Kalyanji-Anandji were extremely melodious composers. But in a crowded field at the top comprising Naushad, SD Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan, OP Nayyar, Roshan, Madan Mohan, etc. they were not among the elite at the High Table. But 70s onwards the gods were kind to them. Kalyanji-Anandji showed amazing talent to adapt themselves to the new voices (read Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle) and new kind of music. They were undisputedly part of the Big Troika with RD Burman and Laxmikant-Pyarelal.
Thus any assessment of Kalyanji-Anandji would be incomplete without a spotlight on their music in the second phase. Just recall movies like Maryada, Victoria Number 2023, Blackmail, Zanjeer, Five Rifles, Haath Ki Safaai, Kora Kagaz, Dharmatma, Rafoo Chakkar, Bairag, Don, Muqadar Ka Sikandra, Qurbani, Laawaris, Vidhata, Tridev – sounds like a superhit parade of 70s and 80s. While the stalwarts of the earlier era were on the decline. KA-I smoothly reincarnated themselves as KA-II. SOY’s primary focus is on 50s and 60s. I have to leave KA-II for some other worthy person or to a later time.
KA-I’s best songs for Mukesh, Rafi and ‘Other’ Male Singers are already covered on the blog. And you would have realised he composed some of the best songs for most of the male singers. Do they show similar diversity with female singers? They created many memorable songs for Lata Mangeshkar naturally, but to my mind they have not composed great solos for ‘other’ female singers. Today Lata Mangeshkar would have been 95 years old. I pay my tribute to her with KA-I’s best songs for her. This also concludes my series of articles as a tribute to KA-I. Since my earlier articles on male singers by KA-I also included their duets, this one also includes Lata Mangeshkar’s duets with ‘other’ female singers, and songs of other female singers which achieved some popularity.
1. Mujhe dekh chaand sharmaye by Lata Mangeshkar from Samrat Chandragupta (1958), lyrics Nirupa Roy (?), music Kalyanji Virji Shah
From his debut film itself the elder brother Kalyanji working solo showed his immense talent. And surprising part is the lyricist for this song was Nirupa Roy who was also the lead actress. A superb dance song in a royal court in the melodious voice of Lata Mangeshkar.
(Note: Question mark about the lyricist because some sites mention Indivar, some others Bharat Vyas as the lyricist. Our respected N Venkataraman in his comments on my post on KA’s best songs for Rafi mentioned that there was a ‘faux pas’ in the record of the song (N52547) as it mentioned Nirupa Roy as the lyricist whereas Indivar wrote the song. This set me to enquire further. The film credit titles mentions Nirupa Roy as one of the song writers along with three others. HFGK credits the songs to lyricists separately. ‘Mujhe dekh chaand sharmaye’ has been credited to Nirupa Roy.
I discussed this with another knowledgeable friend. Venkataramanji came back with some awe-inspiring research to corroborate his earlier comments. But this still leaves my doubts unresolved. If we don’t accept her as the lyricist, how do we determine who among the other three wrote the song? And since the film’s credit titles mentions her name among the song writers, which one she wrote if not this? All this is resolved if we simply go by what is officially credited to her.)
2. Majboor ho ke teri…Qaid mein hai bulbul saiyyad muskuraye by Lata Mangeshkar from Bedard Zamana Kya Jaane (1959), lyrics (?). music Kalyanji Virji Shah
Question mark about the lyricist because Bharat Vyas is the lyricist of the film, but for this song some sites mention Indivar as the lyricist. A little sad song because the lady is held in captivity.
3. Koi kahe rasiya, koi manbasiya, main piya chitchor kahun ya chhaliya re by Lata Mangeshkar from Madari (1959), lyrics Pt. Madhur, music Kalyanji-Anandji
The test of a music director is how he performs in a B-grade movie. By now the brothers had formed a duo. In this Ranjan-Chitra-starrer they composed the eternal Mukesh-Lata Mangeshkar duet Dil lootnewale jadugar ab maine tujhe pehachana hai. And equally delightful is this Lata Mangeshkar solo.
4. Akeli mohe chhod na jana, ho mera dil tod na jana by Lata Mangeshkar and Kamal Barot from Madari (1959), lyrics Farooq Kaiser, music Kalyanji-Anandji
In the same film now Lata Mangeshkar combines with Kamal Barot to sing this frothy dance duet song in a royal court. Kamal Barot always added a tangy flavour to such songs. The song starts with KA’s been tune for which KA had become famous as Hemant Kumar’s assistant for the been tune in Nagin (1954).
5. Ho baaje payal chham chham hoke beqaraar by Lata Mangeshkar & othrs from Chhalia (1960), lyrics Qamar Jalalabadi, music Kalyanji-Anandji
In some light-hearted comedies Nutan – not famous for beauty – was quite an eye-candy. She looks quite beautiful in this joyous song, picturised on a cart carrying straw.
This song seems to be a clear copy of Ron Goodwin’s tune Desert Hero from the album An Arabian Night.
6. Teri raahon mein khade hain dil thaam ke haye, hum hain deewane tere naam ke by Lata Mangeshkar from Chhalia (1960), lyrics Qamar Jalalabadi, music Kalyanji-Anandji
Our films mirror life. Therefore, happy songs have to be followed by sad songs, until everything is sorted out in the end. A nice poignant song.
7. Badli hai zamane ki nazar dekhiye kya ho by Lata Mangeshkar from Majboor (1964), lyrics Anand Bakshi, music Kalyanji-Anandji
Another poignant song by Lata Mangeshkar. Biswajeet, who feels unfairly accused, is furiously taking out his angst on the keyboard of the piano.
8. Ek tu jo mila saari duniya mili, khila jo era dil saari bagiya khili by Lata Mangeshkar from Himalay Ki Gode Mein (1965), lyrics Indivar, music Kalyanji-Anandji
Now this chirpy song from Kalyanji-Anandji’s first superhit film, Himalay Ki Gode Mein. This song has a sad version, too.
9. Ye saman saman hai ye pyar ka by Lata Mangeshkar from Jab Jab Phool Khile (1965), lyrics Anand Bakhshi, music Kalyanji-Anandji
JJPK was another superhit film. Here the class difference between the two protagonists was reversed. An excellent song.
10. Aaj hai do October ka din, aaj ka din hai bada mahaan by Lata Mangeshkar & chorus from Parivar (1967), lyrics Gulshan Bawra, music Kalyanji-Anandji
This was the period of Lal Bahadur Shastri’s popularity. His slogan Jai Jawan Jai Kisan caught the imagination of the nation. Coincidentally, his birthday was October 2, therefore, in this school function song on the occasion, this song pays tribute to both.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U17HBk5u3Y
11. Har khushi ho jahan tu jahan bhi rahe, zindagi ho wahan by Lata Mangeshkar from Upkar (1967), lyrics Gulshan Bawra, music Kalyanji-Anandji
The kisan and jawan Manoj Kumar as POW is being tortured by the enemy, and in synch the lover Asha Parekh sings this sad song. This film set KA on a high trajectory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXkdga-fzcI
12. Main to bhool chali babul ka des by Lata Mangeshkar from Saraswatichandra (1968), lyrics Indivar, music Kalyanji-Anandji
In this film based on a Gujarati novel, Nutan dances garba dance with her sahelis.
13. Humre aangan bagiya, bagiya mein do panchhi by Usha Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar from Teen Bahuraniyan (1968), lyrics Anand Bakhshi, music Kalyanji-Anandji
This traditional family drama from South had three daughters-in-law living in harmony in a joint family. A nice song picturised on the three bahus. You don’t often get the three Mangeshkar sisters singing together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj7ZFcNMdJ4
‘Other Female singers’
14. Dilli ke bazaar ki balma sair kara de by Asha Bhosle from Teen Bahuraniyan (1968), lyrics Anand Bakhshi, music Kalyanji-Anandji
From Teen Bahuraniyan you have this nice song by the most famous ‘other’ singer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENYTZsqbQEc
15. Chali chali kaisi hawa ye chali, ki bhanwre pe marne lagi hai kali by Shamshad Begum and Usha Mangeshkar from Bluff Master (1963), lyrics Rajendra Krishna, music Kalyanji-Anandji
In this all female qawwali Shamshad Begum sings for Shammi Kapoor (in drag) and Usha Mangeshkar for Saira Bano. A thoroughly enjoyable song.
16. Wafaon ka aalam mitne laga hai..Main to ho gayi re badnaam by Mubarak Begum and Kamal Barot from Sunehri Nagin (1963), lyrics Vedpal, music Kalyanji-Anandji
It seems KA took a B-grade film as a challenge. Among several excellent songs in the film, this tangy dance duet by Mubarak Begum and Kamal Barot is a treat to watch.
17. Vaada humse kiya, dil kisi ko diya by Mubarak Begum from Saraswatichandra (1968), lyrics Indivar, music Kalyanji-Anandji
The dutiful wife waits with the thali for her husband, but the man is enjoying this mujra. This irony has been shown in many films. This song would make your creative juices overflow in the year dominated by general elections, some unexpected results, and electoral promises.
Acknowledgement and Disclaimer
The song links have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of music lovers. This blog has no commercial interest and claims no copyright over these songs which vests in the respective owners.
{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice tribute to the Nightingale on her 95th birth anniversary, AK Ji.
For me the first song that comes to mind with Lata & K-A combination is Chod De Saari Duniya Kisike Liye from Saraswatichandra…one of K-A’ s best orchestration & tune, Indeevar’s superb lyrics and no doubt Lata’s typical high octave scintillating rendition…surprised to see this mmost famous song missing….the strings arrangement, flute pieces in between, even the slight echo effect in recording…an outstanding song.
As you stated, KA were overshadowed during the golden age of Hindi music, crowded with talented MDs, lyricists and singers. Fortunately for them they were able to show there full talent in the following decade. They also produced great Lata-Mukesh duets. Below are some of my KA and Lata favorites from 60s.
1. Bedardi Daghabaaz Ja film: Bluff Master(1963) lyrics : Rajendra Krishan
2. Mujhko Is Raat Ki Tanhai Mein film: Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere(1960) lyrics: Shamim Jaipuri
3. Akele Hain Chale Aao Jahan Ho Film: Raaz(1967) lyrics: Shamim Jaipuri
And another song from Himalay ki God Mein
4. Oonche Himalay Ke Neeche Film: Himalay Ki God Mein(1965) lyrics: Anand Bakshi
While we are talking about KA duo, let’s not forget that Kalyanji under the name Kalyanji Virji Shah also produced great Lata songs.
5. Zaalim Zamane Ne Itna Sataaya Film: Delhi Junction(1960) Lyrics: Gulshan Bawra
6. Qaid Mein Hai Bulbul Film: Bedard Zamana Kya Jane(1959) Lyrics: Bharat Vyas
7. Mujhe Dekh Chand Sharmaye Film: Samrat Chandragupt(1958) Lyrics:Nirupa Roy
Sivanandamji,
Thanks a lot. From Saraswatichandra I have included the most popular song Main to bhool chali babul ka des piya ka ghar pyara lage, its tune also appeals to me.
Sameer Pandya,
Thanks a lot for your detailed comments and the list of songs. Your #6 and #7 are covered in this post. Mujhko is raat ki tanhaai mein – if you mean the Lata Mangeshkar version, to my mind it is overshadowed by Mukesh version. It was not surprising, because in ‘Twin’ songs, generally the male version was the front-runner and the female version, a laggard.
AK Ji,
Though the KA duo were not exactly in the top league of MDs initially, as you have stated in your comment, but in their early days, they definitely composed some outstanding songs.
I’ll list my favorites below.
1 Tere bina ye duniya andheri ( a rare must listen song)
2 Main kya jaanu kahe laage
Both from Chandrasena by Lata and penned by Gulshan Bawra
3 Tu hi tu hai main dekha karun
Lata from Sunehri Nagin penned by Anand Bakhshi
4 Khayi thi kasam by Lata from Dil Ne Pukara, penned by Indivar
Will try to find more
AK Ji (#4), Funny you mentioned that male version in a version song is usually dominated by the male version. In my opinion, tis true more so for Lata’s version but less so with other female singers, especially Asha. Quite often, the female version is the slower or the sad version of the version song. Even so, Asha’s versions are usually as popular. For example, Jahan Mein Aisa Kaun Hai is slower and sad version of the male version of the song but it is equally popular. Some more examples:
Na Tum Hamen (Female) – Suman Kalyanpur – Baat Ek Raat Ki (1962)
Mujhe Gale Se (Female) – Asha Bhosle – Aaj Aur Kal(1963)
Meri Jaan Tumpe Sadke (Female) – Asha Bhosle – Sawan Ki Ghata(1966)
Dil Laga Kar Hum Ye Samjhe (Female) – Asha Bhosle- Zindagi Aur Maut(1965)
Na Yeh Chand Hoga (Female)- Geeta Dutt- Shart(1954)
Nigahen Na Phero Chale Jayenge Hum (female) – Suman Kalyanpur -Black Prince(1960)
Arvinder Sharmaji,
Trust you to mention some unknown songs. The first three songs I came across for the first time. These would grow upon you gradually.
From Sunehri Nagin I remember the iconic Mukesh-Lata Mangeshkar duet – Tujhe chaand kahun ya phool kahun. And from Dil Ne Pukara, a Mukesh-solo Waqt karta jo wafa aap hamaare hote.
Sameer Pandya,
This subject has interested me for long. One of my earliest articles was on Twin songs: A front-runner and a laggard. I am not sure whether all your examples are counter-examples or personal preference. For example, my clear favourites are Hemant Kumar in Na tum humein jaano and Na ye chaand hoga; Mahendra Kapoor in Dil lagakar hum ye samjhe.
AK Ji (#8)
Perhaps I was not clear in my message. It is not about my preference. In fact, I like most of the Lata versions. My point is, which of the alternate versions remained obscure to a casual listener because they were not played on the radio often. I have no way to quantify this so this is only my opinion.
AK ji ‘ s take on Chod de saari duniya vs Mein to bhool chali babul and Sameer Pandya ‘ s on Jahan mein aisa kaun hai being ” being ” equally ” popular as Abhi Na Jaao chodkar( strictly speaking this is not a male solo vs female solo it is duet vs solo)..my humble opinion is ..these may be personal preferences .. for me these will be exactly opposite!! Comparisions are always risky!!
Sameer Pandya,
What are the indicators of popularity? Heard frequently on airwaves. They were closely interlinked, difficult to say which was the cause and which was the effect. You can take it as my personal views. Having said this, a clear exception to my mind is Aji roothkar ab kahan jaaiyega from Arzoo (1965). You may have to rack your brains to recall there was a Rafi version too.
Barring clear choices this debate can be endless and can sometimes get heated. One such example is Tum bin jaaun kahan from Pyar Ka Mausam (1969). It seems RD Burman had a great sense of fun. He composed two versions in the voices of Kishore Kumar and Rafi, setting their fans on a perpetual war path.
It also depends how much importance Producer/ Director/ Music Director give to a version in picturisation.
Sivanandamji,
Could not agree with you more.
AKji
Another one of your definitive post dealing with the subject in an interesting way thanks to your erudition and mastery of language. I have seen a good number of films when they were released and enjoyed the songs. KA’s contribution to hindi film music in various genres is legion.
Coming to specifics :
Saraswati Chandra: Lyricist is shown as Nirupa Roy. There were 3eight songs and four writers – Hasrat Jaipuri 2, Indeevar 2, Nirupa Roy 1, and Bharat Vyas 3
Song No. 2
There were 7 songs and Bharat Vyas is shown as the sole lyricist.
Mr Rangan,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation.
You mean perhaps the first song from Samrat Chandragupta. I have given a detailed debate about the lyricist of the song.
About the song #2 you are right about Bharat Vyas. I have mentioned that. But some sites mention Indivar. I have not checked with the film’s credit-titles.
Kalyanji Anandji during their time supported many male as well as female singers which include Krishna Kalle, Usha Timothy , Usha Khanna, Alka Yagnik and so on in the later years while giving some of the best songs to Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle right from the fifities . However, between the sixties and early seventies they were at their creative best and competed with RD and LP effectively.
AKji,
Beautiful post on Lata Mangeshkar’s birthday!
You’ve covered most of the popular songs from KA -I.
The others are mentioned in the comments.
You would follow with KA – II?
Anup
🙂
KB,
KA continued to be among the top three in eighties too.
In KA-II Kishore Kumar is very prominent for them. His erstwhile ‘other’ male singers also gave some great music. I would try to cover them. But compared to the male singers, I do not recall equally worthy songs by female singers.
Very apt article, AKji. With both KA and LP, I prefer the work they did in their earlier phase when they got crowded out by SJ, SDB, OPN etc but am glad they found ample commercial success in the 70s and had a long innings. KA’s work with Mukesh in particular is up there with the best he did for any composer. They were also early movers in orchestrating the Kishore renaissance of the late 60s that finally exploded with Aradhana and Kati Patang.
Madan,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation. “They were early movers in orchestrating the Kishore renaissance…” I would not put exactly in these words. Because KK 1.0 had many superlative songs by many composers other than SD Burman. But it is surely a new way to look at the combo. I should think Kalyanji-Anandji 2.0 were very successful in riding the KK 2.0 wave, and were undisputedly among the Big Three in the 1970s and 80s.
Among other singers, there are many names:
Suman Kalyanpur
Krishna Kalle
Sulakshana Pandit
Runa Laila
Hemlata
Anuradha Paudwal
Kanchan
Sadhna Sargam
Nazia Hassan
Usha Khanna n Timothy
Sapna Mukherjee
Alka Yagnik
Padmini n Shivangi Kolhapure
Alisha Chinoy
I am sure there are a few more.
Dr Shetty,
You are right about the ‘other female singers’. But I had kept this post limited to KA 1. i.e. up to 1970. Male-female duets have been covered in ‘other male singers’. My idea was to give the top of recall of other female singers, including all female duets. I am impressed by your power of recall.
Dr Shetty,
Great memory that you could list out so many female singers, many of whom were encouraged by K-A. Except only one- Nazia Hassan ‘ s evergreen Aap jaisa koi meri zindagi mein aaye, though appeared in Qurbani film, but to the best of my knowledge, it was composed by Biddu Appaiah- a British- Indian composer.
AK ji
The continuing series on KA explores the different dimensions of the composer duo extensively.
As you have said, the “other” female singers played an insignificant role in KA-01. In fact Asha’s noteworthy songs for KA came as late as in 1969 (Mahal). I am not familiar with the Asha’s song in your list.
One of the excellent songs of Lata I add here:
Hum the jinke sahare- Safar -Indeevar
https://youtu.be/XqB2HjNkQAM?si=H5Pe97CTQnULbgv0
And Asha’s song from Mahal
Aayiye aapka -AB
https://youtu.be/YowbckZbkHU?si=dsgIA3ZYjzYx6T-1
Ak ji, Pradeep ji
I will add one more name to Pradeep Ji’s list of female singers and that is of none other than the dreamgirl ( if what she rendered can be called as singing)
Peene walo ko – Haath ki Safai- with Kishor Kumar
Mr Sivanandam,
You are right. KA used a pre-existing song, Aap jaisa koi meri zindagi mein aaye, sung by Nazia Hassan and composed by her brother Biddu, in Qurbani. Qurbani, however, was a top grosser of its times and had many superlative songs, composed by KA. Just think of Aap se humko bichhade huye; Laila main Laila, aisi tu Laila etc.
Mr Muli,
I hope I have been able to provide a broad overview of Kalyanji-Anandji’s songs with different singers in the Golden Era, and his place in the hierarchy of great music directors. My idea was not to just tick boxes.
They are remarkable for their transformation in 2.0 when they jump to the Big Three with different choice of singers and style of music.
AK,
A very nice sequel to Kalyanji Anandji. You very rightly observed that they were low on producing popular songs except for Lata and in fact female songs in general. I think the reason for this was the phenomenon recently mentioned by Ashok Vaishnav in his post on ‘Hidden Gems of Rafi’. I would give here an example of the film Upkar. This film had a lot of popular songs ‘mere desh ki dharti’, ‘deewanon se ye mat poochho’, ‘kasme wade pyar wafa’ which all were more popular than the Lata number ‘har khushi ho wahan’. Even ‘aayi jhoom ke basant’ was slightly more popular. But, the fact is that the Lata song is a class act. If I am given choice of one song to listen from this film, I will choose this one every time. Another reason for their being a bit lacking on this count is that they perhaps lagged behind in the propaganda department in the first phase. In the second phase they were the part of the cartel of the troika you mentioned and consequently were more visible in the public eye.
As I have mentioned from time to time I have prepared summary of stats in respect of the important MDs. Along with that summary, I also prepared a list of popular songs too simultaneously. I will present the results here. From start to 1970, KA (including the Kalyanji films) did 63 films with 397 songs and 113 films with 566 songs. In the first phase they gave 189 popular songs out of 397, which is a very high percentage. Of these 189, 92 were male solos, 60 duets and only 37 female solos. In the second phase out of 566 songs the number of popular songs was 155, a significant drop percentage wise. Out of these 155, 51 were male solos, 64 duets and there were 40 female solos. In the first phase the male songs were mostly by Rafi and Mukesh who were having auto-popularity. Similarly Lata was also having auto-popularity in that phase. As such there was a huge difference between male and female solo popular songs. In the second phase it was mostly KK on the male side, who – whatever be his achievements – can not be compared with either Rafi or Mukesh. On the female side Asha was now on auto-popularity mode. This resulted in the solo numbers coming closer. Whatever maey be the reason KA can not be blamed for making less efforts for female singers, which will be proved by the songs of the other female singers from the early phase I would post here.
Main to bhabhi ko gudia nanaungi – Sudha Malhotra – lyrics Upendra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVArk2fHHGQ
‘Main hoon miss lali’ a song from O Tera Kya Kehna by Suman Kalyanpur in the style of Asha and Geeta. Lyrics by Hasrat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IS0kXAw0dw
Kahiye janab kaisa haal hai – Kamal Barot – lyric Prem Dhawan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4Gh6VuH9wM
Donon hathon se dil kyun sambhala hai – Usha Mangeshkar – lyrics Faruk Qaisar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeXXoqkN6JE
O murli wale rakho aan hamari – Suman Kalyanpur – lyrics Qamar Jalalabadi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpzaAtiaYlI
Hans,
Your statistics is impressive. It corroborates my general assessment that Kalyanji-Anandji were very diffident with female solos. In the first phase they created some great songs with Lata Mangeshkar who was on ‘auto-popularity’ those days, as you say. The female solos of ‘other female singers’ you have dredged would not occur to me for mentioning on SOY.
In phase II the same trend with female solos in general continued. But they continued to create great male solos with a variety of singers. Only the relative priority changed.
I would not give major credit to marketing. They were good, they were lucky, nothing succeeds like success.
Hans,
PS
But I did get to refresh my memory of Kahiye kaisa mijaaz hai aapka; the mukhada of Kahiye janab kaisa haal hai is eerily similar.
AK,
You have caught the right connection between the two songs.
You wrote ‘The female solos of ‘other female singers’ you have dredged would not occur to me for mentioning on SOY.’ I could not understand the meaning of these words, would you elaborate.
You also say you do not give much credit to marketing. I hope you could always stick to this statement. Marketing is done in many ways. LP and KA gave music to 11 films in their first three years, LP composed 68 songs in those 11 films of which 54 were solos and only 14 duets. Of these 54 solos they gave 32 to and 9 to Rafi who were on a high auto-popularity mode and this was auto marketing. KA on the other hand composed 79 songs in the 11 films out of which 48 were solos and a large number of 31 duets. They gave 26 songs to Lata and 4 to Rafi. LP understood the power of solos and big auto-popularity singers and they reaped the harvest. That is my view and you are free to have your own view.
AK Ji-#26
I had mentioned about Nazia Hassan not associated or introduced by K-A ( Dr Shetty’s post #21 on other female singers) . In fact I do not think K-A ever used Nazia in any other songs-Bappi Lahiri had some songs but they did not become as popular as Aap Jaisa..
Also Biddu Appaiah is a British-Indian musician and not the brother of Nazia . Her brother is Zohaib Hassan and they did many music albums together.
Yes-songs of Qurbani became super hits but personally I feel Aap Jaisa Koi was a class apart and set the trend for hundreds of such songs later on.
Also one more correction-Aap se Humko Bichde Hue by Manhar & Suman Kalyanpur is definitely a nice song by K-A but it is from the film Vishwas and not Qurbani. You might have had the other Manhar song in mind-Hum tumhe chaahte hain aise, marnewala koi zindagi chahta ho jaise…
Sorry for nit-picking!! Personally for me KA 1.0 were ten times better than 2.0!!
Sivanandamji,
Thanks for the corrections. Yes, Hum tumhein chaahte hain aise was in my mind. I should have checked up with Mr Google.
Sivanandam, @ 32
Your observation about KA 1.0 and 2.0 is quite correct and in line with the figures I gave. In fact, the rate of scoring hits dropped evenly in the case of the other two of the troika RDB and LP. As per my list of popular songs RDB had 47 out of 17 films with a rate of 2.76, which dropped to 1.42 during 1971-80. For LP this rate dropped from 3.0 to 1.8. If we further break up these figures in two parts of 71-75 and 76-80, there is a clear pattern of gradual drop in popular numbers. For RDB this is 2.06 for the first 5 years and .91 for the second 5 year period. For KA it is 1.97 and .85 and for LP it is 2.15 and 1.43.
One of the reasons was the lesser use of Rafi, which thought is strengthened by the fact that LP’s figures are much better than the other two. Another reason to my mind was the drop in quality of lyrics during this decade. Even the old lyricists who gave memorable lyrics in the 50s and 60s looked quite pedestrian. I think the main reason for this was the extreme rush with which the music was being made. The lyricists were invariably being asked to produce lyrics on the spot, song rehearsals were minimised and in some cases done away with. In 1961-70 942 films were given clearance while in1971-80 1243 films were produced, meaning thereby that there was about one extra film per day was made.
Shivanandam ji,
Yes. Nazia Hassan is wrongly listed by me.
AK ji,
You seem to have, inadvertently, included Aap se humko bichde hue in QURBANI songs. You must have meant Hum tumhe chahate hain aise. The Title song was a hit and so also was Kya dekhte ho, which has generated many memes and reels.
Muli ji,
Yes. There has to be a rider/ warning before calling the Dream Girl as a singer! There is nothing Dreamy about the voice!
AK ji,
This is a lovely list of the talents promoted by Kalyanji Anandji in addition to Lata Mangeshkar. But I did not find a song sung by Kavita Krishnamurty. Wonder if she ever sang under their music direction!
Anita,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation. This post was limited to 1970. KA 2.0 might have worked with Kavita Krishnamurthy. I would have to do a deep search.
AKji,
A nice article on KA’s best songs of Lata Mangeshkar and other female singers.
You have posed a relevant question, “Do they show similar diversity with female singers?”
And provided the answer too, “They created many memorable songs for Lata Mangeshkar naturally, but to my mind they have not composed great solos for ‘other’ female singers.”
Hanji (@28 agrees with your views on this, and it was interesting to read the discussion (@28, @29 & @31) between you two on the subject, though I loved it but I do not wish to add any further to the said discussion. The discussions, between you and Samirji (Pandya) on “twin songs’ (@2, @4, @6, @8 & @9) and between Sivanandamji and Hans on KA1 and KA2 (@32 & @34) too was quite interesting. Hansji has come out with impressive statistics (@28, @31 & @34).
Since the post is on KA’s best songs (up to 1970) of Lata Mangeshkar (and other female singers), let me start with a couple of songs rendered by her by way of my tributes to Lata Mangeshkar.
O Chhail Chhabeli teri yaad aayi, Pyaase Panchhi (1961), lyrics Qamar Jalalabadi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-Qf1isW_Do
Hum ko tumse pyaar hai, Kahin Pyar Na Ho Jaye (1963), lyrics Asad Bhopali
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfRI7SXoCm0
The numbers that I am posting will only reiterate the views already presented in this post. Hansji says, the total songs composed by KA up to 1970 is 397. My count comes to a little over 400. Not much of a difference. So we can say around 400 songs.
The total songs (female solos + all female songs) composed by KA adds up to 147. The break-up:
solos – 130, duets – 15 and triads 2. Lata Mangeshkar rendered 102 songs (almost 70%) of which 95 were solos, 6 duets and 1 triad. Asha Bhosle lent her voice for 15 solos, 5 duets, and 1 triad. Rest of the songs for this period were shared by 14 singers, namely Suman Kalyanpur. Geeta Dutt, Kamal Barot, Shamshad Begum, Sudha Malhotra, Mubarak Begum, Krishna Kalle, Hansa Dave, Hemlata, Usha Mangeshkar, Usha Timothy, Usha Khanna, Usha Iyer (Uthup) and Krishna Bose.
You have posted 13 songs of Lata Mangeshkar, 1 duet with Kamal Barot and 1 triad with her two other sisters. And you have added another 4 songs involving Shamshad Begum, Mubarak Begum, Asha Bhosle, Usha Mangeshkar and Kamal Barot. Thus you have covered Lata, Asha and 4 other female singers.
In the comments section Sivanandamji (1), Samirji (7), Arvinderji (4), and Rahulji (1) have mentioned / posted 13 songs of Lata Mangeshkar. And Rahulji posted a solo by Asha Bhosle and Hansji has posted 2 songs of Suman Kalyanpur, and one each of Usha Mangeshkar, Kamal Barot and Sudha Malhotra.
Pradipji has presented a long list of female singers.
Out of the 16 singers mentioned by him only 5 of them (Suman Kalyanpur, Krishna Kalle, Hemlata, Usha Khanna and Usha Timothy) were employed by KA till 1970. KB too has mentioned the names of Krishna Kalle, Usha Khanna and Usha Timothy.
Posting a triad. Neend ud jaye teri chain se sone wale- Seems Krishna Bose sings for Naaz, Mubarak Begum for Tanuja and Suman Kalyanpur for Nanda, lyrics Anand Bakshi, Juari (1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd8X6rWlL9s
A solo by Krishna Kalle, sings for Babita
Pyaar ne di sada tumko aana pada, Raaz 91967), lyrics Raja mehndi Ali Khan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8HcaC2qpFs
Posting a parody song by Hemlata, singing for Jr. Mehmood , I like her rendition of Madhuban mein Radhika nachere and Ek chatur naar karke shringar.
Aisa banoonga actor mein yaro , lyrics Qamar Jalalabadi, Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0gHrRfuIQ8
You wrote,
“ Kalyanji-Anandji showed amazing talent to adapt themselves to the new voices (read Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle) and new kind of music.”
Let me share an interesting observation. Asha Bhosle rendered 2 songs (both male-female duets) composed by KA for the film Post Box No. 999. That was in 1958. The next opportunity she got to sing for KA was in 1967 for the film Mera Munna. Between 1967 and 1970 Asha Bhosle sang 39 songs for KA totally eclipsing Suman Kalyanpur and Geeta Dutt who were the leading “other” female singers of KA till 1966, similar to Kishore Kumar’s turn-around that we have discussed earlier. These figures also include all the male-female duets from 1958- 1970. Posting a song by Asha Bhosle from her come-back film;
Aingan baigan tali talingan hai ye khel kamaal, Mera Munna (1967), lyrics Qamar Jalalabadi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XinV3abdkEU
Shamshad Begum’s name is mentioned with link, but her name is not in the title credits, the other voice (for Mohan Chhoti) could be that of Usha Timothy.