Birthday greetings to Lata Mnageshkar on September 28

Presenting my favourite Lata Mangeshkar songs composed by C Ramchandra, as my birthday greetings to her on September 28, is not a very diplomatic thing to do, given the history of their relationship. As her biographical accounts go, Lata Mangeshkar was more than a muse to C Ramchandra, and central to his music. But when the relationship turned sour, its repudiation (by her) was ruthless and complete. When she gave her famed public performance of Ae mere watan ke logo at Lal Quila on the Republic Day 1963, which brought tears to Nehru’s eyes, its lyricist Pradeep was acknowledged, but its composer C Ramchandra was not. (Note: Please also see comments 49, 51, 52, 54). When in 1967 Lata Mangeshkar selected her best 10 songs for HMV, she did not include any song by C Ramchandra, but her by then favourite boys Laxmikant Pyarelal’s – made it to the list!

Let us leave the human Lata Mangeshkar for her biographers to analyse; for me her music is divine, and to a great extent I consider her C Ramchandra songs, especially of early 1950s, among her best, most romantic, most melodious and deeply moving. But his music became so Lata-centric that the breakdown of their relationship also spelt his music’s doom. Among the greats of the Vintage/Golden Era, he faded out relatively early. In a sharp contrast, SD Burman was able to weather his hiatus with Lata Mangeshkar for about 5 years 1957-62 (she came back to him with Bandini) because he could work wonders with Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle, and he gave immortal songs with all the great male singers Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar, Talat Mahmood, Manna Dey and Hemant Kumar, and of course, himself. No wonder Dada was the longest lasting among the great composers. Interestingly if I try to recall C Ramchandra’s great songs by male singers, there is hardly much beyond his own (Chitalkar) songs.

Another important aspect of C Ramchandra is that among the great composers, he has the largest number of Lata gems, which are still hidden and relatively unknown, but incredibly beautiful. Of course, as music lovers know, there are two distinct C Ramchandra’s – one, fast, western and comic a la Ana meri jaan meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday and the other, soulful Lata, best characterized by the iconic Ye zindagi uis ki hai. Here are ten of my very special Lata Mangeshkar songs composed by C Ramchandra.

1.  Dil se bhula do tum hamein from Patanga (1949), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

Picturised on Purnima, with Shyam in the frame, is a quintessential C Ramchandra-Lata Mangeshkar melancholic song.  Lata Mangshkar in 1949 was still under the influence of Noorjehan style.  C Ramchandra was one of the major influences to help her evolve her own distinct style.  Patanga is a prime example of two contrasting C Ramchandra’s.  This is the film which had breezy songs with Shamshad Begum and C Ramchandra himself (Chitalkar) like   Mere piya gaye Rangoon, Pahle to ho gayee namaste etc.

2.  Aisi mohabbat se hum baaj aye from Nirala (1950), lyrics PL Santoshi

Mehfil mein jal uthi sama from Nirala was very famous and well known.  Many years later I heard this song for the first time from an elderly lady who could reproduce the exact tune and the emotion of the song, but she was not aware about its film or the composer.  I had no doubt it had to be C Ramchandra, but only in the internet era I could fully place the song.

3.  Abhi sham ayegi nikalenge tare from Samadhi (1950), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

Who has not heard the foot tapping breezy song Gore gore banke chore from this film, which has acquired an iconic status,  and you have this somewhat less heard but absolutely mesmerising soulful Lata Mangeshkar melody picturised on Nalini Jaywant.  Two very distinct C Ramchandra’s again.

4.  Koi kisi ka diwana na bane from Sargam (1950), lyrics PL Santoshi

Picturised on Rehana, this song is one of the defining songs of C Ramchandra-Lata Mangeshkar.

5.  Balma bada nadan from Albela (1951), Rajendra Krishna

Albela was another movie which had two distinct and contrasting C Ramchandra’s.  You have the breezy dance songs, all legends by now, such as Shola jo bhadke, Sham dhale khidki tale and Bholi surat dil ke khote, and you have soulful, emotional melodies including the iconic lullaby Dheere se aa ja ri ankhiyan mein.  It is a difficult choice but my favorite is Balma bada nadaan re for its pathos.

6.  Dil ki kahani to chahe from Sagai (1951), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

On Rehana again. His favourite lyricist creates another masterpiece, composed equally beautifully by C Ramchandra.

7.  Ai pyar teri duniya se hum from Jhanjhar (1953), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

C Ramchandra-Rajendra Krishna-Lata Mangeshkar is matchless when it comes to most beautiful Lata Mangeshkar songs.  This one is again not among his very well known, but it has again the same quality of mesmerising you the first time you hear it.

8.  Kaise bhaye sakhi rut sawan ki from Pehli Jhalak (1954), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

When I heard this song for the first time on the internet, my reaction was O my God, where was this song hidden? I have mentioned about undiscovered C Ramchandra gems. You have this fabulous classical song performed equally brilliantly by Vyjayantimala.

9.  Kaise aaun Jamuna ke teer from Devta (1956), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

One of the best classical Raga based songs picturised on Anjali Deve.

10.  Dil ki duniya basa ke sanwariya tum na jane kahan kho gaye from Amardeep (1958), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

I started this list with a dil song, there was another dil song in between and now I end with a fabulous dil song.  C Ramchandra – Lata Mangeshkar gave some of the most heart touching songs.  My all-time great Lata-C Ramchandra favourite, picturised so beautifully on Vyjayantimala.

I have reached ten, all absolute gems, without including any song from his runaway hits Anarkali and Azad. C Ramchandra was reputed to be a very fast composer.  After completing the Tamil version of Azad, its producers wanted to complete its Hindi version on the same sets in Madras in quick time of 3-4 weeks. For its music Naushad declined the offer on the ground that he did not do a rush job.  C Ramchandra, of course created an all time great score.  Dilip Kumar wanted Talat Memood to playback for him.  When he was unavailable, C Ramchandra convinced Dilip Kumar that he would sing for him in Talat style, and no one would notice the difference.  How true when you hear Kita hassen hai mausam.  None of his great songs appear to be a rush job, every song seems to be crafted with a great deal of effort. I feel very happy to present these songs as my birthday greetings to Lata Mangeshkar on her 82nd birthday.

The SoY award for the best Music Director goes to?

This is like completing the circle, which means you come to the same point from where you started. So I look back at the mother post on the overview of the best songs of 1955  and I am amazed at the overwhelming response it generated, both in numbers and quality. As I said earlier, the methodology is not some kind of poll, but trying to capture the sense of the house. The SoY regulars would also recall that at the readers’ suggestions, I also wrote categoriwise summaries – Wrap Up 1 for the best male playback singer; Wrap Up 2 for the best female playback singer and Wrap Up 3 on the best duets. These are parts of the whole. Therefore, it is obvious that the final wrap up on the best music director would also draw a great deal from these subsidiary posts.  Here I am presenting the final wrap up of the string of posts that originated from the readers’ suggestions and which took shape as we moved on, as my Christmas and New Years Greetings to all.

FIRST CUT

As a first cut, we can say without any doubt that the music directors who made the most impact in 1955 are the following (not in any order):

1.  SD BURMAN
Devdas
1. Aan milo aan milo Shyam sanwre – Manna Dey and Geeta Dutt
2. Sajan ki ho gayi gori – Geeta Dutt
3. Ab aage teri marzi – Lata Mangeshkar
4. O janewale ruk ja koi dum – Lata Mangeshkar
5. Mitwa lagi re ye kaisi anbujh aag – Talat Mahmood
6. Kisko khabar thi kisko yakeen tha – Talat Mahmood
7. Jise tu qabool kar le – Lata Mangeshkar
8. Wo na ayenge palat ke – Mubarak Begum
House No. 44
9. Teri duniya me jeene se behtar hai – Hemant Kumar
10. Chup hai dharti chup hai chand sitare – Hemant Kumar
11. Phaili hui hai sapnon ki baahen – Lata Mangeshkar
12.  Peechhe peechhe aa kar chho lo hame paa kar – Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar
Munimji
13. Jeevan ke safar men rahi – Kishore Kumar/ Lata Mangeshkar (twin songs)
14. Shivji bihane chale – Hemant Kumar
15. Ghayal hiraniyan main ban ban dolun – Lata Mangeshkar
16. Dil ki Umangen hai jawan – Hemant Kumar, Geeta Dutt and Thakur (Pran)

2.  SHANKAR JAIKISHAN
Seema
1. Suno chhoti si gudiya ki lambi kahani – Lata Mangeshkar
2. Tu pyar ka sagar hai – Manna Dey
3. Kahan ja raha hai tu ai janewale – Rafi
4. Manmohna bade jhoothe – Lata Mangeshkar
Shri 420
5. Mera joota hai Japani – Mukesh
6. Dil ka haal sune dilwala – Manna Dey & others
7. Ichak dana bichak dana – Lata Mangeshkar & others
8. Pyar hua iqrar hua – Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshakr
9.  Mud mud ke na dekh – Manna Dey, Asha Bhosle & others
10. O janewale mud ke zara dekhte jana – Lata Mangeshkar
11. Ramaiya vastavaiya – Rafi, Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar & others

3.  C RAMCHANDRA
Azaad
1. Radha na bole na bole na bole re – Lata Mangeshkar
2. Aplam chaplam – Lata Mangeshkar and Usha Mangeshkar
3. Dekhoji bahar ayee – Lata Mangeshkar
4. Ja ri ja ri O kari badariya – Lata Mangeshkar
5. Kitna haseen hai mausam – Chitalkar and Lata Mangeshkar
6. Marna bhi mohabbat me kisi kaam na aya – Raghunath Jadav & others
7. Pee ke daras ko taras gayi ankhiyan – Lata Mangeshkar
8. Kitni jawan hai raat koi yaad aa gaya – Lata Mangeshkar
Yasmin
9.  Bechain nazar betab zigar – Talat Mahmood
10. Mujhpe ilzam-e-bewafai hai – Lata Mangeshkar
11. Tum apni yaad bhi dil se bhula dete to achcha tha – Talat Mahmood and Lata Mangeshkar
12. Ankhon me sama jao dil me raha karna – Lata Mangeshkar
13. Hans hans ke haseenon se nazar char kiye ja – Lata Mangeshkar

4.  NAUSHAD
Urankhatola
1. Mera salam le ja – Lata Mangeshkar & others
2. Mohabbat ki rahon men chalna sambhal ke – Rafi
3. Na toofan se khelo – Rafi
4. Hamare dil se na jana – Lata Mangeshkar
5. Na ro ai dil kahin rone se taqdeeren badalti hain – Lata Mangeshkar
6. More saiyan ji utarenge par ho – Lata Mangeshkar & others
7. Sitaron ki mahfil saji tum na aye – Lata Mangeshkar
8. Ghar aya mehman koi jaan na pahchan
9. O door ke musafir mujhko bhi sath le le – Rafi

5.  OP NAYYAR
1. Ae ji dil pe hua aisa jadoo – Rafi
2. Thandi hawa kali ghata – Geeta Dutt
3. Jane kahan mera jigar gaya ji – Rafi and Geeta Dutt
4. Ab to ji hone laga kisi ki sorat ka samna – Shamshad Begum
5. Chal diye bandanawaz chhod kar mere dil ka saaz – Rafi and Geeta Dutt
6. Idhar tum haseen ho udhar dil jawan hai – Rafi and Geeta Dutt
7. Preetam aan milo – Geeta Dutt

6.  VASANT DESAI
1. Jhanak jhanak payal baje – Ustad Amir Khan
2. Saiyan ja ja – Lata Mangeshkar
3. Nain se nain nahi milao – Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar
4.  Jo tum todo piya main nahi jodun re – Lata Mangeshkar
5.  Mere ae dil bata – Lata Mangeshkar

7.  NASHAD
1.  Bhula nahi dena ji bhula nahi dena – Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar
2.  Mohabbat ki bas itni dastan hai – Lata Mangeshkar
3.  Tasweer banata hun tasweer nahi banti – Talat Mahmood
4.  Kho diya maine pakar kisi ko aag lag jaye is zindagi ko – Lata Mangeshkar
5.  Dard bhara dil bhar bhar bhar jaye – Lata Mangeshkar
6.  Chhayi re badariya – Lata mangeshkar
7. Dil humse wo lagaye jo hans ke chot khaye – Lata Mangeshkar and Mubarak Begum

This is a fascinating list on many counts. The big five – Naushad, C Ramchandra, Shankar Jaikishan, SD Burman and OP Nayyar – are all there with their outstanding creations. Vasant Desai’s name is synonymous with classical raga based songs, and he comes with probably his career-best in Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje. And in this field of titans, Nashad comes up with perhaps his career best Baradari, which stands as tall as any of his more renowned peers. A great year of the Golden Era, this 1955.

The readers’ opinions and comments are broadly reflective of the above scenario. There is hardly anyone who did not include SD Burman in the top five. In most cases he was among the first three, albeit movies being different. With three superb movies, it is natural that individual choices may vary. Next in terms of support come Shankar Jaikishan and C Ramchandra. One common factor between these three is that they had more than one movie with outstanding score in the year. Madan Mohan was mentioned in passing for Railway Platform. But essentially the exercise boils down to selecting 3 or 5 from the above lsit and put them in order.

We can agree on one novel idea, without compromising the end objective – the best music director need not relate to a particular film, but his entire work in the year. After all, when you are looking back after 57 years, what leaves an imprint in your mind is the total contribution of that MD in that year. We broadly followed this line for the best male and female playback singer.

ANALYSIS

Several readers have given not only their ranking, but also a conceptual framework for taking a decision. The broad parameters for ranking which had been mentioned by readers are – popularity, quality and innovation. To make it more amenable to analysis, we might agree that these parameters would be popularity, quality and the song’s historical importance. We may add another parameter – diversity in terms of singers used and also the type or genre of songs.

With three remarkable films, for SD Burman I have listed 16 songs, all very popular till date. All the songs are musically superb. Coming to their place in history – Talat’s two solos in Devdas, picturised on the tragedy king Dilip Kumar are integral part of a doomed tragic lover. Wo na ayenge palat kar would count as a cult mujra song of Mubarak Beguam, probably the first which brought her national notice. Kishore Kumar’s Jeevan ke safar me rahi and Hemant Kumar’s Teri duniya mein jeene se behatar hai are their respective iconic songs for Dev Anand. The Vaishnav bhajan Aan milo aan milo Shyam sanwre by Manna Dey and Geeta Dutt is again a landmark song on wandering minstrels, and plays a very important part in conveying the subtle theme of the story. SD Burman shows amazing diversity in singers and genres, and comes up with several landmark songs in the year.

C Ramchandra’s music in the 1950s was very Lata Mangeshkar-centric. But in Yasmin, he comes up with a cult Talat Mahmood song Bechain nazar betaab jigar. The song is also remarkable in that he presents a Talat, who is not in a blue mood, but sings a peppy number set to instrumentation in Arabic/West Asian style. In Azaad, his own duet with Lata Mangeshkar, Kitna haseen hai mausam, is an everlasting song. He set about to create a Talat-effect (Dilip Kumar wanted Talat, who was not available), and how he succeeds! The qawwali in the voice of Raghunath Jadav is a real gem. And Aplam chplam on the dancing duo, Sai sisters, is again an iconic song. And Lata Mangeshkar songs? The fact that these were done in quick time has not affected their quality. These are extremely popular even today, and would rank among their best.

Shankar Jaikishan’s Seema and Shree 420 contained several songs which have got cult status. Mera joota hai Japani is a landmark song of Raj Kapoor-Mukesh-SJ team, which is integral to RK’s tramp persona. Then Pyar hua iqraar hua as a romantic duet, with the lovers in rains under an umbrella, has acquired an iconic status. The triad song O Ramaiya vastvaiya also has an important place in the RK films musicology, romanticising the simple hearted, poor street people, pitted against the vicious metropolis Bombay. Tu pyar ka sagar hai is universally regarded as among Manna Dey’s best, as also Lata Mangeshkar’s Manmohna bade jhoothe. SJ score very high on the number of popular songs, quality and their landmark status in history. On diversity too they do well, though it would be difficult to match SDB on this.

Naushad was unapologetically Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar centric in the Golden Era. On diversity he would be far behind. That should not take away from the quality of Udankhatola’s music. He did create some of the most everlasting songs of Rafi and Lata. I am a great fan of Nausad, but probably because of his limited diversity, his name generally came after the above three in readers’ comments. Vasant Desai’s Jhanak Jhank Payal Baje is his undisputed landmark. He was not as prolific as the titans, but the title song in the voice of Ustad Amir Khan, Hemant Kumar-Lata Mangeshkar duet Nain so nain nahi milao and Lata Mangeshkar solo in the film Saiyan ja ja are all iconic songs. OP Nayyar’s Mr and Mrs 55 has an outstanding score, and is one of his important films. But there is an element of sameness about him, and as a reader remarked, he was popular all right, but probably on the quality of music he could not be bracketed with the others mentioned above.

That leaves Nashad, who deserves a very special mention. Here is a man, who had a Naushad complex, and therefore changed his name from Shaukat Ali Dehlvi to Nashad. In some of his films, he was dismissed as a Naushad clone. Then comes Baradari with a score that is entirely his. Tasweer banata hun is a Talat Mahmood cult song, Bhula nahi dena jib hula nahi dena is a landmark Rafi-Lata duet. Dil humse wo lagaye jo hans ke teer khaye by Lata Mangeshkar and Mubarak Begum is a terrific female qawwali-mujra duet. If you listen to it carefully, you get a feeling that this might be a precursor of Mughal-e-Azam’s female qawwali duet Teri mehfil me qismat ajma kar hum bhi dekhenge. With Baradari, Nashad should have been able to exorcise his Naushad-fixation.

And the SOY award for the best music director for 1955 goes to:

Now we are in a position to conclude that the best music directors of 1955 are the following in order:

1.  SD Burman
2.  C Ramchandra
3.  Shankar Jaikishan
4.  Naushad
5.  Nashad

The Songs of Yore Award for the Best Music Director goes to?

Canasya asked in one of the posts in this series, what was the avowed objective of these posts? Jignesh mentioned that SoY Awards have surpassed the fame of Filmfare Awards (I like that ).  Filmfare is indeed a reference point, because this series started last year on some readers’ suggestions that I do a year-wise review of the best songs of pre-Filmfare years. The somewhat presumptuous title and style of writing is all for enjoyment. But music is a serious thing, and the discussions have become deeply involved, the comments both in quantity and quality have increased significantly compared to the last year. So to answer Canasya’s question – some like-minded people, most of whom know each other only in the cyberspace and who are deeply passionate about music, are together embarking on this wonderful voyage of reminiscing about and rediscovering old film music. The survey article together with Wrap Up 1 on the best male playback singer, Wrap Up 2 on the best female playback singer and Wrap Up 3 on the best duets and the present final Wrap Up together represent probably the most unique and comprehensive discussion of the entire music of a particular year. The Final Wrap Up is based on the previous posts and the readers’ comments, naturally, and seeks to focus on the best music director(s) of the year.

First cut

From the long list of 93 songs given in my survey article along with some 40 songs mentioned by the readers, i.e. about 130, we can make a manageable list of songs and music directors who made the most impact in the year. This list is not in any order.

1.  SHANKAR JAIKISHAN
Aah
1.  Jane na nazar pahchane jigar – Mukesh and Lata Mangeshkar
2.  Jo mai jaanati unke liye – Lata Mangeshkar
3.  Raat andheri door savera – Mukesh
4.  Aja re ab mera dil pukara – Mukesh and Lata Mangeshkar
5.  Ye sham ki tanhaiyan – Lata Mangeshkar
6.  Sunte the naam hum jinka bahaar se – Lata Mangeshkar
7.  Raja ki ayegi baraat – Lata Mangeshkar
8.  Chhoti si ye zindagani – Mukesh
Aas
9.  Chahe nain churao chahe daman bachao – Talat Mahmood and Lata Mangeshkar
Aurat
10.  Ulfat ka saaz chhedo samaan suhana hai – Lata Mangeshkar
11.  Dard-e-jigar thahar zara – Lata Mangeshkar
Boot Polish
12.  Lapak jhapak tu aa re badarwa – Manna Dey
13.  Chali kaun se des gujariya – Talat Mahmood and Asha Bhosle
Mayurpankh
14.  Khushiyon ke chad muskaye re – Lata Mangeshkar
15.  Mohabbat ki dastaan tum bhi suno – Lata Mangeshkar
Naya Ghar
16.  Laga kar dil parishan hain – Lata Mangeshkar
Patita
17.  Kisi ne apna bana ke mujhko – Lata Mangeshkar
18.  Andhe jahan ke andhe raaste – Talat Mahmood
19.  Tujhe apne paas bulati hai – Talat Mahmood
20.  Yaad kiya dil ne kahan ho tum – Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar
21.  Mitti se khelate ho baar bar kis liye – Lata Mangeshkar
22. Hain sabse madhur wo geet mere – Talat Mahmood
Shikast
23.  Kare badra tu na ja na ja – Lata Mangeshkar
24.  Sapnon ki suhani duniya ko – Talat Mahmood

2.   C RAMCHANDRA
Anarkali
1.  Ye zindagi usi ki hai – Lata Mangeshkar
2.  Meri kismet ke kharidaar – Lata Mangeshkar
3.  Mujhse mat pooch – Lata Mangeshkar
4.  Dua kar gham-e-dil – Lata Mangeshkar
5.  Jaag dard-e-ishq jaag – Hemant Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar
6.  Mohabbat aisi dhadkan hai – Lata Mangeshkar
7.  Mohabbat mein aise kadam dagmagaye – Lata Mangeshkar
8.  O asmanwale shikwa hai zindagi ka – Lata Mangehskar
9.  Zindagi pyar ki do chaar ghadi hoti hai – Hemnat Kumar
Jhanjhar
10.  Ae pyar teri duniya se hum bas itni nishani le ke chale -  Lata Mangeshkar
11.  Chhed gay mohe sapne mein Shyam – Lata Mangeshkar
12.  Tum bin hamri kaun khabar le – Lata Mangeshkar
13.  Mohe laga sara jag pheeka – Lata Mangeshkar
Shagufa
14.  Apna pata bata de ya mere paas aa ja – Lata Mangeshkar

3.   ANIL BISWAS
Fareb
1.  Aa mohabbat ki basti basayenge hum – Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar
2. Husn bhi hai udas udas – Kishore Kumar
Hamdard
3.  Ritu aye ritu jaye sakhi ri – Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar
4.  Torey naina raseley kanteeley haye Ram – Manna Dey
5.  Tera haath haath mein aa gaya – Manna Dey
Rahi
6.  Ek pal ruk jana – Lata Mangeshkar

4.  GHULAM MOHAMMAD
Dil-e-Nadan
1.  Khamosh zindagi ko afsana mil gaya – Jagjit Kaur
2.  Chanda gaye ragini – Jagjit Kaur
3.  Mohabbat ki dhun beqaraaron se poochho – Talat Mahmood, Sudha Malhotra, Jagjit Kaur
4.  Na wo hamaare na dil hamara – Sudha Malhotra
5. Jo khushi se chot khaye – Talat Mahmood
6.  Zindagi denewale sun – Talat Mahmood
Laila Majnu
7.  Baharon ki duniya pukare tu aa ja – Talat Mahmood and Asha Bhosle
8.  Tere dar pe ayah hun fariyad lekar – Talat Mahmood
9.  Chal diya karwan – Talat Mahmood
10. Aasmanwale bata teri duniya se ji ghabraa gaya – Talat and Lata Mangeshkar
Rail Ka Dibba
11.  La de mohe balma aasmani chudiyaun – Mohammad Rafi and Shamshad Begum
12.  Angan more aao ji sajan dheere dheere – Shamshad Begum

5.  SALIL CHAUDHARY
Do Bigha Zameen
1. Hariyala asawan dhol bajata aya – Mana Dey and Lata Mangeshkar
2.  Mausam beeta jaye – Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar
3.  Aa ja ri aa nindiya tu aa – Lata Mangeshkar

Discussion and analysis

I have to make it clear that the above first cut does not capture the entire ‘best’ songs of the year in different categories such as male solos, female solos and duets. The SoY regulars would recall many outstanding songs are outside the above list. The reason being that here the focus is on the total impact of a music director in the year. That explains the absence of Khayyam (Footpath, Shaam-e-gham ki qasam) or Husnlal Bhagatram (Aansoo, Sun mere saajna re). They have been adequately covered in the first three Wrap Ups.

Now looking at the music directors, a very conspicuous absence is that of Naushad, who was by then at the pinnacle of his career, having already become the first composer to charge the astronomical figure of Rs one lakh per film. This absence of Naushad was sandwiched between his two great years – 1952 (Aan, Baiju Bawra, Deewana) and 1954 (Amar, Shabaab).

Another conspicuous aspect of the year is SD Burman’s inconspicuous presence – one of the greatest composers by any yardstick. He did compose music for at least four movies in the year – Armaan, Bablaa, Jeevan Jyoti and Shahanshah. I had not included any of his songs in my long list in the survey article. Knowledgeable readers like Jignesh and Venkataramanji mentioned a number of songs from these films. Frankly it requires efforts to recall any of these songs. This also was sandwiched between his two great years – 1952 (Jaal) and 1954 (Taxi Driver). Readers may recall that the first in the year-wise review, 1955, had both Naushad and SD Burman in a major way. This raises important question as to what makes a great music director suddenly develop a composer’s block? SoY has many intense theoreticians like Canasya, Hans, Ashok Vaishnavji, Venakataramanji who can throw light on this.

Does that mean it was a weak year for music? I am afraid Subodh might think so if I extrapolate his dismissive observation about male and female solos. Jignesh also feels that this was the weakest year in the block 1948-1955. I have a somewhat more positive view of the year because there are some compensations in the form of duets, Manna Dey, Talat Mahmood, Salil Chaudhary and Ghulam Mohammad.

Salil Chaudhary makes a big bang debut with Do Bigha Zameen with innovative orchestration, intelligent adaptation of foreign tunes and Manna Dey’s two great duets and Lata Mangeshkar’s beautiful lori. Many readers have gone lyrical over him, Anuradha Warrier unambiguously declaring him as the best music director of the year.

Matching her passion for Salil Chaudhary is Venkataramanji’s passion for Anil Biswas. We can see where is it coming from – his fascination for classical purity in Hamdard.

Rest of the views generally veer between the more popular and obvious cases of Shankar Jaikishan and C Ramchandra.

I have already said the exercise is not about counting votes, but harmonising various views (including intensity of views which is missed in a vanilla number count) to arrive at what I term as ‘the sense of the house’.

The great film music is the one which is able to marry art with the popular. While Salil Chaudhary is impressive, his is but one film and 3-4 songs. It is difficult to put him above C Ramchandra and Shankar Jaikishan who had several films with a great many outstanding scores in the year. It is significant that they were precisely the composers next in line to catch-up-with-Naushad game, in that order.

C Ramchandra’s Anarkali is not only his personal landmark, but an important milestone in Hindi film music. It inevitably leads to comparison with Naushad’s Mughal-e-Azam, which came seven years later. I am a Naushad romantic, but I find many writers seriously mention that the music of Anarkali remains superior to Mughal-e-Azam’s. Even if you don’t accept it, it does indicate the high esteem in which CR’s this magnum opus is held. Ye zindagi usi ki hai and Jaag dard-eishq jaag are undisputed landmark songs.

Early 50s was also the high point of CR-Lata. Beside Anarkali, you get a proof of this in a number of songs in Jhanjhar and Shagufa. My favourites are Ae pyar teri duniya se hum from Jhanjhar and Apna pata bata de from Shagufa. Arunkumar Deshmukhj is mesmerised by Mohe laga sara jag pheeka, which was not even in the long list of songs. That just shows the range of CR-Lata songs in this period.

Shankar Jaikishan had an incredible year. I have identified eight films, each of which had some stunningly beautiful numbers – Aah and Patita each having at least half a dozen all-time great songs. The most remarkable thing about SJ in this year is their wide diversity in singers – besides Lata Mangeshkar, they do wonders on Talat Mahmood, Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar and even Asha Bhosle.

Clearly CR and SJ are the most important music directors in the year, not only for a large number of extremely ‘popular’ songs, but which are also of high artistic merit. Between the two, SJ are more prolific in numbers and variety, and no less in overall quality.

I must mention my special favourite Ghulam Mohammad’s Dil-e-Nadan. This has the kind of music which mesmerises me, as I am sure it does many others. AR Kardar was one of the biggest production houses who was integral to Naushad’s rise to the peak in the 40s. After fall out with Naushad, he chooses his assistant (but once his senior) to score for Dil-e-Nadan, who does a superlative job. Yet the film bombs and with that Ghulam Mohammad remains relegated to the second rung. Luck plays a big part in who reaches where. He also gives some more great Talat songs in Laila Majnu. I think he deserves a special recognition in this year.

Conclusion

Now I am in a position to summarise.

SoY Award for the Best Music Director for 1953 goes to Shankar Jaikishan

Other ranks are as follows:

2. C Ramchandra (Runner Up)

3-5. (Joint Special Mention)
Ghulam Mohammad
Anil Biswas
Salil Chaudhary

(Acknowledgements: Readers, whose contributions and comments are of awesome quality.  I hate to use clichés, but I can’t help saying that this series of posts would not have been what it is without the readers’ participation. )

A tribute on C Ramchandra’s birth anniversary January 12 (12 Jan 1918-5 Jan 1982)

In my simplified history of Hindi film music, when I move from RC Boral-Pankaj Mullick to Anil Biswas to Naushad, it would be quite unfair if I miss C Ramchandra. The Great Maratha (in the sense of one belonging to Maharashtra) was the most worthy rival of the Great Mughal, almost all the way, until Lata Mangeshkar deserted him, and his music floundered. He had no Plan B. But what a spectacle it was when it lasted! If Naushad had Mughal-e-Azam, CR had Anarkali. When Naushad swore by classical music, CR would create lilting classical based songs like Jaag dard-e-ishq jaag, Ye zindagi usi ki hai, Radha na bole na bole na bole re, Jab dil ko sataawe gham, without making a song or dance about it. When Naushad prided on his folk roots, CR would create Shehnai (Hamare angana aaj baaje baaje shehnai) and Nadiya Ke Paar (More raja ho le chal nadiya ke paar).

But he was not a copycat. If Naushad had his Lata Mangeshkar, there was a different CR-Lata Mangeshkar, which became a trademark in the early 50s,  imitated by several composers. If Naushad prided on devoting a year to create good music, CR did the everlasting Aazad in a month. If Naushad lectured on tradition, CR revelled in being an iconoclast, and shocked purists by Ana meri jaan meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday that became a national craze. So much so that when a debate was raging whether the National Anthem should be Jan gana mana or Vande Mataram, a paper commented, jocularly, why not Ana meri jaan meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday? No one had heard anything like that. When his once mentor, Anil Biswas, asked him, in anger, what he meant by creating a song like that, he said, “I want it to be known as C Ramchandra’s music and not imitation of Anil Biswas.”

There was one genre – musical comedies – in which he was the undisputed master. I have described Rattan as Naushad’s music to which a film was attached. You can say that with equal force for C Ramchandra for movies like Shenaai, Patanga, Albela, Sagaai, Sargam etc. It is as if these rip-roaring comedies were made to fit rollicking songs and dance created by C Ramchandra. The Great Maratha was one up on The Great Mughal in another respect – he could sing, too. Who can forget the male voice in Aana meri jaan, Shola jo bhadke, Sham dhale khidki taley, Mere piya gaye Rangoon and so many other songs, which was integral to their stupendous success?

Among the films I have mentioned, I am very fond of Shehnaai’s music because of its vintage feel. But I choose Patanga (1949), because it comes in the watershed year of the change of era when Lala Mangeshkar hits the scene like a tornado, and sweeps away the yesteryear singers like Amirbai Karnataki, Shamshad Begum etc. Musically, Patanga best represents that transition, with Shamshad Begum all the way till two-thirds of the film (solo or with other singers), with full-throated songs of dance and fun, when Lata Mangeshkar comes in with three exquisite solos – sad, melodious and eternal, even though two of them are on the second lead, Purnima. And you notice a very interesting process – in Shehnai (1947), Lata Mangeshkar is an insignificant voice in one of the group songs; two years later, in Patanga, there is passing of the baton from Shamshad Begum to her; and further two years down, in Albela, she has completely taken over, singing not only Dheere sre aa ja ri ankhiyan mein and Balma bada nadaan re, but even Shola jo bhadke (with Chitalkar), a song which would have gone to Shamshad Begum earlier.

So let us take a joyride of C Ramchandra’s music to which a film called Patanga has been attached. All its ten songs are superhits and remembered till today.

As the village Chaudhary remonstrates with his God for giving him six daughters in a row, and fearing the worst about the seventh, due any time, a lanky young man comes in looking for him and gives him the good news that he has been blessed with a boy. (The lanky young man, whose role is so fleeting that you miss him if you blink, is unbelievably and unmistakably, Rajendra Kumar, who would emerge in later years as the Jubilee Star. This should be his very first appearance in films.) This calls for a big celebration, and what better than the dance of Cuckoo to the song of Shamshad Begum.

1. Gore gore mukhade pe gesu jo chha gaye by Shamshad Begum

The Panditji predicts a very bright future for the boy: he would be surrounded by motorcars on all sides and he would be always jovial. With such a great horoscope, he is named Raja.  So you know what profession he is going to take up. You next see Raja (Yaqub) standing as a traffic cop in Bombay. While one part of the prediction has come true, how could a traffic cop, who has the most arduous and boring job in the world, be always jovial and happy? Ah, there he sees, across the street, an ebullient and charming Nigar Sultana, helping her father sell some concotions with her dancing and singing on the streets.

2. Duniya ko pyare phool aur sitaarey.. balam tujhe mera salaam by Shamshad Begum

You can’t blame Raja if he leaves his post from time to time to flirt with Rani (Nigar Sultana), leaving the traffic Bhagwan bharose. His boss is none too pleased with traffic pile-ups and crashes, and suspends him from the job, without pay, for a year. Now two kindred souls, Raja and Rani, are together in search of a sustained livelihood. They wangle their way into Gope Theatre Company, whose proprietor, producer, writer and director, Gope is quite infatuated with Miss Jalwa (Mohana).  Raja’s hard sell of Rani by open denigration of Miss Jalwa’s abilities does not please them to Gope Seth.   On their way out from the place,  they peek into the green room, and after overpowering the actors who were getting ready, they barge on to the stage.  Gope’s attempts to remove them from the stage are of no avail, because this song they start singing brings the house down, and Raja, Rani inevitably become the star performers in the theatre.

3. O dilwalo dil ka lagana achha hai par kabhi kabhi by Chitalkar and Shamshad Begum

The proprietor-producer-writer-director Gope is missing only one thing in his impressive resume – a stage actor. That opportunity comes when Raja is taken ill, and Gope and Rani/Nigar Sultana perform to this iconic song.

4. Mere piya gaye Rangoon by Chitalkar and Shamshad Begum

Everything was going fine – Raja and Rani; Gope and Miss Jalwa. Then some complications happen. As Gope is checking his troupe into a hotel at a place they are to perform, in the lobby Shyam (Shyam), a wayward and dilphenk son of a jagirdar, is ogling at Rani.  Shyam has his friend and lackey (Randhir) to spur him on. In the evening show, they are in the audience, Shyam remembering the lovely slap Rani gave him in the lobby. Notice Shamshad Begum singing for the lead star, Nigar Sultana, and Lata Mangeshkar for Mohana – a very tentative entry for Lata Mangeshkar, who would soon become the centre of C Ramchandra’s music.

5. Pyar ke jahaan ki nirali sarkaar hai by Shamshad Begum and Lata Mangeshkar

Shyam-Rani affair takes a serious turn, with embers of love touching both. But the jagirdar had given his word to his late friend to marry his son to the latter’s daughter, Purnima (Purnima), who is now being brought up by the jagirdar himself. Shyam invites the Gope Theatre Company to perform at one of the family’s vacant havelis, pretending the invite to be from an old zamindar (Shyam in disguise) to celebrate the birthday of his son (his friend, Randhir). Gope and Miss Jalwa, Raja and Rani, are superb on the stage; in the box you can see Shyam, disguised as the old zamindar, and his friend, acting as his son.

6. Pahle to ho gayi namaste namaste by Rafi, Chitalkar, Shamshad Begum and Mohantara Talpade

Shyam and Rani affair has really become serious. A beautiful romantic duet between them.

7. Boloji dil loge to kya kya doge by Rafi and Shamshad Begum

The loyal maali of the jagirdar has overheard Shyam and his friend’s plans, and reports it back to the master. A furious jagirdar confronts his wayward son in the theatre and tells him in no uncertain terms that he would have to marry Purnima; he can’t think of a theatre dancer as his bahu. But Shyam is gone too far. A heart-broken Purnima gives expression to her emotions with this melodious solo by Lata Mangeshkar, one of the earliest CR-Lata songs, but one of the greatest and immortal.

8. Dil se bhula do tum humein hum na tumhein bhulayenge by Lata Mangeshkar

But jagirdar would have none of this nonsense. The wedding with Purnima is fixed, but on the D-Day, Shyam leaves home. Purnima in her wedding fineries sees him leaving, shattering her world.

9. O janewale tune armaanon ki duniya loot li by Lata Mangeshakar

In the Gope Theatre Company, Raja is sad by the betrayal of Rani. Gope tells him it is his fault, he had never expressed his love to her. How to do it? Gope asks him to recall all the dialogues of Siri-Farhaad and Laila-Majnu. Raja does as he is told, in fact he really puts his heart in it, gives an exaggerated delivery in a flowery language of all the theatrical dialogues of love-legends – one of the funniest scenes in the film. Rani is quite amused, and tells him, Tum jaise ho waise hi achche ho. She is now torn between her two lovers, and sings this sad song. Lata Mangeshkar has to wait till the end when she gets to playback for the lead star. Another CR-Lata all-time great gem.

10. Kabhi khamosh ho jana kabhi fariyaad kar lena magar us bewafa ko chupke chupke yaad kar lena

With ten songs already, it is well over two hours, but things are in quite a mess. However, the resolution is pretty quick. Raja tells Rani: For the sake of love I would give you over to Shyam tomorrow. Purnima comes under the car of Rani (Nigar Sultana), who gets her treated. She tells her she has stolen her love. Gope tells jagirdar that his son and Rani are getting married. But at the wedding, the lady under the veil turns out to be Purnima. Rani (Nigar Sultana) emerges from behind, blessing Purnima as an elder sister. Raja and Rani unite, so do Gope and Miss Jalwa, and they all sing O dlwaalo dil ka lagana achchaa hai par kabhi kabhi.

Notes:

1.  You can watch Patanga on YouTube.  Rajendra Kumar comes for 8 seconds at 1.47.

2.  A nice review of the film is here. The comments on that post contain some very interesting trivia.

3.  A mathematical reading of Patanga: SoY regulars, who remember their Bollywood Mathematics from my review of Sangam, would notice a unique feature of this movie. It has both B-type (Shyam-Yaqub-Nigar Sultana) and G-type (Purnima-Nigar Sultana-Shyam) triangles in it. With one side common, the two triangles are effectively a quadrilateral, and the triangles are solved by quad-isation, which is neither ‘perfect’ nor ‘imperfect’, but can be described as ‘stable equilibrium’.  The way the film’s story unfolds, and given the mixed-up relationships of the characters, this was the only equilibrium possible. (The jagirdar’s objection – ‘how can a theatre dancer be the bahu of his khandaan’ – is a mathematical redundancy, because the word given to his friend is a sufficient justification for arriving at this equilibrium, which is the only possible solution in the given set of conditions.)

A tribute to Talat Mahmood on his 91^st birth anniversary (24 February 1924 – 9 May 1998)

There was every reason for Talat Mahmood to have a long innings with Naushad. Both coming from Lucknow, they represented a similar Urdu sensibility and cultural milieu. Talat’s entry into Bombay Hindi film music was spectacular with Ae dil mujhe aisi jagah le chal jahan koi na ho (Arzoo, 1950), composed by Anil Biswas, picturied on Dilip Kumar. Sure enough, Talat Mahmood became Dilip Kumar’s voice under Naushad’s baton in Baabul (1950) with great success. This was a perfect launch for a long career at the top, because Naushad had emerged as the undisputed No.1 and the preferred composer of Dilip Kumar – Naushad-Dilip Kumar notching at least a dozen films together hence. But in a twist which must be unparalleled in the annals of film history, Baabul became effectively the first and the last film in which Talat Mahmood could sing for Naushad. The reason given in popular writings is that Talat managed to give some offence to Naushad by his behaviour during the recording of a song for this film.

On the other hand, Talat Mahmood had a long innings with Naushad’s great rival, C Ramchandra. Was it on the rebound, or am I reading more into it? A commentator has written that C Ramchandra shared his mentor Anil Biswas’s ‘antipathy’ for Rafi. This is not exactly correct, because as has been mentioned before on this blog, Rafi’s earliest hit songs were given by CR. CR has used Rafi quite generously, mostly in duets (including some with himself), and in some very good solos too. However, you would not include CR in the same league as Naushad, SD Burman, Roshan, OP Nayyar or Shankar Jaikishan for Rafi’s greatest songs. But Talat Mahoomd’s best songs would include many compositions by C Ramchandra.

Does it mean that Naushad’s contribution to the career of Talat Mahmood was insignificant? Hans says that even with one film, Naushad’s importance for Talat is no less than that of Anil Biswas. I would not go to that extent, but I would say without hesitation that his five songs in Baabul (two solos, two duets with Shamshad Begum and a triad song with Shamshad and Rafi) are among Talat’s all-time greats.

We are discussing Naushad and CR in tandem. In a unique twist, in different circumstances, Talat had a song-that-could-not-be with both of them. In Azaad (1955), Dilip Kumar insisted to have Talat sing for him. As the latter was too busy those days, CR persuaded Dilip Kumar to let him sing instead, and assured him it would be no less. The result was the all-time great Kitna haseen hai mausam kitna haseen safar hai – one of the best Talat duets that he did not sing. In Aadmi (1968), Naushad recorded a Rafi-Talat duet Kaisi haseen aaj baharon ki raat hai (Rafi for Dilip Kumar and Talat for Manoj Kumar), but on Manoj Kumar’s insistence the Talat part was replaced by Mahendra Kapoor in the film – some indignity this for a singer who was at the top in the early 50s! Talat Mahmood was left with a poor consolation that by that time some records in his voice had already hit the market.

Naushad, C Ramchandra and Talat Mahmood make an interesting study in talent, success, fate and hubris. Let me pay a tribute to them with some of their best songs on the 91^st birth anniversary of Talat Mahmood.

Naushad-Talat Mahmood: Baabul (1950), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni

1. Milte hi aankhen dil hua deewana kisi ka (duet with Shamshad Begum)

No one could sing a love song on the piano better than Dilip Kumar, whose pupil-lover Munawwar Sultana follows him diligently.

2. Duniya badal gayi meri duniya badal gayi (duet with Shamshad Begum)

It was not for nothing that Dilip Kumar was the Tragedy King. The producers had the capacity to convert any film into a relentless melancholia for Dilip Kumar and Munawwar Sultana. Naushad comes up with a great gem.

3. Mera jeevan saathi bichhad gaya lo khatm kahani ho gayi

The ultimate rub is when Dilip Kumar is asked to sing at the wedding of his beloved Munawwar to another guy. But the prelude – Khushi ke saath duniya mein hazaro gham bhi hote hain – followed by Mera jeevan sathi bichhad gaya lo khatm kahani ho gayi says it all. When I watched this film I felt they should have been a little more discreet to the bridegroom.

C Ramchandra-Talat Mahmood

There is a long list of films in which Talat sang for CR: Sagaai, Shabistan (1951); Parchhain, Saaqi (1952); Kavi, Meenar, Subah Ka Tara (1954); Duniya Gol Hai, Insaniyat, Yasmin (1955), Devta (1956); Baarish (1957), and finally after a long gap, Toofani Takkar (1978). In the detailed review of the songs of 1955 and 1951, some songs of this combo have been rated as among the best in their category, such as Bechain nazar betaab jigar (Yasmin, 1955) and his duet with Lata Mangeshkar Mohabbat mein aise zamaane bhi aaye (Sagaai, 1951). These songs would figure among Talat’s all-time greats. Avoiding repetition let me present ten other songs – almost all of them hugely popular among music lovers till today.

4. Kabhi tanhaaiyon mein ek aisi bhi ghadi aayi from Meenar (1954), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

I start with his incredibly beautiful song I have discovered while working for this post. The Ghazal King Talat Mahmood is at his velvet best. You can’t fail to notice the harmonium notes in the interludes. One is lucky to be living in the era of Internet.

5. Mohabbat hi na jo samjhe from Parchhain (1952), lyrics Noor Lakahanvi

Now I come to the familiar territory with one of the most well-known Talat songs. One of the leading ladies, Jayshree, play-acting a sitar player, you hear beautiful sitar music in this song, as well as some other songs in this film.

6. Main pee ke nahi aaya from Kavi (1954), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

CR now gives a faster and chirpy composition for Talat for a sharabi song – a delightful change.

7. Apni kaho kuchh meri suno (duet with Lata Mangeshkar) from Parchhain

Sandhya seeking to usurp Jayshree’s love-interest, Shantaram, by pretending she is the one who he remembers. Not a very laudable thing to do, but CR-Talat-Lata, all at their best, create this timeless melody.

8. Laagi laagi karejwa mein chot haaye Ram (duet with Lata Mangeshkar) from Duniya Gol Hai (1955), lyrics Rajendra Krsihna

This is a unique composition. The antaraas are in the style of ghazal recital, but the mukhada and the musical interludes are in folk style. Those familiar with Chitragupt’s songs for Bhojpuri films would recognize he must have taken inspiration from here for some of his songs.

9. Gaya andhera hua ujala (duet with Lata Mangeshkar) from Subah Ka Tara (1954), lyrics Noor Lakhanavi

Another sweet melody from CR-Talat-Lata.

10. Zara mud ke to dekho saajna (duet with Lata Mangeshkar) from Meenar (1954), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

It is clear this is a story of childhood friends growing into adult lovers. CR creates this perfect duet for the joyous lovers, Bharat Bhushan and Beena Rai.

A tribute on the 50^th death anniversary of Amirbai Karnataki (c.1906 – 3 March 1965)

(As her death anniversary was too close to my scheduled post on Holi songs, I am posting my tribute to Amirbai Karnataki, with her songs by Naushad and C Ramchandra, with some lag.)

Which is the most popular Amirbai Karnataki song which even the new generation is aware of? Gore gore baanke chore kabhi meri gali aya karo (her duet with Lata Mangehskar) is a perennial favourite. If one is asked to name another song, the most likely answer would be O janewale baalamawa laut ke aa laut ke aa (her duet with Shyam Kumar). One by C Ramchandra, and the other by Naushad. In the vintage era, ‘A’ stood for Amirbai Karnataki. And the Great Mughal Naushad and the Mighty Maratha C Ramchandra were the two Ace music directors whose battle royal continued over Amirbai Karnataki too.

Naushad debuted as independent music director in 1940 with Prem Nagar (1940). He first used Amirbai, a year later, in Mala (1941). Thereafter, she comes in Station Master (1942), followed by Geet, Rattan (1944) with the iconic O jaanewale baalamwa and a solo, Mil ke bichhad gayi ankhiyan. She has three solos and a duet (with Amar) in Keemat (1946). Naushad uses her in Elaan (1947) as the lead singer with five songs. Her last appearance for him seems to be in Chandni Raat (1949) with a duet. About fifteen songs in seven films in a span of eight years – not a large number, but Naushad was never about quantity. Some of the songs of this combination are of incredible beauty.

C Ramchandra-Amirbai combination follows an uncannily parallel path. He made his debut as independent music director in Hindi films with Sukhi Jeevan (1942). Amirbai makes her first appearance, a year later, in Bhaktaraj (1943). Thereafter, she has songs in Samrat Chandragupta, Saawan (1945); Leela, Shenai (1947); Samadhi (1950); and Sagaai (1951). Eight films and about fifteen songs in a span of eight years – same as Naushad’s. Not a great number either, but matching him song for song as we shall see.

(Note: ‘Appearance’ refers to ‘singing’ here. Amirbai Karnataki might have acted in some of the films mentioned above, but that is beside the point for this post.)

Amirbai was born in a poor weaver family in the village Bilagi of Bijapur district in Karnataka in circa 1906, one among six sisters and a brother. She was fond of music from childhood. She was noticed by HMV who recorded some songs with her and she became famous as Baby Amirjan for her classical and semi-classical songs, qawwalis, naats, ghazals and thumris. After completing her matriculation she came over to Bombay. Her sister Gauharbai (different from the legendary Gauhar Jan of Calcutta) was a leading lady in films. She helped Amirbai get a bit singing role in the film Vishnu Bhakti (1934). Her first few years in films were not very successful, but in the 40s, with Kismat by Anil Biswas, Rattan by Naushad, Bharthari and Sindoor by Khemchand Prakash, and Shehnai by C Ramchandra, she earned big fame and became a leading playback singer. It is said that her rendering of Vaishnav jan to tene kahiye was immensely liked by Gandhiji. Gradually she reduced acting roles and concentrated generally on playback singing. She sang about 350 songs in 135 films, singing for most of the top heroines of the era. She married one Himalaywala, an actor who played the role of villains. This was a troubled marriage, and she later married Badri Kaanchwala, the editor of Paras.

Naushad was quite business-like in jettisoning his singers and moving on to new singers. Arrival of Lata Mangeshkar spelt Amirbai’s decline, as also of other great singers of the era. CR too discovered Lata Mangeshkar with whom he is supposed to have more than a professional relationship. From 1950 onwards, Amirbai’s singing reduced drastically, though she appeared in supporting roles in a number of films. Her voice was last heard in a pre-recorded thumri in Baankelal (1972). She passed away on March 3, 1965 after a paralytic attack.

If we look at Amirbiai Karnataki’s singing career in overall perspective, Anil Biswas first catapulted her to great fame with Kismet (1943); she sang the maximum number of her songs for Gyan Dutt and maximum number of his songs were sung by her; and Naushad and C Ramchandra arguably composed the most famous songs for her. But if I have to choose one composer for her songs, it would be the Master of Masters Khemchand Prakash, but that’s for another time.  We are celebrating 2015 as the Year of Naushad, and also remembering C Ramchandra in tandem.  Here is my tribute to the Ace singer with her songs by the two Ace music directors.

1.  O pretam pyare chhod chali ghar baar tujhse door tujhse door from Leela (1947), lyrics Gopal Singh ‘Nepali’, music C Ramchandra

Every music lover cherishes the memory of songs that moved him deeply on the very first listening and remained indelibly imprinted forever. O preetam pyare is one such song for me. For reasons I can’t explain in words, something happened to me when I first heard this song in the radio era, and its tune and words got etched in my heart. One reason for its charm was its rarity compared to her more famous songs, say from Kismet. I would not have heard it more than a couple of times in the radio era. Then the times changed, and this song along with so many became a part of one’s fond memories and yearning, until the Internet era arrived. Therefore, the readers can imagine when I heard this songs again after decades (probably on Atul’s site), it was a like an emotional reunion with a long lost love. The beautiful lyrics by ‘Nepali’, who was among the few from Hindi literature who wrote film lyrics, depict the pain of a woman who takes the slander on herself when the relationship goes awry; she is willing to go far to protect the honour of her lover, but she has nothing but the best wishes and love for him.

ओ प्रीतम प्यारे छोड़ चली घर बार तुझसे दूर तुझसे दूर
भर आये नैना, नैन नैन का प्यार जब से दूर जब से दूर

क्यूं आफत सर पे मोल ले तू मेरे वास्ते
तू अपने महल में राज कर मैं अपने रास्ते
तुझको सुख हो तो मुझको पिया परदेस भी मंज़ूर है मंज़ूर

करती थी तुमको प्यार मैं बदनामी ले चली
चोरी चोरी का खेल था जुर्माना दे चली
एक दिल था मेरा वो भी ठोकरें खा के चकनाचूर चकनाचूर

फागुन में होली खेलना सावन में झूलना
जब जब चमकेगा चाँद तू मुझको ना भूलना
मेरे टूटे मन में अब भी तुम्हारा प्यार है भरपूर है भरपूर

ओ प्रीतम प्यारे छोड़ चली घर बार तुझसे दूर तुझसे दूर

2.  Aayi azal ae zindagi from Elaan (1947), lyrics Zia Sarhadi, music Naushad

If CR is there, how can Naushad be far behind, and vice versa. In the same year, the Great Mughal comes up with one of the best songs for Amirbai, and his best for her, according to me. It is a broken-heart song of despair and utter hopelessness, as circumstances force Munawwar Sultana to forsake her lover Surendra, and get into a disastrous marriage. Zia Sarhadi was an eminent screenplay writer, director and lyricist of the 40s and 50s. While Preetam pyare was in simple colloquial Hindi, Zia Sarhadi uses difficult Urdu words. I have attempted its English translation, which I feel can be vastly improved, especially the last stanza.

आई अज़ल ऐ ज़िंदगी ग़म का ज़माना चल गया
अब क्या गिरेंगी बिजलियां जब आशियां ही जल गया
ग़म का ज़माना चल गया…

आओ शब-ए-ग़म आये जा सारे जहां पर छाये जा
अब तू ही तू रह जायेगी अब कल ना हरगिज़ आयेगी
वो दिन जो दुश्मन था तेरा वो ज़िंदगी का दिन मेरा
वो दिन हमेशा के लिये हां दिन वो ही दिन ढल गया
ग़म का ज़माना चल गया…

इस उम्र का अव्वल फना इस उम्र का आखिर फना
इक झूठ का दरबार है बातिन फना ज़ाहिर फना
ये ज़िंदगी कुछ भी नहीं ये ज़िंदगी कुछ भी नहीं
नाटक का झूठा खेल है जब तक चला था चल गया
ग़म का ज़माना चल गया…

My English translation

The life was born and thence began the days of gloom
Now what more could the lightning do when my nest is already burnt

Come, O the Night of Gloom! Come and spread your darkness on the whole world
Now will remain only you, and never will tomorrow come
That day that was your enemy, that was the day of my life
That day alas has set forever
And the days of gloom began…

With life starts misery, and the end of this life is death
It is a bundle of lies, there is destruction underneath, and destruction on the surface
This life is nothing, indeed this life is nothing
But a pantomime of false pretences, it lasted as long it could last
And the days of gloom began…

That was the best of C Ramchandra pitted against the best of Naushad. I am a confused lover between the two, in the mould of कोई दिल में है और कोई है नज़र में, मुहब्बत के सपने मैं किसपे लुटाऊं. I am leaving it to the rational readers to make a choice. Let us now see how their first songs for Amirbai compare.

3.  Kaahe barse jaye badariya from Mala (1941), lyrics DN Madhok, music Naushad

The first Naushad song for Amirbai written by his friend and benefactor, DN Madhok, is in the style of a traditional composition, set to a slow-paced melody.

4.  Bahaar ayi re koel kook uthi from Bhaktraj (1943), lyrics DN Madhok, music C Ramchandra

CR’s first song too for Amirbai is written by DN Madhok. It has similar elements of nature, but CR has set it to a faster tune. This difference in their style would generally continue in their songs.

Now let us compare some more of their early songs.

5.  Kabhi na himmat har bande from Station Master (1942), lyrics Pt. Indra, music Naushad

Naushad’s next song is picturised on Amirbai herself, as she sings this soothing song of encouragement when you see the protagonists in a hospital (following a train accident).

6.  Har dil mein mohabbat hai mera dil hai akela from Samrat Chandragupta (1945), lyrics Pt. Madhur, music C Ramchandra

A nice song of loneliness. The jury is still out between Naushad and CR.

7.  Phoonk do Bhagwan aa ke apna jahan from Keemat (1946), lyrics Majrooh Sutapuri, music Naushad

Amirbai Karnataki earned renown for singing bhajans. This one is with a difference; here the angry devotee is remonstrating with her God, apparently for his unjust ways. I heard it in the Internet era, but it is an excellent song.

8.  Main jaanti hun tum na aaoge kabhi piya from Leela (1947), lyrics Gopal Singh Nepali, music C Ramchandra

I was about to give my vote to Naushad when I came across this poignant romantic song of separation. The lady would light the lamp for her lover even though she knows he may not come at all. An effective reply to Naushad.

Now let us compare a pair of their less-heard duets.

9.  Sagar mein uthi do maujein (duet with Amar) from Keemat (1946), lyrics Majrooh Sultanpuri, music Naushad

What a wonderful song! Great poetry by Majrooh Sultanpuri: सागर में उठी दो मौजें, मौजों पर चली नैया / दो खोए हुए दिल बैठे मतवाला है नाव खेवैया.  So, not only the two lovers are lost, the boatman too is intoxicated. The two waves of the sea are also like lovers. In this romantic environment the moon comes out of the clouds and the stars sing a beautiful song. And the Great Mughal creates a timeless melody, so what if we have not heard it before the Internet Era.

10.  O janewale kuchh kahta ja (duet with GM Durrani) from Samrat Chandragupta (1945), lyrics Pt ‘Madhur’, music C Ramchandra

Before you declare Naushad as the runaway winner, listen to CR’s this beautiful Punjabi folk (Heer ?) style composition. He would do it in a surer way a year later in Rafi’s voice: Kah ke bhi na aye tum (Safar).  Anil Biswas would use it a decade later for Rafi in Heer (Le ja uski duayein ho jo tera ho na saka) and OP Nayyar in Naya Daur (Dil de ke daga denge wo).

Both Naushad and C Ramchandra are too good, and I have given up keeping scores. Therefore, let us compare their landmark Amirbai films: Elaan and Shehnai, both in 1947. I have already presented a solo by Naushad, which I consider his best for Amirbai. Here are a couple of more.

11.  Rote huye aaye hain rote huye jayenge from Elaan (1947), lyrics Zia Sarhadi, music Naushad

This song of despondency perfectly matches with the theme of the film and is similar to Aayi azal ae zindagi. A quintessential Amirbai and a great song by any yardstick.

12.  Aaine mein ek chaand si surat nazar aayi (duet with Surendra) from Elaan (1947), lyrics Zia Sarhadi, music Naushad

Munawwar Sultana and Surendra did have time to romance in the beginning. Being a Muslim social, they can only see each other through a sheer curtain or a mirror. You have to ignore Surendra’s funny cap, Naushad creates a very good happy duet.

If you thought it would be difficult to match these songs, you have not reckoned with C Ramchandra. Shehnai was an out and out comedy. Therefore, the songs have a different mood, but being lighter does not make them any lesser. However, CR gets an opportunity to create a somewhat sad song (as a stage performance?) so that you have a same-to-same comparison with Naushad. Here is an iconic Amirbai solo.

13.  Maar katari mar jana ye ankhiyan kisi se milana na from Shehnai (1947), lyrics PL Santoshi, music C Ramchandra

But Naushad had a happy duet too in Elaan. So, you have two by CR in Shehnai. He could himself sing and turn it into gold. He sang Aao aao mohabbat ki kha lein qasam with Amirbai. But let me present this Happy-Sad duet with Shamshad Begum which belongs to the stratosphere.

14.  Hamare angana ho hamare angana aaj baaje baaje shehnai (with Shamshad Begum) from Shehnai (1947), lyrics PL Santoshi, music C Ramchandra

I should end with how they ended.

15.  Sainyan se bichhad gayi haye more Ram by Amribai Karnataki and Saadat Khan from Chandni Raat (1949), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad

This film had Shamshad Begum as the lead singer with six songs. Amirbai Karnataki only had a duet, with Saadat Khan. Very little is known about Saadat Khan except that he sang a few songs and composed music in some films. But this folk-based lovely dance-song (in a mela?) is up there with O janewale baalamwa. Naushad ends his innings with Amirbai in a terrific manner.

In comparison, CR’s last with Amirbai in Sagaai (1951), a duet with Lata Mangeshkar , O babu, kaise dil karun kaabu, is quite tepid. But if you take a year earlier, you have this song which achieved stupendous popularity, but it is based on a western tune. So, I end this post with the song I mentioned in my first sentence.

16.  Gore gore baanke chhore kabhi meri gali aya karo by Amirbai Karnataki and Lata Mangeshkar from Samadhi (1950), lyrics Rajendra Krishna, music C Ramchandra

It has been Ace for Ace, shot for shot, and winner for winner. In the heat of the duel it may be difficult to make a judgment. So, you can have replays at your leisure to just enjoy the great game of Naushad and C Ramchandra with Amirbai Karnataki.

Notes:
1.  Vidur Sury has written an exhaustive and excellent article on Amirbai Karnataki.

2.  There is a great deal of contradiction in some details about her life between different sources. For example, some sources give her date of birth in February 1912. Some sites mention that she was the eldest among her siblings, while some others state that she was second, after Gauharbai.  The profile given in this post is based on the reconciliation of discrepancies between different sources.

3.  Who is Amar in song #9? Arunji writes this about  him on Atul’s blog: The real name of Amar was Nasir. He was from Punjab. He was born in 1920. After doing bit roles in some films, he got a major break in film Sanyasi-45, in which he sang 5 duets and 1 solo. His solo song Tooti huyi kashti ka baney kaun sahaara became very popular. In 1946, he was hero of the film Bindiya,  Ragini (who later migrated to Pakistan) was his heroine, and MD was Kamal Dasgupta, who gave him 3 songs. Then he was hero of Suraiya in Natak-47.  He sang one duet with her and two solos. Later, he did films like Maang, Lalaji, Vijay, Shukriya, Keemat etc. After 1950 he was doing character roles till 1970. He died in 1980.

A tribute to Shamshad Begum on her 2^nd death anniversary (14 April 1919 – 23 April 2013)

This year started with Naushad, who was followed by C Ramchandra. We have since seen their close duel with Amirbai Karnataki. Consequently, some  readers were surprised not to see a similar comparison in my last post on Shamshad Begum’s songs by Naushad on her 96^th birth anniversary. Indeed there is a comparison, but their work with her is so important and large that fitting them in one post would not have done full justice.  So here is Shamshad with Naushad’s formidable rival, C Ramchandra, for the readers to judge the match.

Two of the most iconic songs of our films – Ana meri jaan meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday and Mere piya gaye Rangoon – are C Ramchandra-Shamshad Begum creation, he also lending his voice in them. There are many parallels with Naushad: CR, too, had about 60 songs with her, the same as Naushad’s; she had a period of glory with him before Lata Mangeshkar entered his music (and his life) in a big way; he, too, used her as a bridge between the vintage era singers, such as Beenapani Mukherjee, Lalita Deulkar etc. and Lata Mangeshkar (in Naushad’s case, it was between Zohrabai Ambalewali/Amirbai Karnataki and Lata Mangeshkar). But here the parallel ends. In Naushad’s case, all the songs that came Shamshad Begum’s way post-Lata Mangeshar too, though very small in number, seemed to be crafted with great care, making everyone of them a landmark right up to the end. But in the case of C Ramchandra, he became so Lata-centric that he seems to be very cavalier about his songs for Shamshad Begum during the later period, resulting in a mix that has landmark songs at one end, and some largely forgotten ones at the other.

During a brief period in the late 1940s, before Lata Mangeshkar happened in a big way to C Ramchandra, Shamshad Begum was his most important singer, and he was at his creative best. The combination gave some everlasting songs, which are an important part of our musical legacy. Here is my tribute on the second death anniversary of Shamshad Begum with some of her songs composed by C Ramchandra.

1.  Ana meri jaan meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday (with Meena Kapoor and Chitalkar) from Shehnai (1947), lyrics PL Santoshi

Naushad used Shamshad Begum for the first time in 1946 (Shahjehan). C Ramchandra followed close on the heels the following year, and made it the Year of Ana meri jaan meri jan Sunday ke Sunday, taking the country by storm and raising the hackles of the purists for its funky Hinglish lyrics and Westernised tune. (Correction: Venkataramanji mentions in comment #21, that CR first used her voice in Safar, 1946, in a duet against him, though the song is not available on YT).  It is a stage song picturised on Dulari (lip-synching Meena Kapoor), Mumtaz Ali (Chitalkar) and Rehana lip-synching Shamshad Begum.

2.  Badi badi paati likhwaiyan from Khidki (1948), lyrics PL Santoshi

Naushad’s forte was folk and chorus compositions. Here is C Ramchandra’s chorus-backed folk for Shamshad Begum.

3.  Kismat hamare saath hai jalnewale jala karein (with Mohantara Talpade and Lata Mangeshkar) from Khidki (1948), lyrics PL Santoshi

This is a unique triad song which has an all male version too in the voice of Chitalkar, Rafi and GM Sajan. Venkataramanji in his first guest article for SoY on ‘Inspired and adopted songs between Tamil and Hindi’ mentions how AV Meiyappa Chettiar and his team were coming out of a cinema hall after watching Khidki, and AVM was so impressed by the refrain ‘डडडा डडडा डडा डडा’ that he decided to have a song based on this tune in his film. Thus, two songs – one all male and the other, all female, just as in Khidki – were created for Vazhkai (1949), which was the debut film of Vyjayanthimala. This film was remade into Bahaar (1950), which became her launch in Hindi films.

4.  Maar gayo re more dil pe katari (with Chitalkar) from Nadiya Ke Paar (1948), lyrics Moti B.A.

C Ramchandra, at his peak, creates this beautiful folk chorus dance song for boatmen’s tribe.

5.  Tamtam se jhaanko na raniji from Namoona (1949), lyrics PL Santoshi

Ana meri jaan meri jaan in 1947, Dadadaa dadadaa dadaa dadaa in 1948 – C Ramchandra was in full flow. He made 1949 the year of Mere piya gaye Rangoon kiya hai wahaan se telephoon. But he did a lot more. We have seen how Patanga was dominated by Shamshad Begum (though it was an equally powerful transition to Lata Mangeshkar); Namoona was another movie which had this Lata-Shamshad equation. Here is a fabulous street dance-song which captures the best essence of C Ramchandra and Shamshad Begum.

6. Jiya mora dole sajan man bhaaye balam man bhaaye from Namoona, lyrics PL Santoshi

The leading lady, Kamini Kaushal, is beside herself with joy because सजन मन भाये बलम मन भाये. If Shamshad Begum is good for the street singer-dancer for a fun song, she is equally good for this superb romantic song for the leading lady. This song takes me to the long discussion I had with SSW in my last post on the suitability of Shamshad Begum’s voice for the heroine, and incidentally I had made a mention of Kamini Kaushal.  He should probably agree now that there is nothing discordant in her singing for the leading lady.  This movie, too, had passing-the-baton, similar to what we saw in Patanga, as CR would compose a sweet, sad song Ek thes lagi dil toot gaya in the voice of Lata Mangeshkar.

7.  Mere sipahiya hamari gali aiyo (with Chitalkar) from Sipahiya (1949), lyrics Raj Kunwar

With Sipahiya CR’s tilt to Lata Mangeshakar becomes visible with three solos and two duets (with himself), whereas Shamshad Begum had just three duets with him. But he had a way of composing nice, hummable songs for himself, and Shamshad Begum had a very high par, as seen in this delightful duet.

8.  Idhar muhabbat udhar zamana, jidhar kaho hum udhar chalein from Samaadhi (1950), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

This was the film which had Gore gore O bake chore and Abhi shaam ayegi nikalenge taare. C Ramchandra’s interest in Shamshad Begum seems to have started waning.

9.  Muhabbat meri rang lane lagi hai from Nirala (1950), lyrics PL Santoshi

Nirala had two all-time great Lata Mangeshkar songs: Mehfil mein jal uthi shama and Aisi muhabbat se hum baaj aaye.  Muhabbat meri rang laane lagi hai has CR orchestration for a typical Lata song.  CR seems to have fitted Shamshad Begum’s voice in a karaoke track, as a gesture to her.

10. Mere peechhe peechhe aa ke O chore gore gore mat khaans re mat khaans re (with Chitalkar) from Ghunghroo (1952), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

There is a clear differential treatment to Shamshad Begum compared to Lata Mangeshkar.  This is a flippant song compared to Lata Mangeshkar’s Kaali kaali ratiyan yaad sataaye or Badnaam ho raha hai ab ishq ka fasana.

11.  Ye tirchhi nazar aur teekhi ada hothon ki sajaawat kya kahna (with Lata Mangeshkar) from Laharein (1953), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

A nice qawwali duet, Shamshad Begum dominates over Lata. The same qawwali is repeated in Duniya Gol Hai (1955).  The reason is soon clear – both films were produced by C Ramchandra.

The last time Shamshad Begum’s voice seems to have been used by C Ramchandra is in the film Shaarda (1957), as one of the several voices in the song Bhaagwan (भागवान) zara dhhere bol, picturised as a humorous stage performance. Shamshad Begum’s voice usually dominates over other singers, but in this song she is quite unnoticeable. A very tame end to CR-Shamshad Begum association, which had a glorious beginning.

A tribute to Rafi on his 35^th death anniversary

It is certain that readers would have been expecting something on Rafi with Naushad today, but they would find the inclusion of C Ramchandra surprising and somewhat contrived. While Naushad is the most important composer to have laid the foundation of the Rafi legend, C Ramchandra does not figure among the composers who gave great songs for Rafi. Naushad, SD Burman, OP Nayyar, Shankar Jaikishan, Roshan, Chitragupta, Madan Mohan, Ravi – these are the names that come to mind instantly when you think of Rafi. As a matter of fact, I have read a comment somewhere (not by Raju Bharatan) that CR shared his mentor Anil Biswas’s antipathy for Rafi.

I find this comment surprising, because in my early years when I was hooked to the radio I associated CR with having created the earliest superhit songs for Rafi. Rafi started with Naushad in 1944 with Pahle Aap, and with CR two years later with Safar. Yet if you count their songs till 1949, Rafi had 24 songs with CR, as compared to about 15 with Naushad. Even in qualitative comparison during this period, CR seems to trump Naushad.

CR-Rafi and Naushad-Rafi comparison till 1949

In Pahle Aap (1944), Rafi is secondary singer to Shyam Kumar in two duets. In a chorus song Hindostan ke hum hain Hindostan hamara, HFGK does not credit the singers, but Arunji in his article on Atul’s blog mentions Rafi as one of the singers along with Shyam Kumar, Alauddin Naved and BM Vyas. His next appearance with Naushad is in 1946 in two films. In Shahjehan, he is in a chorus in KL Saigal-dominated Mere sapno ki rani – it was fulfillment of his dream to sing with his idol and the legend. In Anmol Ghadi, he gets to sing a solo Tera khilona toota baalak, but it is overshadowed by Surendra’s songs.

CR on the other hand gives two solos for Rafi in Safar, whereas he himself sings duets with Binapani Mukherjee and Shamshad Begum. One of the songs is a pure gem. Readers can instantly recognise several songs on this Punjabi folk tune that were composed later, one of the most well-known being Dil le ke daga denge (Naya Daur, 1957).

1.  Kah ke bhi na aye tum ab chhupne lage taare by Rafi from Safar (1946), lyrics GS Nepali, music C Ramchandra

While the above song has been mentioned earlier on this blog a couple of times, here is the other one from the same film, less heard but no les charming. You can see Rafi is very sure of himself and shows all the modulation for which he became famous later.

2.  Ab wo hamare ho gaye iqraar karen ya na karen by Rafi from Safar

Contrast this with his early song for Naushad, who leaves no doubt that Shyam Kumar is the lead singer. Rafi sounds decidedly tentative behind his senior partner. The song is absolutely delightful though.

3.  Tum Dilli main Agre by Shyam Kumar and Rafi from Pahle Aap (1944), lyrics DN Madhok, music Naushad

Naushad gives a miss to Rafi in 1947, even though it was a very productive year for him: Dard had only female singers; Surendra was the male singer in Elaan, and Amar in Natak. But CR creates a big Rafi bang in Saajan, with a roaring hit Humko tumhara hi aasra, which had a solo version, and a duet version with Lalilta Deulkar which seemed to be more popular. He had another duet with her in the film, and two more triad songs with Lalita Deulkar and Geeta Dutt. I understand Ashok Kumar wanted to sing his own songs as a hangover from the earlier era, when even non-singer actors got to sing their songs, but CR put his foot down and had Rafi as the lead singer. Even though playback technology had been discovered as early as 1935, 1947 is regarded as the year of resurgence of independent great playback singers.

4.  Humko tumhara hi aasra tum hamare ho na ho by Rafi and Lalita Deulkar from Saajan (1947), lyrics Moti, music C Ramchandra

In 1948, Naushad’s male singers in Anokhi Ada are Mukesh and Surendra, and in Mela the lead singer is Mukesh for Dilip Kumar. Rafi gets to sing the title song though, which is picturised on an itinerant singer, an unknown side character.

5.  Ye zindagi ke mele duniya mein kam na honge by Rafi from Mela (1948), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad

But CR does one up on Naushad by composing a Rafi song for Dilip Kumar. This is his iconic duet with Lalilta Deulkar (singing for Kamini Kaushal) in Nadiya Ke Paar. This is besides the widely-discussed dadadaa dadadaa dadaa dadaa (डडडा डडडा डडा डडा) song – Khushiyan manayen kun na hum jalnewale jala karen – in Khidki, in which Rafi is one of the voices.

6.  More raja ho le chal nadiya ke paar by Rafi and Lalita Deulkar from Nadiya Ke Paar (1948), lyrics Moti, music C Ramchandra

Now we come to the most important watershed year, 1949, in the history of Hindi films. It is a major watershed primarily for the Tsunami wave of Lata Mangeshkar. But on the CR-Naushad-Rafi front, too, we see a distinct transition taking place. Each composed 10 songs for Rafi, but Naushad takes a huge leap in terms of quality and impact, because this was the year of Suhani raat dhal chuki from Dulari, the earliest career-defining song of Rafi by Naushad. I also find his duets with Shamshad Begum in Chandni Raat absolutely charming. And in Dillagi his two solos – Is duniya mein ae dilwalo dil ka lagana khel nahi and Tere kooche mein armanon ki duniya le ke aya hun – for the hero Shyam make quite an impact in the face of two incredibly sweet Shyam Kumar-Suaiya duets in the film – Murliwale murli baja and Zaalim zamana mujhko tujhse chhuda raha hai. These songs compensate for the insignificant place given to Rafi in Andaaz as compared to the lead singer Mukesh for Dilip Kumar.  Perceptive listeners would notice a very subtle ‘inspiration’ from Ghata ghanghor ghor in the instrumental interludes in the following song.  Not surprising, because Naushad had been assistant to Khemchand Prakash.

7.  Is duniya mein ae dilwalo dil ka lagana khel nahi by Rafi from Dillagi (1949), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad

CR’s ten songs for Rafi on the other hand do not stand in the same league. The songs include solos as well as duets, triads and more than three singer songs, some of which are quite popular as we have seen in Patanga. But this is about it. None can be regarded as a landmark song, unlike CR-Rafi songs of the preceding years. One of the nice songs is the following (somehow it reminds me of school prayers, which were generally based on this tune):

8.  Rona hai to ro chupke aansoo na bahe aawaz na ho from Duniya (1949), lyrics (?) music C Ramchandra

CR-Rafi and Naushad-Rafi comparison 1950 onwards

1950 onwards or more precisely 1951 (Deedar) onwards, Naushad zooms off in a different orbit with his Rafi songs. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he laid the foundation of Rafi legend, and gave many immortal songs. While CR more than matched in numbers until 1949, and gave some of the earliest landmark songs for Rafi, 1950 onwards he is not in the Rafi race. Late 50s onwards every major composer joins the Rafi bandwagon, making him ‘The Male Playback’ singer of Hindi films. CR plods on, with some occasional sparks.

CR composed over 75 songs for Rafi over his entire career (not a small number), compared to about 150 by Naushad. It is surprising that with much smaller number of songs for Talat Mahmood, CR is regarded as one of the major composers for him.

So, did CR harbour some ‘antipathy’ for Rafi like his mentor Anil Biswas? I have a very different view on this, and I believe many readers would agree with me on this. Fifties onwards he became so fixated with Lata Mangeshkar that he was not a great one for male songs (with the exception of Talat Mahmood). He could himself chip in to sing, and had the talent to make many of his songs everlasting hits.

I have already done a post on Naushad’s best songs (solos) for Rafi. Their songs are too well-known to bear repetition. CR, however, is not a washout with Rafi. In several films he had Rafi as the lead singer, giving some very memorable songs. I end this post with some post-1950 songs of their combination which can be categorized as outstanding.

9.  Ye hasrat thi ki is duniya mein bas do kaam kar jaate by Rafi from Nausherwan-e-Aadil (1957), lyrics Parvez Shamsi, music C Ramchandra

10.  Taaron ki zubaan poar hai mohabbat ki kahaani by Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar from Nausherwan-e-Aadil

11.  Dekh humein aawaz na dena O bedard zamaane by Rafi and Asha Bhosle from Amar Deep (1958), lyics Rajendra Krishna, music C Ramchandra (Happy version)

Notes and acknowledgements:
1.  Muveen (muveen 123@yahoo.com) has prepared an Excel sheet of complete list of Rafi songs.  This is a very convenient source to look at his songs year-wise and MD-wise. If any reader is interested I can mail it to him.   This was sent to me by Sudhir Kapurji.
2.  Hindi Film Geet Kosh (HFGK): We tend to take HFGK as a given, something like we treat a dictionary on our mantelpiece.  But it is important to pay a tribute to the awesome work of Harmandir Singh ‘Hamraz’ji in preparing the monumental compilation.  The knowledge about old Hindi film songs can be clearly divided between before and after HFGK; prior to HFGK writing about old film songs was quite literally like groping in the dark.  We easily believed claims, such as some singer having sung 25000 songs, HFGK’s arrival proved that the real number was not more than a quarter of this figure.

Greeting her happy birthday on her 82^st birth anniversary (b. 8 September 1933)

Asha Bhosle’s position in the early 1950s was very unenviable. Her elder sister, Lata Mangeshkar, had debuted as a playback singer (Aap Ki Sewa Mein; 1947) only a year before her (Chunariya; 1948), but the former stormed the music scene in 1949 as a Tsunami wave, emerging soon as The Female Playback Singer. While most of the vintage singers disappeared fast, some of the early era stalwarts like Shamshad Begum, Suraiya and Geeta Dutt were holding their own. In this scenario, it was difficult for Asha Bholse to make a space for herself. The two dominant composers of the era, Naushad and C Ramchandra, were even more firmly on Lata Mangeshkar bandwagon. They gave a look-up to Asha Bhosle very sparingly in the early years. My view is that they came to Asha Bhosle in later years, especially in the case of C Ramchandra, reluctantly.

Hans has used a term ‘Sister Tax’ Asha Bhosle had to pay, but ironically she has to thank her elder sister for the big breaks she got. One of the big five, OP Nayyar, completely excluded Lata Mangeshkar because of some serious spat, as the popular lore goes (or purely for musical reasons, as some would suggest), and having moved on form Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum, settled firmly with Asha Bhsole. She was for him what Lata Mangeshkar was for C Ramchandra. Similarly, Lata Mangeshkar’s widely written-about rift with SD Burman created a big opening for her. Further, when her personal relationship with CR collapsed, this also signalled the collapse of their professional relationship, creating opportunities for Asha Bhosle with him, resulting in some prestigious projects like Navrang.

Lata Mangeshkar’s dissociation with Naushad is more subtle. This started at the turn of the decade from 60s to 70s, when the Great Mughal’s reign had all but ended (someone has said she had a sense of timing). But from quite early, he gave Asha Bhosle songs off and on, including some outstanding mujras, that fitted her singing style. Naushad gave some 40 songs for Asha Bhosle, which was about 25% of his songs for Lata Mangeshkar.

C Ramchandra, on the other hand, composed far more songs for her, about 120. In relative terms also, it is significantly higher – about 40% of his 300 odd songs for Lata Mangeshkar. The higher number in absolute terms is because he did many more films and songs than Naushad, albeit with a larger share of indifferent scores. The higher relative share of Asha Bhosle songs is explained by the fact that Lata Mangeshkar severed her association with C Ramchandra at the end of 50s when he was still at his creative best, i.e. at least a decade earlier than she did with Naushad, affecting him severely.

Songs of Yore is celebrating 2015 as the year of Naushad, and is also looking at his most worthy rival C Ramchandra. I have compared and contrasted them with regard to various singers. Asha Bhosle is another singer with whom there are similarities in their association as I have explained. She has a huge fan following, many regarding her no less than her elder sister. I am an inveterate fan of Lata Mangeshkar, but I find that a parallel Asha Bhsole Fan Club has come up on Songs of Yore (that is called true democracy ). Naushad and CR may have gone to her reluctantly, but they did manage to compose several outstanding songs for her. Here is my birthday greetings to her on her 82st birth anniversary with their songs for her (solos). Since they composed some outstanding duets, too, I would try to present their duets in Part 2.

1.  Ik baat kahun mere piya sun le agar tu from Amar (1954), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad

This seems to be the first song Naushad did for Asha Bhosle. This was at the peak of Naushad-Lata Mangeshkar association. The melody is typical of what he would have created for the latter. My presumption is that he would have meant it as a Lata Mangeshkar song, and would have done it in Asha Bhosle’s voice for some reasons we do not know. The song is quite good, but not in the class of the songs by Lata Mangeshkar in the film.

2.  Ina mina dika from Asha (1957), lyrics Rajendra Krishna, music C Ramchandra

CR, too, takes Asha Bhosle in 1954 itself, and we find the songs of this combination regularly since then in films like Kavi, Meenar, Pahli Jhalak (1954); Insaniyat, Lutera (1955); Shatranj (1957) etc. None of the songs of the early period I could regard as a landmark. Then comes Ina mina dika, a twin song (male version by Kishore Kumar), in which both CR and Asha Bhosle are in their elements. Listen to this timeless Rock n’ Roll.

3.  Tora man bada paapi sanwariya re from Gunga Jumna (1961), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad

Naushad now creates a song for Asha Bhosle. A beautiful classical based mujra song. It takes you to the days when the courtesan singers were not only pleasure women (in many cases they were not), but pucca singers, with thorough training in classical music.

4.   Lahraye jiya bal khaye jiya from Sharda (1957), lyrics Rajendra Krishna, music C Ramchandra

This song also lends itself to speculation whether C Ramchandra had meant it for Lata Mangeshkar. By this period their relationship had started coming under strain. But Asha Bhsole does a very competent job.

5.   Haye haye rasiya tu bada bedardi from Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad

I would call it a great Asha Bhosle song. It is clear Naushad has created this tune specifically for her. The film bombed either because of poor story line, or because of getting hopelessly delayed due to Dilip Kumar’s fetish for perfection, but the songs are memorable, this being one of them.

6.   Tum sainya gulab ke phool from Navrang (1959), lyrics Bharat Vyas, music C Ramchnadra

This is a major Shantaram venture after he lost his vision in the bullfight scene in Do Ankhen Barah Haath. The metaphor of nine colours was his way of moving on in life after that mishap, by showcasing the beauty of colours which we see by our eyes. Asha Bhosle has to carry this major project on her shoulders as the lead singer. She has already established her presence in a big way with OP Nayyar’s Naya Daur (1957). Here is quite a fast paced song with her typical khanak, picturised on an ebullient Sandhya, as Mohini of Mahipal’s imagination. As his wife Jamuna, however, she was an irritatingly nagging, plainly dressed woman.

7.  Dil haarne wale aur bi hain from Dil Diya Dard Liya

You might wonder why Naushad didn’t compose more songs for Asha Bhosle. It is clear he has discovered her real niche, and could have done an SD Burman. But he had no compelling reason because Lata Mangeshmar didn’t have one of the famous spats with him. Looking at such outstanding Naushad-Asha Bhosle songs, their small number made me use the term ‘reluctantly’.

8.  Aa dil se dil mila le from Navrang

If you think Naushad can compose two excellent Asha Bhosle songs in the same film, C Ramchandra does it in Navrang. He, however, switches tack from fast and peppy to a slower classical dance based song. Mahipal has an escape mechanism of seeing his plain, nagging wife as the attractive Mohini of his imagination.

9.   Tasweer-e-mohabbat thi jis mein humne wo sheesha tod diya from Sunghursh (1968), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad

This is the cut-off year from which, in my view, Naushad was overstaying his welcome. Jignesh does not agree with me. He has sent me links of some “absolutely superb” songs of later years, but I have not been able to gather courage to listen to them (sorry Jignesh, but you should not be deterred by my prejudices). One would not count it as a landmark song, but quite pleasant to listen to.

10.   Main teri dil tera re mitwa from Tasweer (1966), lyrics Rajendra Krishna, music C Ramchandra

In 1965, CR-Asha Bhosle had a more well known, superb twin song Dil laga kar hum ye samjhe in Zindagi Aur Maut. I wouldn’t be surprised if my friend, Arvind, and some more members of the self-created Asha Bhosle Fan Club, say that Asha Bhosle’s version is better. In my opinion, obviously, Mahendra Kapoor’s is way ahead. But why get into a controversy. In any case that song has been mentioned earlier in my Twin songs. I end with a somewhat less-known song, but which must be a delight for Asha Bhosle fans. It is my favourite too. As a bonus to boot, the song is in two versions, happy and sad.

Happy version

Sad version

I could not have imagined until sometime back that I would be writing two posts back to back on Asha Bhosle. But I have since become conscious of a strong Asha Bhosle Fan Club on SoY. In my last post on her songs with Naushad and C Ramchandra, we saw that even though they might have gone to her reluctantly, they created some of the best songs of her career. That post was devoted to her solos. While looking for their songs I realised that her duets, too, composed by them are no less memorable. We can make a general statement that duets as a class, right since the earliest days from when film songs are available, have held a special charm. Therefore, to have a complete picture of the songs that Naushad and CR composed for Asha Bhosle, I am presenting her duets made by the two reluctant Masters.

Some readers might be wondering what makes a person a member of the Asha Bhosle Fan Club. I am not one, but after observing the staunch members for some time, I have devised a small Asha Bhosle test. Here are three simple Yes/No statements. If you agree, you check Yes, otherwise No. If your response is unequivocal Yes to all the three statements, you are a true-blue member of ABFC.

Asha Bhosle test
1.  Asha Bhosle’s Ai gham-e-dil kya karun is much better than Talat Mahmood’s (Thokar; 1953; Sardar Malik).                  Yes/No
2.  Asha Bhosle’s Dil laga kar hum ye samjhe zindagi kya cheez hai is much better than Mahendra Kapoor’s (Zindagi Aur Maut; 1965; C Ramchandra).                                                                            Yes/No
3.  Asha Bhosle’s Tera dil kahan hai sab kuchh yahan hai (Chandni Chowk; 1954; Roshan) is much better than Lata Mangeshkar’s Rahein na rahein hum (Mamta; 1966; Roshan).                                                        Yes/No

Continuing my Year of Naushad series, along with C Ramchandra, here are their superb duets for Asha Bhosle, which would delight even non-members of ABFC. I am leaving it to the readers to decide the winner of the duel.

1. Mere mehboob mein kya nahi (with Lata Mangeshkar), from Mere Mehboob (1963), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad

The two great sisters have some terrific duets. It is another matter that Asha Bhosle has to settle for Ameeta with Lata Mageshkar for Sadhana. Naushad’s orchestration and the uninhibited dance by the ladies in the zenana of this ‘Muslim social’, each thrilled by her mehboob, without realising they are both fascinated by the same man, makes this one of the best duets by the Mangeshkar sisters.

2. O chaand jahan wo jaayein (with Lata Mangeshkar) from Sharda (1957), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

You talk of the great sisters’ duets! C Ramchandra has already done it. Meena Kumari and Shyama, both in love with the same man, Raj Kapoor, who is seen on a flight, beseech the moon to follow him wherever he goes and bring the news of his welfare. You can take it for granted that Asha Bhosle has to settle for the second lead; also, she comes in after Lata Mangeshkar’s first stanza, but she creates a distinct identity by her khanak for the more ebullient Shyama, compared to the restrained Meena Kumari.

3. Daiya re daiya laaj mohe laage (with Rafi?) from Leader (1964), lyrics Shkeel Badayuni, music Naushad

Leader is not rated among great movies of Dilip Kumar. I am surprised about its unflattering rating, but I am very fond of this movie. It is an entertaining mix of comedy, politics, murder mystery, along with the teasing hero and angry irritated heroine, who finally falls to the hero’s charm. The movie has a proper Rafi-Asha Bhosle duet, and a very good one at that, Aajkal shauq-e-deedar hai, and you have this duet which is really a solo. HFGK identifies it as an Asha Bhosle solo, but Rafi’s Aa aa aa is unmistakable, lip-synched by Dilip Kumar, who enters dressed up for performance, where Vyjayanthimala has electrified the stage with her dance.

4. Dekh humein aawaz na dena (with Rafi) from Amar Deep (1958), lyrics Rajendra Krishna, music C Ramchandra

If you are looking for a proper Rafi-Asha Bhosle duet, you can’t do better than Dekh humein aawaz na dena. This has two versions, happy and sad. It is also a perfectly balanced duet in that Asha Bhosle does not merely follow Rafi, she often takes the lead with a slight change in tune, and leaves no less impact than Rafi.

5. Saawan aye ya na aaye (with Rafi) from Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad

This film loosely based on the Wuthering Heights boasted some excellent songs, though the film crashed. This is a very pleasant romantic duet, based on Brindavani Sarang, as mentioned in a comment on YT.

6. Mere jeevan mein kiran ban ke (with Manna Dey) from Talaaq (1958), lyrics Pradeep, music C Ramchandra

Did someone say classical-based and romantic? C Ramchandra could do all that, and he also had more diversity than his rival. The lead pairs Rajendra Kumar and Kamini Kadam (?), on a date in the mountains and clouds, hear this beautiful melody coming out from some distance. Coming closer, they see a group of sheepherders, and a couple from the group is seen singing this beautiful romantic duet against the backdrop of some stunning landscape. There are many landmark songs picturised on unknown actors.  This should figure among the list of best such songs. Over to our indefatigable researcher Ashokji. The lead pair look at them fondly, wishing they could also express their love so freely.

7. Pyar ki raah bahaar ki manzil (with Rafi) from Saaz Aur Aawaz (1966), lyrics Khumar Barabanqvi, music Naushad

Naushad was not averse to take ‘inspiration’ from his rivals. This was the period when OP Nayyar had become a rage. He may not have a copyright on ghodagaadi beat, but his influence is unmistakable in this duet in a film Naushad probably took as a filler when the more ‘prestigious’ projects, Dil Diya Dard Liya and Palki, were getting interminably delayed.

8. Aadha hai chandrama raat aadhi (with Mahendra Kapoor) from Navrang (1959), lyrics Bharat Vyas, music C Ramchandra

But C Ramchandra has put his heart and soul into music of this film. He had to make a point to someone estranged from him, and he does that with élan. While Naushad was very Rafi-centric, C Ramchandra used more diverse voices. The result is this outstanding romantic duet, which is always cited when songs based on Malkaus are discussed.

9. Baalam tere pyar ki thadhi aag mein jalte jalte (with Rafi) from Ram Aur Shyam (1967), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad

Now we come to the phase when Naushad is not the undisputed monarch. After a long drought, he was lucky to get this entertainer from South, which laid the foundation of twins separated at birth, one of them being brought up amidst some villainous relatives, scheming to keep him meek and terrorised, and the other fun loving, loud and aggressive. This was the precursor of lady Ram and Shyams, such as Seeta Aur Geeta and Chalbaaz, each becoming a big success. A generic part of the plot is the lookalikes landing up at each other’s places in a mix-up. The meek Ram has landed up at Shyam’s village, where the impish Mumtaz taking him to be the fun-loving Shyam sings this high energy love duet. Love makes Ram, too, quite confident.

10. Aap ka chehra masha Allah (with Rafi) from Rootha Na Karo (1970), lyrics Hasrat Jaipuri, music C Ramchandra

C Ramchandra, too, at the sunset of his career, creates this romantic duet on the once popular pair, Shashi Kapoor and Nanda.  But, sadly, he seems to be groping what he wants to be.  There is no trace of CR as we know, the song appears to be probably 70% Shankar Jaikishan and 30% OP Nayyar.

The SoY Award for the Best Music Director goes to?

This year’s detailed review had more songs (152) than in any preceding year, and I had hoped that this would cover most of the noteworthy songs. Nevertheless, the readers added a large number of songs in the comments. This shows that there are a number of persons spread all over the world, who are deeply passionate about old Hindi film music and who consider it worthwhile to spend hours and hours reminiscing about songs, looking for them on the YT, and sharing their favourite songs and their thoughts on the SoY. This vindicates that my laborious exercise is, after all, not futile. We discover some forgotten or unknown gems, get new insights and become more aware of difference in tastes. I have to thank all the readers deeply for their valuable comments, which enrich the exercise and help me in my Wrap Ups. The Final Wrap Up is a distillation of the Overview post and the four Wrap Ups: Wrap Up 1 on the best male solos, Wrap Up 2 on the best ‘other’ female solos, Wrap Up 3 on the best Lata Mangeshkar songs and Wrap Up 4 on the best duets.

Our master statistician Venkataramanji continued to help us with the detailed data analysis. This year’s number of songs in the Select List (of memorable songs) in relation to the total number of songs in the year compares as follows with the previous years:

(The figures in italics given by me, based on HFGK and some estimation)

What does the above table show? One is the trivial part, that this year’s Select List represents 6% increase over 1951, 63% over 1953 and 81% over 1955. The more important part is the ratio with the total number of songs. Venkataramanji has estimated that there are no information or links for about 200-250 songs. If you take that out, even my large Select List comprises only 19% of the total songs. If you add the songs mentioned by the readers, we are talking about 25% of the total songs, which can be called worthy of notice and second hearing. My guess is that even at that time those songs would have sunk without notice. One wonders why all this fuss in our films to have ten songs. I like the current crop of films at least on the count that they have de-emphasised the importance of music. They are satisfied if they can hit one or two item songs.

A remarkable work has been done by our Ashokji (Ashok M Vaishnav) in taking the yearwise review to another level on his blog. Taking my overview post as the base, he has done micro analysis on various singer-MD combinations, as only he could do. He has done about two dozen posts, and for the convenience of the readers he has prepared a meta-summary of his work and put it on Google drive in pdf format. This is an invaluable archival material, and becomes a very important complement to my reviews on SoY.

To recapitulate, the prominent MDs are well-known. C Ramchandra was very prolific with the number of films, and consequently songs which are not only extremely popular to this day, but also of a very high quality. The roll call of Nirala, Samadhi, Sangeeta, Sangram and Sargam speaks of his prowess. The Great Mughal Naushad had a fetish for perfection and did less number of films compared to his other peers. But his two films, Babul and Daastan are enough to put him up at the top. The doyen of the earlier generation Anil Biswas gives some of his best music in Arzoo, Beqasoor and Lajawab. SD Burman with his two films Afsar and Mashal makes a mark. Roshan with his Bawre Nain, a year after his disastrous debut (with Neki Aur Badi), creates an all-time masterpiece, and if the best score in a film was the criteria, Bawre Nain would be many readers’ choice.

Bulo C Rani’s Jogan too belongs to the class of all-time great scores. There were some more. A song from Wafa made it to the best duet category. We discovered at least three songs from his unreleased film Rasiya, which instantly charmed everyone.

Vinod, now consigned to among forgotten composers, creates outstanding music in Anmol Ratan, three songs from which made to the bests in different Wrap Ups.

Talking of numbers, Husnlal-Bhagatram have the maximum number of films (7) in my Select List: Aadhi Raat, Apni Chhaya, Biraha Ki Raat, Chhoti Bhabhi, Gauna, Meena Bazaar and Sartaj. Several of their songs figure in the Wrap Ups.

A question has arisen whether it is possible to determine an overall ‘best’ song(s). We have two extreme views. Anu does not believe in such ‘bests’. Dinesh, at the other end, believes that not only we should have category-wise bests, but overall best or the ‘Sartaj’ song of the year. Most of us are in between – that it makes sense to talk of category-wise list of best songs, but doing an overall ‘best’ is probably not possible. Without taking any side, let me put at one place a table of the four best tens in different categories. Over to Dinesh to come up with the best overall song.

A useful exercise I did last year was to compile the MD-wise distribution of the above songs. Here is the table showing which MD accounts for how many of the ‘best’ songs in different categories.

Some observations from the above table are self-evident.  Naushad is the only music director present in all categories, though from only one film Babul.  We know that his musical landmarks had almost all the ten odd songs superhits.  While no MD accounts for more than one male solo, Lata Mangeshkar  has distinct CR-concentration, he accounting for four of the ten.

If we look at the readers’ choices, the outliers are Jignesh’s Vinod and SSW’s Sajjad Husain. Rest everyone is more conventional. Arvind’s choice for the best MD is SD Burman for Afsar. Ashokji’s choice for the best score in a film is Roshan’s Bawre Nain (however, his best overall MD is C Ramchandra), Arunji’s is C Ramchandra for Sargam, some have chosen Naushad for Babul or Bulo C Rani for Jogan. But most have considered the overall best MD in the year (and not for a particular film), and the generally agreed choice is C Ramchandra. No one can fault that. His dominance is also borne out by the table above.

I have to make three special mentions: Roshan for Bawre Nain, Vinod for Anmol Ratan and Bulo C Rani for his Jogan and the unreleased film Rasiya, for reasons I have mentioned in the beginning.

In conclusion:

The SoY Award for the Best Music Director goes to C Ramchandra.

SoY special mention: Roshan, Vinod and Bulo C Rani

Note: Hans has mentioned that ‘Rasiya’ does not belong to 1950, but probably some indeterminate year about mid-50s. Even if we exclude this, and replace its Lata song in the list by C Ramchandra or Anil Biswas, the outcome does not change.

In the Naushad-C Ramchandra duel I have presented through the year, both seem to be evenly matched so far in spite of my known partiality towards Naushad. But as Chitalkar, the singer, CR has no competition from Naushad. As the year draws to a close, continuing the series on the Year of Naushad (with C Ramchandra in tandem), I present the songs of CR as a singer. He sang most of his songs as Chitalkar, mostly composed by himself, but he has also sung for other music directors, such as Mir Saheb (Lal Haveli, 1944), Anil Biswas (Jwar Bhata, 1944; Veena, 1948), Husnlal-Bhagatram (Apni Chhaya, 1950), Hemant Kumar (Samrat, 1954; Lagan, 1955), Roshan (Baraati, 1954), Usha Khanna (Faisla, 1965), Laxmikant-Pyarelal (Chhaila, 1967) etc.

Many of his songs, especially duets have achieved enormous popularity. Some have acquired iconic status such as Ana meri jaan meri jaan Sunday ke Saunday, Mere piya gaye Rangoon, Shola jo bhadke etc. He had a special flair for composing for romantic comedies, and he would sing many of the fun songs himself. The style of these songs, such as Ana meri jaan meri jaan, shows an irreverence, which seemed to be a part of his personality. There was an opposite side, too, of C Ramchandra, which was deeply soulful, which created immortal soft and poignant melodies in the voice of Lata Mangeshkar.

Some of his own songs, too, are very soulful. Even his light-hearted, fun songs were intrinsically melodious. He combined his mastery over rhythm with melody which was a result of his thorough grounding in classical music, having learnt music from Shankarrao Sapre of Nagpur. His assistantship to the doyens like Anil Biswas and Mir Sahib gave him invaluable training in the intricacies of film music. He learnt the use of Western instruments in orchestra from BS Hoogan. He had an eclectic taste in music. He combined elements of Western, Arabic, Middle Eastern music with Hindustani classical ragas. He drew from folk from all parts. His use of Western instruments, such as the congo, bongo, trumpet, guitar, clarinet, saxophone with the traditional Indian instruments such as the flute, sarangi, tabla and sitar created an enthralling effect. He used Goan musicians in a big way in his orchestra. With all that innovation, the enduring popularity of his songs was because his tunes remained simple and hummable. His singing generally remained in the middle octave, but he was endowed with a pleasant voice and enormous talent to understand the pulse of the listeners.

He may not count among the major playback singers, but a number of his songs are now regarded as landmarks in the history of Hindi film music. I am excluding his duets, because his fame primarily rests on the duets which are very well known. I am presenting here a selection of his solos which are of no mean merit, as my tribute to the great genius.

1. Kahte hain pyar kisko panchhi zara bata de from Baarish (1957), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

Baarish should be considered a major milestone in the career of C Ramchandra as the singer Chitalkar. This film had a very soulful, romantic, melodious duet, Phir wohi chaand wohi hum wohi tanhaai hai, by him with Lata Mangeshkar. Rajendra Krishna tweaked this mukhada slightly to write another melodious ghazal for Talat Mahmood in Jahanara (1964), composed by Madan Mohan.  Incidentally, CR has some interesting Talat connection. Besides composing some of the career best songs of Talat, CR decided to fill in for Talat himself when the latter was not available to sing for Dilip Kumar in Azaad.  The result was Kitna haseen hai mausam, in which his voice is indistinguishable from Talat.  Baarish had a number of other memorable songs, including a double version Kahte hain pyar kisko panchh zara bata de – the happy version duet with Lata Mangeshkar. The sad solo version he does not give to Lata, but sings himself which is a proper serious song for the hero. We have already seen his songs for Raj Kapoor (Sargam etc.) and Dilip Kumar. With Dev Anand in Baarish, he completes playback for the great trinity.

2. Daane daane pe likha hai khanewale ka naam from Baarish (1957), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

From soft, sad and romantic, Chitalkar displays his real métier in this light-hearted song from the same film. But notice, the song always sounds melodious.

3. Chali bhi aa ke tera intezaar kab se hai from Shatranj (1956), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

Back to a soulful romantic Cihitalkar. This film had one of the best Hemant Kumar-Lata Mangeshkar duets, Badli mein chhupe chaand ne kuchh mujhse kaha hai. Chitalkar decides to display his prowess as a playback singer in this wonderful solo.

4. Haseeno se mohabbat ka bura anjaam hota hai from Albela (1951), lyrics Rajendra Krishna

I am switching back and forth between serious and light-hearted to showcase Chitalkar’s talent. Albelaa was an enormously successful musical comedy, where CR displays his huge range from the deeply soulful and soft Dhreere se aa ja ri ankhiyan mein and Balma bada nadaan re to the rip-roaring, light-hearted duets Shola jo bhadke and Bholi surat dil ke khote. The hazards of being trapped by an enchantress, which can only lead to misfortune to the guy, is a familiar theme in Hindi film songs. Haseeno se mohabbat ka is a qawwali-style street song forewarning of the dangers of sliding into charms of a beautiful damsel.

5. Tu bhool ke haseeno ke phande mein na ana from Lal Haveli (1944), lyrics Shams Lakhanvi, music Mir Saheb

We find this warning of the danger of haseenas in one of his earliest songs, picturised on the comedian Yaqub, composed by his mentor Mir Sahib. CR would have a number of successful comedy films and light-hearted songs with Yaqub.

6. Aankhein ladaana chhod do from Sipahiya (1949), lyrics Ram Moorti Chaturvedi

This warning song is somewhat constructive and gives a sage advice not to have a roving eye and to get married instead.

7. Koi Shyam rang koi gori from Veena (1948), lyrics Narendra Sharma, music Anil Biswas

Here is a wonderful song Chitalkar sang for his another mentor Anil Biswas. He starts with a perfect light classical recital in Kafi, switching to a comic style.

8. Haan main hun ek khalasi mera naam hai Bhimpalasi from Sargam (1950), lyrics PL Santoshi

In this irreverent song CR seems to be making fun of the classical Raga Bhimpalasi. If you think about it he composed an iconic Ye zindagi usi ki hai in this raga. His Jaag dard-e-ishq jaag and Radha na bole na bole are regarded as the best examples of Bageshree in film songs. Obviously he believed you don’t have to wear your knowledge or love of classical music on your sleeve. “Who is Naushad to preach us on classical music” was one of his piques against his rival. His irreverence concealed a great insight into classical music and his capacity to use it effortlessly without making much song and dance about it.

9. Kar khushamad to har ek…Khushamad ka hai bolbala from Nausherwaan-e-Adil (1957), lyrics Parvez Shamsi

It is clear Aga and Shammi provided parallel comic track in this movie, which was the practice then in our films, until our heroes became all-in-one – romantic, action, comedy in the same film.

10. Tum paschim ho hum poorab hain from Navrang (1959), lyrics Bharat Vyas

But CR can be preachy if the situation demands. Navrang was a major landmark for Shantaram and C Ramchandra, eulogizing the superiority of our music and arts. Mahipal brazenly tells the British Regent how lowly and vicious his culture is. Since the Regent does not know the language, the courtiers are able to convince him that the song is about the union of East with West which would write a golden chapter in history.  Many years later, the Bharat Manoj Kumar would give some pep-talk on Purab and Paschim to the goras in their own country.

The SoY award for the best Music Director goes to?

This is like completing the circle, which means you come to the same point from where you started. So I look back at the mother post on the overview of the best songs of 1955  and I am amazed at the overwhelming response it generated, both in numbers and quality. As I said earlier, the methodology is not some kind of poll, but trying to capture the sense of the house. The SoY regulars would also recall that at the readers’ suggestions, I also wrote categoriwise summaries – Wrap Up 1 for the best male playback singer; Wrap Up 2 for the best female playback singer and Wrap Up 3 on the best duets. These are parts of the whole. Therefore, it is obvious that the final wrap up on the best music director would also draw a great deal from these subsidiary posts.  Here I am presenting the final wrap up of the string of posts that originated from the readers’ suggestions and which took shape as we moved on, as my Christmas and New Years Greetings to all.

FIRST CUT

As a first cut, we can say without any doubt that the music directors who made the most impact in 1955 are the following (not in any order):

1.  SD BURMAN
Devdas
1. Aan milo aan milo Shyam sanwre – Manna Dey and Geeta Dutt
2. Sajan ki ho gayi gori – Geeta Dutt
3. Ab aage teri marzi – Lata Mangeshkar
4. O janewale ruk ja koi dum – Lata Mangeshkar
5. Mitwa lagi re ye kaisi anbujh aag – Talat Mahmood
6. Kisko khabar thi kisko yakeen tha – Talat Mahmood
7. Jise tu qabool kar le – Lata Mangeshkar
8. Wo na ayenge palat ke – Mubarak Begum
House No. 44
9. Teri duniya me jeene se behtar hai – Hemant Kumar
10. Chup hai dharti chup hai chand sitare – Hemant Kumar
11. Phaili hui hai sapnon ki baahen – Lata Mangeshkar
12.  Peechhe peechhe aa kar chho lo hame paa kar – Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar
Munimji
13. Jeevan ke safar men rahi – Kishore Kumar/ Lata Mangeshkar (twin songs)
14. Shivji bihane chale – Hemant Kumar
15. Ghayal hiraniyan main ban ban dolun – Lata Mangeshkar
16. Dil ki Umangen hai jawan – Hemant Kumar, Geeta Dutt and Thakur (Pran)

2.  SHANKAR JAIKISHAN
Seema
1. Suno chhoti si gudiya ki lambi kahani – Lata Mangeshkar
2. Tu pyar ka sagar hai – Manna Dey
3. Kahan ja raha hai tu ai janewale – Rafi
4. Manmohna bade jhoothe – Lata Mangeshkar
Shri 420
5. Mera joota hai Japani – Mukesh
6. Dil ka haal sune dilwala – Manna Dey & others
7. Ichak dana bichak dana – Lata Mangeshkar & others
8. Pyar hua iqrar hua – Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshakr
9.  Mud mud ke na dekh – Manna Dey, Asha Bhosle & others
10. O janewale mud ke zara dekhte jana – Lata Mangeshkar
11. Ramaiya vastavaiya – Rafi, Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar & others

3.  C RAMCHANDRA
Azaad
1. Radha na bole na bole na bole re – Lata Mangeshkar
2. Aplam chaplam – Lata Mangeshkar and Usha Mangeshkar
3. Dekhoji bahar ayee – Lata Mangeshkar
4. Ja ri ja ri O kari badariya – Lata Mangeshkar
5. Kitna haseen hai mausam – Chitalkar and Lata Mangeshkar
6. Marna bhi mohabbat me kisi kaam na aya – Raghunath Jadav & others
7. Pee ke daras ko taras gayi ankhiyan – Lata Mangeshkar
8. Kitni jawan hai raat koi yaad aa gaya – Lata Mangeshkar
Yasmin
9.  Bechain nazar betab zigar – Talat Mahmood
10. Mujhpe ilzam-e-bewafai hai – Lata Mangeshkar
11. Tum apni yaad bhi dil se bhula dete to achcha tha – Talat Mahmood and Lata Mangeshkar
12. Ankhon me sama jao dil me raha karna – Lata Mangeshkar
13. Hans hans ke haseenon se nazar char kiye ja – Lata Mangeshkar

4.  NAUSHAD
Urankhatola
1. Mera salam le ja – Lata Mangeshkar & others
2. Mohabbat ki rahon men chalna sambhal ke – Rafi
3. Na toofan se khelo – Rafi
4. Hamare dil se na jana – Lata Mangeshkar
5. Na ro ai dil kahin rone se taqdeeren badalti hain – Lata Mangeshkar
6. More saiyan ji utarenge par ho – Lata Mangeshkar & others
7. Sitaron ki mahfil saji tum na aye – Lata Mangeshkar
8. Ghar aya mehman koi jaan na pahchan
9. O door ke musafir mujhko bhi sath le le – Rafi

5.  OP NAYYAR
1. Ae ji dil pe hua aisa jadoo – Rafi
2. Thandi hawa kali ghata – Geeta Dutt
3. Jane kahan mera jigar gaya ji – Rafi and Geeta Dutt
4. Ab to ji hone laga kisi ki sorat ka samna – Shamshad Begum
5. Chal diye bandanawaz chhod kar mere dil ka saaz – Rafi and Geeta Dutt
6. Idhar tum haseen ho udhar dil jawan hai – Rafi and Geeta Dutt
7. Preetam aan milo – Geeta Dutt

6.  VASANT DESAI
1. Jhanak jhanak payal baje – Ustad Amir Khan
2. Saiyan ja ja – Lata Mangeshkar
3. Nain se nain nahi milao – Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar
4.  Jo tum todo piya main nahi jodun re – Lata Mangeshkar
5.  Mere ae dil bata – Lata Mangeshkar

7.  NASHAD
1.  Bhula nahi dena ji bhula nahi dena – Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar
2.  Mohabbat ki bas itni dastan hai – Lata Mangeshkar
3.  Tasweer banata hun tasweer nahi banti – Talat Mahmood
4.  Kho diya maine pakar kisi ko aag lag jaye is zindagi ko – Lata Mangeshkar
5.  Dard bhara dil bhar bhar bhar jaye – Lata Mangeshkar
6.  Chhayi re badariya – Lata mangeshkar
7. Dil humse wo lagaye jo hans ke chot khaye – Lata Mangeshkar and Mubarak Begum

This is a fascinating list on many counts. The big five – Naushad, C Ramchandra, Shankar Jaikishan, SD Burman and OP Nayyar – are all there with their outstanding creations. Vasant Desai’s name is synonymous with classical raga based songs, and he comes with probably his career-best in Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje. And in this field of titans, Nashad comes up with perhaps his career best Baradari, which stands as tall as any of his more renowned peers. A great year of the Golden Era, this 1955.

The readers’ opinions and comments are broadly reflective of the above scenario. There is hardly anyone who did not include SD Burman in the top five. In most cases he was among the first three, albeit movies being different. With three superb movies, it is natural that individual choices may vary. Next in terms of support come Shankar Jaikishan and C Ramchandra. One common factor between these three is that they had more than one movie with outstanding score in the year. Madan Mohan was mentioned in passing for Railway Platform. But essentially the exercise boils down to selecting 3 or 5 from the above lsit and put them in order.

We can agree on one novel idea, without compromising the end objective – the best music director need not relate to a particular film, but his entire work in the year. After all, when you are looking back after 57 years, what leaves an imprint in your mind is the total contribution of that MD in that year. We broadly followed this line for the best male and female playback singer.

ANALYSIS

Several readers have given not only their ranking, but also a conceptual framework for taking a decision. The broad parameters for ranking which had been mentioned by readers are – popularity, quality and innovation. To make it more amenable to analysis, we might agree that these parameters would be popularity, quality and the song’s historical importance. We may add another parameter – diversity in terms of singers used and also the type or genre of songs.

With three remarkable films, for SD Burman I have listed 16 songs, all very popular till date. All the songs are musically superb. Coming to their place in history – Talat’s two solos in Devdas, picturised on the tragedy king Dilip Kumar are integral part of a doomed tragic lover. Wo na ayenge palat kar would count as a cult mujra song of Mubarak Beguam, probably the first which brought her national notice. Kishore Kumar’s Jeevan ke safar me rahi and Hemant Kumar’s Teri duniya mein jeene se behatar hai are their respective iconic songs for Dev Anand. The Vaishnav bhajan Aan milo aan milo Shyam sanwre by Manna Dey and Geeta Dutt is again a landmark song on wandering minstrels, and plays a very important part in conveying the subtle theme of the story. SD Burman shows amazing diversity in singers and genres, and comes up with several landmark songs in the year.

C Ramchandra’s music in the 1950s was very Lata Mangeshkar-centric. But in Yasmin, he comes up with a cult Talat Mahmood song Bechain nazar betaab jigar. The song is also remarkable in that he presents a Talat, who is not in a blue mood, but sings a peppy number set to instrumentation in Arabic/West Asian style. In Azaad, his own duet with Lata Mangeshkar, Kitna haseen hai mausam, is an everlasting song. He set about to create a Talat-effect (Dilip Kumar wanted Talat, who was not available), and how he succeeds! The qawwali in the voice of Raghunath Jadav is a real gem. And Aplam chplam on the dancing duo, Sai sisters, is again an iconic song. And Lata Mangeshkar songs? The fact that these were done in quick time has not affected their quality. These are extremely popular even today, and would rank among their best.

Shankar Jaikishan’s Seema and Shree 420 contained several songs which have got cult status. Mera joota hai Japani is a landmark song of Raj Kapoor-Mukesh-SJ team, which is integral to RK’s tramp persona. Then Pyar hua iqraar hua as a romantic duet, with the lovers in rains under an umbrella, has acquired an iconic status. The triad song O Ramaiya vastvaiya also has an important place in the RK films musicology, romanticising the simple hearted, poor street people, pitted against the vicious metropolis Bombay. Tu pyar ka sagar hai is universally regarded as among Manna Dey’s best, as also Lata Mangeshkar’s Manmohna bade jhoothe. SJ score very high on the number of popular songs, quality and their landmark status in history. On diversity too they do well, though it would be difficult to match SDB on this.

Naushad was unapologetically Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar centric in the Golden Era. On diversity he would be far behind. That should not take away from the quality of Udankhatola’s music. He did create some of the most everlasting songs of Rafi and Lata. I am a great fan of Nausad, but probably because of his limited diversity, his name generally came after the above three in readers’ comments. Vasant Desai’s Jhanak Jhank Payal Baje is his undisputed landmark. He was not as prolific as the titans, but the title song in the voice of Ustad Amir Khan, Hemant Kumar-Lata Mangeshkar duet Nain so nain nahi milao and Lata Mangeshkar solo in the film Saiyan ja ja are all iconic songs. OP Nayyar’s Mr and Mrs 55 has an outstanding score, and is one of his important films. But there is an element of sameness about him, and as a reader remarked, he was popular all right, but probably on the quality of music he could not be bracketed with the others mentioned above.

That leaves Nashad, who deserves a very special mention. Here is a man, who had a Naushad complex, and therefore changed his name from Shaukat Ali Dehlvi to Nashad. In some of his films, he was dismissed as a Naushad clone. Then comes Baradari with a score that is entirely his. Tasweer banata hun is a Talat Mahmood cult song, Bhula nahi dena jib hula nahi dena is a landmark Rafi-Lata duet. Dil humse wo lagaye jo hans ke teer khaye by Lata Mangeshkar and Mubarak Begum is a terrific female qawwali-mujra duet. If you listen to it carefully, you get a feeling that this might be a precursor of Mughal-e-Azam’s female qawwali duet Teri mehfil me qismat ajma kar hum bhi dekhenge. With Baradari, Nashad should have been able to exorcise his Naushad-fixation.

And the SOY award for the best music director for 1955 goes to:

Now we are in a position to conclude that the best music directors of 1955 are the following in order:

1.  SD Burman
2.  C Ramchandra
3.  Shankar Jaikishan
4.  Naushad
5.  Nashad

A tribute to the lyricist Rajendra Krishna (6 June 1919 – 23 September 1987) on his 34^th Remembrance Day by guest author Hans Jakhar

(The lovers of old film music regard Rajendra Krishna with a lot of respect for a large number of immortal songs he wrote. His most prominent association was with C Ramchandra, the unique craftsman. C Ramchandra was not only reckoned as the tallest composer for a number of years, rivalled by only Naushad, he was also known for breaking new grounds with his unconventional songs, and his very fast output. Rajendra Krishna was his regular lyricist for many of these superhits.

Many readers have mentioned that the lyricists deserve more coverage on SOY. Fortunately, there are some among our guest authors who are ever willing to fill up the gap. Hans Jakhar has been interacting with me about some prominent lyricists he would like to write on. He got busy in some personal matters which affected his participation on the blog. But he has been able to send me his article on Rajendra Krishna on his most famous association with a composer, as his tribute on his 34^th Remembrance Day. The readers may please note that many sources, including film credit titles write his name as Rajinder Krishan/Krishen. But being conditioned by Akashvani, I prefer to write it as Rajendra Krishna. (And the readers must have, of course, noticed that ‘Albela’ and ‘Karigar’ both are names of films which had Rajendra Krishna-CR songs.)

Hans needs no introduction to the regular readers of SOY. His writing is backed by data, it is functional and precise and he is very knowledgeable. He is a retired government official. As the readers can make out, this article is the start of a series; Hans would cover Rajendra Krishna’s association with a few other important composers in due course. Thanks a lot Hans for this excellent guest article.- AK)

Rajendra Krishna penned more than 1500 songs in 232 films with 34 composers, but his fame is not commensurate with the quality and quantity of work that he produced. As the focus has always been on composers, only those lyricists who were inalienably linked with some prominent composers were discussed more. There were exceptions like Sahir Ludhiyanavi who kept themselves in the news in some way or other. But Rajendra Krishna, like Ravi in the composers, was a low-key, simple person who did not believe in self-propaganda. His most commonly known story is his winning the jackpot in horse races and even in that people are not sure about the time of the occurrence.

Rajendra Krishna was a well-read literary person, who not only wrote lyrics on a wide range of subjects, but also wrote dialogues, screenplays and a few stories. Though it is difficult to know the dialogue and screenplay writer etc. without watching titles of the films, I have counted more than 80 films for which he wrote dialogues etc. in addition to lyrics. That is a huge number by any standards. This connection with story and screenplay is the reason why his songs look part of the scene and situation. He rarely departed from the situation and never tried to interpose his own theories while writing lyrics. Not only that, he adjusted admirably to the inclinations of the composer while writing songs. That is why you will find him doing with equal finesse light songs like ‘Mere piya gaye rangoon‘, ‘Gore gore O baanke chhore‘, ‘Shola jo bhadke‘ with CR, while with Madan Mohan he would come up with high class ghazals like in Adalat.

I always feel sorry that I am not able to satisfy the curiosity of some friends with biographical details or anecdotes. I mostly cover the work of the personality at hand. Biographical details can be had from Wikipedia. For Rajendra Krishna, Wikipedia says he was born in Gujarat district of the present-day Pakistan and worked in the municipal office of Shimla before moving to Bombay in the mid-40s. I can further mention what Manek Premchand wrote about him in his book ‘Yesterday’s Melodies Today’s Memories’ for those who have not read the book. Premchand wrote, “Generations of music lovers have enjoyed virtually hundreds of songs written by Rajendra Krishna, while sadly remaining blissfully unaware of who wrote those songs.” After doing his matriculation in 1935, Rajendra Krishna went to Shimla and worked with a local electrical company. He got married in 1941 and had four sons and two daughters. A wealthy person Kamal Rai took Rajendra Krishna to Bombay and he did the role of a Pandit in the 1943 film Shahanshah Akbar. The film was a sound flop with people breaking chairs in the cinema hall and he decided to restrict himself to writing. Premchand also described his work style as told to him by Rajendra Krishna’s son Bunty:

“Bunty took me to his parents’ bedroom and demonstrated how his dad used to sit cross-legged on his bed, facing the wall, cigarette held between the index and middle finger, closed-fist style, and taking deep drags. Ash spread over the bed. And either Income Tax papers or songbooks opened in front of him.”

Rajendra Krishna’s wife Savitri Duggal and his sons Ravi and Bunty shared with Premchand some personal memories when he visited their house. They told him he was not methodical and was mostly absent-minded. Sometimes he would go to the fridge and open the door and would forget for what purpose he had come, as suddenly some idea would come to him and he would go to his writing place. Once his daughter Pappu was playing with her Dutch friend who was singing a Dutch play song Ina Meena Deeka, from which he suddenly got the idea for that song. He loved to drink and was a non-stop smoker of Gold Flake cigarettes and he never remembered to flick the ash. I think I have this time satisfied the curiosity of friends to some extent.

Now I come back to the start of his career. His first films for lyrics as well as dialogues came in 1947 itself. He debuted as lyricist in Janta for which he wrote lyrics for two songs. Details of Zanjeer are not known, but it is said he wrote dialogues for the film. In the meantime, he had been employed by Famous Pictures with which Qamar Jalalabadi also worked. He shared lyrics of two hit films Pyar Ki Jeet (1948) and Badi Behan (1949) with Qamar, while doing Aaj Ki Raat alone. ‘Tere nainon ne chori kiya‘ was an instant hit in Pyar Ki Jeet, while all songs written by him for Badi Behan were hits. In the meantime, he wrote the non-film song ‘Suno sun ae duniyawalo bapuji ki amar kahani‘ after the death of Mahatma Gandhi. This was an instant hit and now his name was known to everybody in the film world. The owner of Famous Pictures, Baburao Pai gifted him Austin car for this song. Soon his career was on a roll and he wrote lyrics for 23 films in the three years of 1948 to 1950. Lahore, Patanga and Samadhi were other prominent films of this period. Details of prominent films with other composers would come in the coming series. Now I focus on C Ramchandra.

Rajendra Krishna’s association with CR started in 1949. I don’t know whether film Sipahiya, in which he wrote one song, or Patanga came first, but it is sure that he did not come in Patanga on CR’s recommendation, which some people believe, because he wrote dialogues also for the whole film. Whatever was the reason, the success of Patanga started a decade long association between the two. In fact, in the eight years between 1951 to 1958 when their partnership broke, it was as if CR did not know any other lyricist, because out of 39 films he did in this period in 29 Rajendra Krishna was the lyricist. It may be that for the other films the film maker or Director might have specifically gone for other lyricists. Suddenly in 1958 after Amar Deep, when Lata walked out of CR’s record room Rajendra Krishna was also discarded. After Amar Deep they had only one film together, Payal Ki Jhankar (1968).

Their association was one of the most fruitful pairing with huge benefits to both. They worked in 33 films together and of all the composers, Rajendra Krishna wrote the maximum number of songs – 283 – for CR. Like Patanga and Samadhi, in the 50s too there were some great hits like Albela, Sagaai, Anarkali, Azaad, Asha and Amardeep. There were some other prominent films music-wise. Of the 283 songs, details are not known for 4 and out of 279, exactly two third 186 were solos and the remaining one third 93 duets. Female solos had lions share with 145 of which Lata Mangeshkar with 115, Asha Bhosle with 20 and Shamshad Begum with 5 had the major share. On the male side, CR himself (known as Chitalkar as a singer) with 9, Kishore Kumar with 8, Talat Mahmood and Rafi with 7 each were the main singers. In the male-female duet songs which were 60, Lata Mangeshkar with 35, Asha Bhosle with 13 and Shamshad Begum with 8 on the female side, and CR with 29, Rafi with 16 and Talat with 7 on the male side were main singers. There were 13 all male, 11 all female and 9 multiple singer songs.

Now I come to the song selection. I have altogether left Anarkali and Azaad for the selection and only taken one sample song from Patanga – their first hit film – and one from Albela as a representative of Chitalkar solos. Similarly, I have left out the parting hits of Lata from Amar Deep. It being well known that CR-Lata combo is special, I have tried to focus on a variety of songs which Lata sang to show the range of both of them. I have tried to accommodate other singers where possible. Due to this the list has become too long. I hope friends would like the selection and pardon the long list. Here it is.

1. Pyar ke jahan ki nirali sarkar hai – Patanga – 1949 – Lata Mangeshkar and Shamshad Begum

The glory of Patanga has already been shown in its brightest colours with a special article on the film by AK. The lyrics and music were mesmerising. The lyrics of this one has a unique imagery and a lot of similes and perfectly fitting for a fun song. Dil is thanedar, havaldar and chowkidar of ‘muhabbat ka thana’. ‘Ankhon ka daakhana‘ ‘nazron ka taar (telegram) ‘ is used in the first antara. Then in the second antara he compares ‘pyar‘ to a ‘class‘ where ‘koi koi paas hai (only a few are successful in this class). This song also shows how different was Shamshad Begum as a person. She allowed more than equal share to Lata in the song, which Lata never allowed new singers when she was established.

2. Wah paas aa rahe hain hum door ja rahe hain – Samadhi – 1950 – Lata Mangeshkar

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

This was the film which had the blockbuster ‘Gore gore O banke chhore’. Lata had at the time a natural tinge of sadness in her voice which she lost later. That is the reason her sad songs of the time, particularly with CR, had special charm. Rajendra Krishna was at his best with lyrics. Amazing choice of words. Look at the last antara how beautifully he uses the words roothna and manaana, हम रूठ कर ख़ुशी से ग़म को मना रहे हैं.

3. Kabhi kaali ratiyan….O betaji kismat ki hawa kabhi naram – Albela – 1951 – Chitalkar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DPN72QhjH8

CR was very fond of fun songs and in his quest he created gem after gem. This was one of such songs where his solo singing also shone forth. Lyrics department was taken care of well by Rajendra Krishna.

4. O daddy ji meri mummy ko satana nahin achha – Sagaai – 1951 – Lata

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsm4JinSBSE

Rajendra Krishna was an expert at finding words for every situation. Here he is expertly handling the words where a male has to be castigated for his misdemeanours. Just simple lines for the light song. Later he wrote a similar fun song against female ‘Jawan ho ya budhia‘ in Bhabhi. Lata had by now become indispensable for CR. This song is also a visual treat with special antics of Gope along with his thumkas.

5. Hum hain yahan…Ankhon se jo bhi aansoo bahega – Sagaai – 1951 -Lata Mangeshkar

The mukhda may suggest the song is a sad one but, this one is also a song in light vein. Again, simple lines to go with the situation. Rehana was for a certain time period quite popular. She made an unusual pair with Premnath but the film was a blockbuster, probably due to the songs.

6. Dil-e-beqaraar soja, ab nahin kisi ko tera intezar – Ghunghroo – 1952 – Lata Mangeshkar

A perfect sad song for a person who is feeling melancholy believing nobody cares for her. The first para says don’t talk about your woes because nobody listens. The second para tells ‘Teri tadap par hanste hain chaand taare’.

7. Meri sakhi bata teri pee bin kaisi gujri raat re – Hungama – 1952 – Rafi and Chitalkar

This song appears to be some nautanki song. As in nautankis of old times parts of females were also played by males, the song presents Rafi singing the male part and Chitalkar the female part without any change of voice. Words are again simple. The song must have titillated the audience no end.

8. Azal se husnparasti likhi thi…Mera mizaaj ladakpan se aashiqana hai – Saaqi – 1952 – Rafi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z61PzSIHcnM

This was the year when Rafi was singing songs of irritating flirtation to Nadira in Aan. Here Premnath gets paired with the beauty Madhubala and he is busy having fun in the song, boldly presenting his ‘dil‘ as nishana.

मुझे डराएंगी क्या मुश्क़िलें ज़माने की
के मेरे सीने को आदत है तीर खाने की
ऐ हुस्नवालों ज़रूरत नहीं निशाने की
ख़ुशी से तीर चलाओ ये दिल निशाना है.

9. Aarzooyein ro rahin hain…..Kise maloom tha ek din muhabbat bejuban hogi – Saaqi – 1952 -Talat Mahmood and Lata Mangeshkar

CR sang a number of duets with Lata. But he also gave a number of duets to the Lata-Talat duo ousting Rafi who was his initial favourite. I don’t know whether it was because Lata felt more comfortable with Talat or whether CR used Talat more because his main adversary Naushad was not using him. Whatever be the reason this combo produced one of the sublime duets penned perfectly by Rajendra Krishna in the ghazal format. Sample:

Kabhi ik khwab dekha tha, mere pehloo men tum hoge,
Kahani pyar ki ankhon hi ankhon men bayan hogi

CR gave the couplet before the mukhda to Lata instead of Talat, who was a master in this craft.

10. Mohe laage sara jag pheeka pheeka – Jhaanjhar – 1953 – Lata Mangeshkar

If there is a song where full credit can be given to the composer, it is this. CR gave such twist to words like pheeka and teekha with well-timed repetitions that you do not care for once for lyrics at all. He was master of this craft and created songs like ‘Baabdi boobdi bum bum‘. In fact many thought he overdid this trick sometimes. This song is total fun and Lata is equal to the task. She sang a number of such saucy songs in the early period, particularly with CR. Later, she changed tack and even castigated Raj Kapoor for the way he picturised ‘Main ka karun raam mujhe budha mil gaya’.

11.  Ghir ghir aayi kari badariya – Shagufa – 1953 – Lata Mngeshkar

Shagufa and Sin Sinaki Babla Boo were films whose names had special attraction for me in radio days. Even till the 1970s songs from these films were played on Radio Ceylon regularly. The female announcer’s voice coming on short wave gave a special effect to names of these films, which I remember till now. Shagufa has many songs worth listening. Premnath produced this under the banner PN Films and entrusted direction to HS Rawail who was director of his successful films like Sagaai and Saaqi. I don’t know how this one fared on box office, but I like its music. I considered 3-4 songs but chose this because it is classical based and shows CR’s range of composition.

12. Teri ik ik ada jhhothi….Maan kare kya rang roop ka tu kaagaz ka phool hai – Kavi – 1954 – Talat Mahmood

CR declared that he would create another film like Baiju Bawra with Talat Mahmood, but the film proved a resounding flop. But, music-wise, if you listen to the songs, the film has quite a few good songs. This song has great lyrics and perfect coming from the slighted lover. He goes on berating her with negative superlatives. Rajendra Krishna has kept his senses while writing the lyrics. He used the lines ‘Shabnam khud ko saagar samjhe ye shabnam ki bhool hai‘. Here shabnam is not used in a bad sense but it tells shabnam has its limits quite like ‘Haseen ho tum khuda nahin ho’.

13. Dekh ke gora ora mukhada…Achhi soorat hui ya musibat gali men aana jaana band – Pehli Jhalak – 1954 – Lata Mangeshkar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnx0Dhsm4EU

This film can be watched just for Vyjayanthimala’s dances. Writing this I suddenly remembered that Bhatiaji was fond of her dances. This film has a number of great songs picturised on her. I selected this beause this is one of the best worded songs of self-praise.

कैसे रोकूंगी मस्ती भरी चाल को
काट लूँ कैसे ज़ुल्फ़ों के इस जाल को
सारी दुनिया से हो गयी अदावत
गली में आना जाना बंद

14. Humein lakh na karod na hazaar chahiye – Duniya Gol Hai – 1955 – Lata Mangeshkar

‘Daalo karodon pe babuji khak, muhabbat ki duniya hai laalach se pak‘ sings Lata penned by Rajendra Krishna. She also sang ‘Lara lappa‘ in the film Ek Thi Ladki (1949) which had lines ‘Baabuji se mange paise, babuji bole paise kaise, len den par khak mubabbat paak bade farma gaye hain‘ written by Aziz Kashmiri. Totally opposite sentiments in the two songs.

15. Aai jhoomti bahar laai dil ka qaraar dekho pyar ho gaya – Insaniyat – 1955 – Lata Mangeshkar and Talat Mahmood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRicVSMr1kY

This film was an ambitious project of Gemini Pictures with both Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand in it, but cold response at box-office brought all the effort of CR and Rajedra Krishna to naught. This song is as sweet as any love duet with all ingredients for success, but ill luck put this in the list of forgotten songs.

16. Aasha ke jab deep bujhe tab man ka deep jala.. Apni chhaya men bhagwan bitha le mujhe – Insaniyat – 1955 – Rafi

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

In this film CR suddenly remembered there is a singer named Rafi and used him in 9 of the 17 songs. Later with Nausherwan-e-Aadil, Amar Deep and Paigham, Rafi was quite regular with him. This is a song of absolute submission to God with a sense of ‘sanyaas’, filmed on Dilip Kumar in a grand temple.

Na gham ka gham na khushi ki khushi,
hai andhera bhi mere liye roshni,
main jiyun jab talak aajma le mujhe

17. Nazar ke saamne jab lut gaya jahan mera…Mujhe bhi maut ka paigam aa jaye to achha ho – Lutera – 1955 – Lata Mangeshkar

In the last song Dilip Kumar was in a sanyaas mood and in this one his brother Nasir Khan has caused the extreme sentiments of seeking death in his lover’s mind. The same year saw CR using a similar tune in Yasmin in the eternal love duet ‘Tum apni yaad bhi dil se bhula jaate to achha tha’. Mark the words in the second antara:

Mubaarak ho tujhi ko ab khushi ke jaam ae duniya,
Yahan to zahar ka ik jaam aa jaye to achha ho

18. Kahan hai mere dil ki duniya…Veeran mera dil hai dil ki bahar aaja – Lutera – Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar

I think at a later stage of life CR must have realised what this pair of top singers could have added to his career after having a relook at such gems. This is a song of long distance at the time of separation with despair and hope built in the lyrics of the song beautifully by Rajendra Krishna.

19. Ishq aya meri duniya mein to aise aya..Ashqon men doob doob ke aayi hansi to kya – Teerandaz – 1955 – Lata Mangeshkar

In Anarkali Rajendra Krishna wrote ‘Zindagi pyar ki do chaar ghadi hoti hai’, but here the sentiments have reversed. All six songs of this film went to Lata Mangeshkar and most of them are gems. About this one I don’t want to say anything except copying the lyrics.

अश्क़ों में डूब डूब के आयी हंसी तो क्या
मर मर के दो घड़ी को मिली ज़िन्दगी तो क्या
बुलबुल ने जब कफ़स में ठिकाना बना लिया
अंगड़ाई लेके शाख से फूटी कली तो क्या
रो रो के बुझ गए मेरी आँखों के जब चिराग
फिर ज़िन्दगी में शम्मे मुहब्बत जली तो क्या
जब ज़िन्दगी में कोई तमन्ना ही न रही
तब दाग़-ए-दिल को इश्क़ की मंजिल मिली तो क्या

20. Udhar chali ja Janaki jidhar chalen tere Ram – Devta – 1956 – Manna Dey

This is one of the great songs sung by Manna Dey. Feminists may make wry faces on the lyrics, but the lines written by Rajendra Krishna conform to the values of those times. This song is presented for Mumbaikar8, so that she can consider ‘Tumhin mere mandir’ as a lesser evil.

21. Haal tujhe apni duniya ka nazar to aata hoga – Aasha – 1957 – Kishore

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

I think there would be hardly any person who has not listened to the twin version song ‘Eena meena deeka‘ a number of times. But, for variety I am presenting a hard hitting song addressed to God and describing the condition of this world. These sentiments have been expressed in different manner in different songs. The following lines are relevant at all times.

Nafrat is duniya ka tohfa, ulfat ik ilzaam,
Jhooth yahan ki subah, haqiqat is duniya ki sham,
Bol kya tujhe apne kiye par taish na aata hoga.

22. Ek nazar mein dil le jaye soorat ho to aisi ho – Baarish – 1957 -Talat Mahmood, Rafi, Francis Vaz and Chitalkar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOQku0JMfSA

Nutan is being teased by four mawaalis in four different styles. This song is a unique creation. Earlier in the film Nutan teased Dev Anand, with a song ‘Zara dekho to soorat huzoor ki’, when he went to her village to convey money sent by her brother. This film has a number of good songs.

23. Mr John ya Baba Khan ya Lala Roshandaan – Baarish – Asha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sVXczfC6NQ

This is a club song and Asha Bhosle’s presence immediately tells the difference she could make. And this was the time when she had not gone into the so-called OPN mould. She is just a class by herself.

24. Jap jap jap jap jap re jap re preet ki mala – Sharada – 1957 – Mukesh

In my reckoning CR gave Mukesh just two solos. This one, and another in Wahan Ke Log (1967) – (Hum tujhse mohabbat kar ke sanam duniya ka fasana bhool gaye). This song is a marvel of picturisation and word play for giving a comic effect. Raj Kapoor and Meena Kumari change places as frequently as words are changed in the song with perfect understanding between composer and lyricist. Those who call Mukesh a limited singer need only to listen to this song. Listen with what ease he repeats the word ‘jap’ so many times. I think before this era of playback/pause it would have been a great challenge to count this word in each stint and in total. Even with the modern facilities, it will take a lot of time with pencil and paper in hand.

25. Lene se inkar nahin aur dene ko tayyar nahin – Amar Deep – 1958 – Rafi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrqqxAZJ5AE

If you listen to this song, you would think Johny Walker is lip-syncing. But, surprisingly it is Dev Anand himself and he does not lag behind JW in antics. Many film lyricists have described paisa in various ways but the description by Rajendra Krishna in the song beats them all. It is the most vivid description, covering so many aspects of money. Must listen song.

26. Mose rooth gaye more Ram re – Kaarigar – 1958 – Lata Mangeshkar

I have never seen such lines to describe the Sita-tyag situation. Here is the whole song:

मोसे रूठ गए मोरे राम रे – 2
अपनी  सीता को दे बैठे इक पतिता का नाम रे
कौन जतन से, लछमन भ्राता, रूठे राम मनाऊं
वो बोलेँ तो, शीश नवा कर, धरती बीच समाऊं
मरते मरते, भी होठों पर, राम का होगा नाम रे
काहे जीती, सीता सुनकर, राम से ऐसी बानी
पर क्या करती, गर्भ में उसके, थी जो राम निशानी
जान पे दुःख सहकर भी जीना, है माता का काम रे

27. Shabaab aane se pehle unka aalam aur hi kuchh tha…..Nazar bhar rama taka bhi na jaaye – Kaarigar – 1958 – Smt Chand Agarwal

This is one of the songs which shows CR’s multi-faceted talent as a composer. Slow recital of high quality couplets combined with the mukhda ‘Nazar bhar rama taka bhi na jaaye, ghoonghatwa jo khole karejwa hilaye‘. The singer is some classical singer rarely used in films. But what performance she has given. Meenu Mumtaz dance is icing on the cake.

In the above selection Lata Mangeshkar has naturally the lions share with only CR and Rafi coming in 2 or more songs. Despite the long list the songs cover just about one-tenth of the combo. So friends will have chance to post a number of great songs. Since this is a post on a lyricist, it would be better if something about lyrics is highlighted when posting the songs, though this is not must do.

Acknowledgements and Disclaimer:

The song links have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.