc. I think Mahesh’s comment @13 has not been noticed. He has made a very thoughtful comment that Dattaram was part of the banyan tree itself. I would call Dattaram the ghost of the Peepal tree, who has his strength in remaining in the tree itself. He may venture to come down on occasions and the films he gave music are examples only of this. If he had ever cherished the dream of being an independent composer, those were safely deposited in his nest on the Peepal after SJ hit the top after Junglee and Sasural. The main target are earnings and he was earning more as assistant of SJ than many regular composers near the top of the ladder.

I would elaborate on Mahesh’s comment by stating that he had a huge clout in the SJ camp and was by no means of the gentle sort. He managed a horde of musicians with them, which satisfied his ambitions. One other instance would bring out his thinking and intentions. In his first 4 films Lata Mangeshkar was part of 15 out of 21 songs where a female could contribute. Then he introduced Suman Kalyanpur in Kaala Aadmi in 1959 and after singing one solo and one duet in that film Lata stopped singing for him. Later she sang two solos in two Dara Singh films in 1965, after the storm over her Rafi spat had turned out against her songwise.

You see, even SJ had never dared to use Suman before 1963 seeing Lata was fidgety about her. And that was also after her refusal to sing with Rafi. My own theory based on some reports in film magazines of the time is that Lata initially stopped singing for SJ in 1963 on learning about the news of Jaikishan’s marriage. They took Suman who had a similar voice for Dil Ek Mandir and dubbed the Hamrahi song with Mubarak Begum. Later financiers and distributors were called in to pressurise Lata who then modified her dictat that she would not sing with Rafi. Thus Rafi was made a scapegoat. That was the reason SJ were hell-bent on a compromise formula. Since Lata was suffering more due to this as most of the MDs thought Rafi innocent, she wanted the compromise more than Rafi. But, Rafi was singing a lot of songs for SJ for whom he had a huge respect and his general nature being amiable, he ultimately agreed.

Facts would also support this. SJ despite the Lata spat gave only 17 out of almost 500 songs composed by them during 1961 to 70. Against this, Dattaram gave Suman 24 songs out of the 100 odd songs he composed.