N Datta-Rafi: When they meet it is GOLD

Guest article by Hans Jakhar as a tribute to N Datta (12 December 1927 – 30 December 1987) on his 93rd birth anniversary with his songs for Rafi

(You can’t get a more passionate fan of Asha Bhosle than Hans Jakhar, and she was the principle female playback singer for Ravi. Therefore, he was the most natural choice to write on her best songs for Ravi in the series of tributes on him last year. The discussions on that post led to N Datta for whom Asha Bhosle was even a more predominant singer. Hans again became the natural choice for writing on her anniversary this year with her best songs composed by N Datta.

A most welcome bonus was that he offered to write on N Datta’s songs for Rafi. This was the classic case of one thing leading to another, but he became terribly busy with his personal affairs. It was very kind of him to, nevertheless, squeeze time for this post, though we have overshot N Datta’s 93rd birth anniversary by a day.

Readers are aware that Hans never does anything half-heartedly. This post too bears his exhaustive research, and you get not only an excellent selection of songs, but also an overall perspective on N Datta’s rise and fall, and despite that, his great talent in composing some everlasting songs.

Let us pay a tribute to the unlucky genius N Datta with his songs for another genius Rafi, on his 93rd birth anniversary. Thank you Hans for you efforts. – AK) 

Last year in the series on Ravi, I wrote on Ravi-Asha Bhole and Ravi-Shakeel Badayuni. In my second post, Mumbaikar8 commented that she would have liked me to write on Ravi-Rafi. By that time both of Ravi-Rafi posts had already been written by AK. I am sure every reader on SOY knows that not only AK’s write-ups and song selection are exemplary, but also the song descriptions. I am sure Mumbaikar8 agrees with me on that and the reason for her wish was due to the fact that she wanted to see a write up from the perspective of a Rafi fan. AK also agrees to the difference of perspectives and because of that he asked me to write on N Datta-Asha Bhosle, though he has already written a number of great posts on her. This time I requested him to allow me to write on N Datta-Rafi to which he kindly agreed.

On my last post on N Datta and Asha Bhosle, Mr S Joseph who is a regular and thoughtful commenter, suggested that it would have been better if my post included mention of instruments used by N Datta. I am thankful to him for this as I have tried to get into this matter from that perspective, as well as given more active thought to the use of instruments. I have discovered some things which I never gave a thought. I will make a mention about this at the right place. Similarly, Venkataramanji made a mention of the probability of cliques which worked against some talented people in our Hindi Film Music (HFM) circles as a reason for what happened to N Datta. I have taken into account these two suggestions in assessing N Datta’s career in this post.

There is one fact which was mentioned by Mr Keshwani in his article, I mentioned in my last post, which would explain some aspects of his music. As per N Datta’s son there was a big peepal tree near their ancestral house. There used to be a mehfil of singing every Thursday, which was regularly attended by N Datta. He also learned harmonium there. He was also fond of watching natak/nautanki of travelling drama groups of Kolhapur and Ratnagiri. These childhood memories impacted his music later. His songs have a healthy share of fun songs. The selection of songs would make this point clear. But, it would be a mistake to think that this was the only hue in his music. He composed many great poignant songs too. He composed a lot of quality qawwalis, which would be a surprise for a Goan to do. Readers would also find that instead of the expected abundance of western instruments, his orchestra had the mix of all kinds of instruments including sitar, flute, dholak etc. His use of dholak was almost like his Punjabi counterparts. It should be kept in mind that he gave music first for a Punjabi film in 1950 itself. One thing which I noticed is that he used tabla less than the dholak. In western instruments he relied heavily on accordion. But, he has this ability to efficiently and effectively use other instruments like clarinet, saxophone, drums, castanets etc. I have read somewhere that he had mastery of many instruments.

Now I move on to N Datta-Rafi. In the last post I talked about the importance of the year 1955 for Asha Bhosle. The same can be said about Rafi too. I will explain it a bit. The year 1949 is known in HFM for the rise of Lata Mangeshkar. But, in the same year Rafi also reached a peak, leaving behind all opposition. In male category, he was far far above the rest of the field, in that year, much more dominant than Lata was in the female field. He sang 117 songs out of which 45 were solos. The second best was Chitalkar with 31 songs. Mukesh who had been the only one close to him in the previous years had 29 songs. Mukesh and Durrani with 8 solos were a far second in solos. In the next few years, he kept a constant progress, but the peak of 1949 eluded him because of some reasons. Though Naushad kept him as a sole male voice after giving Talat Mahmood a break in Babul, some factors worked against him. Mumbaikar8 has more than once mentioned the fact that very few composers gave him solos for lead actors in early 50s. I don’t wholly agree with this proposition, but she is right to some extent.

In my view there were some factors. Husnlal-Bhagatram faded as suddenly as their meteoric rise. Hansraj Behl settled for Punjabi films. Shyam Sunder died. Vinod too faded away soon. Some from the Punjab school moved to Pakistan. C Ramchandra, after initially being pro-Rafi, deserted him under Lata Mangeshkar’s influence. All these had contributed to about 75% of Rafi’s peak in 1949. Anil Biswas was dead against Rafi and both he and Lata influenced a few composers in the same direction. But, it would be a mistake to think that no other frontline composer was for him. Chitragupta was the one who never deserted him once he got in association with him and the same is true of Madan Mohan. But they were both themselves very unstable in their careers. In 1954, besides Amar and Shabaab, the success of O P Nayyar’s Aar Paar and Chitragupta’s Tulsidas came as a boon to Rafi. Shankar-Jaikishan, too, started veering towards Rafi with Pooja. In such a situation the year 1955, became the new peak for Rafi with Ravi and N Datta joining the Rafi bandwagon in a big way.

These circumstances I have mentioned in such detail to show how important N Datta, despite being a fresher, was to Rafi. In his first year he shot 4 straight hits out of 4 songs he composed for Rafi in Milap and Marine Drive. Then in the next year after giving three equally good solos in the devotional Dashehra, he brought up the eternal classic ‘Maine chand aur sitaron ki tamanna ki thi‘, just the mention of which brings to mind the trio of Sahir, Datta and Rafi, in the same way as ‘Swapna jhare phool se‘ makes us remember Neeraj, Roshan and Rafi. In 1957 he gave us that super Rock n roll ‘Laal laal gaal’, the children title song from ‘Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke‘, and ‘Kya kya na sitam tujhpe hue mehlon ki rani‘ in the mythological story Mohini – the tune of which he used again to create another classic ‘Tu hindu banega na musalman banega‘. Such variety in the first three years was a rare occurrence. Then he moved on to BR Films and gave his all in creating the great music in all of them. In addition to the solos, he composed equally fantastic duets. The list of songs appended to this write up will bring out the greatness of this combo.

So that was a very short summary of N Datta’s association with Rafi. And what Rafi did for N Datta! Besides the fact that he rendered all these gems in his inimitable voice and style and with the flourish which was only his legacy, he did the same magic he was doing in company with all composers, big or small. And what was that? Rafi’s level of rendition was such that he inspired not only the composers but also his co-singers. Even lyricist knew that if he wrote the best, the song would be remembered for times to come. He could sing anything, whether it was ghazal, qawwali, sad song, happy one, romantic, high pitch, low pitch, soft, classic, for the hero, for the comedian, for any other small actor or as background with equal perfection. This quality of rendition raised the level of composing. At practical level, it showed in the performances of the composers. Of the three stalwarts of 40s, Naushad, Anil Biswas and CR, the former used him and maintained his number one position. The other two, not only failed to challenge Naushad, but fell quickly from their high position. The excessive use of Lata did not help much most of the composers, because, they sidelined Rafi and she was not only not as versatile, but also chose which song and for whom to sing. OPN dislodged the stalwart Naushad from the top, mostly on the vocals of Rafi, and with the two other Asha-musketeers proved that it was possible to succeed without Lata, if Rafi was there.

On the other hand careers of highly talented composers like SJ and Roshan showed that placing too much reliance on Lata and ignoring or under-using Rafi was bound to fail. When both of them started using Rafi on a large scale, their level of composition gained new heights. SJ eventually hit the top after Rafi became their mainstay. Take the case of SDB, about whose talent, there is hardly any disagreement. His level hit the skies after Rafi’s entry into his scheme of things. The level of his compositions during the period of 1957 to 1965, when he used Rafi on a large scale, as compared to his earlier or later compositions shows the importance of Rafi. LP, KA and RDB who dominated the 70s scene established themselves with the help of Rafi. The most sublime of Usha Khanna’s compositions – the lone lady in the contemporary battle – belong to Rafi.

I can talk about Rafi endlessly, but, I have to stop somewhere. Here I give some stats. Rafi had 102 songs with N Datta out of which 49 were solos. Of the 53 duets, he had 24 MF duets with Asha Bhosle, 10 with Geeta Dutt, 6 with Lata Mangeshkar, 5 with Suman Kalyanpur and one each with Usha Khanna, Hemlata and Sulakhshna Pandit. He had two duets with Balbir and three triads in all of which Asha was also there, the other singers being Balbir, Sudha Malhotra and Kamal Barot.

One of N Datta’s achievements was that he produced immensely famous and iconic songs in films which failed miserably at the box office. One such song I would mention is ‘’Meri tasveer lekar kya karoge‘ from Kala Samundar. I never met a person who knew anything about this movie, but this song was almost daily heard on radio in normal programs as well as farmaish programs. Some of these songs I have selected and I am sure the very knowledgeable friends would be able to identity a number of others. I have no doubt that Rafi was the reason for that. He did the same for absolutely unknown and unsung composers. If we sum up this combo in one line, it would perhaps be correct to say that N Datta gave Rafi some of his all-time classic and iconic songs and Rafi was instrumental in helping N Datta in gaining the identity and a place in HFM circles.

In my last post on N Datta, I added lesser use of Rafi in the latter part of his career to the unfortunate instance of his heart attack as a reason of his decline. The reduction in number of Rafi songs was accentuated by the fact that he at the same time stopped using Lata also. Venkataramanji added to it the presence of some clique, to which I agreed and also mentioned his habit of discussing in parties his new tunes. The biggest impact on his psyche, post the heart attack, was BR Chopra – for whom he put everything on stake, even neglecting composition in some of the other films – deserting him. I would discuss his relationship with BR Chopra in detail in N Datta-Sahir post. Another reason might be his association with his lyricists.

I am one of those who believe the lyrics have an equal part to play in the quality of the song. Most of the friends would at least partly agree with me. When we have a look at his lyricists, we find that he used a large number of them in proportion to number of his songs. The only lyricist whom he used regularly was Sahir Ludhiyanvi who accounted for about one third of his songs. He used, in all, 30 lyricists for his 332 songs. Of these 15 were used for just one film and 8 of them were given just one song. 7 lyricists he used in 2 films and 4 in 3 films. Of the remaining 4 he used Sahir in 16 films (108 songs), Jan Nisar Akhtar in 6 (35 songs), Anand Bakshi in 7 (33 songs) and Asad Bhopali in 4 (18 songs). It will be seen there is just one frontline lyricist he used with regularity. He came in touch with other frontline lyricists Majrooh Sultanpuri and Rajendra Krishna, but failed to sustain the association for a longer period. Majrooh wrote for him songs like ‘Laal laal gaal jaan ke hain laagu‘ and ‘Dil ki tamanna thi masti men‘ and Rajendra Krishna wrote songs like ‘Tera aana bhi dhokha tha‘, ‘Ankhen tumhari hon sapne hamare hon‘ and ‘Paas na howe jinke roti’.

Whatever be the reasons for the ups and downs of his career, the fact remains that he dished out some of the most mesmerising songs, and that too in a stiff competition from long-established and talented and upcoming composers in an era which is undisputedly the golden era of Hindi hilms.

And now I present the fruits of my selection, which was the hardest part, because I had to leave out some of my most favourite songs. Whenever, I make a selection, I try to give the best songs and also the variety as far as possible. The songs which include the combo’s duets are given in chronological order.

1. Bachna zara ye zamana hai bura (with Geeta Dutt) – Milaap – 1955 – lyrics Sahir Ludhianvi

This is a pure fun song and the first N Datta gave to Rafi. Datta was very fond of fun songs and there were a number of them in his career. I have chosen this not only because it is hisg first song for Rafi, but it is a very special song. This is clearly a picnic song; Dev Anand is blind-folded and is moving around aimlessly throughout the song. Rafi sings for Johnny Walker. Though the orchestra is simple, the rhythm and picturisation makes it special. Sahir’s lyrics are interesting. Geeta Dutt’s part is in normal style in both antaras. Look for how she brings out ‘zara‘ and ‘bura‘ with emphasis making them ‘zarrra‘ and ‘burrra‘. But Rafi’s antara is special, where Sahir takes a couple of words from the earlier part and weaves it beautifully into the next, culminating in a connected series. This song shows perfect understanding between lyricist and composer. I am giving here the Rafi antara.

चुपके चुपके नैन लड़ाना,
नैन लड़ाकर दिल को लुभाना,
दिल को लुभाकर पास बुलाना,
पास बुलाकर खुद घबराना,
खुद घबराकर आँख चुराना,
आँख चुराकर दिल को जलाना,
दिल को जलाकर होश भुलाना,
होश भुलाकर मजनू बनाना,
इन लैलाओं का है खेल पुराना.

2. Ab wo karam karen ke sitam (solo) – Marine Drive – 1955 – Sahir

Ajit played the right hand man of the villain KN Singh, so he was supposed to be a strongman from which he transformed into a villain in later films. But, the soft looks of the heroine Beena Rai turned around his whole life. He lip-syncs here a soft song in which he has resigned his fate to his lady love. Rafi had three songs in the film. ‘Bata ae aasman wale tere bande kidhar jayen‘ (on Johny Walker), was a solo qawwali with chorus support and another fun duet with Asha ‘Mohabbat yun bhi hoti hai, tabiyat yun bhi aati hai’. It would be futile to repeat that he excelled in each genre, but this song became a classic. To borrow Manek Premchand’s words for describing the orchestra “Datta asked Goody Servai to play his accordion here and set the song in a 6-beat dadra loop, the dholak played with a ring worn on one of the fingers to create periodically cracking sound”. In Punjab, Haryana and adjacent areas they use dholak with a spoon to hit it with the same effect. It can be seen in the Lata classic ‘Jogi hum to lut gaye tere pyar mein‘ from Shaheed.

3. Mere malik ki dukaan pe hai sabka khaata re (solo) – Dashehra – 1955 – Pradeep

This all solo film had three Rafi songs, which were all very nice and also with the same theme of devotion. Any of them could have been selected. The fourth male solo was sung by Pradeep himself. In the film circles it is said that he suggested the song tune where he was the singer, for which reason he had a spat with OPN in Sambandh. Mostly he selected one song for himself. SDB and Pradeep – one a composer and the other lyricist – have sung a few songs in films. The common thing is that both had unique voice and singing style and most of their songs became all time classics. Pradeep’s ‘Doosron ka dukhda door karne wale‘ is so well-known that those who do not know either the film or the composer remember the song.

4. Maine chand aur sitaron ki tamanna ki thi (solo) – Chandrakanta – 1956 – Sahir Ludhiyanavi

This masterpiece is one of the songs, which is the identity of the film for which it was constructed. This is a song I would like to listen in Arvinder Sharmaji’s style – only audio (that is the only option because there is no video available) with eyes closed. This song was in two parts and was favourite to be played in radio days. One could easily cross the whole colony while listening to it from the sound coming from house windows. This is a film which I have longed to see only for this song. Though I am not good at identifying instruments, I was aware there was sitar in it along with the dholak, but from Manek Premchand’s account I came to know that N Datta used two sitars with the result that this song became one of those where there is exemplary use of sitar. Besides the composition, the excellent word play of Sahir and above all, the magical voice and rendition by Rafi, all combine to make it a classic, which not even those who are not too fond of Rafi can ignore. There is a particular word in the last antara  उमण्डते which has been used in place of the normally used उमड़ते, which has given that part of the song a special effect.

5. Ji chahta hai aaj kahin door jaiye (with Asha Bhosle) – Chandrakanta – Sahir Ludhiyanavi

Sahir was one who had more complaints than compliments for the society for obvious reasons. The Rafi song could be said to have some autobiographical element. In the same way the present duet also Sahir is probably showing his longing to be far from the society into the nature. He has written a lot of songs describing natural love settings, which have become legends. N Datta’s portfolio may contain less number of absolute romantic songs, but when he composed them, they were special. This duet is one such song. Rafi is known to sing the same lines in a different manner each time they are repeated. I would request readers to listen to the mukhda carefully. The  second line of the mukhda is ‘ Duniya pukarti rahe wapas na aaiye‘. This as well as the first line is sung twice by Rafi in the start. When he sings ‘na aaiye‘ a second time, he stretches the ‘naa’ a little more so that both the ‘naa’ and ‘aa’ of aaiye merge and still manages ‘aa’ of aaiye clearly audible. Such mixing and clear diction was the hallmark of his singing. Yes, he could do anything.

6. Laal laal gaal jaan ke hain laaguo (solo) – Mr. X – 1957 – Majrooh Sultanpuri

This is another song like ‘Maine chand aur sitaron ki‘ which became identity of the film. It was not that the film did not have other good songs. Asha Bhosle’s ‘Kitna haseen hai jahan‘ was fondly remembered by our two stalwarts Bhatiaji and Mumbaikar8. ‘Sadke teri chaal ke‘ is a greatly popular duet from the film. The song was a Rock n roll in which Rafi just excelled to the great tune and arrangement of instruments of Datta, with fitting lyrics from Majrooh Sultanpuri. This was Majrooh’s first song for N Datta who used 4 lyricists for 7 songs in this film. This song had a Rock n roll competition with C Ramchandra’s ‘Eena meena deeka‘ which had the advantage of a hit film and also came late in the year, which offered CR the opportunity to improve. The later song was also the special field of Kishore Kumar. But, Rafi was unstoppable and despite the film not drawing much crowds, the song came third after his own ‘Zara samne to aao chhaliye‘ and ‘Sar jo tera chakraye‘ in the Binaca Geetmala.

7. Aaj kyun hamse parda hai (with Balbir) – Sadhna – 1958 – Sahir

Of N Datta’s three films in this year Sadhna had without any doubt the greatest impact, not only musicwise, but also as a fillip to his career with his association with BR Films. This is a song which could be called a ‘googly’ if we use the cricket term. In the mujra songs, it is the dancing girl who entertains her fans with song and dance. But, here the fans are singing the song to invite her, who is torn between her hopes of becoming a housewife and the reality of being a tawaif, because she has been introduced by Sunil Dutt to her mother as a fake bahu. N Datta’s class as composer of great qawwalis has hardly been discussed. He has produced a number of great ones and in my reckoning should rank as No. 2 behind the great Roshan. Sahir and Rafi were again his mainstays for this genre. Rafi and Balbir’s coordination is wonderful and the words can never be a problem when Sahir is the lyricist.

8. Nashe mein hum nashe mein tum (with Suman Kalyanpur) – Black Cat – 1959 – Jan Nisar Akhtar

Jan Nisar Akhtar’s association with N Datta started this year with two films. The other was Mr John. This song was picturised as a club song on Johnny Walker and the club dancer. With Balraj Sahni in the lead role, with his aversion to singing songs, Johnny Walker had a field day with a solo and two duets. If somebody listens to the song as audio, he can never imagine it as a club song, but a proper romantic song between hero and heroine.

9. Beta dar mat dar mat dar mat (solo) – Bhai Behan – 1959 – Sahir Ludhiyanavi

Could anyone imagine Sahir would coming up with such lyrics:

नाचो डिंग डिंग डिंग डिंग डारा
गाओ तारा रा रा रा रा
बोलो गिटमिट गिटमिट गिटमिट
लेलो हमसे ख़ुशी का परमिट

10. Daman mein daag laga baithe (solo) – Dhool Ka Phool – 1959 – Sahir Ludhiyanavi

This is one of the classic songs which I can hear again and again. This is a background song on behalf of the heroine. Sahir has beautifully woven the words in such a way that it links the earlier song ‘Tere pyar ka aasra chahta hoon‘ and the song to come ‘Tu mere pyar ka phool hai‘ with this song. These three songs are the essence of the story of the film. Rafi’s singing is just out of the world. Listen to the words in each antara, which he sings three times each in three different pitches and three different ways. The words to look for are, ‘Uthte hi nazar jhuk jayegi‘, ‘Toofan ke hawale karke hamein‘ and ‘Dukh de ke hamein jeevan bhar ka’.

11. Humein raste mein chhede kyun (with Asha) – Dr Shaitan – 1960 – Jan Nisar Akhtar

This is another fun song which was hallmark of N Datta’s career. The lyrics use ‘Bambaiya’ words like ‘firela‘, ‘piyela‘ etc. This was quite a popular song in its time. So many songs becoming popular despite the film’s failure was another of N Datta’s achievements.

12. Mere dilbar mujhpar khafa na ho (solo) – Dharmaputra – 1961 – Sahir Ludhiyanavi

This song has taken N Datta soaring high in my esteem. This is in my opinion, without any doubt, the best solo qawwali of Hindi films. Not even the Rafi solo part in ‘Na to caravan ki talash hai’ can beat it. I was torn endlessly whether to use it here or in Sahir’s post to come, but in the end decided to use it here, because more credit should go to N Datta. Everything, from lyrics, composition, singing and picturisation is perfect. First picturisation. The setting is an occasion for celebration, where a mujra dancer would come and there would also be a qawwali, the only difference being here they go side by side. Shashikala is a wonderful actress and she has shown why with her adas sitting, when the main performer of qawwali Balam – of the Manna Dey part in ‘Na to caravan ki talash hai‘ fame – sings the mukhda or antara. In the interludes she stands up and shows her dancing skills. About Rafi I would only say that he was the qawwali king, despite Manna Dey, and here has come up with a stellar performance. N Datta produced a master tune, with a great use of harmonium, which comes quite near the use of this instrument by Naushad in the Babul-Talat classic ‘Husnwalon ko na dil do‘. Sahir has surpassed himself in bringing out unique lyrics where he was at liberty to write whatever he wanted. But, he stuck to the occasion perfectly from start till end. I give one antara here. Has anyone written such lyrics:

कहूं क्यूंके दुनिया रक़ीब है
मेरा अपना दिल ही अजीब है
न ये दुश्मन है ना हबीब है
मैं कभी न इसको समझ सका
कभी अपनों से भी हुआ ख़फ़ा
कभी बेगानों से बहल गया

13.Dil ki tamanna thi masti mein (solo) – Gyarah Hazar Ladkiyan – 1962 – Majrooh Sultanpuri

I think this song would always find the playlists of not only Rafi fans, but others too. Such a soft rendition of the great lyrics of which Majrooh Sultanpuri must have been proud. N Datta made good use of flute in between. This is also another film which bombed at the box office, but, Datta’s music lived forever, with other songs like ‘Mere mehboob mere sath hi‘ (Kaifi Azmi), ‘Gham gaya to gham na kar’ and ‘Sab log jighar wo hain’ – both by Asha Bhosle. I have given two links for the song. One has video and the other is audio version with the middle antara chopped off to bring it under 3 minutes. We used to listen only two antaras on radio as in audio version. As the old radio buffs know, this has been the case with so many songs, with antaras chopped off.

(Video link)

(Audio link)

14. Chahe dekhen ghoor ke (with Asha Bhosle) – Sachche Moti – 1962 – Sahir Ludhiyanavi

With Johnny Walker in a joint lead role, one would expect – from lyrics as well as style of the song – that the song was picturised on him. But, here you find the Kathak and Bharatnatyam dancer and bhanja of Sitara Devi, Gopi Krishna, as the male performer with the grown up Naaz as female dancer. In this Bhangra style dance you can see glimpses of his classical dance. This was the umpteenth fun song composed by N Datta and as usual fitting lyrics as per the genre by Sahir, with the song rendered by both Rafi and Asha in great style.

15. Tera aana bhi dhokha tha (solo) – Mere Arman Mere Sapne – 1963 – Rajendra Krishna

How many times I have to write this. This song is again from a movie which flopped. Most of the songs of this movie are remembered till this day. This is one of the few sad songs I have selected here and shows the variety of Datta in each of them. Rafi’s rendition of this is as usual great. No video of the song is available.

16. Ankhein hamari hon sapne tumhare hon (with Asha) – Mere Arman Mere Sapne

This is a romantic song picturised on Aseem Kumar (seen in small roles in some films) and Naaz, which was greatly popular in the radio days. I think most of the friends would  remember this sweet duet.

17. Hum hain awara to kya hai (with Geeta Dutt) – Awara Abdulla – 1963 – Asad Bhopali

This is a long male-female qawwali with the usual chhed-chhad from a hit Dara Singh film. The surprise item is Dara Singh, who usually shunned songs, entering the song with gusto. Asad Bhopali has written good lyrics, though not near the level of Sahir. Again one of the fun songs, which was a cake-walk for Rafi. Geeta Dutt has sung very few qawwalis but has come up trumps here.

18. Na mano to koi shikayat nahin (with Suman Kalyanpur) – Ustad 420 – 1969 – Aziz Kashmiri

This song I had never heard before the internet era. I noticed this song, some years back when I was preparing a summary of N Datta’s career and I immediately fell in love with this. What a start to the song by Suman and both she and Rafi continue in a great vein throughout the song. The song is picturised on the unusual pair of Sudhir and Zeb Rehman, who appeared in some films by the name of Pritibala. The lyrics are by Aziz Kashmiri who had written some great songs for O P Nayyar. He has used some wonderful words, such as

‘Kiye hain jo is dil pe tumne sitam,
Lagaye hue hain kaleje se hum,
Sisitam ab uthane ki himmat nahin.’

For the duets I have left out Rafi-Lata duets, which will be covered when her songs are discussed in this series. Even without that pair’s duets, there were so many high class duets that a number of quality duets had to be left out.

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer:
The song audios/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.