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Author: Vish Krishnan
[The following was a response by Vish Krishnan to a request for details regarding some Lata songs]
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>jo main jaanti
bisrat hain saiyan ghunghata mein aag laga deti
>Movie:
Shabab
>Starring:
Bharat Bhooshan, Nutan
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Naushad
>Lyrics:
Shakeel
The movie had 3 other
Lata solos ("Jogan Ban Jaaongi", "Mar Gaye Hum Jeete Ji"
and "Marna Teri
Gali Mein"). Perhaps one of Nutan's best movies, it was also,
in my opinion, among
Naushad's best. There are two exquisite duets in this
movie ("Chandan
Ka Palna" by Lata-Hemant and "Man Ki Been Matwari Baaje" by
Lata-Rafi).
SHABAB really started
the trend for Ustad Naushad featuring truly classical
voices. It
has a great Amir Khan song (may be two). Almost on the heels of
SHABAAB came BAIJU
BAAWRA, and once again, we heard from Amir Khan and D.V.
Paluskar.
Naushad stopped for a while and did it again in MUGHAL-E-AZAM, this
time with Bade Ghulam
Ali Khan singing "Prem Jogan Ban Gayee" and "Shubh Din
Aayo, Saaheb-E-Aalam".
>
>woh paas nahin
majboor hai dil, hum aas lagaaye baithe hain
>Movie:
Naubahaar
>Starring:
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Roshan (his first movie)
>Lyrics:
Shailendra (??)
I am hesitant to
use superlatives, but there are two other Lata songs from this
movie ("Ai Ri Main
To Prem Diwani", and "Dekho Ji Mera Jiya Churaye Liye Jaaye")
- they are right
up there for Roshanlal's compositions for me.
>ja re badra bairi
ja ja ja re
>Movie:
Bahaana
>Starring:
Don't know
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Madan Mohan
>Lyrics:
Rajinder Krishan
Madan Mohan did most
of his work with two prime lyricists - Rajinder Krishan
and Raja Mehdi Ali
Khan. Majrooh has a handful of songs with him (BAAGHI,
AKELI MAT JAIYO,
DASTAK, AAKHIRI DAO and some others), Kaifi Aazmi wrote songs
for all Chetan Anand-Madan
Mohan movies, and Sahir had his meagre share.
It is amazing that
some key figures of ghazal writing (Shakeel for instance)
never worked with
Madan Mohan, the maestro of ghazal compositions.
Sahir wrote the songs
for RAILWAY PLATFORM ("Basti Basti Parbat Parbat",
"Chand Maddham Hai
Aasmaan Chup Hai", "Jiya Kho Gaya, O tera Ho gaya"), then
GHAZAL ("Naghma-O-Sher
Ki Saugaat", "Meri Mehboob Kahin Aur Mila Kar MujhSe",
etc) and finally
LAILA-MAJNU (finished by Jaidev once Madan Mohan was no longer
able to work on
it).
Madan Mohan was not
easy to write for. He was intolerant of sloppy work. I
urge you to do the
following research. You know what I mean when I talk about
filler phrases in
Hindi songs. It is when the words don't fit the music just
right, the singer
does a bit of "Aa..." or "Oo..." and returns to home base.
Try to find a Madan
Mohan song that has this feature. You will have real
trouble. He
never had the need for fillers. The words fitted just too
perfectly.
>
>jhan jhan jhan
jhan paayal baaje kaise jaaoon pi se milan ko
>Movie:
Buzdil
>Starring:
Dev Anand, Kamini Kaushal (??)
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
S.D.Burman
>Lyrics:
Sahir (??)
One of Lata's first
few songs with S.D., this was accompanied by another couple
of great ones.
One in particular ("Main Albeli, Run Jhun Run Jhun Baaje
Ghoonghar Mora")
has made it to the dual-cassette RARE GEMS OF LATA release
by HMV in recent
times. Then of course, there was "Rote Rote Guzar Gayee
Raat".
The RARE GEMS OF
LATA release is worth owning. There are some forgotten MDs
in there, and there
are some mighty fine songs.
>
>o sajna barka bahaar
aayi
>Movie:
Parakh
>Starring:
Motilal, Sadhana (Bimal Roy's masterpiece)
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Salil Chowdhary
>Lyrics:
Shailendra
PARAKH was actually
a great movie, and Bimal Roy was also somewhat in love
with Sadhana Shivdasani
- Babita's cousin, Hari Shivdasani's niece and later,
R.K.Nayyar's wife.
You can see PARAKH just to see Sadhana in her pristine
charm before she
got gobbled up by the more commercial movies. Although she
made her first movie
LOVE IN SIMLA under R.K.Nayyar's direction, Bimal Roy
featured Sadhana
in two of his works. One of course, was PARAKH, and the other
was PREM PATRA (with
Shashi Kapoor). These were two of 6 Bimal Roy movies that
had Sir Salil Chowdhury's
music, the others being DO BIGHA ZAMEEN, MADHUMATI,
KABULIWALA and USNE
KAHA THA. Bimal Roy himself started experimenting in
parallel with S.D.
Burman, and made 3 movies there (SUJATA, BANDINI and Meena
Kumari's BENAZIR,
also starring Ashok Kumar and Shashi Kapoor). Musically
speaking, BENAZIR
was a sleeper. People have completely forgotten it, but
some of Lata's best
S.D. songs are to be found in that movie. Look out for
"Alvida Jaan-E-Wafaa,
Meri Manzil Aa Gayee", "Jaane Jana, Mil Ja, Mil Jaa Re",
"Husn Ki Bahaaren
Liye, Aaye The Sanam", "Bahaaron Ki Mehfil Suhaani Rahegi"
and a Rafi treat
"Dil Mein Ek Jaan-E-Tamanna Ne Jagah Paayee Hai"). S.D. did
not go madly after
strict classical performances from Lata. There are a few
examples, and BENAZIR
is a close one. Incidentally, BENAZIR is probably also
the first and last
time song and ghazal writer Shakeel Badayuni wrote for S.D.
Burman.
Then Bimal Da made
what I think was his last Hindi movie. DO DUNI CHAAR was
an Indianzed Shakespearean
Comedy of Errors with Kishore Kumar and Tanuja both
in double roles.
The music director was Hemonto Mukherji, a change for Bimal
Da. The Kishore
masterpiece "Hawaaon Pe Likh Do, Hawaaon Ke Naam" is from this
one.
Back to PARAKH.
It had 3 other Lata classics ("Mila Hai Kisi Ka Jhumka", "Ye
Banji Kyon Gaaye,
Mujhe Kyon Sataaye" and my favourite of them all "Mere Man
Ke Diye", a song
with the Calcutta choir singing in the background - there
were a few of those).
>
>man mohana baDe
jhooTe
>Movie:
Seema
>Starring:
Balraj Sahni, Nutan
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Shankar Jaikishan
>Lyrics:
Shailendra
I believe this was
an Amiya Chakroborty movie (not sure). But it was the
second time the
two stalwarts Balraj Sahni and Nutan worked together. They
had earlier appeared
in the O.P.Nayyar treat SONE KI CHIDIYA. At any rate,
SEEMA is the story
of
a prisoner reform effort, and overall, is a good movie.
It also has some
tremendous songs. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan plays with feeling for
Lata's "Suno Chhoti
Si Gudiya Ki Lambi Kahaani". Then there is another Lata
song "Baat Baat
Mein Rootho Na". The Manna Dey classic "Tu Pyaar Ka Saagar
Hai" is from here,
and so is Rafi's gift in "Kahaan Jaa Rahaa Hai Tu Ai Jaane
Waale".
Balraj Sahni happens
to be my only truly favourite Hindi movie hero. Outside
of his 1-tier greats
like DO BIGHA ZAMIN, KABUILIWALA and GARAM HAWA, his
second-tier movies
are great as well. These would be SEEMA, SONE KI CHIDIYA,
LAJWANTI, ANURADHA,
KATHPUTLI, PINJRE KE PANCHHI etc. Incidentally, the first
ever Meena Kumari
movie (MADHOSH) starred Balraj Sahni.
On another note,
honest Jaijaiwanti compositions in Hindi movies are very rare.
Other than "Mana
Mohana..", I remember Manna Dey's "Bairan Ho Gayee Rain" from
Madan Mohan's DEKH
KABIRA ROYA, a classic Lata song "Shaam Bhayee Ghanshyam Na
Aaye" from S.N.Tripathi's
KAVI KALIDAS and a lost-for-ever Lata solo "Bhool
Jaana Na" from MAALTI
MAADHO, one of the 3 Hindi movie gems by composer Sudhir
Phadke.
There are lesser
Jaijaiwanti songs like "Sooni Sooni Saans Ke Sitaar Par" from
LAAL PATTHAR and
"Tere Mere Sapne" from GUIDE. But really, they do not count
in the overall scheme
of things.
>
>ja ja re ja saajna,
kaahe sapnon mein aaye jaake des paraaye
>Movie:
Adalat
>Starring:
Pradeep Kumar (double role) and Nargis
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Maestro Madan Mohan
>Lyrics:
Rajinder Krishan
It is impossible
to pick the best movies of Madan Mohan. At least up until
the mid-60's, they
were all exquisite. But I am tempted to pick favourites,
and I rank ADAALAT
as my top-ranking favourite Madan Mohan movie, ever.
If you had
an opportunity to see MAMTA, a mid-60s Ashok Kumar-Suchitra Sen
movie, then ADAALAT
was a male double-role version of the same story.
Based on a sound
story line from the Bengali classic "Uttara Bhadrapad", the
movie has room for
dance songs. While Roshan had explicit mujras in MAMTA,
Madan Mohan's approach
for ADAALAT was more subtle. All time Lata classics
like "Yoon Hasraton
Ke Daag Mohabbat Mein Dho Liye", "Unko Ye Shikayat Hai Ke
Hum Kuch Nahin Kehte",
"Jaana Thaa Hum Se Door Bahaane Banaa Liye" and a seldom
heard cute song
"Tum Chaand Ke Saath Chaley Aao, Ye Raat Suhaani Ho Jaaye"
are all from this
movie.
The song you mentioned
is curious in its own right. It has 3 versions.
Match that.
How many other Hindi movie songs that you know of have more than
2 versions?
Lata sings two of them, a happy and a sad version. And then Asha
has a jumpy and
mischievous version of the same song. The notable thing about
the Asha version
is that embedded in it are glimpses of O.P.Nayyar. For some
reason, Madan Mohan
could not resist the temptation of using OP-style
orchestration.
Then there is a great
Rafi-Asha duet that goes "Zameen Se Hamein Aasmaan Par,
Bitha Ke Giraa To
Na Dogey", and the clincher is an Asha-Geeta duet in perfect
Punjabi Giddha style
("Dupatta Mera Malmal da").
>
>jeena humko raas
na aaya hum jaane kyon jeete hain
>Movie:
Raat aur din
>Starring:
Nargis, Pradeep Kumar
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Shankar-Jaikishan
>Lyrics:
Shailendra or Hasrat Jaipuri (don't know which)
Again, I am having
trouble remembering the melody. Somehow the above song
does not register.
I have seen the movie. It was years ago. Anything Nargis
touches turns to
gold. The movie really had nothing going for it except
decent music and
Nargis' acting prowess (she plays a schizophrenic personality).
The songs I do recall
are some Lata solos ("Raat Aur Din Diya Jaley","Na Chhedo
Kar Ke Afsaane",
"Aawara Ai Mere Dil"), the deadbeat Mukesh version of "Raat
Aur Din", a forgettable
Rafi song "Phool Sa Chehera Chaand Si Rangat" and a
Lata-Manna Dey treat
"Dil Ki Girah Khol Do" - a song that rekindles memories
of the same pair
singing in CHORI CHORI and SHREE 420.
>
>hai re woh din
kyon na aaye
>Movie:
Anuradha
>Starring:
Balraj Sahni, Leela Naidu
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Pt.Ravi Shankar
>Lyrics:
Shailendra
A well-constructed
plot with mature acting, to say nothing of what ended up
being among the
best Hindi songs ever created, ANURADHA is worth watching.
It was Ravi Shankar's
first Hindi movie, and in addition to the 4 supreme
Lata solos, it also
had a decent Manna Dey song ("Sun Mere Laal, Yoon Na Ho
Behaal") and a Lata-Mahendra
Kapoor chorus ("Le Ke Dil Ka Saaz Hum, Geet gaane
Aa Gaye").
In the early '60s,
Ravi Shankar also did the music for GODAAN, a wonderful
Premchand novel.
Starring Raj Kumar, Kamini Kaushal and Mehmood, this was a
serious look at
a village family, and of necessity, the music was more folksy.
There is a great
Rafi song ("Pipra Ke Patwa Sareekhe Doley Manwa") and then
there is a good
Tilak Kamod structure to Mukesh's "Diya Jarat Rahat Din Rain".
Mahendra Kapoor
and Geeta Dutt obviously enjoy singing "O Madhubaini Kyon
Tarsaaye".
But my two most favourite songs of the movie are both by Lata.
She sings a wedding
song that goes "Chali Aaj Gori Piya Ki Nagariya", and then
she sings an energetic
and somewhat classical Maanjh Khamaj composition ("Jaane
Kaahe Jiya Mora
Doley Re").
>
>aaj kal mein dhal
gaya, din hua tamaam, tu bhi so ja so gayi, rang bhari shaam
>Movie:
Beti Bete
>Starring:
Sunil Dutt, Saroja Devi
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Shankar Jaikishan
>Lyrics:
Shailendra or Hasrat Jaipuri (has to be one or the other)n
I am trying to recall
other songs from this movie. It was a tearjerker from
the South, one in
the long line of Prasad Productions movies that always did
well all over the
country. Mr. L.V.Prasad started his Hindi movie stint with
the Meena Kumari/Raj
Kapoor/Rajendra Kumar hit SHARDA (C.Ramchandra had some
great music in it).
Then he switched loyalties to Shankar Jaikishan, and made
CHHOTI BAHEN, SASURAL,
HAMRAHI and BETI BETE. At that point, I guess he was
no longer sure.
So he made DADI MA (Roshan) and then permanently switched to
Laxmikant and Pyarelal
starting with MILAN.
There is also a Rafi
version of "Aaj Kal Mein Dhal Gayaa", and I recall another
unmemorable Rafi-Asha
duet "Gori Chalo Na Hans Ki Chaal Zamaana Dushman Hai".
>
>jhoom jhoom dhalti
raat, leke chali mujhe apne saath
>Movie:
KOHRAA
>Starring:
Biswajeet, Waheeda Rehman
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Hemonto Mukherjee
>Lyrics:
Shakeel Badayuni
>
If you apply a perverse
transformation to the story line, you could claim that
KOHRAA was based
on REBECCA, the Daphne Du Maurier piece of work. It was one in
a long series of
Gitanjali Pictures productions that always had music by
Hemonto Da, always
got directed by the great Biren Naug as long as he lived,
and at least for
the first 3 movies, starred Biswajeet and Waheed Rehman. It
all started with
BEES SAAL BAAD. Again, some claimed that it was an Indian
HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
story. That's bull. Next came BIN BADAL BARSAAT
followed by KOHRAA.
Lesser known movies like FARAAR and SANNATA followed. At
this point, Biren
Naug was gone, and the movie studio switched to non-murder
mystery fare, and
continued on with BIWI AUR MAKAAN, KHAMOSHI, RAAHGIR and
finally SAU SAAL
PEHLE.
I am listing these
movies here mainly because of the Lata-Hemonto connection.
I have been thinking
about creating a set of cassettes for Lata solos sung
to Hemonto Da's
music. I know the series of movies to capture in there, but
I am missing some
serious contenders like DURGESH NANDINI, CHAAND, SHART,
FARAAR, SANNATA,
SAU SAAL PEHLE etc.
Wonder if you have
heard the two beautiful Lata solos from FARAAR. One of
them is "Dil-E-Nadaan
Ko Sambhaaloon to Chaley Jaaiyega". But the other one
that goes "Pyaar
Ki Dastaan, Tum Suno To Kahen"m is even better - in fact, I
think it is one
of the best Lata songs sung for Hemonto.
>nainon mein badra
chhaye, bijli si chamke haye
>Movie:
Mera Saaya
>Starring:
Sunil Dutt, Sadhana (double role), Raja Paranjape
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Maestro Madan Mohan
>Lyrics:
Raja Mehdi Ali Khan
There is quite a
bit of similarity between WOH KAUN THI and MERA SAAYA. Both
movies were directed
by Raj Khosla, both had Sadhana in a double role, both
had music by Madan
Mohan and finally, both lyrics were written by Raja Mehdi
Ali Khan.
Other songs from
MERA SAYA were Lata solos ("Tu Jahan Jahaan Rahega", "Naino
Walee Ne Hai Mere
Dil Loota" and the Bhimpalasi song "Nainon Mein Badraa
Chhaye"), and a
Rafi solo "Aap ke Pehloo Aa Kar Ro Diye". But the most popular
song from the movie
was also among the most popular Madan Mohan songs ever, and
that was "Jhumka
Giraa Re, Bareilly Ke Bazaar Mein".
>badli se nikla hai
chaand pardesi piya laut ke tu ghar aaja
>woh bhooli daataan
lo phir yaad aa gayi
>
>Movie:
SANJOG
>Starring:
Mala Sinha, ??
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Maestro Madan Mohan
>Lyrics:
Rajinder Krishan
>
Another great one
from Madan Mohan, SANJOG had 3 great Lata solos (other than
the two mentioned
above, there is "Chalaa Hai Kahaan, Duniya Idhar Hai Teri").
There is a Lata-Mukesh
duet (you might have heard "Ek Manzil, Rahi Do Phir
Pyaar Na Kaise Ho")
and there is a mediocre Rafi song ("Do Ghoont Maine Pi").
>aei mere dil-e-naadaan
tu gham se na ghabraana
>Movie:
TOWER HOUSE
>Starring:
?????
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Ravi
>Lyrics:
Asad Bhopali
I know little about
the movie itself other than that I recall 2 other songs.
One is a really
good Asha solo "Mausam Hai Jawaan Noor Mein Khoye Hain Nazare"-
a very typical Ravi
song this. Then there is a Rafi-Asha duet "Ye Haseen Raat
Ye Bahaar Ye Samaa".
Of course, there is also a wonderful Lata-Mukesh duet
of all times ("Main
KhushNaseeb Hoon Mujhko Kisi Ka Pyaar Mila"). There is
also a Mukesh solo
version of this song. In general, TOWER HOUSE was among
Ravi's better creations.
In general, a good
Lata-Ravi song is hard to find. He clearly had a preference
for Asha's voice.
The TOWER HOUSE song is one, and then there is a movie
called EK SAAL,
where Lata has a couple of gems ("Sub Kuch Lutaa ke Hosh Mein
Aaye to Kya Kiya"
and "Chaley Bhi Aao, Chaley Bhi Aao"). To get decent Lata
songs from Ravi,
one needs to go to the South Indian productions like KHANDAAN,
MEHRBAAN, NAI ROSHNI,
RAAKHI, DO KALIYAAN and so forth.
Some time ago, someone
had posted a note on RMIM suggesting that Ravi did not
compose for that
many movies. I don't know what "that many" is, but Ravi has
over 65-70 movies
to his credit. He had among the best professional relation-
ship with a number
of North Indian movie makers. Notable among them was B.R.
Chopra, but there
were also the lesser people like Devendra Goyal, S.D.Narang
Ramandand Sagar,
R.K.Nayyar and O.P.Ralhan. Then there were the tearjerkers
from the AVM and
GEMINI camps, and again, Ravi was quite popular with them.
>
>bindiya chamkegi
choodi khankegi, teri neend ude te ud jaaye
>Movie:
Do Raaste
>Starring:
Mumtaz, Rajesh Khanna?
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
LP
>Lyrics:
Anand Bakshi (I suspect)
>
This was one of 3
Rajesh Khanna-Mumtaz movies (the others being SACCHA JHOOTA
and APNA DESH).
By the time this
movie came along (1970 or so), my favourite MDs were either
dead and gone OR
were on they way down anyway. I stopped paying attention
to Hindi movies
with the advent of the '70s.
>bol ri katputli
dori kaun sang baandi
>Movie:
Katputli
>Starring:
Dilip Kumar?, VyjayantiMala
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Balraj Sahni
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Shankar Jaikishan
>Lyrics:
Shailendra or Hasrat Jaipuri
I have no knowledge
of this movie other than a good Lata song ("Baakad Bum
Bum Baaje Damroo").
Also, I wonder if you remember a Subir Sen song "Manzil
Wohi Hai Pyaar Ki,
Raahi Badal Gaye".
>
>baiyan na dharo
re balma
>Movie:
Dastak
>Starring:
Sanjeev Kumar, Rehana Sultan
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Maestro Madan Mohan
>Lyrics:
Majrooh Sultanpuri
If you have not seen
DASTAK, you should consider checking it out. It is not
often that the same
movie picks up 4 or 5 gold medals from the President of
India (aka Urvashi
Awards). Both Sanjeev and Rehana got that award for best
actor and actress
respectively. It was judged best picture and also got an
Urvashi for Madan
Mohan's music. The story and direction were by Rajinder
Singh Bedi (who
was quite famous especially in Punjabi literary and theatre
circles - examples
are GARAM COAT and EK CHADAR MAILI SI, both of which were
acclaimed as literary
landmarks). The DASTAK story was quite depressing, and
the B/W picturization,
although exquisite, only added to the pathos. It is the
story of a newlywed
couple that inadvertently rents a place in the red light
district of Bombay.
This was Rehana's
first movie. She made a fatal mistake by showing her acting
prowess and her
totally intelligent presentation of a woman stuck in her kind
of predicament.
Popular rumour has it that most male leads were threatened
by her strong presence,
and essentially refused to do movies with her. So much
for the secure male
ego of Bombay cinema. As a result, Rehana was relegated
to B-grade movies
like CHETNA (and other than Feroz Khan's KHOTAY SIKKE, I
can't even recall
any of her movies).
DASTAK has only 4
songs. Three of them are Lata solos ("Baiyyan Na Dharo
Balma", "Hum Hain
Mataa-E-Koocha-O-Bazaar Ki Tarah", "Mai Ri Main Kaase
Kahoon").
The Rafi song "Tum Se Kahoon Ek Baat Paron Se Halki Halki" is quite
a classic.
Some HMV tape also released the little known/heard version of
"Mai Ri" sung by
Madan Mohan.
Above all, the musical
hallmark of DASTAK is not the songs we know, but the
background music
throughout the movie. It is characterized by some superb
thumri, dadra and
mujra songs. There is even a mujra version of "Baiyyan Na
Dharo Balma".
>
>woh jo milte the
kabhi humse deewanon ki tarah
>Movie:
Akeli mat jaiyo
>Starring:
Manoj Kumar?, Mala Sinha
I don't know about this movie
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Maestro Madan Mohan
>Lyrics:
Majrooh Sultanpuri
I don't know this
movie, but I recall three songs, the Lata ghazal above being
one of them.
There is the title song by Lata and chorus, but the most popular
song from this movie
was the Asha sizzler "Thodi Der Ke Liye Mere Ho Jaao". It
was a treat to play
on the accordion.
AMJ was among the
very few Madan Mohan movies where Majrooh wrote the lyrics.
I wish they had
done more work together, although, I am also a big fan of
Rajinder Krishan,
Raja Mehdi Ali Khan and Kaifi Aazmi who together took the
lion's share of
Madan Mohan's ghazal tunes for their poetry.
>
>rooTe saiyan hamaare
saiyan kyon rooTe, na toh hum bewafa na toh hum jhooTe
>Movie:
Devar
>Starring:
Dharmendra, Sharmila, Deven Varma, Shashikala
>Singer(s):
Lata
>Music:
Roshanlal
>Lyrics:
Majrooh (I think)
DEVAR had 2 Lata
songs. You mentioned one and the other one is "Duniya Mein
Aisa Kahaan Sabka
Naseeb Hai".
The movie was quite
good. It is a Bengali story titled "Naa", and Deven Varma
shows the serious
side of his acting here. Mukesh sings two songs ("Bahaaron
Ne Mera Chaman Loot
Kar" and "Aaya Hai Mujhe Phir Yaad Wo Zaalim") and there
is a horsetrot Rafi
song "Kaajal Waale Nain Mila Ke").
Followup by Dr. Rajan Parrikar
I apologize in advance
to rmim-denizens for dumping a music-related post
without any prior
warning. Also, am restricting myself to Hindi film
music - that should
disarm the Illaiyaraja troop.
> Madan Mohan did
most of his work with two prime lyricists - Rajinder Krishan
> and Raja Mehdi
Ali Khan. Majrooh has a handful of songs with him (BAAGHI,
> AKELI MAT JAIYO,
DASTAK, AAKHIRI DAO and some others), Kaifi Aazmi wrote
> songs
Kaifi worked with
him in "Naunihal" (Rafi's Tumhari zulf ke saaye me
shyam etc etc).
Wasn't Haqeeqat (or was it Hanste Zakham?) a Madan
Mohan-Kaifi combine
too? Also, who wrote for Ek Mutthi Aasmaan? (The
KK-Vani Jairam duet
Pyaar kabhi kam na karnaa sanam etc).
> Madan Mohan was
not easy to write for. He was intolerant of sloppy work. I
> urge you to do
the following research. You know what I mean when I talk
> about
> filler phrases
in Hindi songs. It is when the words don't fit the music just
> right, the singer
does a bit of "Aa..." or "Oo..." and returns to home base.
> Try to find a
Madan Mohan song that has this feature. You will have real
> trouble.
He never had the need for fillers. The words fitted just too
> perfectly.
The last sentence
is quite inaccurate, to say the least. If I take your
words literally,
you are off the mark. I can cite several Madan Mohan
examples where there
are "fillers." To wit,
(a) Rafi's 'Yehi
hai tamanna, tere dar ke saamne, meri jaan
jaaye....haaai...(filler
a la carte!)...meri jaan jaaye from
"Aap ki Parchaeeyan."
(b) Kishore's 'Simti
si sharmaayee si, kis duniya se tum aayi
ho..OOOOOO (whopper
of a filler!), kaise jahaan me` from "Parwaanaa."
(c) Rafi's 'Tum jo
mil gaye ho, to lagtaa hai, ke jahaaaaaaaa(filler
de la creme!)aaaa
mil gayaa..` from "Hanste Zakham."
(d) Lata's 'Nainaa
barse rhim jhim rhim jhim piya tore aavan ki yaad
aaaaaaaaaaaa(for
here or to go filler!)...` from "Woh Kaun Thi." Btw,
is there a soul
who is not affected by this masterpiece? I use it
routinely as a meter
to pronounce someone musically dead but I digress,
as is my habit.
And I could think
of dozens more over an elegant cup of coffee and
a low-fat creamcheese
croissant with almonds. Note that these are very
mainstream Madan
Mohan comps, not some obscure pull-outs from cobwebbed
interstices of my
memory. But my disagreement is more fundamental than
merely providing
counter-examples. I have no problem whatsoever with
fillers if (and
I stress "if") they are used to plug the right holes
within the structure
of the prosody. Intelligent positioning of fillers
is not only desirable
but often a sine quo non to wrap a delicate tune
around the words
inorder to precipitate the overall effect. It is simply
because intonation
of a "swara" - the basic 'unit` of melody, if you will -
in most cases, cannot
be neatly constrained within the lattice of the
verse. Musical expression
tends towards an unfettered existence and has
a life of its own.
Sure, within the context of film music, the swara and
verse aren't completely
independent and the former has to be shorn of
some ornamentation.
But there is latitude available and good music composers
will find just the
right relaxation within the lyrical structure to blend
tune and verse into
an organic whole. Madan Mohan (Naushad-sahab and Roshan
come to mind as
well) was a consummate master in this department, and if
this is what you
meant (via unsaid extrapolation) we are in complete
harmony.
Now that we have
gotten started we might as well ruminate over some more
cud. Madan Mohan
and Roshan were sort of musical twins and one finds a
good deal of assonance
in their music. Both had a firm grasp of the
classical formalism
to which they stayed faithful throughout their
respective careers.
They paid great attention to the lyrics and almost
always composed
with the lyrics in hand as opposed to fitting words
to a pre-composed
tune. (Elsewhere, Anonymous has commented on Madan
Mohan's exacting
standards for lyrical quality. Well, with people like
Sahir around one
might forgive Madan Mohan for being such a spoilt
brat. When Sahir
wrote something, it came out cast in stone and he
wouldn't let you
tweak even a single word.) Both were incurable
Lata-philes. And
above all, highly original dudes.
Through the lens
of musical scrutiny, however, differences in style
come into view.
MM had been heavily influenced by his association
with Begum Akhtar
and her music and hence had a strong foothold
in the demesne of
the ghazal. He was singularly responsible
for tapping into
the 'ras` that Lata's voice had to offer. A better
example of synergy
in Hindi film music is hard to find. Time and
again we see the
magnificent undulation of Lata's voice unfold in
Madan Mohan's babies,
precision in intonation and inflection, and
all punctuated by
delicate 'murkis.` Just two examples are:
'Hum pyaar me jalne
waaloN ko` from Adalat and 'Jeeya le gayo ji mora
saaNwariya` from
Anpadh. Notice how Lata's voice locks on and tracks
the words, giving
a very tangible meaning to the phrase, 'poetry in fluid
motion` - the signature
of a Madan Mohan composition.
Roshan, by contrast,
was smoother in the flow but melodious all the
same. He seemed
to have an unusual fondness for Raga Yaman Kalyan
(Man re tu kaahe
na dheer dhare, Rafi's masterpiece from Chitralekha,
and Asha's Nigaahe
milaane ko ji chaahataa hai from Dil hi to hai, to
cite a couple).
And he spread himself around composing outstanding
mujras, qawwalis,
ghazals and bandishes. My sentimental favourite
is his adaptation
of the standard bandish in Raga Kamod (Aie ri
jaane na doongi
- Lata - Chitralekha). To the best of my knowledge,
he never used Kishore
Kumar, reason enough for me to use a slightly
smaller-sized font
to write Roshan. Nevertheless, these were
exceptionally gifted
men.
> >
> >jhan jhan jhan
jhan paayal baaje kaise jaaoon pi se milan ko
> >Movie:
Buzdil
> >Starring:
Dev Anand, Kamini Kaushal (??)
> >Singer(s):
Lata
> >Music:
S.D.Burman
> >Lyrics:
Sahir (??)
>
> One of Lata's
first few songs with S.D., this was accompanied by another
This is an adaptation
by Burmanda of the well-known bandish in
Raga Nat-Bihag.
Faiyyaz Khansaheb has an old recording of the cheez
and Mallikarjun
Mansur was fond singing it as well.
Why didn't anybody
think of recording standard bandishes in different
Ragas in Lata's
voice (when it was in its prime, that is)? Or if they
did, why didn't
they do it? Beats the hell out of me. I don't mean
a full-fledged kilassikal
rendition but just asthaie-antaraa, a couple
of alaaps topped
by a short taan or two. On the relatively few occasions
that this has happened
the results have been exceptional. Give Lata
a Raga and within
the first few notes you have the distillate. That's
how remarkable she
is (was). Her renditions would have served as wonderful
markers for beginners
and old fogeys alike. What a missed op!
<Rest of the long post deleted>
*****
It is amusing to
see some dope periodically 'discover` that "Itna
na mujhse tu pyaar
badhaa"
has been 'copied` from Mozart and flash
it on the net. Almost
always I detect more than just the need to point
the Mozart connection.
More often than not, this 'discoveror` wants
to imply one or
more of the following (a) most of Indian popular music
is copied from western
sources, (b) the best work in our tradition _must_
have had a western
origin, (c) Indian composers are somehow lacking in
originality. My
explanation for the phenomenon (besides the fact that
they haven't bothered
to inform themselves in the first place) is that
these people have
cut their teeth suckling the milk of originality
oozing from Bappi
Lahiri's creative nipples and they are doomed
to exponential decay
unless salvaged by extensive root-canaling.
Why don't they ever
subscribe to the converse viewpoint? Which is that
people such as OP
Nayyar, Shankar-Jaikishan, Salil Chowdhary and such
like were so damn
smart that they were eclectic enough to understand
foreign genres and
adapt them at home. Particularly remarkable were
S-J - there isn't
a form within the vast and diverse Indian matrix that
they haven't explored.
Not only that, Russian, Arabic, Hungarian, Brazilian,
Japanese and African
folk influence - all can be seen in their work. How
many composers in
the world can make this boast? Verily, there isn't a
composer in the
land who has covered as much ground, surveyed as many
genres AND consistently
maintained a respectable QL/QN (quality/quantity)
ratio as these two.
Our resident net-savant, young and handsome
Preetham Gopalaswamy,
may have more to say on this, I suspect.
I wanted to talk
about Naushad sahab too but will deny Sami that
pleasure for now.
Also, a comparative look at Salil Chowdhary and
S.D. Burman would
make for a good topic.
****
The topic of 'level
of difficulty` and associated abilities of singers
has re-surfaced.
Let me dwell on this briefly. The l.o.d. displayed is
a perfectly valid
canon by which to evaluate a singer. But it is not
the only one nor
is it the most important, IMO of course. Some of us
place a higher premium
on originality (paradoxically, it ain't easy,
originality). That
is why we reward Kishore - not because he was capable
of great feats of
swaracrobatics (to be sure, he wasn't), or had a sweeping
range over all the
octaves (he didn't), but because in the realm of musical
expression he was
supremely original. Let me ask you this.
Is there any intrinsic
merit in making things difficult just for the
heck of it? In physics,
for example, there are usually two approaches
to solving a problem
- one is the time-tested brute force technique,
the domain of formidable
tour de force'ers. The other is the intuitive
way, simpler in
design but extremely elegant and almost always, profoundly
insightful. In music,
Kishore Kumar could do the kind of magic beyond the
pale of even the
most formidable technicians. Who would you have sing
"Chingaari koi bhadke"
or "Zindagi ka Safar"? A Bhimsen, whose Sa is
as static (and ecstatic)
as can be or a Kishore, who didn't give a damn
about Sa (I remember
him telling Lata rather candidly, "Tum to jaanti ho
mujhe yeh Sa Re
Ga Ma kuch nahiN aataa"!). Like many of his gems, these
are 'simple` tunes
made immortal by sheer weight of expression, by a man
who could be profound
without trying hard. It was never the kind of
delivery that beckoned,
"I'm difficult and I beg of you to take
notice."
Manna Dey has an
interesting story to tell. It was the practice session
for the recording
of the Padosan classic "Ek Chatur Naar" that
had brought them
all together - Kishore, R.D. Burman, Mehmood and
Manna. Manna had
gone in well-prepared intending "to teach Kishore
a lesson." To paraphrase
Manna: "As soon as we started it got utterly
hopeless for me.
Here I was reproducing the song note-for-note, adhering
rigidly to the grammar
while Kishore was out there having fun and had
captured the SPIRIT
of the song effortlessly. I was sunk." I give Manna a
very solid A for
that honest and accurate assessment. Recently we heard
Asha make a comment
that Kishore was approx 1.5 times better than Rafi.
Nauuughty girl,
but right on the dot.
For all the alleged
'simplicity` of Kishore's songs, I haven't yet come
across a soul around
who can re-create them. I am not talking about merely
duplicating the
tune swara for swara - even Suresh Wadkar can do that!
Any guesses why?
Enough said.
Finally: If we are
going to call Bombay's phillum industry Bollywood,
can we refer to
Hollywood as Hombay? Old joke, I know.
Adios,
Rajan Parrikar
==============
email: parrikar@spot.colorado.edu
rajan@anteng.ssd.loral.com
Lata
Mangeshkar : A living legend...
