SD Burman: ‘The Courage of His Convictions’ (Has his way on Hemant Kumar)

I feel both Talat and Hemant kumar brought out their best for him. But they have hardly sung about 12 songs each and Mukesh even less but whatever these three have sung for him were evergreen hits !

TAXI DRIVER, 1954 , fetched SDB his first Filmfare best music director award , for the soulful Talat Mehmood beauty
jaaye toh jaaye kahan…

Dada used Kishore Kumar for the comic
Chahe koi khush ho
Chahe gaaliyan hazaar de…
&
Jagmohan Bakshi ( who?) for
Dekho maane nahin roothi Haseena…

https://youtu.be/PAOoA_EbASY

The duet version is no less magical. And, Lata is clearly dominant.

@KB ji,
Mukesh sang exactly 12 songs for SDB.

Moti Lalwani ji,

Thanks for this interesting writeup n looking for more.

KB @ 2
You are right, Hemant Kumar sung about 12 songs for S D Burman in Hindi films. But the solos in Manzil and Solva Saal had two versions. If you count them as separate songs then the total number comes to 14 (9 solos and 5 duets in 8 films). Add if you add the 5 songs in Bengali films (2 solos and 3 duets in 2 films), then we have 19 songs (11 solos and 8 duets in 10 films).

S Joseph@3
Thank you for your kind words. I have been an avid follower of Dada’s music since 1954, collecting published articles on him. I am no scholar, only a hard core SD Burman fan. I used to enjoy his music, and had not thought of research. The reason I started my research was unkind comments of RDB fan/s, which galvanised me. I was open to Dada’s flaws as well as positive points. What I discovered is solid gold. I am in my 10th year of research and often thank that RD Burman fan for putting me on the track.
There are many scholars on SD Burman, including here in SOY. I have to learn from them. With all humility where we score – my colleague Ms Richa Lakhanpal and I – is having met and recorded a number of musicians, solo players, arrangers, music directors, stars (including Big B whom we couldn’t record instead he wrote on SDB and his music), authors who wrote on SDB, and last but not the least a visit to Calcutta and Agartala by me. The idea to upload video interviews on YouTube was given to us by music director Shantanu Moitra. In every way Dada comes out as a winner. There’s a lot to be shared with fans, while time is a constraint.
Regards.

Mahesh@6,

Thanks dear for comments. I will try not to disappoint you.

Moti Lalwani ji,

Whilst we are into this month of celebrating SD Burman’s work, it would be interesting if anyone could come up with any more details about the songs in Chittor Vijay 1947 which seem to be lost forever.

HFGK attributes 8 songs to this film but is devoid of playback singers names.

Since Raj Kapoor was in the cast, there could be possibilities of Mukesh being involved.

I would like to share an interesting aspect here. SDB used Mukesh’s voice for Dev Anand in VIDYA and for Dilip Kumar in SHABNAM and also used Kishore kumar for Raj Kapoor in PYAR. Incidentally he used Talat for both Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor’s own voice for himself !

Giri@8

Janaab, after all the research, my heart still says, “Yeh dil maange more”.
I have always maintained, that one life is not enough to unearth all about Sachin Dev Burman. I call him a Rishi/Munni after doing research on him. If you know as much as I know, you would say the same about him.

Moti Lalwani post is very valuable and it increases our treasure of the information how the songs have been made under different Music Directors here in particular a very creative and experimental music director Sachin Dev Burman.

His richness is now more revealed by the art of Moti Lalwani.

I hope he would in future contribute more gems like the present post.

I am enjoying it as it is developing in many aspects.

Thanks again Motiji.

Shalan Lal

Moti Lalwani,
SDB being my most favorite music director I am familiar with your work on YouTube.
It is great to see you at SOY as a guest writer, it has added one more feather in AK’s cap.
Thanks for sharing all the information about Yeh raat yeh Chandni phir.
Waiting for more to come.
As you have done so much research on Dada I would like to know more about his alliance with Rafi.
For most of the great golden era’s MDs, in early to mid 50s, (except Naushad, Rafi was his sole singer) Rafi was not the choice for heroes playback for solos.
His advent to dada’s camp happened with Pyaasa and there was no looking back for next ten years.
I personally feel that it was Guru Dutt who had worked with Rafi right from his first production venture.Baaz and then in Aap Paar and Mr & Mrs 55 got him in.
@ 18
“If you know as much as I know, you would say the same about him.”
I understand you have researched a lot to know but if you can share some of it with us we will be obliged.

Dr. Shetty @ 1
About Lute koi man ka nagar Canasya had said Mukesh was the original but was not available hence it was recorded with Manhar.
It could be true, because in s Abhiman there is a shlok when Jaya Bhaduri is introduced Anuradha Paudwal that would have sung by Lata too, Arunadha Pudwal was used as a dummy singer, but Dada was liked it and retained the shlok in Anuradha’s voice. Motiji can correct if I am wrong.
https://youtu.be/W3oqXKGdw7g

Venkataramanji,
Do you have information about Bechu Dutta the singer of the Bengali song.
He sounds somewhat likes SDB.

mumbaikar8 @ 24
Thanks for your comments which make me visit journey of KK to Rafi and back to KK.
SD Burman cared primarily for the voice of a singer, and not the singer as much. His songs were like his dear babies. He would call up his singers at odd hours just to know how their voice sounded the night before recording. Singers too were eager to sing for him, because they knew that if they sang for Dada, there song was bound to become super-hit. There was a time when SD Burman would call Rafi, Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar, Talat, Mukesh for rehearsal. All of them would come for rehearsal without knowing who would finally be picked up.

Dada loved to compose romantic songs for the voice of Kishore whom he had mentored. The biggest achievement of Dada was to take him away from copying K.L Saigal.

Kishore’s voice sounded different and fresh for the listeners and his songs were well received. Dada being an intelligent composer carved out a niche for Dev Anand who became one of the top 3 heroes.

My guess is that after success in the mid 1950s, KK was perhaps not giving dates to Dada, who started looking for anther singer to fill in the gap. Pyaasa came along where Guru wanted Rafi, but Dada said ‘No’. Geeta Dutt who was close to Dada brought Rafi to him. Rafi with folded hands told Dada he was willing to learn, and the final decision would be Dada’s. They sat down on the floor of ‘The Jet’ bungalow for a month, where Dada brought down Rafi’s voice to a low pitch acceptable for Vijay the poet. A new Rafi was born, at the right time when Dada was looking for another male singer.

During Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Dada composed original tunes, which when heard by KK who rejected them. He was also harsh in language with Dada. These were the tunes which were ultimately used and became super-hit. There is an apology from KK with me where he confesses about it.

My guess is that Dada refused to work further on CKNG. Ashok Kumar who was close to Dada must have taken up the matters to mollify him. They were both close to each other from Filmistan (1944) days. If you watch titles of CKNG, in the singer’s names KK’s name is missing, one reads three names of Asha Bhonsle, Manna Dey and Sudha Malhotra. After that KK was dropped by Dada except for very few songs and films where KK was the hero, until one day when Dev Anand brought Kishore to Dada during Guide days, and all was forgiven and forgotten. That’s for another day to be told.

Moti Lalwaniji,
Continuing form where I left @27
I felt S D Burman had a say in the picturisation of the entire 12 minutes, the dialogue+ the background score and then the song. Is it true that S D Burman sometimes differed with directors regarding the picturistion of a song and had his final say?

I am sure the other articles from your pen would be equally interesting. There are several incidence showing SDB’s courage of conviction and the confidence to carry them out. He stuck to his guns not only in selection of singers, but also held his ground even in the selection of genre of songs too. Probably your future articles will cover those aspects
and also his tiff with Sahir Ludhyanvi, which led to their parting ways.
Thanks once again.

Mumbaikarji @ 24,

Although quite a number of songs, sung by Bechu Dutta are available for hearing, very little is known about him. Yes, he sounds like S D Burman at times.

Bechu Dutta was born in the year 1918 and died in 1991. He was a very popular singer, had a good singing voice. He could have achieved a lot, but due to lack of discipline he faded away. I am not aware of any of his songs rendered before 1940. In 1940 he sang a duet with Saila Debi in the Bengali film Swami Stree, lyrics Sailen Roy, music Himangshu Dutta.

Presenting a song rendered by Bechu Dutta based on a Hindi song from Malhar (1951-Roshan-Indeevar)
Here he sounds different
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUIKLmPV6do

He also rendered a nice duet with Rama Devi for the Hindi film Iran Ki Raat (1949), music Kamal Dasgupta
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3GtnW9vLS8

N Venkataraman ji @ 27
First of all, let me compliment you on your observation on Sazaa songs. I will have to revisit the scene. Thanks.

‘Nakhe mukhe chukale’ as one of the Bengali fans told me is an equivalent of, ‘Buri nazar waale tera moonh kaala’. As per Sandhya Mukherjee it was added by Dada. Rest of the sounds don’t mean anything except to fill in the gap.

N Venkataraman ji @ 28
Dada left Dev Anand when he didn’t like Dev Anand’s handling of his songs in Prem Pujari. He didn’t compose for Dev after that. One has to watch our interviews with Waheeda and U.K. Dubey, as well as the facts that SDB didn’t take further assignments of Dev.

Respected Moti Lalwani ji
@26

Dada was certainly a great musician but he was one of the other great composers of his time. He was not came from another world. After reading your thoughts, especially in the comment section, it appears that you are not a fan of him but a devotee. There is nothing wrong in liking someone like this but it is also not a good thing to degrade someone.
Regards

On one of the YouTube uploads where there was a comment made by somebody attributing a song composed by SDB to someone else to which I had responded & that triggered an interaction with Motiji .
He asked me to join SDB fans group & also see videos uploaded by him. I did both & found great insights to both music & persona of Sachinda. I would forever remain greatful to him for opening up these new vistas in respect of a person whose music I adored since my childhood.
In a comment above Motiji has been called a devotee rather than a fan. After watching his videos of persons related to Sachinda & his music and realising the efforts that would have required to accomplish the same one would agree with the statement . But nobody can say he has degraded the other composers in the above article. So far I have not read any comment from Motiji belittling other composers for projecting Sachinda’s greatness.
Regarding the choice of singers we know that Sachinda always wanted tune first words later but in case of some of his compositions did he think of the singer first & selected the tune in sync with that singer’s style?
For example Khawb ho tum & kahi bekhayal hokar
( The way Kishor rendered phir pukaro mujhe & Rafi crooned are mujhpe naazwaloo are matchless for individual styles hence the above observation)

Ashish @ 36

I am sorry you got that feeling. We have a policy in our SDB group of 7,600+ members not to hurt anyone’s feelings by act or words. The group has several RDB fans some of them senior, who have a vast change in their thinking about SDB. At the same time, facts should not be hidden, altered or suppressed. For instance some of the music directors manipulated awards. SD Burman refused to buy Guide award. If that hurts fans, so be it. You can see, even here I have refrained from naming them, which is not right as per me.

As far as devotee or a fan is concerned, with an open mind if someone can sit with me for a day, I’ll make him hard-core fan if not devotee.
Thanks for comments.

Apropos my comment at 35, let me clarify:

I am a big fan of SDB ofcourse next to my all time fav, Shankar Jaikishan.
I have read some articles where it was mentioned that Burman dada was
moody and sometimes sticking to his decisions etc. Hence my posting was sent.

I am yet to find a match or an equivalent song to the following
solo by Rafi from the film Bombai ka babu.
“saathi no koi manzil ha mera, chala gaya akela

just a few instruments what a deep feeling it gives on hearing.
Rafi Sahib gives life to the words immeasurably though his rendering..

Mumbaikar ji,
I had read , long back, another version of the Loot koi man ka dagar . That, SDB recorded it in Manhar’s voice because Mukhesh was away and he would sing it on his return.
When Mukhesh heard it, he was highly impressed and requested Dada to retain the same.
So far, so good.
But, recently, I read the same story again. But, this time around, the song was
Aap se humko bichde hue… from VISHWAS!!!
Hence, I wanted Moti ji to clarify.

I always feel If Only… about some songs…
If Mukhesh were to sing Loote koi, it would have been a great fete. Amitabh Bachchan lipsyncing to Rafi, Mukhesh and Kishore in a single movie!

If Asha Bhonsle were to be a part of
Humko tumse ho gaya hai pyar…AAA.

If Rafi were to sing…Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jaaye hum dono..

Dr. P. K. Shetty,
“But, recently, I read the same story again. But, this time around, the song was Aap se humko bichde hue… from VISHWAS!!!”
Yes, I also had listened same matter from the horse’s mouth on radio, i.e. Kalyanjibhai of KA duo, who were MD in the film. He had told this in a Vividhbharti’s special Jaymala Program broadcasted on a Saturday evening. He also told that after coming to recording studio, when Mukesh informed that for sake of shooting the song has been recorded in a newcomer’s voice. Mukesh asked him that he wants to listen that recording. And after listening, Mukesh left the studio having said that while this newcomer has sung the song so nicely, why you are insisting me to sing the song?

Kalpesh Bhatt ji,
So, there is truth in the Aap se humko… episode.
Thank you for the information.

Moti ji,
One more query I always had was about SDB choosing Hemant Kumar for the lone Jaane woh kaise log the jinke pyar ko pyar mila…in a Rafi fest, PYAASA.
Serious/ profound/ philosophical…Jinhe naaz hai Hind par woh kahan hai;
Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye toh kya hai;
Romantic duet…Hum aap ke aankhon mein.
Comedy song…Sar jo tera chakraye.
Hemant Kumar’s song is equally iconic and looks tailor made for his voice!
( For some reason, I always remember Ya dil ki suno duniyawalon while listening to Jaane woh kaise…)

Today being Kishore Kumar’s remembrance day, I have a question.
Many articles say MILI, 1975 was Dada’s last project. I would rather it be so because I love the Kishore song Badi sooni sooni hai very much and Aaye tum yaad mujhe is quite good, too. ( I know many who like Lata’s Maine kaha phoolon se…).
ARJUN PANDIT, BAROOD, DEEWANGEE ( only one song by Dada? and the project completed by Ravindra Jain?) and TYAAG also released after Dada’s demise.
TYAAG ,1977, Rajesh Khanna_ Sharmila Tagore; Anand Bakshi invariably makes me think of ARADHANA, 1969 , and, the songs of the former fail to hold a candle to the legend that is ARADHANA.
Kore kagaz pe likhwale…sing Kishore,Asha, and, I long for Kora kaagaz tha ye man mera!!!
Kishore,Lata go Man pukaare ,and, lo and behold, I want to listen to Dil pukaare aare aare aare!!

ARJUN PANDIT, TYAAG , and, to some extent, YE GULISTAN HAMARA are the albums of SDB that I don’t want to associate with him!!
Purely personal opinions; no disrespect towards the gargantuan talent.

Dr Pradeep Kumar Shetty @ 48
It is known that Guru Dutt wanted Rafi to which Dada declined, finally giving in to his protege Geeta Dutt. I have no proof, but my gut feeling is that Dada wanted to prove it to Guru Dutt that other singers too could have done justice. I should be excused, if someone doesn’t agree.
It is tailor made because it was created Dada would create a song keeping in mind who is going to sing.

Mili (1975) was thought to be Dada’s last film, because that’s when he got stroke after rehearsing Kishore ‘Badi sooni sooni hai’. Tyaag, produced by Shrmila, took 4 years to complete. Similarly, I presume other films would have take time to complete. There’s a possibility that Meera would have composed some songs, again I have no proof.

@43 Mr.Lalwani, thank you for the clarification.
S D Burman for me, was a composer who time and time again breathed magic into a simple melody.

Moti Lalwani ji
Thanks for a beautiful post.
As stated @53, SDB composed less number of bhajans but they were all top-quality, I am madly in love with:
a) Aan milo…shyam saanware (Devdas)- Geeta and M. Dey sang superbly. In the antra sad Geeta finished her portion, Manna joined with alaap, o o o o…truly divine singing.
b) Na main dhan chahoon (Kala bazaar): Here again choosing Geeta Dutt and Sudha Malhotra was a wise move. If we listen carefully the tabla beats we observe that bayaan tabla (the bigger one) has got more prominence- very unconventional for bhajans but very beautiful because the beats resonate so well with the voices of Geeta and Sudha.
Thanks and regards

Kalpesh Bhatt ji,
Absolutely no problem.
I, as a rule, address everyone with a ji and it is fine with me if it is not reciprocated.
Thank you for your reaction.

R Vasudevan ji,
गुस्ताख़ी माफ़।
Moti ji will answer. But, before that, I would like to mention a song from
BENAZIR, 1964 which is almost like a qawwali.

Lata, Asha, Usha Mangeshkar; Shakeel Badayuni.

Mubarak hai woh dil jisko kisise pyar ho jaaye…

There is one more song teasing my brain.
Will get back later.

Ashok Kumar Tyagi ji,
I ,too, love both the songs mentioned by you, for Dada’s brilliant composition and, also, for Geeta Dutt.
How beautiful she sounds!
After Rafi, it is only Geeta Dutt, for me, who can be as effective in a bhajan as in a comedy or seductive number.

Dada’s choice of Usha Mangeshkar for the Meera bhajan Mere toh Giridhar Gopal, in doosro na koi… PHAGUN, 1973, is surprising. But, the results are fantastic. Usha’s nasal twang is hardly heard in this beautiful rendition. Otherwise, Lata Mangeshkar on Waheeda Rehman would have been a foregone conclusion.
That’s what we have been discussing about Dada’s power of finding the suitable voice for a particular song, right?

JYOTHI, 1969.

Anand Bakshi.

Mere Shyam Mere Nandlala
Sagre Jagat ka tu hai rakhwala…

Lata, Usha (Mangeshkars).

Pag mein ghunhroo chamke
Main nachoon Meera banke…

Hemlata.

ABHIMAN

The Shiv Shloka by Anuradha Paudwal for Jaya Bhaduri’s introduction scene.

Rahul Muli ji,
Perfect guess, accurate diagnosis, Bull’s Eye!!!
Thank you. Otherwise, it would keep on pestering me till I could remember it.
Forgiving for intervention? Not at all! On this Forum everyone has the freedom to express him/herself.
Don’t remember seeing your name earlier, Rahul ji.
देर आए दुरुस्त आए।

Hum Chupe Rustam hain…

CHUPA RUSTAM, 1973.

Manna Dey, chorus; Neeraj.

Probably the only qawwali composed by Dada? And, the only one by Neeraj?
Of course, I am no expert. I may be proved wrong.

Moti Lalwani jee,
Saadar Pranaam from a disciple of SOY. It is great to have you on the blog. What a blissful joy it is to slowly imbibe your article and comments. My knowledge and information horizons have widened. Music of Sachin Dev Burman is truly immortal.

Dr Shettyjee,
Would you please listen the song HOTHON ME AISI BAAT MAIN CHHUPA KE CHALI AAYEE for me. The superb male voice, doing hoo ho haa etc, is stated to be Bhupendra’s. But, on careful hearing it seems more like Rafi or some very good singer of hilly folk. Since it is officially Bhupendra, no amount of praise is enough to his wonderful rendering. Salute to great Burmandaa for extracting such quality work from Bhupendra. Trust, you will listen and comment.
Regards.

Dr. Shetty
Two proper qawwaalis and one improper bhajan
Bewaqoof – Mubarak Ho
https://youtu.be/-SbJcvjxdqM
Society, Yr 1955, Song Nighaah ko… ab aa bhi ja by Rafi Sahab & Balbir.flv
https://youtu.be/XL4L9V4iCXA
Improper Bhajan 😉
Apni To Har Aah Ek Toofan Hai Mohd Rafi Film Kala Bazar 1959 SD Burman Shailendra
https://youtu.be/1qjTd4FR1X4

R Vasudevan @ 55

kisne chilman se mara ..Manna Dey-Majrooh Sultanpuri- S D Burman- Baat Ek Raat Ki 1962
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6p56t5MLkc

There is an outstanding article in silhouette magazine by Peeyush Sharma titled
The music director knows which voice will do justice to his compositions – In conversation with Hemantkumar
The article is in fact sort of interview of Hemantda in which he eloquently explains how Sachinda would chose a singer for a particular song
As they say from horse’s mouth
https://learningandcreativity.com/silhouette/hemant-kumar-interview/

Shachindra Prasad @ 64

I am humbled by your kind words.
SOY has some of the most learned music buffs in general and S.D. Burman in particular. I am a great admirer of SOY. I am here mainly to learn, and, share my knowledge on Dada.

Sachindra Prasad ji,
I listened to, and, saw, Honton pe… several times in the past few days.
All through my childhood, when listening to the songs was a simple pleasure, not going into too many details about them, I assumed the male voice was Rafi’s. Into my college days, deeply into the world of film music, and , catching up with the Classics in their re runs, I became aware of the voice being credited to Bhupinder ( one of my favourite singers after the big 6( Rafi, Mukhesh, Kishore, Talat, Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar; a little ahead of Mahinder Kapoor.) But, honestly, even after repeated hearing ( which I have done earlier,too) I can’t vouch for it. But, as you have said in your comments, since it is officially Bhupinder, let us agree with it, unless someone comes up with a solid evidence to prove the contrary.

Ashish @ 71,
Dear friend. To complete short missing gaps, when one has other strong material with proofs, some honest guess should be acceptable. By honest I mean one makes it known in the beginning and doesn’t hide it. I have used ‘guess’, while you have used ‘sure’ w/o proof, what Ms Mumbaiker would have thought of, when you wrote, “…. reply @26 to Ms Mumbaikar ji. I am sure she also not expect such reply (guessing) by Lalwani ji.”

Now the proofs:
Kishore Kumar on S.D. Burman, who had threatened to drop him (Courtesy Ameen Sayani):
Kishore, “Ek zamaana aisa aaya jab mujhe ‘income taxam’ bharne ke liye kai ‘stage shows’ karne paDe. Tab Sachin-da ki pareshaani aur baDh gayi. ‘stage’ par uchhalte koodte aawaaz thak rahi thi meri, aur thes lag rahi thi Sachin-da ke dil ko. Ek din chale aaye ghar pe, aur DaanT kar kehne lage, “Kishore, I am telling you very seriously, tu ‘seriously’ sun. Agar tu apni aawaaz ko naheen sambhaalegaa, to aawaaz bhi tere ko naheen sambhaalegaa. Phir koi aur to kya, ham bhi tumko koi gaana naheen gawaayunga. I tell you very seriously, be careful.” (Text Courtesy: Sujoy Chatterjee)
************
Mohd Rafi- Association with Bengali Composers:
“The gap perhaps existed with a lot of musicians hailing from the East. No regionalism intended, but it is a surprising fact that Rafi was not the most used male singer by any Bengali Director of that period. From Anil Biswas to Bappi Lahiri, Rafi was never the prime choice. S D Burman, R D Burman, Bappi Lahiri used Kishore more(although, Rafi enjoyed being the prime singer for the Burmans in the 60s), Salil chowdhury used Manna De the most, while Anil Biswas’ favourite remained Talat. Hemant Kumar recorded 30 odd songs with him, but again, his maximum memorable male songs were crooned by him only. And then, there were MDs like Shyamal Mitra, who in spite of composing in around half a dozen Hindi films, carefully overlooked Rafi. Was there a disconnect?

Rafi had very few low octave exhibitions- of course in his youth, he could touch around 1-2 notes in the lowest octave in “Man tadpat hari darshan” and “Toote hue khwabon ne”. Salil Chowdhury, reportedly had repeated problems with Rafi’s hitting low notes and had a small skirmish during the recording of “Tasveer teri dil mein” when Rafi wanted the scale to be higher to his comfort. All these Bengali music directors were good singers as well, barring perhaps, Salil. The Burmans, especially, were classically trained and possessed supreme vocal skills and had a range more resembling towards the traditional Bengali school. S D Burman, between 1958- 1965, used Rafi the maximum. Looking at his usage of Rafi, vis-à-vis SJ or Naushad, it is not surprising to notice that he used Rafi at a different scale and with “controlled emotions”( barring a few situational requirements like “Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye” climax) as compared to Naushad or SJ who wanted him to be higher and higher. It is worth mentioning here that, the notes Rafi touched in tara saptak like in “Zindabad zindabad ae mohabbat zindabad” are unmatched in the industry. He was the King of High notes.

Salil never used Rafi in the 70s all throughout. R D used him, but always like a distant, light-years behind second. SD was worse than his son, in the 70s. Anil Biswas anyhow was out of the gambit long before, even when he was, he carefully opted out of Rafi. Hemanta had only one movie with Rafi in the 70s- Love In Canada- way later in 1979. Shyamal Mitra had none. Basu Manohari had no Hindi releases but a few Bengali modern songs for Puja in 1978. Ironically, Rafi, who seemd to have covered all ranges of music in his 36 years career, never had a Rabindra Sangeet album released. It seems, Shantidev Ghosh- the Tagore erudite- had some Rabindra Sangeet recorded with Rafi, but did not get clearance from stringent Vishwa Bharati those days. A gap in musical school, perhaps…

Read te entire article here: http://arghyatext.blogspot.com/2013/11/mohd-rafi-association-with-bengali.html
**************
Tere Mere Sapne Ab Ek Rang Hain (Excerpts):
With Do Bhai in 1947 SD Burman made use of Rafi for the first time in Duniya mein meri aaj andhera hi andhera. But for the next ten years they came together for only 7 more songs. (Eight songs in 10 years.)

The Bengali music directors in Hindi film industry did not typically choose Rafi for their songs. Rafi’s was a pure and boisterous Punjab voice and succeeded greatly with the Punjab music directors such as Husnlal Bhagatram, O P Nayyar (majorly), Hansraj Behl, S Mohinder, Shyam Sunder, among others. Naushad’s classical compositions and folk from UP and Bihar suited Rafi’s voice perfectly.

The Bengal brigade on the other hand preferred softer voices. Anil Biswas’ non-preference of Rafi has been documented and much discussed. He picked Talat Mahmood and Mukesh mostly as Talat was already successful in Bengal as Tapan Kumar singing Bengali and Hindi songs and Mukesh was trained by Anil Biswas and Ashok Ghosh, brother of renowned flautist Pannalal Ghosh. (Anil Da’s sister Parul Ghosh, a noted singer herself was the wife of Pannalal Ghosh). Salil Chowdhury had told to me in a one-on-one chat that he did not prefer Rafi. Hemant Kumar had a liking for Rafi but used his vocals much later in his films. During my over one hundred hours spent with Anil Biswas, I tried to figure out the reality and reason behind all this.

Anil Da had explained to me that his own soft compositions were not suited to Rafi’s “Punjabi style of singing”. This was true with other Bengali composers as well. For Do Raha (1952), Anil Da had recorded two songs with Rafi. But after the recording was done, he scrapped them and had Talat re-do the songs as Rafi’s rendition did not appeal to him at all. But, added Anil Da, in 1956 Rafi was summoned to sing the Heer songs for him. That Rafi had turned into a class singer was owing to the training provided by SD Burman. And this is how Anil Da narrated the story behind it all to me:

For approximately five years, from 1954 to 1959, Anil da and Sachin Dev Burman would meet for morning walks almost each day. They were acquainted with each other earlier in Calcutta too in the mid-thirties, before they had both landed in Bombay. Anil Da was a senior by ten years to Burman Dada in the Bombay film world. During these walks they would discuss the movies, producers, singers, music and anything under the morning sky that came up.

During one such walk, SD Burman informed Anil Da that Guru Dutt had asked him to provide music for his Pyaasa and wanted Rafi to sing the songs. The reason was Rafi was Guru Dutt’s voice in Aar Paar and Mr. & Mrs. 55 and the music of both films were huge hits. The public identified Rafi’s voice with Guru Dutt. SD Burman was aware that Pyaasa was a very sensitive film, different from run-of-the-mill and extremely dear to Guru Dutt. Although SD Burman wanted to use Hemant Kumar, Talat Mahmood and if need be, Manna Dey for the playback, Guru Dutt had requested him to try out Rafi before finalizing, for he knew Dada Burman would not compromise on the quality of composition and it’s delivery ever.

Thus Rafi was asked to come to SD Burman’s house for rehearsals. He watched Geeta Dutt and Hemant Kumar being rehearsed for their parts. Geeta’s Aaj sajan moge ang laga lo janam safal ho jaye, was finalised and recorded, so was Hemant’s Jaane woh kaise log the jinke pyar ko pyar mila.

Even though Rafi had recorded 8 songs with SD Burman in the last ten years, but this was a different atmosphere now. Three hours was allotted for practice each day. The first song rehearsed was the duet with Geeta Dutt, Hum aap ki ankhon mein is dil ko basa den toh. It was to Rafi’s credit that he really worked the hardest in learning from SD Burman the finer nuances of a song’s delivery. (SD Burman, one must not forget, was a hugely popular singer in his native Bengali language songs and each year was creating more and more chartbusters.)

The recording of the duet was accomplished. Two days later, when the recorded version came to SD Burman on a spool, he made Rafi sit and listen to it intently, asking him to pay attention to Geeta’s singing and point out where she had made mistakes. After listening to it for two or three times, Rafi fell at SD Burman’s feet and said, he knew exactly where he had faltered and promised it would never happen again. SD Burman drew him into an embrace and blessed him. The real training was now complete and SD Burman was ready to start with Yeh mehlon yeh takhton yeh taazon ki duniya.

Rafi, mild, humble and a true saint that he was, once said, what he learnt from SD Burman during those days, he applied to his singing all his life. It was a changed Rafi, from Pyaasa onwards. The next immediate impact of the change was audible in Nau Do Gyarah songs.

Anil Da insisted that now Rafi was a real singer to reckon with and thus recorded three Heer songs with him. That Heer released earlier than Pyaasa is a different story.

The way was paved for Rafi to play a major role in SD Burman’s recording room from now onwards. Rafi was versatile and being natural was his advantage. He was learning from all and quickly adapting and improving. He was not demanding, he was courteous and soft and humble. His exposure to all variety of composers from all over helped him learn well.

Read the complete article here: https://learningandcreativity.com/silhouette/songs-of-sd-burman-rafi/
*****************
Kishore Kumar’s Confession on his ridiculing S.D. Burman:
“… Phir ek din maine apni hi film launch ki. Iska naam tha ‘Chalti ka Naam Gaadi’ (1958). Apne sahi hone par mujhe itna yakin tha ki jab sangeetkaar S. D. Burman ne iske liye banaayi hui kuch maulik dhunein mujhe sunaayeen, to maine unhein hadka diya. Maine kaha, ‘Kya aap ko lagta hai ki janta yeh sun-na chaahti hai? Kripa kar ke aap kisi music store mein jaayen aur kuch Rock-n-roll records khareeden. Lekin, dhyaan rakhen, ki aise records na khareed lijiyega jo doosre sangeetkaar bhi khareed rahe hon.’ …”

English Translation:
“… Then, one day, I launched my own film. It was called ‘Chalti ka naam gaadi’ (1958). I was so confident of myself that when the music director SD Burman gave some original tunes he had composed for the movie to me to listen to, I ridiculed him: ‘Do you think the public wants to listen to this? Please go to a music store and buy some Rock-n-roll records. But do take care not to buy the same records that others were buying too.’ …” (End of the relevant portion)

Note I: I have an old URL, which doesn’t work anymore, due to copyright problems. Luckily I have four pages of scanned copies of Tehelka magazine in which it appeared. Anyone wants me to mail these pages, please send me Email address. I understand originally it appeared in Filmfare 1960.

Note II: Anyone wants to differ is welcome, but it should be supported by proofs. Opinions don’t matter. If we keep our mind open, there is lot to learn.
This is enough for the day.

Lalwaniji
In your comment 11 you said SDB did not like interference in his work. In comment 33, you say he threatened to stop composing in Bandini and Sujata, when Bimal Roy did not agree to his suggestions in picturisation of the songs. There was a similar story about Naushad which some say Naushad himself told that once Mehboob was interfering in his composition and next day Naushad went on the film’s set and started giving directions. Mehboob told him he is director of the film and Naushad told him he is Music Director of the film and after that Mehboob did not interfere.

If SDB did not tolerate interference in his work then how he interfered in the director’s work. These are all cooked stories to make SDB god. Bimal Roy is a world renowned Director. To say such things about him is a slight, degradation and also defaming him. First the script is prepared with song situations and then they are given to the Music Director. Music Director as well as others connected with the film or even some unconnected persons whom the Director respects can give suggestions, but the final authority is Director. Similarly assistants, musicians, singers and others may give suggestions in music composition, but the final authority is Music Director.

So under what authority was SDB threatening to stop work. I personally dont believe he did anything like that. The people who are cooking these stories, have not even cared to watch the films. In the film Bandini, the character of Kalyani played by Nutan goes out frequently. She goes to study with a lady named Rama Devi and also conveys a letter to Ashok Kumar, in his place of detention – who plays a revolutionary and who is detained in that village – without even the knowledge of her father. Before the song ‘mora gora ang’ she sings ‘jogi jabse tu aaya mere dware’ outside the house. If you see the picturisation of the song ‘mora gora ang’ it looks quite natural and even the lyrics suggest she is going out. There was a song by Pankaj Mullick, ‘piya milan ko jana, jag ki laaj man ki mauj dono ko nibhana’. The theme of this song is based on that premise. Similarly if you watch Sujata, you would come to know that the telephone song is just natural in the situation.

HQ Chaudhary’s book has Dev Anand interview at page 272. I will put the question and answer here before saying any further about situations in Dev Anand films.

“Question – Did you change song situations for him (meaning SDB) then?
Answer – No, he would not ask us to change anything. He was too sensible to do such things. He realised that he was doing a film where he had to put his personal opinions aside.”

Can there be anything more clear and forthright than this answer. The situation you suggest in the song ‘rimjhim ke tarane leke aayi barsaat’ is tailor made for a background song. Flash backs of various events are being shown. The second line of mukhda says ‘yaad aaye kisi se wo pehli mulaqat’ which means the song is not for face to face singing. Your interview of Waheeda Rehman also suggests that SDB did not have the courage to say anything about picturisation of songs in Prem Pujari and he asks her to talk to Dev Anand in that matter. In comment 34 you said that SDB did not do any film of Dev Anand after Prem Pujari in protest against his not handling the songs properly. Can you tell me, whether Tere Mere Sapne came after Prem Pujari or before that?

Another important issue you raised was about his refusal to use Rafi for Pyasa. I am sure he did not do so otherwise he would have been cooling his heels instead of doing Pyasa. But, since you claim this, can you tell me which singer did SDB suggest to Guru Dutt for the film when he refused Rafi. As per you, at the time of Jaal he recorded Raj Khosla at the behest of Guru Dutt, who had never sung a song. But, now he refuses to take Rafi, who has sung more than 1000 songs by then. Did his level of courage of conviction has been raised by 1957, which was low in 1952. I dont know whether you know that in olden times there were parallel stories about Pyasa, which suggested that some of the songs, like ‘tang aa chuke hai’ and other recitals of ‘shers’ were tuned by Sahir and Rafi themselves, as they did not need any orchestra. The reason, they said, was that SDB did not understand shayari much and was making too much fuss about Rafi.

You said about Rafi that he had a full throated voice and was known for loud singing before Pyasa and due to that no Bengali composer used him and after Pyasa, Benagali composers started using him. If I had not known about the habits of SDB fanatics, I would have toppled myself laughing on this. Bengal and North East is known for its full-throated and loud singers. KK has become a synonym of full throated and loud singing. And you say Bengali composers did not take him for that reason. Anyway can you tell me the name of a Bengali composer who started using Rafi after Pyasa and had not used him before Pyasa.

You said SDB survived without Lata for 5 years. Have you checked the facts or just repeating the SDB fanatics theme. Lata sang for him in 1958. She did not sing for him in 1959 and 60. That is all. Only two years. He did not have a film in 1961 just because he was busy composing for RDB’s first film. He sent RDB to call for Lata and made peace with her at the same time. Lata sang in his 1962 films Baat Ek Raat Ki and Dr Vidya and in all his films in 1963 and 64. So which are those 5 years?

Ashishji @71
Well said. Very balanced reply. Since your reply Lalwaniji has given another proof(?) by referring to an article which says that Rafi fell on the feet of SDB. So he is improving by and by his level of proofs. SDB and Lata rift happened in 1958, but Kishor Kumar his favourite singer was tormenting him no end by his tantrums and due to that after Pyasa he started using Rafi. In the next 7years from 1958 to 64 SDB never used KK except in films where KK was the hero.

Venkataramanji, @ 30
Thanks for the information on Bechu Dutta, like Bengali song but the Hindi duet is unimpressive.

Ashish @ 36 and @ 71 Mr. Lawani @ 40
Ashish’s guess right, not only Ashish many of us who care for Rafi feel hurt about the way you have written about Rafi. I guess SDB more thought about Rafi than you do.
You have stating articles as proof, though I do not consider them absolute.
I have one that describes what SDB thought about Rafi. You can find at the bottom of the page.

https://scroll.in/reel/805007/rafi-vs-talat-vs-mukesh-vs-kishore-the-big-rivalries-of-the-hindi-film-music-world

And one excerpt from Abrab Alvis’s book, about Rafi’s contribution in Pyaasa.
https://books.google.com/books?id=JVD7dajMt3YC&pg=PA73&lpg=PA73&dq=abrar+alvi+rafi+guru+sahir&source=bl&ots=RkTwOaxxTr&sig=ACfU3U3QbWvEHyG3EoWFCUw6cPSvlxMHTw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiysaO736HlAhVF_J4KHRQwASkQ6AEwB3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=abrar%20alvi%20rafi%20guru%20sahir&f=false

Hansji,
You wrote @ 67,
“Otherwise how is it possible that a person of your experience and age does not question SDB’s statement about the pronunciation of Hemant. Hemant had recorded two version songs of film Babul under Naushad, who did not even spare Lata and Rafi in this regard. I do not claim that Hemant’s pronunciation was perfect, but Naushad must have recorded it only after he got a certain degree of perfection. Hemant also recorded two version songs of film Aan. These are well known facts. So SDB claim is baseless.”

And then @ 81 you said,
‘When SDB can lie on print, why not RDB.’

Yes, it is true that SDB wrote this in the 6th episode of his serialized autobiography “Sargamer Nikhaad”, which appeared in the Bengali Magazine on 21st June 1970. Hemant Kumar did not refute SDB’s claim in his autobiography “Anandadhara” published in August-September 1975, where he also acknowledges that SDB gave him his first hit song. Bela Mukhopadhyay too mentions this incident in her book “Amaar Swami Hemanta” (January- February 1999) but does not refute SDB’s claim. I do not understand why SDB would make a false statement on such a petty matter, to slight Hemant Kumar? I do not subscribe to this view. Are you not slighting SDB on the basis of your assumption.

Yes, Hemant rendered two version songs each from Babul and Aan. And you wrote ‘I do not claim that Hemant’s pronunciation was perfect, but Naushad must have recorded it only after he got a certain degree of perfection.” Well, in that case, SDB too must have asked him to work on this aspect to attain further perfection.

I humbly state that to call SDB a liar in this context is too harsh and insulting to SDB, and as a SDB fan (not a fanatic) I feel hurt. But do not take MY hurt to your heart.

Er.Moti Lalwani ji , AK ji;

I am back after a break of three weeks and have found the treasure of nice songs and very intelligent post , observations and inputs by various members. Going thru various interviews made me see SDB standing at higher pedestal than before.

Beauty may no longer be what it was before ……but revisiting generates extraordinary thrill to soul. Venkatraman ji @27 gave an exceptional example of thrill….. thru exceptional camerawork and a nicely conceived setup of song… ‘Aa gupchhup gupchhup pyar karein’.

I think it is important for everyone …..from art director to cameraman , song writer and screenplay writer …. to be a part of song situation…… when at conceiving stage. For Guru Dutt it was prime necessity. What he would see was perfectly captured by his cameraman . In Pyaasa , three or four songs were recorded with camera lens aligned at shoulder level of Guru Dutt and that conveyed what was projected thru the eyes of Guru Dutt…… the perfection to our expectations.!! Jaane kya tune kahi…..and….jineh naaz hai hind pe….are two such examples. The visual effects really enhanced the beauty of songs ….and its content.

Jane Kya Tune Kahi – , Pyaasa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLGCAGHNTJU

Jinhen Naaz Hai Hind Par – , Mohammed Rafi, Pyaasa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ta4BmumQKc

Subodh Agrawal at 91

Thanks for your comments.

I agree with you, both Geeta and Hemant Kumar were exceptional singers. Unfortunately, Geeta’s bad marriage took its toll, otherwise she would have been good for many years to come.

ksbhatia @ 95.

“Goldie Anand had just third eye as well. His Song picturisation were perfect that made songs flow with narration …at right moment and at right track. He must be in heart to heart vision with SDB ! His ….Tere Ghar Ke Samne ….is an example for others to watch and follow his steps.”

About heart to heart vision of the two, I will mention couple of instances:
Vijay Anand has said in an interview that Burman Dada was the only ‘Audio-visual’ music director who could understand the situation and compose a tune suitable to the situation.

For Kala Bazar (1960), Vijay Anand had asked Dada to compose for a situation where Dev, in love with Waheeda, is seen walking and running, as if floating in the air. Dada composed the tune of ‘Khoya khoya chand’ in 10 minutes, when there were no lyrics written as yet. The lyrics were written afterwards to match the tune. Composing tune without lyrics is more difficult, than on pre-written words.

SD Burman was a pioneer in composing tune first and getting lyrics written to suit the tune. He did it from very early in his career, while in Calcutta itself. Subsequently, the practice was followed by the rest of the music directors.
*****
“Vijay Anand has gone on record in an interview that SD Burman was very perceptive about the power & impact of the medium of films & took a keen interest in understanding the situation of a song & its context in the landscape of the entire movie.
In the same interview he has mentioned about a particular incident where it was SD Burman who had suggested that the song ‘Rimjhim ke taraane le-ke aayi barsaat’ in Kala Bazaar (1960) be picturised on the hero & heroine with the song playing only in the background. Vijay Anand immediately liked the idea & thus was the lovely Rafi-Geeta duet created. (Archisman Mozumdar, SDB-RDB fan)
*****
Waheeda on Burman Dada in an interview with us;
“Uske baad, later, ek baar Kala Bazar (1960) ke set pe aaye the. To us mein ‘Rim jhim ke tarane leke aayi barsaat’, haanji, to woh set pe aaye, woh record ho chuka tha gaana, par picturise nahin hua tha.

To, tab tak kaafi milna jhulna ho gaya tha, kyonki Dev ke saath bhi woh (Burman Dada) the, Guru Dutt ji ke saath bhi woh the. To phir kaafi office mein ya sets pe aa jaya karte the. To bade sweetly – main nahin bhooli aaj tak woh, kehne lage , – he used to come with crisp white dhoti aur kurta aur paan ke behad shaukin, paan ka dabba haath mein rehta tha – to kehne lage, “Waheeda, yeh jo gaana picturise karenge, mujhe pata hai tum Bharat Natyam classical dancer ho, dance mat karna, magar ek ladki jo behad khush hai, aur dil karta hai ki main ud jaaoon, main woh karon to,” aur unhonein jhat se apna kurta pakda, dhoti pakdi, aur uspe aise-aise-aise karna”. (Waheeda ji shows dance moments of Dada)
Hum sab hansne lage,

Khud karke gaate hain, “Rim-jhim ke tarane leke aayi barsaat”
(Waheeda ji sways copying Dada).

Bahut hum hanse.
“Kyon, achcha nahin hai?” Dada pooche.
‘Nahin-nahin, bahut’, maine kaha, ‘sweet hai!’
Bahut sweet, He was like a child!
(All this while Waheeda ji is giggling away.)
******
In 1957, Geeta Dutt (nee Roy) chose her ‘Ten Best’ songs. Four out of her ten best songs were under her favourite composer Burman Dada. They were:
1947 – Do Bhai – Raja Mehdi Ali Khan – Mere sunder sapna beet gaya’
1951 – Baazi – Sahir – ‘Tadbir se bigdi hui taqdeer banale’
1957 – Pyaasa – Sahir ‘Aaj sajan mohe ang laga do’
1957 – Pyaasa – Sahir ‘Jaane kya tune kahi’

From the rest of the six songs, one each was composed by Bulo C. Rani, Hemant Kumar, O.P. Nayyar, Roshan, Madan Mohan and Mukul Roy.

Note: Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) was not released till then, otherwise, ‘Waqt ne kiya, kya haseen sitam’ would have been a strong contender.

dprangan @ 97

Thank you for your kind words of encouragement and appreciation. You have a way with words, which I admire immensely.

Yes, it’s true that SD’s work doesn’t fit any predictable pattern. But as a person, he himself doesn’t fit any pattern. Leaving cushy life and comforts of the palace, he went and stayed in a one bedroom apartment, making some money from his singing. When he sang in private jalsas, there used to be pin-drop silence, and soon everyone’s eyes will be moist, with pathos in hs voice.

In Bombay after he landed, he shared a small apartment with Harindranath Chattopadhyay, later shifting to a room in a C Grade hotel, which is still there. From there, sitting on a hard bench in their backyard, he composed melodies in 1950s, from Sazaa to Pyaasa.

He encouraged his assistants, recommending them to the directors, whose he used to decline, praised his contemporaries, even recommending them to the production houses, that they will do a good job. Busy entire day in his music, he had no time for gossip, praise, protest or increase in royalties. His nature was childlike, innocent to the core. If he was unhappy with someone, he simply dropped him/her without telling anyone. All this and more is what I have discovered, and there’s more. Some of it I have captured in my videos on YouTube, there is a lot more.

Thanks again.

Moti ji,
Thanks for the information that SDB shared an apartment with Harindranath Chattopadhyay.
I am surprised why they didn’t come together professionally!
HC ( aka Harin Chatterjee), besides being a poet, dramatist, singer and composer had a strong connection to Hindi films ( a few Bengali,too, mainly with Satyajit Ray; and, one Czech in language as well!) as an Actor, lyricist and singer.
Actor_ _ From SAHIB BIWI AUR GHULAM, 1962 To MALAAMAL, 1988.
Lyricist_ _ The most popular, of course, is My heart is beating ( JULIE)… Rajesh Roshan.
But, many people fail to recall that he wrote the two delightful Ashok Kumar songs from AASHIRWAD, 1968…Vasant Desai.
Rail gaadi &
Nav chali
Naani ki nav chali
Neena ki naani ki nav chali…
We tend to assume that Gulzar must be the lyricist.
He also wrote for Bappi Lahiri and Jeetu Tapan.

Singer_ _ AASHIRWAD ,BAWARCHI.
I think he is the lyricist of the song Jhingapur Thakur Thakur , AASHIRWAD, which has him singing with Ashok Kumar.

The only times SDB and HC came together were in TERE GHAR KE SAMNE and TEEN DEVIYAN ( as composer and actor)..I am not sure if HC was seen as a part of any of the songs.
As an aside, Sarojini Naidu, HC’s illustrious sister, Nightingale of India, was married to actress Leela Naidu’s father’s brother.

Dr. Pradeep Kumar Shetty @100

Thanks for bringing memories of Harendra Nath Chattopadhyay and his illustrious sister Sarojini Devi Chattopadyay.

In fact all the members of Chattopadhyay family were very illustrious. They all were forbidden to talk or read in Bengali by their illustrious father.

Sarojini regretted that she could not talk or read Bengali so she did not read Tagore’s literature in original Bengali. But she was the one who was asked to make the funeral speech on Tagore’s death.

I was very fond of her poetry from my young age. She was sent to England by her illustrious father who was a bit of eccentric in his efforts to make gold in his laboratory. Sarjini wrote a poem about her mad but loving husband.

She was sent to England to dissuade her from her falling in love with her Doctor Naidu when she was a teenager.

In England her poetry became a rage and by W.B.Yeates and many poets she was groomed to become the first Indian Nobel Prize winner but then Yeates was introduced to the poetry of Tagore and he and other English poets recommended Tagore for the Nobel Prize.

Sarojini produced five volumes and her sixth was not published. It was believed that until her dying day she was writing poems.

But Harendra Nath wrote more poems than Sarojini did in English.

I very much like his acting in the film “Tere Ghara Ke Saamane”.

Sarojini’s handwriting was very obscure only two people could read it one Hrendra Nath and secondd her husband Dr Naidu. Dr Naidu was a widower and was double the age of Sarojini when he married her.

He prepared all her poems typing on the Typewriter. He was appointed in the first Raj Sabha member of the Nehru Government.

Shalan Lal

Arthur Symons, not Synonyms!!!

R Vasudevan @ 98

Shankar Jaikishan and all other music directors of the Golden Era were phenomenal in their own right. We should respect all MDs and their fans, though it’s strange that some persons don’t think that way. We in our SDB group encourage respect for all MDs, and their fans.

I generally quote from my research. If I quote from outside, I mention my source. Talking about S-J, reminds me of two anecdotes connected with SDB. You may find both interesting:

I think it was probably Filmfare Award for Abhimaan (1973) which Burman Dada had won. Shankar rang up Dada and complimented him. Dada replied, “Shankor, thank you. Maine paisa nahin diya.”
(Reference: Our interview with Shiv Kumar Sharma. I don’t remember, which Part number it is.)
******
Shankar on S. D. Burman:
“Yoon to apni taarif sun-na sabhi ko achcha lagta hai, par us waqt khushi ka thikanaa nahin rehta, jab koi shakhs aapki taareef kar raha ho, jinke aap khud prashansak (admirer) hain. Aur wok shakhs hai S.D. Burman.

Ek baar Russia se lautkar Burman Dada mujhse kehne lage ki tumne barson si aisi Barsaat shuru kar kar dee hai ki ab tak log usmein bheeg rahe hain.

Aaiye, Burman Dada ke sangeet se sajee film Guide ka ek geet sune. Yeh hai meri aur se unko shraddhanjali.”

Song played, ‘Aaj phir jeene ki tammana hai’ (Guide – 1965)
(Source: Jaimala Gold.)

r vasudevan @ 107

I agree.
Please see two videos uploaded on YouTube:

Gracious S D Burman Always Encouraged his Contemporaries (Part I)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnQWQJU5bfI

Gracious S.D. Burman Always Encouraged his Contemporaries(Part II) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAdZcUNPY9g

I have material for Part III, which time permitting, I will be uploading on YouTube.

Thanks for comments.

Venkataramanji @ 90
Though I have explanations, yet I at the outset regret hurting your feelings as a fan of SDB with my remarks. But, when I write such things the first one who is hurt is myself. I do not like to say such things about SDB or anybody whom I respect. I am also a fan of SDB without any doubt.

At the outset, I say that I never said that I felt hurt by the phrase used against Rafi, so your addressing me this in retaliation to that was hardly needed. I think, I should have used the word lie/boast which Lalwaniji used. Boasting is also the same as lying but is considered excusable by many. These celebrities lie with so much ease that if you start hurting yourself about their lies being exposed you will be troubling yourself unnecessarily. In the excerpt of SDB posted by Lalwaniji, there were many things which I could have taken up, but just ignored because then it would have been branded as ‘baal ki khaal nikalna’. Otherwise consider SDB says ‘I worked hard with Sahir and under my direct supervision he wrote this song.’ Was SDB such an expert of poetry that he would supervise the work of a poet like Sahir and Sahir would tolerate that. SDB’s reputation was that he did not understand poetry much and perhaps because of that he always insisted on tune first, because then poet would write according to tune and SDB would not have to do ‘sarfutawwal’ to understand poetry.

The lines written by him – ‘Through this particular song only, Hemant Kumar got established in the Hindi Film industry. People were also very happy to hear a new voice for the Hindi movies.’ – are also at best a boast without any truth. Because no single song can establish any body and Hemant’s voice was well known to people because he had sung earlier also songs in addition to the version songs I mentioned. He was also a composer who would sing his own songs and the great singer he was bound to be successful.

Tell me, when bollywood singers like Rafi, Lata and others sang songs of other languages like Tamil etc. was it expected of them to perfect their pronunciations of that language first before recording the songs. Naushad wanted perfection from Lata and Rafi because he intended to use them extensively. But, Hemant was forgotten for 2 years by SDB after recording the Jaal songs. How can both the situations be compared. Also, Naushad himself had mastery over Hindi/Urdu, which was not the case with SDB, who despite being a great singer avoided recording songs in Hindi because for that he needed help of others for perfection of his pronunciation. It is a well known fact that SDB despite his 30 years in Hindi cinema could never speak even ‘kaam chalau’ hindi, while this was not the case with Hemant.

You say that just because SDB’s statement was not refuted by Hemant or his wife in their books proves the fact is right. What a strange logic. There can be a number of reasons for not doing so or not even knowing the comment exists. And I never said writing this slighted Hemant. You say this was petty matter. Then why did he mention such a petty thing. You have also used my disclaimer as some sort of proof. I would use that disclaimer even for Lata or Asha of the initial days also. I would not go into the philosophy of the difference between a ‘lie’ and a ‘liar’.

I hope you would take my regret and explanations in the right spirit and excuse my transgressions, because I have a huge respect for you and would like to be in your good books.

Mr Lalwani has made use of the fact that Kishore Kumar’s name did not figure among the singers list of Chalti Ka Naam Gadi, as to suggest that it was due to some pressure of SDB. I may mention here that in the 50s in a lot of films singers names were not given. Even in Jhumroo, the music of which was composed by Kishore himself, the list of singers did not contain his name. In Karorepati also that is the case. Perhaps his name was left out because of the fact that he was a singer-actor and his name had already appeared in the beginning of the cast.

He had earlier mentioned that SDB suggested the song ‘rimjhim ke rarane leke aayi barsaat’ be picturised in the background, to which I had made a logical reply. But, now after his posting transcripts of his interview with Waheeda Rehman, – if what she says is true – it is clear that SDB did not even know that the song is being picturised in the background, with flashbacks of their past meeting being shown. There was no Waheeda dance for which SDB was giving suggestions.

Pradeepji 100,,
There is one more film where SDB and Harindranath Chattopadhyay worked together (again as composer and actor).Teen Devyan (1965). I do not know about Tere Ghar Ke Samne, but he makes an appearance towards the end of the song Ae Se to na dekho, in the film Teen Deviyaan. He can also be seen in the final scene where the first lines of the song Likha hai teri aankhon me is repeated.

Dr Shetty @103 & N.Venkatraman @115

First Dr. Shetty:

In my comment “Sarojini wrote a poem about her mad but loving husband.”. There is slip of using words. It should be read as “Sarojini wrote a poem about her mad but loving husband.” It should be “Sarojini wrote a poem about her mad but loving father.” And not husband. Her father left her his house called “Golden Threshold” hence her first volume of poems are called “Golden Threshold.”

I think her sub-title as “Nightingale of India” was about her sweet poems spoken in her musical voice a gift from her mother. Gandhi was not much interested in poetry. But he was interested in Bhajans and spiritual songs sung by Subbalaxmi especially when he was on the fasting bouts.

Dr Shetty your comments and memories are authentic. Mine are now a days becoming unreliable as I am suffering from the “Progressive loss of Memories” disease. This could happen to any one.

N. Venkatraman: No sir I meant Dr. Naidu he was appointed in the Upper House of the Indian Parliament. One of his sons also later on was appointed as the member of Rajyasabha. Indira Gandhi’s husband also was a member of the Rajyasabha.

Mahatma Gandhi always took Sarojini to the Round Table conference in England. She was the one who could talk English without Indian accent and also was very well known in England and America due to her Poetry Readings at various Universities. She earned a lot of fees from these readings. She regularly wrote reviews of the literary and art books sent to her by McMillan and other publishers.

After India became Independent she was expecting that Nehru would appoint her as the Foreign Minister. But Nehru kept that portfolio in his own hands. She was deeply hurt by Nehru’s act. She was made Rajpal of UP. And she died as a broken heart in that post.

There are a lot of information about Nehru’s mistakes and bad judgments about the people he appointed in his ministry and his own judgments on many things that should have a democratic look and not personal selections..

One daughter of Sarojini organised the vast library of Nehru papers. But she too felt that she was used by Nehru and did get right reward for her work.

History is very strange often frightening when a lot of unsavoury information comes in one’s way when one is not looking for it.

Shalan Lal

Shalanji,
You wrote
@ 102
“He was appointed in the first Raj Sabha member of the Nehru Government.”
@ 116
“N. Venkatraman: No sir I meant Dr. Naidu he was appointed in the Upper House of the Indian Parliament. One of his sons also later on was appointed as the member of Rajyasabha. Indira Gandhi’s husband also was a member of the Rajyasabha.”

Sorry I misunderstood you . Ok you meant DR. Naidu, Sarojini Naidu’s husband. Dr.Paidipati Govindarajulu Naidu.

Imperial Legislative Council was replaced by the Constituent Assembly most probably in 1946. And Dr. Naidu was not a member of the Constituent Assembly.

In November 1949, the constitution of India was passed. On 26 January 1950 the constitution took effect and the Constituent Assembly became the Provisional Parliament of India. The Rajya Sabha started functioning from 1952 and Dr. Naidu passed away in 1949.

In the Rajya Sabha site I could get only four Naidus who were members of the Upper House.
P. S. Rajgopal Naidu, M.L. Mary Naidu, N.P. Chengalraya Naidu and M. Venkaiah Naidu

Feroze Gandhi was a member of the provincial parliament (1950–1952). Then in 1952 and again in 1957 Feroze Gandhi was elected to the Lok Sabha (lower house) from Rae Bareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

I appreciate you difficulty. I am much very much younger than you and my memory doesn’t serve me well at times. It happens.
Madam, please correct me if am wrong.

N Venkataraman @ 117

Some Clarifications on your reply:”I worked hard with Sahir and under my direct supervision he wrote this song.”

My clarification: SD was a pioneer in composing tune first right from his Bangla days, on which the lyric writer had to write. Sahir, Kaifi and some others were not used to it. Hence, both the composer and the writer would sit together, writer would write, Dada would sing and ask writer to change where it didn’t fit the meter, and that’s how it was.

Kaifi. In fact has gone on record about SD Burman during his first film Buzdil (1951) days, that it was equivalent to, “Kabar khudi hui hai, murda dhoondke usmein fit karna hai.”

Here is the link to the Kaifi’s interiew on YouTube: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo5Dxye1W-A&app=desktop  

About SD understanding Hindi/Urdu poetry, please watch my video on YouTube:
S D Burman and his Lyric Writers
https://youtu.be/76bx7-iED1I

Thanks.

Hans @121 it was not Mr.Lalwani who called Rafi a full throated singer. At least that particular term was used by me in post number 31 and I used it because prior to Rafi (again entirely my opinion) few people sang with such voice projection and I have enjoyed his singing.

SSW
I may tell you here that I have a huge respect for you and consider you the best in describing a song with the perspective of notes, instruments etc used and its ups and downs. We may have different opinions in some matters and in one or two instances we have argued our points. But I keep these things separate and know you have a deep knowledge of music and you discuss it with the perspective of an expert which I am not. When you talk about pitch or full throated singing it is different than what a layman thinks of these terms. So I never enter into arguments on these, because it is not my field. Due to this special place of you in my mind, I always read your comments with keen interest because it enhances my knowledge. I had read your comments at 31, when I posted my comments in reply to Lalwaniji.

If you can have a look at Lalwaniji’s comment at 43, which was in reply to your comment at 31, you will find that he used both the words full-throated voice and loudness which I have mentioned in my replies. You used the phrase full-throated singing, but Lalwaniji used full-throated voice in negative sense. You would agree that full-throated singing and full-throated voice when used like what Lalwaniji did are two different things. Rafi’s full-throated singing which you also called voice projection was a unique thing which made him different than other singers and thus a positive quality of which I am also a fan like you. But, Lalwaniji has used that as a negative phrase and also brought in the Bengali composers as a group rejecting Rafi due to that in the same comment. I was objecting to that.

N Venkatraman @118 & ksbhatia @119

Thanks for your extremely researched comments. With that kind of digging in the archives it will be extremely stupid of me to go on augmenting.

In writing my comments I wanted to point out that in the history of early politics of the Indian Independence movement I had a feeling that Sarojini was used by both Gandhi and Nehru and honouring her relatives with lower kinds of honours the guilt of the top people was seen vividly.

The “Chattopadhyas of Hyderabad” were extremely important family as other classically known Bengali families were during the 19th Century.

Sarojini’s undermining is still prevalent according to me even today by the extreme exaltation to Tagore in poetry writing.

Sarojini did not write in any other language but English. Tagore wrote his poetry only in Bengali.

A few years back some people tried to create a debate about the English Translation of Tagore of “Geetanjali” as not good as the English poems of Sarojini. She had command on the English both written and spoken. She was a child prodigy. She wrote her first opus when she was under 12 years old. She finished her Cambridge matriculation before she was sixteen and she was a Gold medallist of the University of Madras in English.

Her English poems were far too superior than the contemporary English writers. But she never wrote or used Indian mysticism. In fact there was not a single poem by her about the Indian spiritual experience or something like that.

Indian spiritualism is always expected from an Indian abroad and nothing less is expected from the Indians.

This I found out when I was doing a short course on American crime literature in sixties. Almost all wanted to me write a crime story using my spiritual heritage. When I said I had no such experience in my life, they did not believe in me. They expected a spiritual talk from me and not scientific logical argumentation.

Sarojini had to fight both fronts Indians and in the West elites.

A time will come when people will want to restore her honour in both literature and in the socio-political order.

This is my faith.

Hence my mistakes in the political history about her and about her relatives can be ignored as mistaken outlook.

Shalan Lal

Majrooh Sultanpuri on ‘Jalte hain jiske liye’:

Way back in the year 2000, there was a program held in memory of S.D. Burman, organised by Bimal Roy Memorial Committee in St. Andrews Auditorium, Bandra West, Mumbai. Majrooh Sultanpuri, the Chief Guest of the evening, spoke in glowing terms on his association with Burman Dada. I attended it with three others from my family and friends. In the audience was Sunil Dutt, who also spoke about SD Burman, and how he used to be jealous of Dev Anand who always got music by S.D. Burman, until Sujata.

Years later, someone uploaded a video of that program on YouTube, with only the part where Majrooh had spoken on SD Burman. I downloaded it and also wrote down its text. Unfortunately, the YouTube video was removed after some time, most probably due to Copyright issues. I am reproducing here an excerpt of text where Majrooh speaks about Bimal Roy and SD Burman’s interaction on how to pcturise ‘Jalte hain jiske liye’ song from Sujata. The numbers are timing in minutes of the video.

3.30 Is ke pehle geet woh hua, ‘Jalte hain jiske liye, teri aankhon ke diye’. Iska ek bahut achcha lateefa hai iska. Ki yeh telephone par tha yeh geet. Aur, Bimal babu, kyon ki realism mein believe karte the, lihaaza, itni cinematic liberty nahin lena chaahte the ki telephone par gaana ho. To, Burman sahib ne usko bahut (samjhaya). Burman sahib kaafi yaani darpok kisam ke aadmi, agar woh rakh leejiye, to dab jaate the. Lekin, us din maine unki bravery dekhi, unki bahaaduri dekhi, ki, tahil rahe the to aise-aise tehlne lage. Aise tahil rahe hain, aur Bimal Roy sahib baithe hue hain, aise-aise tahil rahe hain.

(SDB) “Bimal babu.”
Unhonein kaha, ‘Haan’.

(SDB) “Agar tum hamara music nahin lega, gaana nahin lega, to hum tumhara music nahin dega.”

4.22 Yeh jumla, us-se (Bimal Roy se), bada ajeeb humko bhi laga, hum sabko bhi laga, aur sahib, unhonein unke (SDB) bholpan par, wakai unki bholpan par kaail hote hue, unhonein kaha,
(Bimal Roy), ‘Achcha-achcha, main doonga’. Aur uske baad woh geet aaya.
*****
Note: I don’t have any intention to get in to any argument here. It’s up to members to trust or not. However, I am willing to answer any additional question from this.

@ ksbhatia ji,

In Majrooh’s words – l have his voice recording – Dada wanted a solo to be written on his tune while Majrooh pleaded with him to allow writing a duet in interactive way to which Dada agreed. There was no threat of stopping work like Sujata.
About telephone sound test I can’t recollect.
However I have Bandini episode where again Dada threatened to stop composing if Kalyani does not go out to sing. The proof is Gulzar’s interview which I have. Thanks for comments.

Mumbaikar8
When you say Rafi stunned SDB in Pyasa, do you believe SDB did not know the capabilities of Rafi before that film. If that had been so then SDB would not have been so great a composer. So he knew very well that Rafi can not only deliver his concept, but with Rafi he could think of achieving those concepts which he could only dream with others. But, his Dhratrashtian love for Kishore made him settle below his dreams. It was only because of KK tantrums he was forced to use for such a long time and may be the producers/directors/financiers forced him to continue with him so long. You may be knowing that SDB did not give KK a single song from 1958 to 64, except where KK was the hero. In Teen Devian he discarded Rafi after 2 songs. Then in Jewel Thief he gave one duet to Rafi. At this time Rafi was simply ruling and distributors were asking the question whether Rafi was singing in the film or not. When Aradhana was announced distributors, who were cheated in Teen Devian and Jewel Thief, asked for solid proof that Rafi would sing. So the two Rafi duets were recorded and shown to them, though they were to come late in the film. Rafi was told he is done for the film and he went abroad. Aradhana became a hit is another matter.

The song ‘sun le tu dil ki sada’ is beautifully sung. ‘Meri awaaj ka teer jayega dil ko bhi cheer’ is literally true for Rafi’s voice. Rafi was at his romantic best with SDB in Tere Ghar Ke Samne. I am waiting for your promised theory.

Lalwaniji
At 33 you said Bimal Roy was a puritan and now you give us a transcript in which Majrooh says Bimal Roy was a realist. Can you tell us whether both of these words mean the same thing or no. Also what was the cinematic liberty in singing a song on phone, because phone is for speaking and the same organs are used for speaking and singing. Why Bimal Roy had objection as a realist. Was he being asked to convey water through phone.

Also kindly decode the following, what it means.
(SDB) “Agar tum hamara music nahin lega, gaana nahin lega, to hum tumhara music nahin dega.”

And can you give us the transcript of the Gulzar interview.

Re 133.
Mr Rajaram, Chennai Welcome to SOY.
If you are living in Chennai as I do, we can meet to talk about songs. If agreed I will let you know my next move.

Mumbaikar8 @ 127,
Thanks for posting both the versions of the song “Sun le tu dil ki sada”. I find Harindranath Chattopadhyay making an appearance in the first part too for a few seconds.

AK @135

Thanks AKji. Looking forward to enriching my spartan knowledge of HFS. Knowing & sharpening my knowledge about ragas of Tamil & Hindi film songs is a favourite pastime for me. Regards.

Re 136
my e-mail ID is
raghavan_vasudevan@rediffmail.com.
you may send a mail to me.

Subhodh Agrawal@143
Subodhji
I have been curious about the song. Some MDs like SDB have the genius of camouflaging a raga in order to heighten the melodic element. Another tidbit about this song may be of interest to all of you. I think the film was released in 1970., Kamalhassan must have liked the song immensely. In 1994, for one of his films Devar Magan, he hummed the song in a sitting with the great composer Ilayaraaja and asked him to compose a duet on the same lines. Maestro Ilayaraaja never agrees to such pleas. He agreed may be because SDB was his favorite composer and Kamal was a good friend. Rajaa used a different mukuda but the antara was similar. The song was a huge hit.
Song link is https://youtu.be/0d1fr5hyBsY.

Er. Moti Lalwani ji;

Navketan Production team with SDB ….had hard won achievements giving hits one after another. With team work of Chetan, Dev and Vijay the entertainment was assured .

At some moment of glory something strange happened and we saw Goldie leaving the scene or rather leaving the Navketan camp giving way to Dev for holding the fort. Dev started with a promise but flatter in subsequent film following with different permutation and combinations with young hero, heroins and MDs .

In this exponential fall period of no return…..Goldie was in his own self and he too made some good movies under different productions ….which too were hits in early periods . When not in demand he acted in two or three movies ….mostly suspense/ crime thrillers but banged at the box office . …..A pure case of fall by default.

It is sad ; it is impossible to live without failing at something where you have loss the grip. Chor Chor ….was such movie in which Vijay Goldie was hero , Dialogue writer and …. stated in the titles as Navketan Enterprise . The movie had no song writer , no Music Director and was at a great risk of being a big failure …and it was. An unkind of a Navketan Productions.

Yes ; a few lines of famous signature song from …house no 44 …..pheli hui hai sapno ki bahein….was used…sung by Vijay Anand on harmonium in one scene and the complete portion was used in background for creating suspense [ la gumnaam hai koyi].

This was the road they traveled to nowhere.

Phaili Hui Hain Sapni Ki Bahain – Vijay Anand -Chor Chor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQIQ6xIHFYA

Meanwhile SDB sticked to his magic wagon and gave hits after hits under different production houses….never yielding even at his closure end .

my posting at 142 with ref to 139.
I revealed my e-mail ID hoping that you (Rajaraman) would send me a mail but so far I did not receive any mail. I was expecting an introductionary mail. Your response pl. If not interested even than spell out. I live not far away from you.

Hansji @ 117,
Thank you for your candid views.
Initially I thought of replying to your comment, taking every point into consideration. That was on 29th October and today is 6th November. The one week gap changed my thoughts. And I felt it will not be prudent on my part to take this discussion any further.

ksbhatia ji @ 151

There are instances where SD resorted to taking dance steps to compose dance music. I have Waheeda’s voice clip when she has said that in Guide, after working hard on a dance music, he asks her how she will dance? Before she replies, he takes a few steps suggesting to her to dance that way. She doesn’t narrate which song it was. I have that audio clip with me.
There is Shakti Samanta’s published interview of 1980s with me, wherein Shakti has narrated that Dada had asked him the distance between the tractor wheels. One day when Shakti reached Dada’s ‘The Jet bungalow’, he found that Dada had drawn chalk marks on floor, and was found dancing to the rhythm of the song he ultimately he created. Rhythm player Lalji Gangavane’s son Sushil told us that his father had told him that Burman Dada used to dance while composing dance music.

Thanks.

ksbhatia ji @ 153

Yes, Sheila Ramani was beautiful, even in B&W film. The dimples added to her beauty, carrying herself well, even in presence of debonair Dev.

I will add some information for those who may not know:
Asha has gone on record that ‘Jeene de, aur jiyo’ was her first ever cabaret song. And Lata has said that her first cabaret song was in ‘Taxi Driver’ (1954). Incidentally,

Lata had three of them, out of which ‘Ae meri zindagi’ is my most favourite. SDB’s unique ability was to create a tune apt to the situation, this being one of his best. The music alone beautifully creates the tension in the air, rising to a crescendo, and then there is deathly silence.

Besides KK and Asha, there is a third voice of the actor spurned by Sheila, who Sings:
“Aankh chhupa kar baithne waale, aankh uthha kar dekh zaraa
Hum bhi hain tere chaahne waale, teer chalaa kar dekh zaraa.”

I checked up with Mohan Churiwala, a long-time friend of Dev Anand. It’s KK all the way. About the 3rd person (kabab mein hadi), Mohan says that his name is Hammad, father of Farzana. Farzana is a friend of actress Rekha.

Mohan has no idea whose voice is behind Hammad’s lip-syncing. But, I am told by a friend the 3rd voice is of Bhagwan Sinha who Sings:

Aankh chhupa kar baithne waale, aankh uthha kar dekh zaraa
Hum bhi hain tere chaahne waale, teer chalaa kar dekh zaraa

Dev Anand lip syncs for himself:
Bandar jaisi soorat teri, murge jaisi taangen hain
Arre bandar jaisi soorat teri, murge jaisi taangen hain
Arre woh kyaa dekhen tuhi khud ko, aayinaa laakar dekh zaraa

(It is a lovely song well picturised in a boat devoid of much orchestration.)