In my earlier posts on Mahendra Kapoor I have described him as the most ‘unloved’ singer. The general impression is that his entry into films started with his winning the ‘All India Murphy Metro Singing Contest’ in 1957 for which the judges were Anil Biswas, Naushad, C Ramchandra, Vasant Desai and Madan Mohan. One of the incentives of the competition was that the winner would get a chance to sing in films composed by the judges. However, Mahendra Kapoor had been singing in films in bits and pieces prior to the contest. He debuted as a singer in Madmast (1953), composed by V Balsara, in a duet with Ghan Indorewala, Kisi ke zulm ki tasveer hai majdoor ki basti. He also sang a qawwali in the film with SD Batish, Unhein dekhein to wah munh pher…Humein aankh dikhatein hain. But the music of this film failed to create any impact. Mahendra Kapoor got his first solo, Tere dar ki bhikmangi hai data duniya sari, in the film Diwali Ki Raat (1956), composed by Snehal Bhatkar. In the same year he sang a duet with Sabita Banerjee, O bedardi jaane ke na kar bahane, in the film Lalkar, composed by Sanmukh Babu. These songs, too, sank without a trace.
And the SoY Award for the Best Female Playback Singer goes to?
As the readers would recall from Wrap Up 1, the Award for the Best Male Solo turned out to be a one-horse race, thanks to KL Saigal’s superlative songs in the film Shahjahan, composed equally superbly by the Great Mughal Naushad. Lata Mangeshkar acquired that status 1949 onwards, when in most of the years you would have to create two categories: One, she by herself, and the other, ‘Other Singers’. She did have some songs in the year in minor acting roles, but these went unnoticed. Today we know about them because of the Internet, but in the earlier era these songs would have been known only to the collectors and researchers. Lata Mangeshkar out of the reckoning in 1946, is there any other female singer sprinting far ahead of the pack?
A tribute to SD Burman on his 44th death anniversary with guest article by Moti Lalwani
(The month of October starts with SD Burman (b. 1 October 1906 – d. 31 October 1975) and ends with him. Around the time I was thinking of writing a review of HQ Chowdhury’s ‘Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman’, Moti Lalwani, a renowned authority on the maestro, sent me a number of his articles on him. Even though SD Burman is the most comprehensively covered artiste on the Songs of Yore, I decided to celebrate the month of October 2019 as the month of SD Burman, entirely with guest articles by Mr Lalwani. This is the fourth and the culminating article in the celebration, after his earlier articles on SD Burman’s role in the success of Hemant Kumar and Geeta Dutt, and his reputation as the pioneer of composing the tune first.
Mr Lalwani had long been passionate about the music of SD Burman, even when he was a Mechanical Engineer with L&T. After retiring from the company more than two decades ago, an octogenarian Mr Lalwani has since devoted his life to serious study and research on SD Burman. His channel on the YouTube has over 150 videos of interviews etc. of people associated with Burman Da. He manages a Facebook group on the maestro, which has about 7600 members. Mr Lalwani has been quoted a number of times in Mr Chowdhury’s book, and Sathya Saran’s ‘Sun Mere Bandhu Re’ is largely based on his material.
The Grand Finale of the series is a befitting article, a very poignant piece about Sachin Karta’s visit to Agartala in 1948-49, his ancestral Princely State, on the 12th day ritual of his elder brother’s shraddh. He had already given up his princely role and had surrendered himself to music. No more a royal, he nevertheless received a royal welcome as the King of Music. This turned out to be his last visit. – AK)
The news of a rare visit to Agartala by Kumar Sachin Dev Burman, aka Sachin Karta, used to spread like wild fire. After all, Sachin Karta was a scion of the royal family who had broken away from the mould to pursue his passion for music, a taboo in the royal family. The royals were supposed to encourage promotion of various arts including music, certainly not make a career out of it. In his case, Kumar Sachin Dev Burman had declined an offer to become a minister of education in the Tripura cabinet, where, once his late father was the Prime Minister.
(Which comes first – the lyrics or the music – has been a recurring debate in any discussion on film music. In the continuing series on celebrating October 2019 as the month of SD Burman, Moti Lalwani writes the third guest article after his last two articles showing how Burman Da had his way on selection of singers and gave Hemant Kumar and Geeta Dutt great name and fame. In this article he says that SD Burman was the pioneer of composing tune first, and the lyricist was asked to write the song fitting the tune.
I had my doubts on this categorical assertion, which I shared with Mr Lalwani. My impression was that composing the tune first had been the general practice from the very early days of film music. This goes back to the silent era when as the movie ran on the screen, live musicians would sit in the ‘pit’ playing various instruments. Some of these tunes acquired popularity, and the audience would shout, मास्टरजी वो बीनवाला ट्यून बजाइए, and so on. This article should trigger an interesting discussion as we have many readers who are deeply knowledgeable.
As the SoY regulars are aware from the last two articles, Mr Lalwani, an octogenarian, is deeply passionate about SD Burman, and is an acknowledged authority on him. During his professional career, he was a Mechanical Engineer with L&T and retired from there from a high position over twenty years ago. I am happy to present the third guest article from Mr Lalwani. – AK).
In the early days, a director would narrate the scene to the songwriter, who would then write lyrics based on the scene. The director and the songwriter then would go to the music director who would compose the tune based on the scene and the meter of the lyrics.
SD Burman realised that this system had a handicap for the music director who could not use his creativity freely. He believed that for the song’s popularity, it was necessary to have a good tune, based on which the songwriter could always fill-in the words to suit the tune.
(We are aware that SD Burman had an uncanny ear for selecting a singer for a particular song. In this he didn’t care for the reputation of a celebrity artist, director, producer, or singer. He was the Master of Music, and he made the final choice. That is why there is no major playback singer for whom he didn’t give some songs of eternal importance. In the last article Moti Lalwani showed how SD Burman had his way on Hemant Kumar for the song ‘Ye raat ye chaandni phir kahan’. Continuing the same theme, Mr Lawani shows how Burman Da established Geeta Dutt as one of the frontline singers during the era when Lata Mangeshkar hit the music scene as a Tsunami.
Mr Lalwani is one of the recognized authorities on SD Burman, having spent a major part of his productive life studying and writing about him and interviewing people associated with him. This was in addition to his professional career as a Mechanical Engineer with L&T from which company he retired over twenty years ago. Mr HQ Chowdhury’s celebrated book, ‘Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman’ quotes him several times. Sathya Saran’s ‘Sun Mere Bandhu Re’ is largely based on his material. I am happy to present the second guest article by him in the celebration of this October as the month of SD Burman. Thank you Mr Lalwani. – AK)
Geeta Dutt (nee Roy), born on 23 November 1930, had no formal training in music. Pandit Hanuman Prasad, who used to compose for mythological films, heard her voice and made her sing just one line in a chorus in his film ‘Bhakt Prahlad’ (1946). Young Geeta would have been about 15 years old when she sang that line in the chorus, as the recording was done earlier.
Guest article by Moti Lalwani as a tribute to SD Burman (1 October 1906 – 31 October 1975)
‘Ye raat ye chandni phir kahaan’ by Hemant Kumar, lyricist Sahir Ludhiyanavi, composed by SD Burman
(When I wrote a review of HQ Chowdhury’s book ‘Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman’ sometime back, I had mentioned that an acknowledged authority on SD Burman, who has spent his lifetime studying him, and interviewing people associated with him, had sent me some of his articles. The time has come to disclose his name. Anyone who has seriously studied SD Burman would be familiar with Moti Lalwani. Mr Chowdhury has referred to him eight-nine times in his book; Sathya Saran’s ‘Sun Mere Bandhu Re’ is largely based on his material. Mr Lalwani was always a fan of SD Burman’s music. That became a serious passion to counter some RD Burman-fanatic on a music forum, when he spoke sarcastically of SD Burman.
Mr Lalwani’s channel on the YouTube has over 150 short videos of interviews and other materials associated with SD Burman. He manages a Facebook group on the maestro which has 7600 members.
By profession he was a Mechanical Engineer with L&T, and after working with them for 29 years, he took voluntary retirement long back. Thereafter, he ran his own company for ten years. Even as an octogenarian, his zest for life has not waned, and now he continues serious study and research on SD Burman.
SD Burman is known to have his own methods for choosing which singer would best suit a particular song he was composing, and in this he would brook no interference. His choices were at times against conventional wisdom, but the final product turned out to be outstanding. I am happy that Mr Lalwani’s debut article on the SoY is on this theme, and it shows how the maestro had his way on Hemant Kumar for ‘Ye raat ye chaandni phir kahan’, overriding the doubting voices. I have decided to celebrate October as SD Burman-month as it begins with him and ends with him, all with Mr Lalwani’s articles. – AK)
After a successful career in Calcutta, Hemant Kumar (1920-1989) shifted to Bombay (Mumbai) in 1951 to work for Filmistan Studios. He had sung very few Hindi songs till then, and his voice was unknown to the Hindi/Urdu music lovers. Composer SD Burman had already established himself, with successes in Do Bhai (1947), Shabnam (1949), Mashal (1950), followed by Baazi, Bahar, Naujawan and Saza, all released in 1951 and doing very well.
Wishing Lata Mangeshkar a very happy 90th birth anniversary (b. 28 September 1929) with a guest article by Shalan Lal
(Lata Mangeshkar turns 90 today. This momentous occasion demanded something special befitting the milestone. However, in the year of the Ravi celebration on SoY, most readers almost took it for granted that today I would write on her songs by Ravi. As the readers are aware, in this series the spotlight has been on his main female playback singer, Asha Bhosle, to whom Hans Jakhar has paid a handsome tribute on her birth anniversary earlier this month. Lata Mangeshkar being Ravi’s ‘other’ singer, was placed in an unfavourable situation. This dilemma resolved itself when Shalan Lal sent me her comprehensive treatise on her, analysing the ‘conditions’ that made the Lata Mangeshkar phenomenon. The rhetorical question in the title implies that there would never be another one like her. While emphasising the theory of ‘conditions’, Shalan also acknowledges that her voice had a divine quality, and there was something beyond her training, upbringing, hard work, and other conditions, that was transcendental and beyond any physical explanation.
The original article Shalan sent me was too long for this blog, and I have severely reduced it, without losing the essence of what she is trying to say. I am happy that she has allowed me editorial freedom in this regard. Let us join her in wishing a very happy 90th anniversary to the legend, Lata Mangeshkar. And thank you Shalan for your significant article for this special occasion.
As the SoY regulars are by now familiar with her style, Shalan never writes a piece without saying something highly provocative and controversial. I have added my own comments on some of her observations at the end of the article.
Shalan Lal is a UK-based academic having wide interest in art, culture and literature. – AK)
The top question creates the following forbearance:
“Que será, sera. Whatever will be, will be? The future’s not ours to see
Que será, sera”
Yes, Indeed!
Today on 28 September 2019 Lata Mangeshkar completes her 90 years and there will be celebrations on the filmy planet and in the Indian social and political world. She has already won numerous awards including the highest Indian civilian award ‘Bharat Ratna’. She is known as “TheQueen of Melody, The Voice of the Nation, The Voice of the MillenniumandThe Nightingale of India etc etc.”
Mine is a rhetorical question. Some will think it as a pompous question; others may think that it is melodramatic. I do not see any harm in raising it.
The answer from the audience surely will be instantaneous and a unanimous emphatic “No, no and never”!
This I venture to say is an expression of sheer love for the icon Lata! There is a need for deeper examination of the ‘conditions’ that made Lata Mangeshkar. I had my Eureka moment to examine her on this basis when I watched a BBC series titled ‘The Planets’, presented by Brain Cox, a renowned expert on Space Science and the Solar System.
In one of his lectures, titled ‘Godfather Planet Jupiter’, Professor Cox explained that when the Big Bang happened billions of earth-years ago, and the sun and solar system came into existence to cool down to present time, it was Jupiter which is hundreds of times bigger than our earth, kept on guard and destroyed most of the asteroids or gobbled them up which were on the loose and going around destroying other planets, or whatever coming in their way, behaving like the wild west cowboys.
Jupiter helped to create an atmosphere on the earth and did not allow the water to dry up so life could be born and sustained. It was also instrumental in the occurrence of the orbit around the sun and also the larger orbit called the Solar System. Hence there are seasons on the earth, and human beings could eventually evolve and come up to what they are now. Unless what Jupiter had done occurs elsewhere in the space, it is unlikely that another earth can happen. Mere water is not enough to have a living world. Many planets have water in frozen conditions. But Jupiter took billions of earth-years to do what it did.
These are called the ‘conditions’ and did not occur anywhere else according to the present knowledge.
(This is the second guest article by Hans Jakhar on the trot after his debut with Asha Bhosle’s songs by Ravi. He had given enough indication that he would be writing on Shakeel Badayuni’s partnership with Ravi. Hans’s forte is mastery over data. And you see full evidence of this when he argues with evidence that Shakeel collaborated with Ravi at a stage when his career was at a standstill and he was looking for opportunities outside Naushad-Ghulam Mohammad fold. With Ravi’s Midas touch, Shakeel Badayuni zoomed into a new trajectory with a greater variety of songs and with different music directors. Hans’s article is different from a routine of bio-profile and some song list, and is a valuable addition to SoY on analytical ways to look at a lyricist. Thank you Hans. – AK)
Shakeel Badayuni’s name automatically reminds us of Naushad. The two were inseparable. But, there is always a ‘but’, but I will delve into that later. First we should talk about their association which started in 1947. Various sources say that their association started with Dard, which may or may not be true, because I have seen many times such claims were found to be wrong. Naushad had 3 films in 1947. For Elan he used Zia Sarhadi. In Natak he used Majrooh Sultanpuri, Khumar Barabankavi and Shakeel Badayuni. Majrooh was given 1 song, Khumar five songs and Shakeel four songs. Majrooh came with Naushad in 1946 in the films Keemat and Shahjahan. Khumar wrote three songs in Shahjahan. It might be possible that Shakeel was tested first in Natak and then given all the songs of Dard. And it is also possible that Shakeel started in Dard, but Naushad used him also in Natak and used the other two because of some prior commitment. So we can be sure of only one thing, that their association started in 1947.
But once Naushad settled on Shakeel, he took him into his fold and continued with him uninterrupted up to 1965. In 1966 he remembered Khumar Barabankavi again for Saaz Aur Awaz and for Saathi he recalled Majrooh. Before Shakeel he had been using various lyricists for his films. It is also quite possible that in the earlier films he did not have enough say on this count. Naushad also tried to gain work for Shakeel outside his own films. Since Ghulam Mohammad was getting spill-overs which Naushad refused due to his intention to do lesser films, he also got Shakeel as some kind of dahej. In addition to this Naushad got work for Shakeel in Shanti and Char Din which were being directed by his friends. So we see that in the period from 1947-50, out of 172 songs, just about a dozen songs were given to Shakeel outside the Naushad fold.
In the period from 1951-60 also the same trend continued. Naushad used Shakeel’s lyrics for all of his 12 films which had 134 songs and Ghulam Mohammad gave 117 songs to him in 14 films. Besides these two, Sardar Malik, who had composed three songs with Ghulam Mohammad, used him also for 6 songs of Chor Bazaar. Sajjad Hussain gave two songs in Rukhsana, and Moti Ram, one in Lachak. Ravi made an entry in Shakeel’s life in 1960 and gave him two films: Chaudhvin Ka Chand and Ghunghat. So out of the 283 songs which Shakeel wrote in this period, if we leave out 20 of Ravi, there were 263 songs out of which Naushad and GM accounted for 251 songs.
So the question would be asked what is the basis of the title of the write up. For this I would have to bifurcate the statistics. Up to 1955 all was going right, Shakeel wrote 198 songs during this period. But 1956 and 1959 were two blank years for him. In 1957 and 1958 Naushad and Ghulam Mohammad had two films each in which Shakeel wrote a total of 43 songs. Besides that Ghulam Mohammad was left with no work. Out of the two films he gave music for, one was produced by Naushad and GM had only Shama and Pakeezah in hand which were never-ending type of films and in them also Shakeel was not the lyricist. Naushad was getting handsome amount for his films and he could afford lesser films, but Shakeel got paid for what he wrote. So work-wise he was in the need of another source.
I don’t know how their combo materialized, but Ravi came to Shakeel as a godsend. He not only provided much needed work, but also got him freedom from the shackles Naushad (may be unintended) had put around him in the matter of what type of lyrics he could write. I remember AK had said when presenting Rafi-OPN songs, that he read a comment somewhere that OPN rescued Rafi from the staid classicism of Naushad. Like AK I also do not agree with this comment, but it is true that Naushad had took on himself the mantle of saving classic music and Indian traditions in Hindi films. After he became the undisputed number one, he had a lot of influence on the situations and songs to be used. In addition, he worked mostly with a limited set of heroes, directors etc in the 50s and 60s. He rarely used during this period qawwalis, mujra songs, very romantic or fun songs. Johny Walker was the one who was given songs as a compulsion in films; he had quite substantive roles in Mere Mehboob and Palki, but was not given a song. Naushad had a great eye for the lyrics and even helped Shakeel in earlier phase, but due to his influence on Shakeel he interfered a lot in this department. Besides that Naushad had the habit of taking credit for songs and even lyrics to himself and he used various public platforms for this purpose. Due to all this a perception arose among the other composers who used to compose a variety of songs that Shakeel is a writer of only special kind of songs suited to Naushad only.
But Ravi changed all this. He was the one composer who never asked the lyricist to write to already prepared tune so Shakeel was on home ground because with Naushad he had never been asked to write to the tune. With Ravi he wrote qawwalis, mujras, romantic songs, comic songs, sad songs and all type of other songs which situation warranted. There were no restrictions and the effect showed in his songs.
The first film was Chaudahvin Ka Chand, which was a Muslim social with Lucknow as background and which showed the ills of parda system. Three friends, one getting married and the other falls for his wife without knowing this fact and the third friend tries to help which results in comic situations. The first friend is indebted to the second and is torn between friendship and love. So the situation was ripe for comic songs, mujra songs and also sad songs for the hero as well as heroine. And there was a qawwali too. All that Shakeel was longing for. Guru Dutt got back all his losses of previous films. Ravi became a front runner and Shakeel was seen in another light by the film world. The other film of 1960, Ghunghat was by some coincidence another film depicting evils of parda system in Hindu society. That was also a big hit with a variety of hit songs. Then came another social Gharana, which brought Filmfare award (Husnwaale tera jawab nahin) for Shakeel for second year running for again praising the heroine, which he could not do with Naushad. Watching the success Ravi’s Guru , Hemant Kumar also teamed up with Shakeel for Bees Saal Baad, Saheb Biwi Aur Ghulam and Bin Baadal Barsaat. ‘Kahin deep jale kahin dil‘ sung by Lata Mangeshkar in Bees Saal Baad brought the third Filmfare award to Shakeel for lyrics. The other film of 1961 Wanted, nobody wanted to see.
The Ravi-Shakeel juggernaut moved on. Shakeel wrote lyrics for six of Ravi’s 12 films for the year 1963. Of them Gehra Daag and Grihasthi were hits; Mulzim, Kaun Apna Kaun Paraya and Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya were so-so and Nartaki failed despite great songs. Then came three great hits, Door Ki Aawaz (1964), Do Badan and Phool Aur Patthar (both 1966), followed by two flops Aurat (1967) and Ummeed (1971). The partnership culminated with the death of Shakeel.
In all, this combo had 15 films and 114 songs. Break up was 85 solos (45 for females and 40 for males) and 29 duets (21 male-female, 5 female-female and 3 songs with more than two singers). Singer-wise, Rafi got 37 solos and 19 duets, Asha Bhosle got 34 solos and 26 duets and Lata Mangeshkar got eight solos and two duets. Other singers on the female side were Geeta Dutt – two solos, Shamshad Begum – three duets, Kamal Barot – two duets, Usha Mangeshkar – one solo and four duets, and Usha Khanna – one duet. Other male singers were Mahendra Kapoor – one solo and four duets, Talat Mahmood and Ravi – one solo each, and Manna Dey – one duet. The dominance of the big three was so complete that in 107 songs one or the other from them was present. Only the six solos and one duet were the songs in which none of the big three was present.
This Ravi-Shakeel bonding was not only special in terms of success – they produced 8 hits out of 15 and close to 90 gems out of 114 songs – but it brought Shakeel, besides the freedom, work also. In the 60s after his success with Ravi, 8 composers got him to write lyrics in 14 films which had 84 songs.
Now I will present the songs. As the series on Ravi is yet to come to an end and it is certain that Ravi’s combo with the big three Asha, Rafi and Lata will bring about separate posts, so I have selected songs keeping that in mind. Normally I believe in giving the best. The selected songs have a variety with particular emphasis on they being different from Naushad-Shakeel combo. I will keep the list to 10 and leave others for friends.
1. Sharma ke ye kyun sab parda nashin byAsha Bhosle and Shamshad Begum from Chaudahvin Ka Chand (1960)
Shakeel so smoothly moved into the qawwali mode as if he was daily writing qawwalis. See the sample.
महफ़िल में हुस्न की जो गया शान से गया
जिसने नजर मिलायी वही जान से गया
Later in Phool Aur Patthar he wrote a perfect comic qawwali too.
2. Meri pat rakho girdhari by Lata Mangeshkar from Ghunghat (1960)
Ghunghat has three absolute gems from Lata Mangeshkar: Laage na mora jiya, the fast paced Mori chham chham baaje payaliya and this one. Since she is AK’s field he would select or describe the other two, but to those who look down upon Ravi as a composer I have a poser, how many composers have been able to weave three such solos from Lata which keep you spellbound. Believe me, in the film situations they are even more effective than audio. The way this song is picturised is the ultimate for a devotional song. Body language, each movement and expression makes Beena Rai’s prayer look sincere.
3. Daadi amma daadi amma man jao by Asha Bhosle and Kamal Barot from Gharana (1961)
This is one of the best children songs. The singers keep alternating between the child actors and every movement of theirs is superb and Lalita Pawar as roothi hui daadi expresses 50 different emotions. What a great actress she was.
A sample of the lyrics
कहो तो तुम्हारी हम चम्पी कर दें
पियो तो तुम्हारे लिए हुक्का भर दें
हंसी न छुपाओ ज़रा आँखें तो मिलाओ
4. Maine bhi husn ki nazaron men jagah payi hai by Talat Mahmood from Wanted (1961)
As I said this was a useless film and the hero was particularly horrible. The same film company brought him again as hero with Waheeda Rahman in Kaun Apna Kaun Paraya. Talat Mahmood has only this song for this combo, so I chose this song. He sings here a beautiful fast-paced romantic song. Talat’s only other song is the famous solo from Ek Saal,Sab kuchh luta ke hosh men aaye to kya kiya. Why did Ravi not give him another song after these two gems?
5. Ding dong ding dong ding by Geeta Dutt from Grihasthi (1963)
In my younger days, if I was going somewhere and this song started, I would stand there and wait for the ‘Ding dong ding dong ding lala‘ part to come. I never cared to listen to the rest of the lyrics. The other song which had this ‘ding dong‘ effect for me was Mukesh’s ‘Bam babam bam bam lahri’. This is a song where lyrics are simple and the tune and singer have got the better of lyrics.
6. Agar koi humko sahara na dega by Usha Mangeshkar from Nartaki (1963)
This film has two very great numbers from Asha Bhosle and Rafi, but they will get their due in their posts. This film had two solos, one from Usha Mangeshkar and the other from Mahendra Kapoor, both of which were hits in their times. But MK’s song might get a chance if he is covered separately. Otherwise also this Usha song appeals more to me and when she sings well it is always a good song.
7. Hum bhi agar bachche hote by Rafi, Manna Dey and Asha Bhosle from Door Ki Aawaz (1964)
Shakeel wrote a number of comic songs for Ravi, most of them for Johnny Walker. I had selected the Kaun Apna Kaun Paraya song, but that I posted on the Ek bangla bane nyara post. Then I selected ‘Ek musafir ko duniya mein kya chahiye’. Then it struck me that of all the major singers used for this combo only Manna Dey is left out. So I included this song. This is one of the most remembered songs for birthdays and for a child’s birthday it is a must. One thing to note is that all of Joy Mukherjee’s songs were sung by Rafi except this one. Such was the bonding between Rafi and Johny Walker that when he was there the playback for the hero was given to another.
8. Husn se chaand bhi sharmaya hai by Rafi from Door Ki Aawaz (1964)
हुस्न से चाँद भी शरमाया है
तेरी सूरत ने गज़ब ढाया है
हाय इन प्यार में डूबी हुई आँखों की कसम
आदमी क्या है फरिश्तों के बहक जाएँ कदम
बिन पिए मुझपे नशा छाया है
मुस्कुराये जो तेरे लब तो बहारें आयी
खिल गए फूल पड़ी तेरी जहाँ परछाईं
तूने गुलशन मेरा महकाया है
These are the lyrics of this fabulous song. After his new found freedom, Shakeel wrote many romantic songs for Ravi but the most famous has always been ‘Chaudahvin ka chand ho’. This one has since taken the back seat, though in the 60s and 70s it was very popular. But, to me this ranks above ‘Chaudahvin ka chand ho’. This is so short and sweet.
9. Sun le pukar aayi aaj tere dwar by Asha Bhosle fromPhool Aur Patthar (1966)
Ravi’s list cannot be complete without a solo by Asha. Their combo was so enriching and bewitching. As the mukhda suggests this is a devotional song. Asha had come of age by then and shows this with great confidence in this song.
10. Ye kaun hai jiske aane se by Mahnedra Kapoor and Asha Bhole from Aurat (1967)
This duet is just magic. Asha and MK combined in Kaajal for ‘Agar mujhe na mili tum to main ye samjhunga‘ to create a gem and they do the same here. Padmini was the common factor in both the songs. This film also had ‘Naari jeevan jhoole ki tarah‘. The lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni in the song were great. A sample
ये किसकी नशीली ज़ुल्फों की परछाईं पड़ी है लहरों पर
आकाश में इक बादल भी नहीं नदिया में घटा घिर आयी है
Acknowledgements and Disclaimer: The song links 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 rests with the respective owners, such as Saregama India Limited and others.
Wishing Asha Bhosle a very happy 86th birth anniversary (b. 8 September 1933) with a guest article by Hans Jakhar
(Asha Bhosle, despite being the most recorded artiste by miles, remained the ‘other’ singer for most music directors of the Golden Era. All the accolades and the most melodious songs went to her elder sister Lata Mangeshkar. Ravi is among the rare major music directors whose ‘first’ female playback singer by choice was Asha Bhosle. In the ongoing series on Ravi it was natural that her primacy would be highlighted, and no one is better suited than Hans Jakhar to pay a tribute to her on her 86th birth anniversary with her songs for Ravi. Hans is puzzled that some of us are hesitant to count Ravi among the ‘greats’. He is not only a fan of Asha Bhosle, but he also has a deep empathy for her for having suffered the ‘Sister Tax’ in her career.
With this article Hans debuts as a guest author. I am sure the readers would not be surprised by it, the surprise is why it has taken him so long. His comments on the blog posts are full of facts, analysis and insights. Hopefully we would see more from his pen.
Hans is a B. Com and LLB, which reflects in the way he presents his arguments. After working for over 20 years in the central secretariat service in various ministries, he took voluntary retirement and now straddles between two worlds: the rural Haryana, which is his home state, and the urban metropolis of Delhi. The series on Ravi inspired him to write on his songs for Asha Bhosle, for which I am sure the readers of SoY would be grateful to him. Thanks a lot Hans – AK)
Some time back Dr Shetty made a comment to the effect that Asha Bhosle could sing all the songs Lata Mangeshkar could, and in addition she could sing many which Lata could not, so why should Asha be not called the best singer. This thought of his has stuck with me, because, I have come across many who held the same view. There were some who rated Suman Kalyanpur the better singer. My elder sister who is four years older than me held the same view. In fact, in those days of the late 60s and early 70s, there were a number of magazines in circulation which gave stories about Lata’s manoeuvres. My sister made very angry remarks against her on that count, Suman Kalyanpur was her favourite by far. Though I was younger, I tried to cool her down. At that time I did not have much knowledge about these things and was also a bit hesitant in arguing, especially with elders, so I gave just one argument, that Lata must have special talent and because of that the composers were giving her more songs.
A tribute to Shailendra (30 August 1923 – 14 December 1966) and Hasrat Jaipuri (15 April 1922 – 17 September 1999), the lyricists in tandem, on Shailendra’s 96th birth anniversary
A common refrain of the readers from time to time has been that the lyricists have not been given due importance on this blog. A new reader Neeruahaf, who has been actively participating for some time, has also mentioned this and strongly suggested, while commenting during the discussion on the songs of 1946, that I introduce an award for the best lyricist of the year too. I have explained that my reasons are twofold: one is practical, it only creates another overlapping category for mapping the songs. And two, it is accepted that we remember songs by the films, singers and music directors, and rarely by the lyricists. As an illustration I mentioned Shailendra (30 August 1923 – 14 December 1966) and Hasrat Jaipuri (15 April 1922 – 17 September 1999), who featured together as lyricists in most of the films composed by Shankar-Jaikishan. I doubt if there is any tell-tale sign to determine who wrote which song. Let us examine this further as a tribute to the two lyricists, who worked in tandem a great deal, on the 96th birth anniversary of Shailendra.
AK on Rafi ‘s songs for “not the top heroes”Gandhi Vadlapatla, I remember one of Rafi's best patriotic songs, Jahan daal daal par sone ki chidiya karti hai basera...
In my earlier posts on Mahendra Kapoor I have described him as the most ‘unloved’ singer. The general impression is that his entry into films started with his winning the ‘All India Murphy Metro Singing Contest’ in 1957 for which the judges were Anil Biswas, Naushad, C Ramchandra, Vasant Desai and Madan Mohan. One of the incentives of the competition was that the winner would get a chance to sing in films composed by the judges. However, Mahendra Kapoor had been singing in films in bits and pieces prior to the contest. He debuted as a singer in Madmast (1953), composed by V Balsara, in a duet with Ghan Indorewala, Kisi ke zulm ki tasveer hai majdoor ki basti. He also sang a qawwali in the film with SD Batish, Unhein dekhein to wah munh pher…Humein aankh dikhatein hain. But the music of this film failed to create any impact. Mahendra Kapoor got his first solo, Tere dar ki bhikmangi hai data duniya sari, in the film Diwali Ki Raat (1956), composed by Snehal Bhatkar. In the same year he sang a duet with Sabita Banerjee, O bedardi jaane ke na kar bahane, in the film Lalkar, composed by Sanmukh Babu. These songs, too, sank without a trace.
