Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav in the continuing series of Hemant Kumar’s Centenary (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989) celebrations
(The Grand Centenary Celebrations of Hemant Kumar were set off by N Venkataraman’s omnibus article Hemantayan Part 1 on his Birth Centenary 16 June 2020, which covered his early life and his career up to 1960. He completed his comprehensive overview with its Part 2 on his Remembrance Day 26 September 2020. In parallel Ashok M Vaishnav offered to take a closer look at Hemant Kumar’s career as a music director in Hindi films. He has already written on his songs for female playback singers and male playback singers. Ashokji completes his micro view of Hemant Kumar as a music director with this third article in the series in which he covers his duet compositions. Ashokji, characteristically, covers some unknown songs; his logic being that everyone knows his famous songs. This also gives an opportunity to the readers to post some obvious songs which are missing here.
Ashokji is a systematic researcher. That comes from his engineering and management background. After retirement he now freelances as management training professional. I convey my thanks to Venkataramanji and Ashokji for their series of articles which is such a befitting tribute to Hemant Kumar who was a great artiste and a great human being. – AK)
Quantitatively, duets are known to constitute a smaller share of Hindi Film Songs, as compared to the solo songs. However, it is well acknowledged that duets have an important place in the portfolio of any music director and singer. Musicologists will have their own detailed treatise to address the intricacies of duet compositions. They may also have different analyses of why one duet is better than the other or which duet has experimented successfully or otherwise with some out-of-the-box experiments. However, as an amateur listener of Hindi Film Songs, my inherent bias towards duets invariably is reflected in the joy of listening to a song composed as (MF) duet. In that context duets of Hemant Kumar have their own charm – be it an another music director composition or a Hemant Kumar’s own composition. Certainly, there should be no comparison between Hemant Kumar’s duets composed by other music directors and the ones that he composed himself. They are two different worlds and must be enjoyed as such.
Presently, we will focus our attention to the duets composed by Hemant Kumar in Hindi films
Hemant Kumar has composed music in 54 Hindi films, spanning around 418 songs. Of these, 9 films (covering ~66 songs) had no duets. From the rest of the songs that Hemant Kumar has composed, duets have a little more than the one fourth share. These comprise MM and MF duets and triads+ where he is a singer and music director, and FF and MF duets and triads+ which have only ‘other singers’, in nearly 53:47 proportion. Well, well, it seems the statistical analysis of Hemant Kumar composed songs itself seems to be a full-fledged subject that can be discussed as interestingly as listening to his songs, and hence better be left for the more competent people to address.
SOY has already carried two posts earlier on his duets, one with Lata Mangeshkar and the other with ‘other singers’. So, I have not included any song that has been mentioned in either one. Here too, I have generally followed the practice of including less familiar songs. Having covered FF duets in the Hemant Kumar’s female duet compositions, I have included only MF and MM duets / triads +, including the ones with chorus, in this post. (Note: A matter of small detail. The two posts of Hemant Kumar’s duets – one with Lata Mangeshkar, and the other with ‘other singers’ were the on duets in which Hemant Kumar was a male singer. Some were composed by him, some by other music directors. – AK)
However, before I take up my selection of the duets, I would prefer to mention five duets separately. Of all the duets that I listened for this post the first three songs stand out, for being asymmetric duets.
1 Chamaka ban kar aman ka tara – Ek Hi Raasta (1956) – Lata Mangeshkar, Hemant Kumar, chorus – Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
For all practical purposes, Meena Kumar is the only lead performer of this stage show, with a chorus of (singers) performers in support. Then @2.51 as she comes up to sing ‘Duniya ne ek saath pukara’, Hemant Kumar’s voice joins that of Lata Mangeshkar in the form of counter melody, the only difference being that his voice is heard more dominantly in these lines. @3.00 Hemant Kumar’s goes silent and Lata Mangeshkar and chorus carry on with the song.. The pattern repeats, briefly, @4.03 to 4.05. Then, as the second stanza begins @4.46, Hemant Kumar again joins the counter-melody support, till 4.54, till the chorus joins in. @5.13 when the song takes a feverish pitch, again Hemant Kumar accompanying Lata Mangeshkar and chorus in the counter melody support. @5.32 onwards, Hemant Kumar, in the counter melody support to the male chorus and Lata Mangeshkar and female chorus adopt different scales, practically singing two separate tracks merged as one. the song goes into full chorus mode @5.41.
2 Mera akela jiya kaise lage re piya – Inspector (1956) – Lata Mangeshkar, Hemant Kumar – Lyrics: S H Bihari
The song opens with Hemant Kumar’s humming leading the prelude. A few moments later, on the screen, we see Ashok Kumar humming the tune while driving the car and lost in the thoughts of Geeta Bali at home. The scene switches to the home, where Geeta Bali lip synchs Lata Mangeshkar. She is more absorbed in her own thoughts of her ‘piya’. Hemant Kumar’s aalap and humming form the interlude pieces.
3. Chanda ki doli mein thi ek pariyon ki rani – Do Ladke Dono Kadke (1979) – Asha Bhosle, Yesudas – Lyrics: Yogesh
The song weaves in the story of the protagonists’ aspirations in the form a lullaby. The protagonist slips into memories of her adverse circumstances in the first stanza. So, the song also takes a tone of pathos. The protagonist realizes her mistake and reverts to hope of good things to come in the second stanza, to which her friend-cum-love, in the voice of Yesudas, and child join in the last line.
However, Hemant Kumar’s MF duet compositions normally follow a classic symmetrical composition pattern. Here are two songs to validate that hypothesis.
4. Chal badalon se aage, kuchh aur hi sama hai – Ek Jhalak (1957)– Asha Bhosle, Hemant Kumar – Lyrics: S H Bihari
Even if a Hemant Kumar duet is picked up at random, one can be assured that it will be perfect melody. Hemant Kumar has deployed here slow-paced waltz to create the romantic mood befitting the lyrics.
5. O raat ke musafir chanda zara bata de – Miss Mary (1957) – Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammad Rafi – Lyrics: Rajendra Krishna
In the present case of classic duet structure, both the singers alternate in the first two stanza and then sing in tandem in the third stanza, joining synchronously in the end, with face-saving sparring as a façade. On the screen @ 1.45, to the utter surprise of the husband, the wife, too, now joins in complaining to the moon that she is punished for no fault of hers. Like the Tamil and Telegu versions, Hemant Kumar has used that moment perfectly for Lata Mangeshkar to pick up the song.
We now take up some of the less familiar Hemant Kumar’s duet compositions, in the chronological sequence of the release year of the film.
6. Kaise rokoge aise toofan ko – Anand Math (1952) – Geeta Dutt, Talat Mehmood – Lyrics: Shailendra
Getta Dutt is so easily able to transcribe the twin challenge of first taking on an English police man and then he idealist partner to deliver a message in a pun – to stop the impending storm of an English police raid as well as the surge of their mutual feelings for each other under such trying circumstances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5P9XAb4fNc
7. Haath seene par jo rakhe…. aur thandi saans bhare …..Jaan dena aashiqon ka kaam hai – Samrat (1954) – Mohammed Rafi, Chitalkar – Lyrics: Rajendra Krishna
Probably in a post-Anarkali halo effect, Hemant Kumar has used Chitalkar in this light mood MM duet. Correspondingly, C Ramchandra too seems to have agreed to sing for the ‘other’ music director in that atmosphere of camaraderie.
Aside Trivia – The song can loosely be classified as a parody song, on the basis of similarity of lyrics in the first line of the famous romantic duet Haath seene par jo rakh do to qarar aa jaaye – Mirza Sahibaan (1947) – Singers: Noorjehan, G M Durrani – Music: Pt. Amarnath – Lyrics: Aziz Kashmiri)
8. Door door se kya gata tum paas jo hamara aayega – Bahu (1955) – Bela Mukherjee, Ravi – Lyrics: S H Bihari
In a totally traditional social theme film, Hemant Kumar has taken up the opportunity to lighten up the mood in the film vide this comedy song and has experimented with the combination of voices of his life partner Bela Mukherjee and music team associate Ravi. When the talents are literally fingertips away at home, why should someone go out on the streets to hunt!
9. O lilli lilli lilli lilli lilli, tu thum ja mere aage aa gayi billi – Laalten (1956) – Geeta Dutt, S Balbir – Shewan Rizvi
Shewan Rizvi has unusually come up with a playful ‘silly’ rhyming of lilli -billi – dilli’. Hemant Kumar is also game in composing this light mood song. S Balbir, who is normally typed with Punjabi styled songs has fully exploited the opportunity in this new type of song. Geeta Dutt is at her usual playful teasing tone in the song.
10. Ghar ki raunak hai gharwali – Bandi (1957) – Geeta Dutt, Kishore Kumar – Lyrics: Rajendra Krishna
A street-dance song which so strongly promotes the institution of marriage and the critical importance of the householder (wife) in the harmony of the marriage. The harmonium pieces, a mandatory presence in such songs, enlivens the present song, too.
11. Aa jao rasiya sawan ke din aaye – Champakali (1957) – Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey, Chorus– Lyrics: Rajendra Krishna
The song is filmed at village carnival, and as such has long pieces of several acts that take place at such carnivals. Hemant Kumar has been able to muster the relative folk music flairs in these pieces. The actual song commences @4.19 and is set to the signature Raas-Garba folk tune of Gujarat.
12. Gori gori patli kalaiyan re balamawa chhod na dena pakad ke – Hill Station (1957) – Geeta Dutt, Mohammad Rafi – Lyrics: S H Bihari
The song seems to have been filmed on a pair of comedy actors in the film. Mohammad Rafi uses the opportunity to play with some off-the-track mannerisms to enliven the mood.
13. Hasino ka bura ho jo humein barbad karte hain – Kitna Badal Gaya Insaan (1957) – Shamshad Begum, Bande Hasan, Asha Bhosle, Mohammed Rafi – Lyrics: S H Bihari
Hemant Kumar takes up the opportunity to add a qawwali in his portfolio. Use of Shamshad Begum duly adds spice to the song.
14. Jaago aur jagaao, jaago aur jagaao, tum so bhi chuke, tum ro bhi chuke, ab hosh mein aa bhi jaao – Payal (1957) – Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey – Lyrics: Rajendra Krishna
This appears to be dance song, enacted on a stage, based on a mythological story. The use of traditional percussion instruments enhances the charm of the song.
15. O o o o baby…mudke zara… are liye jaa… halka halka ishara… – Police (1958) – Geeta Dutt, Hemant Kumar – Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
Very rarely do we find Hemant Kumar singing so playfully, rendering ‘halka ishaara’ with improvised masti every time the phrase repeats in the song. Here he matches the playfulness of Geeta Dutt. A pleasant surprise is Pradeep Kumar’s lively enacting the song on the screen.
16. Gori tere natkhat naina waar karein chhup jaayein – Hum Bhi Insaan Hain (1959) – Geeta Dutt, Subir Sen – Lyrics: Shailendra
Hemant Kumar quite gracefully has invited Subir Sen for this playful, romantic duet, which otherwise he would have chosen for himself to sing.
17. Kashti ka khamosh safar hai – Girl Friend (1960) – Sudha Malhotra, Kishore Kumar – Lyrics: Sahir Ludhyanavi
Sudha Malhotra coming in as a singer is a variety among the female singers in duets.
That makes this song as another exception to the self-declared filter of using only the less-familiar duets in this post.
18. Maine kaha mujh ko tum se pyar hai – Ma Beta (1962) – Lata Mangeshkar, Mukesh – Lyrics: Prem Dhawan
Using the soft pulsating, yet melodious rhythm, the duet is set to Mukesh’s natural vocal scale. The overall result is that the song is as melodious as any of the Hemant Kumar duets.
19. Saara mora kajara chhudaya tune, garava se kaise lagaya tune – Do Dil (1965) – Aarti Mukherjee, Mohammad Rafi – Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi
Hemant Kumar has converted the constraint of Lata Mangeshkar not available for a duet with Mohammad Rafi – because of the then tiff between them over royalty issue – into an occasion to experiment with voice of Aarti Mukherjee in this duet. The experiment was well-received by the listening public then, and sounds pleasing to the ears even today.
20. Ahsan nahin hota, jab dosti hai to dosti hoti hai. aur doston mein koi ahsan nahin hota – Biwi Aur Makaan (1966) – Balbir, Ghulam Mohammad, Hemant Kumar, Manna Dey – Lyrics: Gulzar
Biwi Aur Makaan was a full-scale comedy film, revolving around five friends in search of Biwi (wife) and Makaan (house). Their toils for this search have thrown up several situations for multi-singer MM songs. Each song is very uniquely written and composed. We have picked up here one representative song from among these songs.
The subject of Hemant Kumar’s Hindi duet compositions is as much an ocean as his female and male solo songs. I would, therefore, leave the stage now open for the enlightened readers of SOY to join, with their lively, interesting, and informative discussion on the duet songs not covered herein.
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.
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
Ashok ji, AK ji,
Thank you for a nice post. We can listen to Hemant Kumar compositions any number of times.
Good songs.
3 duets by the Mangeshkar sisters.
BIWI AUR MAKAAN.
Dabe labon se kabhi jo koi salaam lele. ..
Lata, Asha.
Aise danton mein ungli chabao nahin. .
Usha, Asha.
RAHGIR.
Daiyya kasam sharam sharam laage sakhi. .
Asha, Usha.
Also from RAHGIR. ..
Panchi ‘re ude gagan gagan masth magan. .
Manna Dey, Sulakshna Pandit, Hemant Kumar & chorus.
Lyrics for all the 4 songs by Gulzar.
Dr. Pradeep Kumar Shetty (#1, #2)
Thanks for opening the innings from both end with four more duets
Ashok ji:
You have again delivered a choice bouquet of sonorous duets, systematically organized, and accompanied by a wonderful write-up. Here are Talat and Geeta Dutt singing ‘Thandi hawaon mein’ in Bahu:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzpn7qV6IsY&ab_channel=viragdave
Canasya (#4)
‘Thandi Hawaon Mein’ is one f the fest Talat-Geeta duets.
Even though both voices complimented so well, it is really surprising that their duets are few in numbers. Of course, what is lost in quantity is far more compensated in quality.
BTW, in one of my articles on my blog I have addressed this subject.
https://amvaishnav.wordpress.com/2020/02/09/fading-memories-unforgettable-songs-february-2020/
Mr Viashnav,
I will reiterate was Canasyaji has said.
Good choice of duets and equally well supplemented by write-ups.
#8 song by Ravi and Bela was real suspire.
Ravi’s yodeling would give Kishor run for his money.
Wonder how many qawwalis HK had to his credit.
One MM qawwali from Duniya Jhukti hai Rafi with Bande hasan
Jo Bijliyon Ki Shakh Pe
https://youtu.be/6uophtgFTQI
mumbaikar8 (#8)
Here is one more qawwali, with a mukda parodied for m Hamein To Loot Liya
Galat Hai Lut Liyaa Tumako Husn Vaalon Ne – Chand
https://youtu.be/0Y5LZcXEF_c
and more, this time, in Asha Bhosle and Ravi’s voices
Idhar Bhi Ek Nazar Jo Aap Ki Sarkar – Arab Ka Saudagar
https://youtu.be/ycPSTT6079U
Another beautiful write up alongwith a good selection of 20 representatve duets under the Hemant Kumar centenary series . From the data given in this post I make out that Hemant Kumar should have composed around 90 duets . Should anyone read this post he may expect to find all these 90 songs to be covered under this discussion .
On this Poornima day a duet with ‘ Chaand ‘.
‘Dekho woh chaand…’/ 1954 / SHART / SHB / Hemant / Hemant , Lata
https://youtu.be/9ADbJteA83E
Vaishnavji,
This is fitting write-up for Hemant Kumar duets, with a wide variety of selection of songs, with small and crisp notes on the songs in your unique style. I would agree with AK that you are a systematic researcher. I have read some of your write-ups on your blog. They are very informative.
I agree with you that Hemant Kumar’s duets have a unique effect on the film overall. On a whole even his music has been hardly talked about in such a detail as on SOY. Most of his fans are crazy about his songs and most of them being Lata fans too, the duets scenario in their eyes has focussed on the charm of Lata-Hemant duets. One of the reasons of this was his total lack of interest in self-publicity. In fact he was so busy in home and his work that he hardly got time for all the things others were doing for being in the news. But, this side of his nature has raised him in esteem of fans like me.
In the matter of duets, I would take up two of his films which were high on number of duets. Other than a few films, he had a low count of duets in his films. The first is his first film Anand Math. If you look at the list of songs you may not be too impressed. But, when watching the film, you are transformed to another world by the impact of his music in the film. He has mingled the music into the film like a master craftsman even in his first film. The other such film is Biwi Aur Makaan. This film has a number of only male multiple singer songs, which may not look very impressive in the list, but in the film they have magical effect. I watched this film some years back and was not bored for a single minute in the story and all these songs gelled with the story perfectly. In fact choice of subjects for the films produced by him was always great and he only bothered about making a good film. But, critics hardly took any notice of him as producer except in Khamoshi, though they left no stones unturned in praising many lesser known film makers or films. I think Khamoshi also got the fame after Rajesh Khanna hit the superstar status. Another film with light songs Lalten has been mentioned by you. He had a number of good light duets there. The only film, which had a good number of duets and still did not make good impression on me was Police which came in 1958.
As for songs, I would first choose from the film Champakali, one duet from which has been posted by you. First let me tell you that in the song ‘aa jao rasiya sawan ke din aaye’ posted by you, the female voice is that of Asha Bhosle. This is mentioned in the footnote of the film in HFGK. In the film version Asha sang the song and on the record Lata was recorded. This fact was confirmed by Arunji, in his comment in ASAD when this song was posted there. Hemant used three voices in the duets picturised on Bharat Bhushan. I am posting the song ‘oji oji chhodo ji dupatta mera jadugar balma’ from this film sung by Hemant and Lata.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB5kBt_c8I8
S Joseph (* 8)
I am sure SoY fraternity shall enrich the collection on one page and fill in the gaps that I have left out..
Whilst on the Full Moon Day, I take to lok a bit wider from the window that you have opened and take a peep at songs from Chand (1959, for which Hemant Kumar composed music.
The film has only one duet + in the form of a qawwali, which I have refereed to @ #7.
But there is another song which invites Chand to enlighten the homes. It is Lata Mangeshkar and Chorus dance song, which interstingly is based on Punjabi filk dance style.
Aaja Re Chandani Hamari Gali Chand Le Ke Aaja
https://youtu.be/6xB4KovlZsI
Hans (*9)
Thanks for your clarifications on Champakali song.
I also watched Anand Math and Biwi Aur Makaan, after I read Hemantayan 1., and I fully agree with what you have so lucidly stated about these two films.
Let me add a Credit Titles song from Biwi Aur Makaan, wherein Manna Dey opens with Khul Simsim Khullam Khulla with Hemant Kumar and Bula Gupta to chipping in Biswajeet’s voice on the screen – to indicate Biswajeet’s future voice change in he dons female attire of charterer.
https://youtu.be/Zy-mB8GBfAc
Vaishnav ji, @5
You have mentioned that there are very few Talat-Geeta duets. In absolute terms this may be true, but in the matter of statistics things have to be seen in relative terms. Talat Mehmood’s principal period was from 1952 to 55. He sang a little more than half of his hfm songs during this period. If we include two adjacent years of 1951 and 56, his songs in this era are about 70 per cent of his total hfm songs.
There were three major female singers with whom Talat had MF songs, Lata, Asha and Geeta. During his peak period of 52-55, Talat had 23 songs with Lata, 18 with Asha and 14 with Geeta. If we take into account the fact that the major MDs who preferred both Lata and Talat were quite a few and also that some of composers who liked Geeta did not like Talat, this number can not be said to be less. She is just 4 songs behind Asha. If we take into account 1951 and 56, the number of songs are Talat-Lata 32, Talat-Asha 26 and Talat-Geeta 19. As per stats with me Talat-Geeta total number is 22.
In my view, the surprise package is Talat-Shamshad. After the stupendous success of ‘milte hi ankhen’ and ‘duniya badal gayi meri’ in Babul, it was natural to expect a lot of Talat-Shamshad duets. But when we look at their number, it is shocking in comparison to the above 3 singers. They sang just 10 songs including 3 triads. In Babul there was a triad also. After Babul, just six different composers gave them 7 songs in six films. And if we look at the names of those MDs, we find that except Vinod, who gave them one duet in the film Titlee-1951, none of them could be said to be either in the front runners or even in the second string of composers.
But, whatever we may say about other composers, we cannot blame Hemant Kumar in this regard. When ever he gave a MF duet to Talat, he paired him with Geeta. He gave Talat only 3 MF duets and all with Geeta. The duet from Anand Math you have posted. He gave two more duets to this pair in the film Bahu-1955, of which Canasya has posted one. The third one from Bahu ‘dekho dekho ji balam deke birha ka gham’ is a very nice melodious song and I am posting that here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLO9XZND1Z8
Hans (#12)
Thanks so much for putting Talat – Geeta Dutt duets in the right perspective of the historical context.
I had felt great pangs of regret when I had to drop Dekho Dekho Ji Balam (Bahu) from final selection to stick to my self-imposed rule of presenting lesser known songs, because it remains one the most known duets of Talat – Geeta.
I am a great fan their duets. I have been conducting a separate series on this subject on my blog.
In so far as Talat – Shamshad duets is concerned, I agree with you totally.
Wonderful job by Ashok Vaishnav. Labour of love shows here. As a composer of sweet melodies, Hemant Kumar is an ideal subject and Ashok has not missed the opportunity. Song like O o o baby was on the verge of being deleted from memory. Then follows a flurry of melodies not heard for many years, still as appealing as they were in their time, like the sweet duets Gori tore natkhat naina and Maine kaha, tum se hamen pyar hai, and Sara mora kajara. It was like a feast of Bengali sweets.
On analysing the statistics, I got very interesting results. Hemant Kumar is perhaps one of those composers, details of all of whose songs are known except one song from film Sahara. After Venkataramanji’s clarification about the film Do Mastane, we have 407 of his songs in 54 films out of which details of 406 are known. Since we are only discussing duets, I would give details about the duets only. There are 109 duets composed by him, of which 79 are MF, 14 FF, 4 MM and 12 multiple singer songs. In film Love in Canada – 1979, there is a song which is credited as a triad sung by Hemant, Rafi and Aarti, but I did not find Aarti’s voice in the song available on youtube. Still I have kept it in the triad slot, because there may be some version which had her as co-singer.
Since female songs are not being discussed here, we have in all 94 songs to deal with, because besides the 14 FF duets there is 1 all female triad in the 12 MSS. From the remaining 11 triad+ songs, 5 are all male and the remaining 6 mixed songs. Hemant never repeated the same singer combination in these 11 songs or in the 4 MM duets.
Now I take up the main dish of MF duets. Of the 79 duets in this category 45 are taken up by three pairs, in which Hemant is one of them and the others are Lata-18, Geeta-16 and Asha-11. Of the remaining 34 songs 17 are distributed among 6 pairs and the remaining 17 were given to 17 different pairs, who never got a second song. So we have 26 different pairs singing the 79 duets. There is one more strange thing. Hemant did not pair with another singer than the above named, bar his wife Bela with whom he had 3 duets. So Hemant participated in 48 MF duets. For the remaining 31 songs 7 additional female and 11 additional male singers were used. Even in these 31 duets Lata was used in 9, Asha and Geeta in 7 each and Bela in one duet with Ravi (already posted). So the additional 7 female singers all got just one song each. This shows how focussed Hemant was on his main 3 female singers.
Now I take up his 3 duets with his wife Bela Mukherjee, which have not been posted. He gave these 3 duets to her in continuous years of 1956, 57 and 58 in films Bandhan, Fashion and Sahara respectively. Vaishnavji posted a couple of songs where Hemant was present just for support. After listening to the 3 duets with Bela, we would have hardly got the feel of her voice, if she was not allowed to sing a few words in the Fashion song.
Dulah raam siya dulahri – Bandhan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylcqwOxG10g
Maati ko lajana na – Fashion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAtJuq4wdZg
Har dukhda sahne wali – Sahara
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QRNTUN-vQE
Naresh P Mankad (# 14)
Thanks for your very generous appreciation.
This exercise of revisiting less heard Hemant Kumar songs for the present series on SoY has thrown up a revelation for me – Getting listen Hemant Kumar’s already known song so much seems to have had accentuated the process of pushing back the less familiar songs too far in the depth of the memory.
In fact, this appears to be case for almost all non familiar songs. But then all less familiar songs are not as sweet as those of Hemant Kumar …..
Hans (#15)
Thanks for so useful data and highly insightful analysis. This approach would be very useful for future articles.
Hemant Kumar – Bela Mukherjee songs now mentioned opens up a window to shed some more light on Hemant Kumar’s composition style.
Dulah raam siya dulahri – Bandhan seems to a ‘jatra’ song, wherein depending upon the main character of the story, the other singers play supporting role.
Har dukhda sahne wali – Sahara is background song. Hemant Kumar has used Bela Mukherjee more as counter melody support.
Maati ko lajana na – Fashion seems to be a senior Sadhu and his young either male or (generally) female co singer. This junior singer plays a s support role, in this case Bela Mukherjee playing that role.
Could this be case of improvising on idea with economically viable use of resources …..
There were seven songs of the seven female singers who were used just once by HK. The two iconic songs ‘kashti ka khamosh safar hai’ and ‘saara mora kajra chhudaya tune’ have already been posted. Here is the Kishore, Daisy Irani song, which is just like the three Hemant-Bela songs, with Daisy giving minimum support.
Na paisa lagta hai na dhela lagta hai – Girl Friend – Kishore, Daisy Irani.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFTVO2nOfKg
The second song is a Holi song ‘bam babam bam bam lahri’ from Do Dil sung by Manna Dey and Usha Mangeshkar. This song was extremely popular in its days and has at least three different tunes. One of the most imaginatively picturised Holi songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vJQDEnIVrE
The third one is from Do Dooni Chaar and is a fun song.
Chakkar chalaye ghanchakkar – Manna Dey and Krishna Kalle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc2sVuOm9Mo
Ashokji
A nice article on one of the most underrated composer. If we analyse Hemant Kumar’s filmography , we find that post 1958 he never composed for more than 3 films . This despite the fact that he had several popular or critically acclaimed albums to his credit during this period.
Here I am posting a kishor – Asha duet from bees saal pehle.
This however does not bear the usual HK stamp.
Abhi to dua deke – Bees sal pehle – Kishor & Asha .
https://youtu.be/8Hb_ZiV0sl0
After listening to this song for the first time , I felt that there is some similarity in this song and
Koi aur duniya mein – pyar ki kahani – RDB
Diwane hai diwano ko – zanjeer – KA
In the comment above “He never composed more than 3 films ….” Should have been ” more than 3 Hindi films”
Vaishnavji
Another of your avant garde posts to be cherished. Presentation of the songs with succinct picturisation by apt description is unparallelled and unique.
I was a bit intrigued by the term “assymmetric duet”. I interpret it as predominence of one of the two singers in terms of duration. Probably where one of the partner simply hums in the background will fall in this category. In song No. 4 the start with a fast mandolin is abrupt and does not coalesce with the rest of the slow tempo song. Reason for the same is known to the late music director only.
Song No. 8 reminds me of the one from Ek Hee Rasta (1956) – Saanvale salone aaye. There are very many similarities between them. There is a
bit of yodelling in the midst of the song in Kishore Kumar style.
Song No. 18 is quite well known. You had to include against the grain because of lack of choice.
I am none too good in hunting for such rarely heard songs. I present one well known duet from Hill Station (1957). It is unfortunate a film not that old is not available for view.
Nayee manzil – https://youtu.be/W4_B18CO3JQ?t=3
A duet of Geeta Dutt and Mohammad Rafi from the same film perhaps not so well known.
Gori gori patli kalai – https://youtu.be/v_VblzmlDJI?t=85
Hans A(#18)
It is very realistic of Hemant Kumar to use Daisy Iran’s voice in Na paisa lagta hai na dhela lagta hai..
Bam Bola is indeed a gem of a composition, and quite complex one for a Hemant Kumar composition.
Chakkar Chalaye can be considered ‘filler’ song to provide the viewers a song at regular intervals. Manna Dey is as his usual care-free best. Krishna Kalle, too, matches Manna Dey very well.
Thanks so much for enriching the discussion.
Rahul Bhagwanrao Muli ( #19)
Thanks for your appreciation.
Indeed, HK that we chersh as composer seems to have lost that touch post-Khamoshi in so far as Hindi films is concerned.
DP Rangan (#21)
Thanks for your appreciation and minute observations.
HK did not get work beyond the less -creditable banners. That set the vicious circle of failure of the film at box office affecting the popularity to the otherwise very good scores and hence more less-charitable banners. Fashion is just an epitome of that syndrome.
Of the 11 male singers mentioned by me @ 15, Kishore was one. He was given 6 MF duets by HK. Four of these have been already posted. I am posting here the rest two. The first one is from film Girl Friend-1960 with Asha Bhosle. This is a fun song the mukhda of which is ‘boom booma boom karega kutumb’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlS54j5ZaYc
The second one is also with Asha from film Rahgir. This is a chhed-chhad song with two tunes. Song title is ‘babu ghabrate hain’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va4-9WD0IEI
Hans ( #24)
Thanks for so systematically enriching the subject.
Hemant Kumar had done a very commendable job for Girl Friend – each song had its own charm.
Can KK’s Rahgir song be considered a acknowledgement of he being a ‘new gen’ background voice, a phenomenon that had erupted during Aradhana?
Vaishnavji, @ 17 You wrote,
“Could this be case of improvising on idea with economically viable use of resources”
This I forgot to answer. Your thought is correct and in addition he also pleased Bela Mukherjee with some songs for her to sing. He also used her just sparingly so that he is not blamed for using her excessively. I think he used her more in Bengali film and non-film songs. She was a good singer, but her voice appeared to me to be like Geeta Dutt, whom he was already using on a big scale.
@ 22
‘Bam babam bam bam lahri’ was very popular on radio farmaish programs.
@ 25
On the Aradhana theory, I have totally different views than many of the friends here. I was very much in the film crazy age then and I did not find any KK/Aradhana thing then. This theory was circulated later by RDB after the death of SDB, to go with his claim of contribution in making music of that film as well as relating it to KK/Rajesh Khanna thing. Do Raaste was released just two months after Aradhana, which was still running. As per me Do Raaste was certainly a bigger hit than Aradhana. Rajesh Khanna’s stardom was certainly built around these two films. Even post Aradhana Rafi was used regularly for Rajesh Khanna. Even after Amar Prem and Kati Patang, Mahendra Kapoor was used for the Rajesh Khanna in film Maalik. This Maalik fact disproves the theory that Rajesh Khanna started asking for voice of KK after Aradhana. There were many reasons for the rising fortunes of KK including Aradhana and also the fact that Rafi stopped singing for some time. If Aradhana impact was so powerful then KK should have been the no 1 singer in 1970, but he did not have even 50 songs in 1970. Mahendra Kapoor sang more songs than KK in 1970 and Mukesh had 3 or 4 songs less than him. Even in 1971 KK had less songs than Rafi, though he almost doubled his songs.
Hans (#26)
Thanks for very interesting and quite valid and meaningful alternate views.
Maa Beta – 1962 had three Lata duets, one each with Mukesh, Hemant and Manna Dey. The Mukesh-Lata duet has been posted with the main article. Manna Dey was given 5 MF duets by HK. Four of them have already been posted, 2 by Vaishnavji and two by me. This song ‘chhan chhan payal chhanke’ sung by Lata-Manna Dey will complete Manna Dey’s tally. Very interesting picturisation indeed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldxuF7ZweA4
Mukesh had two MF duets, one was from the same film Maa Beta posted in the article. His other song was with Asha in the film Us Raat Ke Baad – 1970. Interesting mukhda ‘bahut acche lago to jaan keh loon’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8Wu3Ybzgzc
Mahendra Kapoor had one song with Asha in film Kohra, ‘kahe bajai tune paapi bansuria’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH6zeZZ3-VI
Rafi had 7 MF duets, out of which 3 have been posted by Vaishnavji in his article itself. The remaining 4, I am posting here. First his two duets with Lata, which also came first chronologically.
Vaishnavji posted one of this legendary duo’s two iconic duets. The second ‘vrindavan ka krishna kanhaiya’, I am posting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9MBrjJYqZI
The second of their duet ‘ja re ja re o maakhan chor’ from Champakali is also well known, though not like the earlier one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2A2dp5h0Rg
Rafi had two duets with Asha. The first ‘pyar men joker ban gaye hum’ came first in Duniya Jhukti Hai. This is a comic song and is the only lesser known song out of the 7 by Rafi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA17f5ff2-c
The second Asha-Rafi duet is from Bin Badal Barsaat. This sweet duet ‘dil men teri yaad sanam lab pe tera naam’ is picturised on Mehmood and the Marathi actress Padma Chauhan who was as sweet as the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6x8Cpsmczo
This completes the MF duets of other male singers. One song from Ferry sung by Master Babu and Baby Bula is not available as a separate link. I could not find link of another song ‘main bhi daaku tu bhi daaku dono chor uchakke’ from Daku Ki Ladki – 1954, sung by Shamshad and Ravi.
Ashokji , Hansji
Hansji has quoted a song from Daku ki ladki, link for which is not available.
I made a futile search for the same during which I was led to Do Mastane .
Myswar.com in its trivia section mentions that out of 11 songs in this film
3 were originally used ( composed is the word used) in Daara (1953) 5 were earlier used in Daku ki ladki & 1 was earlier used in Laltain.
Incidentally composer of Daara is Mohammad Shafi.
Is this correct? If it really is , it is very unusual that so many songs from earlier films are reused.
Hans ( # 18 and # 19)
Thanks for completing the Hemant Kumar composed MF duet sets of Manna Dey, Mohamamd Rafi and Mukesh.
Even if bahut acche lago to jaan keh loon’. is placed the last in the merit, it is indeed is a song we do not mind listening to.
That sis the beauty of Hemant Kumar’s duets, even fro ther singers.
I am sorry,
#18 and #19 mentioned in #31 my please be read as #28 and #29.
Rahul Bhagwanrao Muli (# 30)
I would not be able to say anything about the issue.
For me Daara (1953) has only memory – an unforgettable Hemant Lata Duet, which can be one more example of an asymmetric duet,
Do Bol Tere Meethe Meethe
https://youtu.be/coStaqN1g_Q
Muliji, @ 30
I had referred to the film Do Mastane in my comment 15. I based that on Venkataramanji’s comment 18 in Vaishnavji’s post on Hemant Kumar’s Female Playback Singers. The link is given below.
https://www.songsofyore.com/hemant-kumars-female-playback-singers/
You can get all the details from that comment. Earlier also some songs were used in other films, but they were mostly used by the same production house. The common link here is the Director Harish, who was Director for Daara, Daku Ki Ladki, Lalten and Do Mastane. He was also Director of the film Ustad Pedro, (composer C Ramchandra) from which also he used one song in Do Mastane.
Where can I find the composing styles of different Bollywood music directors. Please direct me in the right direction.
Kind regards
Sanjeev Raja,
Your question is not clear to me. You will find their composing style in their songs. For understanding the technical differences of their composing styles, you will have to go to a music teacher.