Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri: Two lyricists in tandem and contrast

Interesting blog post, AK. And no, I have never been able to figure out who’s written which song. Not just between Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri, but pretty much all lyricists – Sahir may be the exception – but only to some extent – because of the exceptionally hard-hitting, no holds barred nature of so many of his songs. But then, this was, too, the same man who wrote Sar jo tera chakraaye and Bhanwra bada naadaan hai… I think what I admire a lot about so many of these lyricists of the Golden Age of Hindi Cinema was their sheer versatility. They seem to have been able to write almost anything required of them.

This is a fantastic post. We tend to develop an image of the lyricists by what we read, but writers are not necessarily objective and such images often distort or oversimplify. I have been vexed about my being unable to distinguish between the lyrics by these two who featured together in SJ songs. Most of my guesses went wild, and I started noting their names against their songs in my diary, in two distinct inks- that is the only way I could distinguish their lyrics.
But there was another angle. We were told that Shailendra often worked with Shankar and Hasrat with Jaikishan. And that the title song was composed by Shankar being the senior. So I used the lyricist to identify the composer! But here I find that that too is not so obvious.
I had also read that Shankar had a preference for Mukesh, and Jaikishan for Rafi. So I sort of took it that a Mukesh song meant Shailendra and Shankar! This post breaks all such simple categorisation. We would never know how the songs in a film were divided between these two lyricists who worked in tandem for so long.
We take the songs as they are and enjoy!

A very interesting post, but, alas, that leaves us no wiser as regrds the great conundrum. But wait, there are so many stalwarts around here, and connoisseurs, who know even know more about your likings than you do, who will surely come up with their foolproof formulae.

Ak ji,
An interesting post. It’s very difficult to guess the lyricist just by the lyrics. And I completely agree with you, except for the songs already known as Shailendra’s, there is no clue to differentiate between the two. For that matter any lyricist.
But, even if we don’t remember the songs by lyricists, they form an important part of the process, in fact they give birth to the song, which later grows up under composer’s care and finally attains maturity with singers’s rendition.
When we praise anyone, naturally his/her parents are also mentioned in some way or the other. So we should felicitate the lyricists as well.

Of course this is in general for all the lyricists.
I have no clue to differentiate the two, as far as today’s post in concerned.

Anup
🙂

Please read ‘go into raptures about’ in place of ‘go into raptures at’.

Good post but a clear bias for shailendra.just seperate all the lovesongs of md Rafi or title songs of films….they are all hasrat jaipuris.Following tjem since 1956,when i started listning gramaphone records of Aah,anarkali,nagin, baghi….i can blindly say which is written by which of the duo…from words,genre & theme. The table does lot of injustice to hasratjaipuri.

#13 ChittiBala
This is wonderful. Please share with the SoY fraternity, for our benefit too, in some detail how you identify Hasrat and Shailendra songs?

I find this post is very intelligently written and also takes our understanding further about the lyricists and their lyrics.

With RK film songs, RK has very powerful stamp on the lyricists. I saw a picture of RK and Shailendra together. Shailendra has just written a lyric and RK is reading it and on can see the uneasiness on the face of Shailendra. This shows RK has his point of view on the lyrics. This could be the same with his attitude with other lyricists as well.

From the lyrics to tell who has written the lyric needs very good study of so many things about the film and its creations and many other persons need to know. The actor, the composer, the producer and director are the main factors of the creation of the film lyric. There may be more factors are involved.

Even after this I have some doubts about some lyrics written by Sahir. For example the Pyasa film lyric is:

सखी री बिरहा के दुखड़े सह सह कर जब राधे बेसुध हो ली
तो इक दिन अपने मनमोहन से जा कर यूँ बोली
आज सजन मोहे अंग लगालो
जनम सफ़ल हो जाये
हृदय की पीड़ा देह की अग्नि
सब शीतल हो जाये
करूं लाख जतन मोरे मन की तपन
मोरे तन की जलन नहीं जाये
कैसी लागी ये लगन कैसी जागी ये अगन
जिया धीर धरन नहीं पाये
प्रेम सुधा … मोरे साँवरिया
प्रेम सुधा इतनी बरसा दो जग जल थल हो जाये
आज सजन …
मोहे अपना बनालो मेरी बाँह पकड़
मैं हूँ जनम जनम की दासी
मेरी प्यास बुझा दो मनहर गिरिधर, प्यास बुझा दो
मैं हूँ अन्तर्घट तक प्यासी
प्रेम सुधा … मोरे साँवरिया
प्रेम सुधा इतनी बरसा दो जग जल थल हो जाये
आज सजन …
कई जुग से हैं जागे
मोरे नैन अभागे) २
कहीं जिया नहीं लागे बिन तोरे
सुख देखे नहीं आगे २
दुःख पीछे पीछे भागे
जग सूना सूना लागे बिन तोरे
प्रेम सुधा, मोरे साँवरिया, साँवरिया
प्रेम सुधा इतनी बरसा दो जग जल थल हो जाये
आज सजन …

I cannot believe the lyric has written by Sahir with great respect for his poetic ability.

The song has Baul philosophy and also the style.
Shalan Lal

AK
Very interesting and well researched post. Frankly I can’t recognize the lyricist by listening to the song. But I have a soft corner for Shailendra only because of his association with other MD’s.
Generally a lyricist has constraints as he can only write according to the situation of the story and in many cases to the tune/meter set by the MD. So we can’t expect too much of individuality in such cases.

AK’ji ;

Your listing of songs is like an island with beautiful shores….the waves untiringly hitting far off sandy beaches….inviting listeners to dip in and ride along the waves .

Royun mein sagar ke kinare ……The greatest healing therapy is listening to Shailendra’s songs…and for celebrating love life listen to Hasrat Jaipuri romantic songs. Shilendra ‘s songs conveyed many meaningful songs with minimal possible words …..and many songs had hidden reference / connection to god . Chali kaun se desh….and many other had deep meaning …like of Sahir’s ….woh ghar more baul ka yeh duniya sasural . Tujhe Apne Paas Bulati Hai -and Andhe jahan ke andhe raste…..songs from Patita are again great reference towards the other world.

Hasrat gave many romantic and teaser songs . My rough assessment is 80:20 for romantic : sad / serious songs . For Shailendra too it is 80:20 but in reverse order , i.e , serious/ classic : romantic songs. This 80 /20 ratio goes to Shankar Jaikishan too. One holding castle of classic tombs and other one opening the doors for modern and romantic songs.

Love is the greatest refreshment in life…. and RK’s pillars’s friendship were truly set to music and Hasrat conveys it all in….Sau saal pahele mujhe tum se pyar tha , aajbhi aur kal bhi rahega . Jab pyar kisi se hota hai film had many of Hasrat’s romantic songs . The classic dance number was by Shailendra.

Writing lyrics is a great art that requires many inputs like…story , screenplay , character of actors , song situation and pre and post story situation . An excellent example is [ i have referd earlier also] from RK’s Shree 420 song….Ramiya vastavaiya .

Ramayya Vastawaiyya | Shree 420

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW72kDrJvwA

Now how to judge who wrote which song . In Mumbai there are many fan clubs…and I usually listen to such platforms where Shailendra’s and Hastrat Jaipuri songs are discussed and their siblings are invited for clear references and behind the scenes situations . The other referal point for me are the jackets of my collections of the cassettes as their inlays contains the name of the lyricists too .

One more story involving Shailendra and Gulzar https://scroll.in/reel/859281/audio-master-bandini

AK @ 21

Thanks for your statement.

What I was trying to say is that to understand Baul singing style and also Chaitanya philosophy one needs a lot of study to bring it in a lyric.

By being Maxist follower it will not be possible however a poet great to digest and bring the subtle nuances of the delicate matters of the Chaitanya philosophy in the work of art.

So my view is that it must have been written by somebody else and because of the way contracts are written all lyrics go under the name of Sahir. Sahir was particular to see that all lyrics would be under his name.

The song could have been written by SD himself and he might have asked a Hindi Expert like Shailendra to go over it to polish it.

SD has natural attraction for the Bauls as he came from Assam ruled by Bengal and linguistically and culturally very close to Pan Bengal culture.

Shalan Lal

AK ji
Compliments on a very good post. Very intriguing in the sense that you put up certain questions, attempted answers, brought forward analysis and in the end concluded that matter remains inconclusive. However this situation is very much understandable. The questions are complex indeed.

AK ji
The friendship of the awesome foursome of S-J; Shailendra-Hasrat is unforgettable. When they worked with Raj Kapoor(it didn’t matter whether it was under RK banner or any other producers) the quality of songs got even higher because these five had long discussions over each song. They set a standard regarding great teamwork. All the lyrics/compositions could not be used sometimes, but they retained them in their songs bank and were alert enough to use the same at an appropriate time.
Thanks

What a fine post and one needs to read again and again so as to post a comment. Hence I submit my first interim response. Will be back
shortly

This is a very interesting post with adequate research done before getting published. Further , is there also a singers’s choice with the lyricists?

Let me add to the chorus of not really knowing a song by its lyricist. Like Madhu, I can just about identify some of Sahir’s characteristic terseness/leftist idealogy, but he’s also responsibe for some of the most beautiful love poetry in Hindi films.

I find Ms. Shalan Lal’s contention that Sahir couldn’t have written Aaj sanam mohe ang lagaa de strange. The better lyricists of the time were all well-read men of humanities; film-makers like Guru Dutt and Raj Kapoor were known to discuss the story and characters and the background with their MDs and lyricists. Since Sahir was responsible for Khayyam getting Phir Subah Hogi on the grounds that no one who had not read Crime and Punishment could do a good job of it, I’m pretty sure that he would have imbibed Baul philosophy before he composed a devotional song that, intepreted another way, had sensuous overtones. The filming of the song also identified the dichotomy of the lyrics.

To say otherwise (or to state that he took credit for someone else’s composition) is an insult to a great poet.

What a beautiful way of analysing the eternal question – identify the lyricist from lyrics. Nobody has the answer, but in this post this has been tested on various criterion. It has also been brought out clearly through the long list of songs that the general perception about Shailendra and Hasrat is not true. I would not only second Tyagi bhai about the importance of this unique quartet, but also add a few things of my own. This pairing of two with two is quite extraordinary and stood the test of time. One can remind us about Naushad-Shakeel pair, but Naushad was at that time already no 1 and could dictate who could be the lyricist. And their association started in 1947 which was 8 years after Naushad came on the scene. But SJ from the start insisted on these two lyricists, though they were not yet fully established. Such loyalty points to some prior friendship between these four great persons, though credit of joining them went to RK.

In Barsaat they are introduced, with Shailendra getting 2 songs and Hasrat getting 7. Rest of the 2 songs went to others and the run away hit and the most popular song of this film ‘hawa men udta jaye’ was written by one Ramesh Shashtri. Another popular song ‘mujhe kisi se pyar ho gaya’ was written by Jalal Malihabadi. These lyricists were selected by RK. But, SJ never remembered them. They only knew two names until 1967. But, if there is a rule there are bound to be exceptions. In 1960 they gave a whole film College Girt to Rajendra Krishan. In addition to that Saraswati Kumar Deepak wrote one song for them in Boot Polish and Kamlesh wrote one in Raat Aur Din. Besides these two, they used Ghalib’s ghazal ‘ye na thi hamari kismat’ in Main Nashe Men Hoon and one from Faiz in Jaanwar. This was all they gave to others in 85 films from 1951 to 1967. No lyricist is mentioned against 5 songs in HFGK, for this period.

SJ gave 305 songs to Hasrat and 366 songs to Shailendra from 1949 to 1967. Since Shailendra died in 1966, he has very few songs after 1967, 18 to be precise. After 1968 and upto 1980 Hasrat got 171 more songs from SJ. So his total for SJ is 476 in 136 films. Shailendra got 384 songs in 90 films. Other lyricists got 268 songs from SJ. From 1968 to 1970, the break up is Shailendra 17, Hasrat 78 and others 63. From 1971-80 break up is, Shailendra 1, Hasrat 93 and others 199. So far as other composers are concerned, Hasrat got 484 songs in 125 films, while Shailendra got 273 songs in 53 films. So Hasrat has a total of 960 songs in 261 films and Shailendra has 657 songs in 143 films.

If we break them up further into time periods, there are interesting trends. From 1951-60, SJ did 42 films, one went to Rajendra Krishan. In the 41 films Shailendra got 212 songs while Hasrat got just 126 songs. So in this period Shailendra was a clear favourite with them. But, later things changed. From 1961-64, in 24 films Hasrat got 91 songs while Shailendra got 93 songs. Here they are on equal terms. And from 1965-67, Hasrat got 81 songs and Shailendra got 59 songs from 19 films. Of these 19 films Shailendra did not get any song in Arzoo and Aman and got one song each in Love In Tokyo and Gunahon Ka Devta. Hasrat got 27 songs in these 4 films. So if we ignore these 4 films they are on equal terms. What was the reason for this change in Hasrat’s favour from 1961 onwards. By some coincidence Rafi became a more regular feature in SJ films from the same time period and Lata’s share was reduced by other female singers in this period. Actual reason is known only to SJ but further studies of singer wise songs may reveal some trends. I would try to do that.

I found one glaring omission from Asli Naqli, ‘tera mera pyar amar’ which is undoubtedly the best song of that film for me. And this being by AK’s favourite Lata is all the more surprising. I think Chitti Bala must have got some answer from these stats. Shailendra was also the favourite of SJ and not only SOY members. For those who see classical credentials of Hasrat with some doubt, I may mention that he wrote 7 songs for Vasant Desai in Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje, 8 songs in Sehra and 9 songs in Geet Gaya Pattharon Ne for Ram Lal.

AK ji,
Since the past few months, I am not getting any mails about a post or the comments.

Ref no 57
On Thomas Hardy a few lines but before that let me admit that I am drifting away from the main topic of this post.

Thomas Hardy was indeed a poet and he wrote more of it than prose.
When his novel Tess was criticized in the Press and by readers he took a decision not to write prose again. Tess was one of the finest novels Hardy wrote. But he is well known for his works like Return of the Native, Far From the Madding crowd. In his novels there is always more twists and sprinkled with philosophy here and there.

Sahir Ludhianvi, Kaifi Azmi, Sailendra, Raja Mehandi Ali Khan and
Neeraj poetry in the form of film lyrics can stand up to highest literary standard in my view.

Anu Warrier@51 and others who have condemned my doubt.

Thanks for your opinions. I respect them all.

I feel we are in a world of free discussion and points to raise as they come to our zone of discussion.

If one reads my original comment after the quoted lyric it is
“I cannot believe the lyric has written by Sahir with great respect for his poetic ability.”
One will find that I have sensible appreciation of the “Sahir’s” ability of poetic creation.

The question came into my mind as we are given a task by the article that if we can judge or locate the writer of the lyric from looking at the lyric.

The lyric I had quoted hast “Chaitanya Philosphy” and Baul’s lyricism and also presentation.

I do not think Chaitanya philosophy could be understood in three easy lessons. It is as deep as Bgavad Gita itself.

So my doubt, if a with all the praise I have about Sahir, is legitimate and not insulting Sahir.

I suggested the Shailendra’s name with whom SD has done plenty of work and SD is also used to used Baul songs.

However if readers are getting worked up we do not have a free and good debate.

Shalan

Hansji @ 53,
I was awaiting your comments. You haven’t disappointed me. A superb statistical analysis.
In fact I started working on this, due to paucity of time I could not continue/complete the task.
Thanks for the excellent effort .

N Venkataraman @67;

I endorse your views . Hans ji shoots many arrows on a single bow ….right on target . What a wealth of information and statistical compilation !!

Mr. Vasudevan, I must say I have been more fascinated by Hardy’s poems than by his novels. I was introduced to his poetry by “The Darkling Thrush” and read may poems before I read his novels. I must say his poetry seemed to have more faith in life than his novels. 🙂

Ms.Lal why would a poet not be able to absorb a philosophical idea especially one that has parallels in say Sufism etc. If Sahir could absorb Marxism why not something else. It isn’t as if “aaj sajan mohe ang laga lo” is eons removed from this form of expression.
https://sufipoetry.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/meda-ishq-vi-toon/

Ms. Lal, I’m not getting ‘worked up’. I’m disagreeing with your premise because while you’re entitled to your opinion, you aren’t entitled to your own facts (the current US president’s views notwithstanding). 🙂 Disagreeing with your opinion is not shutting down ‘free debate’. It is free debate!

Your theory seems to be based on your view that no one can understand Chaitanya philosophy so easily, but what makes you think that Sahir only viewed Bhakti philosophy when he was signed for Pyaasa. He was a well-read, intelligent man, with diverse interests. Surely, in an age when the arts, literature and creativity were all bubbling up within that segment of literateurs, it is not unforeseen that they would have discussed a variety of disparate subjects? Because he had a Marxist idealogy doesn’t make him ignorant of the Bhakti movement or Sufism or any other; I’m an agnostic-veering-on-the-atheist – I can assure you that my knowledge of the foundations of Hinduism and its myths and traditions is much deeper than many of my social circle who claim to be true believers. I don’t need to be of the faith to be interested in reading about it, or understanding it.

And I agree with Mumbaikar – I doubt a person who had such a profound sense of self as Sahir would stoop to take credit for another person’s work. It would be a matter of shame to him, because he probably felt that what anyone could write, he could write better!

S Joseph ji @ 76 ;

I have heard your two references in interview on youtube . One by usha Timoty and second by Lekh Tandon . In both the interviews they brought these facts of creating in advance ….not the tune but the entire song with preset notions to fit in the demand of the situation . SJ would simply ask producer the situation of the song and they make them select from their bank of songs.

I have a faint remembrence …two songs like….Akele akale kahan ja rahe ho …..and …..aye gulbadan phooloan ki mehek …were selected as they could fit-in in any romantic situation in any film.

All the posts by the honourable members in this group are based on some reports / books / interviews etc. Even though the average age of the members of our group may be around 75 years , I am sure none of us can claim to have worked with SJ team or having had intimate association with any of the members of SJ team.

I give one interview which is available on YouTube .This is the source of my information for posting my comments…

Listen to the interview in this link at around 22 ‘ -23’ onwards.

https://youtu.be/L0L4CF-2krA

So if what I posted has to be rejected , then we have to say that this interview on YouTube is all misleading/fraud . There should be a great element of truth in such first person interviews.

There could be some songs that were based on personal discussions.

Is there a reason why Hasrat Jaipuri came back to the RK with that one song in RAM TERI GANGA MAILI …Sun Saiba Sun…
BOBBY, SATYAM SHIVAM SUNDARAM, PREM ROG had happened between MERA NAAM JOKER and RTGM. I am not including the ones produced by RK for Randhir Kapoor .

S Joseph ji @ 79 ;

Here is a link , a shorter one , which says it all. Out of the 18 songs placed before Lekh Tandon …..5 songs including the lyrics were selected by Tandon as it fits in the story …and that too without listening the content of the story. The two songs were prepared next day….and that is the greatness of SJ ….keeping ready the songs in banks.

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

Hansji @ 53,

Thanks for disabusing me of the notion that Hasrat Jaipuri had not penned lyrics for ‘bandish’-like songs.

S Joseph ji , AK ji;

In continuation of my observations @ 83 , here is one more reference of pre prepared ready songs of SJ which were alloted to different producers after listening to situation of the songs. The reference appears at 1.25 on wards in an interview given by Usha timothy .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1BD8NJXRjw

There is one reference of stock of tunes of SJ in possession of RK camp and they are left unattended ….hear this statement @ 10.15 onwards in above link.

Chitti Bala @ 13
Your comment is short, but it is clear that you are a big fan of SJ. Who can forget the long list of romantic songs Hasrat wrote not only for Rafi but Lata, Mukesh and others too. But, as Bhatiaji has stressed the point on various occasions that at a mature age we tend to like the other sort of songs and serious songs and Shailendra has a clear edge in this regard. Shailendra also wrote ‘hain sabse madhur wo geet jinhen hum dard ke sur men gate hain’, which appears to be almost a universal truth. So dont take the support for Shailendra as bias. He was a truly a great lyricist.

Hasrat wrote a number of romantic and love songs not only for SJ, but also for others too. But, you cannot say that for SJ, Hasrat wrote all love songs for Rafi. Remember ‘jane kahan gayi’ ‘chahe koi mujhe’ ‘aayi aayi ya karun main kya’ ‘aa gale lag ja mere sapne’ ‘radhike tune bansari churayi’ ‘khuli palak men jhutha gussa’ ‘ lal chhadi maidan khadi’ besides those three songs in An Evening in Paris. And can there be any doubt that he wrote two of the greatest romantic songs ‘khoya khoya chand’ and ‘tere mere sapne’ for SDB. Hasrat had a penchant for romantic songs and Shailendra was mostly taking care of serious type of songs in SJ camp, so it was just natural that the work distribution among both lyricists happened that way.

You say that you are following them since 1956 and claim that you can identify each of there songs on the basis of words, theme and genre. Many friends have requested you to elaborate, but you did not respond. One of the theme you mentioned was title songs for which your claim was that Hasrat wrote all of them. Even if I modify your claim as most of them were written by Hasrat, I find that stand untenable. I have made a list of the famous title songs which each wrote and I find that out of 21 such songs Shailendra wrote 13 and Hasrat 8. So Shailendra was far ahead. I have not included in this list the title songs of Anadi and Asli Naqli because both of them wrote one each, ‘lakh chhupao’ and ‘wo chand khila’ by Hasrat and ‘kal ki daulat aaj ki khushiyan’ and ‘sab kuchh seekha humne’ by Shailendra. Here is a list of title songs by them upto 1966.

Shailendra
1. Barsaat men humse mile tum sajan – Barsaat
2. Aawara hoon – Aawara
3. Thahar jara o jane wale – Boot Polish
4. Jahan main jati hoon – Chori Chori
5. Bol ri kathputli dori – Kathputli
6. Bhaiyya mere rakhi ke bandhan ko – Chhoti Behan
7. Dil se dil takraye – Love Marriage
8. Mujhko yaro maaf karna – Main Nashe Men Hoon
9. Dil apna aur preet parai – Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai
10. Chshr koi mujhr jungli kahe – Junglee
11. Apne huye paraye – Apne Huye Paraye
12. Aaha aayi milan ki bela dekho aayi – Aayi Milan Ki Bela
13. Mere man ki ganga – Sangam

Hasrat
1. Jab pyar kisi se hota hai – Jab Pyar Kisi se Hota Hai
2. Ye hariyali aur ye rasta – Hariyali Aur Raasta
3. Rungoli sajao – Rungoli
4. Dil ek mandir hai – Dil Ek Mandir
5. Ek dil aur sau afsane – Ek Dil Sau Afsane
6. Jiske liye tadpe hum sara jeevan bhar – Sanjh Aur Savera
7. Gumnaam hai koi – Gumnaam
8. Budtameej kaho ya kaho jaanwar – Budtameej

From the above list of the popular songs, it is clear that Shailendra was the better of the two, both in quality as well as popularity.

AK @85
Thanks for your moderation.

I conclude my side of saying by quoting my last sentence @84
“I think I have said enough.”

However I acknowledge the view and question posed by SSW @71.

But now I got jaded with repeating myself. Perhaps some other time and at some other post.

Let me enjoy the intelligences of Hans, Ashvin Bhandarkar and KSBhatia, Subodh Aagarwal, Vasudevan and many others who are putting so many interesting views and information enriching my wealth of information-bank and also entertaining me as well.

Shalan Lal

AK @ 54
Talking about ‘tera mera pyar amar’, Mumbaikar8 has said it all. The main thing is depth of feelings. In Asli Naqli, Sadhana was looking after her family, because her brother had died young and her father also died and she was hiding this from her mother because she was weak of heart. It was due to this situation, she was sceptical about the success of their love. Shailendra always wrote a song keeping in mind the story, the character of the actor and the situation and then he went through the song mostly in a single thread. Hasrat wrote mostly to the situation, but that is nothing against him, because the work of a person is influenced by the bent of mind.

But I have met people who felt the opposite. There was a colleague who was also co-traveller in the chartered bus to office, so we discussed a lot of things of common interest. He once said Hasrat wrote shayari/poetry based songs, while Shailendra wrote songs mostly with jod-tod of words. He was perhaps influenced by comparing songs like ‘chakke pe chakka’ with ‘dil ke jharokhe men’ and ‘aai aai ya karun main kya’ with ‘ehsan tera hoga mujhpar’. I mentioned a number of Shailendra classics, but to no avail. He remained firm on his interpretation of the two.

A very imaginative article. I didn’t know so much about the unique team of Shankar Jaikishan Shailedra Hasrat. Thanks to our erudite commentators supplying so much facts, logical interpretations and rationale. Going through the point raised by Ms. Shalan Lal ji and counterpoints therto is a knowledge enriching experience, healthy positive debate. Keep it up AK ji.

Bhatiaji and Mumbaikar8
Thanks for liking my stats. Such appreciation from friends is very encouraging at this age and keeps us going.

Ashwin @ 87
I am happy I could be of use to a person who is, without any doubt, the top most authority on SOY for classical stuff.

Hans @ 106
75% that’s too good.
AK’s expectations of 80 % in very high.
Forget lyricists, differentiating between Lata and Suman, I am certain, not many would achieve.

AK
I agree with you that a statistics loving person like me is more likely to know such things than others. But, at least in my part of India, people hardly care for who wrote or composed. They mostly are happy to go with knowing the singer’s name.

I have met a few, otherwise very knowledgeable persons, not even knowing about even singers. There was a very close friend of mine from Uttarakhand, who resided in our colony, where quite a few bengalis were also there and they were common friends. He was very close to a couple of them being in the same office. As we were very open and kept bantering each other, which is must for killing travel time to and from office. I always attributed his liking for KK to his closeness with the bengali friends. One day I went to his home and he greeted me with the words ‘aaj main tumhen Rafi ke gane sunwaoonga, pichhle mahine main do cassette laya tha’. I said OK and he started the tape recorder. On the first line of the mukhda of the duet, I was shocked to find that the voice did not belong to Rafi, nor the female voice belonged to Lata. I told him so, but he refused to believe saying he is listening to the song for the past month. I called for the cassette cover, which belonged to T-series and I immediately knew the reason for different voices. The male voice was not even Sonu Nigam who sings very close to Rafi. I showed him the names and also advised never to buy T-series if he wants to listen to original voices.

My comment of there was no Geetkar before Shailendra entered Hindi Films as Geetkar and there is no Geetkar after Shailendra passed away. This was the Tribute paid by Hasrat Jaipuriji after Shailendraji’s death. He also had also mentioned that we were all Shayar and he was the only Hindi Geetkar. In other words, it was Hasratji’s words that I referred.