Mohd Rafi- Association with Bengali Composers




Mohd Rafi had truly been the voice of common man in India. Even today, the suburbs and villages of India wake up with this voice of the soil. It is of no surprise that, in the 50s and 60s, Rafi was mostly used by almost all the music directors in Bombay- Naushad, Madan Mohan, O P Nayyar, Shankar Jaikishen, Ravi, Chitragupta and Roshan- all sworn by Rafi.

 The gap perhaps existed with a lot of musicians hailing from the East. No regionalism intended, but it is a surprising fact that Rafi was not the most used male singer by any Bengali Director of that period. From Anil Biswas to Bappi Lahiri, Rafi was never the prime choice. S D Burman, R D Burman, Bappi Lahiri used Kishore more(although, Rafi enjoyed being the prime singer for the Burmans in the 60s), Salil chowdhury used Manna De the most, while Anil Biswas’ favourite remained Talat. Hemant Kumar recorded 30 odd songs with him, but again, his maximum memorable male songs were crooned by him only. And then, there were MDs like Shyamal Mitra, who in spite of composing in around half a dozen Hindi films, carefully overlooked Rafi. Was there a disconnect? Regionalism can be overlooked due to the fact that almost, or for that matter all the Bengali music directors, when it came to female singer selections, had no problem whatsoever with Lata and Asha. Salil and Hemant recorded umpteen Bengali songs with Lata whereas R D Burman and Sudhin Dasgupta did the same with Asha without any problem, when they had home grown talents like Geeta Dutt, Sandhya Mukherjee, Arati Mukherjee and Nirmala Mishra who were great on their own; Sandhya and Geeta especially were considered by many to be as good as Lata.

 As a classically trained non-Bengali friend of mine residing in US, who took classical training under Pandit Jasraj and never wants to reveal his identity owing to personal reasons, once told me about the “exclusive” range which Rafi possessed which none before him or after him had. “Starts at the beginning of Mudara Saptak(medium octave) and goes to the extreme end of Tara Saptak(High Octave)- Rafi’s range was quite contrast to the Saigalian school(K L Saigal) of modern Indian singers who had coverage from mid of Udara saptak(Low octave) to the mid of Tara saptak.” Studying Rabindra Sangeet, the specific dose all those Bengali musicians have been brought up with, the example can be made clearer- almost all the Tagore songs are bound within the specified range of Saigalian schhol- of course, Tagore came much earlier than Saigal, but I refer this term for understanding sake.

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

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

United Colors of Separation

Today if you ask Salman Khan who was his initial voice, it might take him a while to recall the name of S P Balasubramanium. By the time, Salman came into acting, one hero one playback voice concept had long been over. Still, it seemed, SPB had finally got a superstar face on screen to boost his career with Salman. Together they gave hits like Maine Pyar Kiya, Sajan, Love, Dil Tera Aashiq and Hum Aapke hai kaun- but that was it. Salman took a break for couple of years and when he made a re-entry with Judwaa(1997), he was a different Salman altogether. SPB-Salman can safely be termed as the terminal combination of the concept of one hero-one voice.

But there was a time, when Shammi Kapoor wanted only Rafi, Rajesh Khanna vouched for only Kishore and Raj Kapoor would never sign without Mukesh(or, Manna De at best). There were also some type of heroes who never cared who the playback was- Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Shashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar spent bulk of their career giving lips to right from Mahendra Kapoor to Bhupinder. And there was a third lot, who started with one particular voice and then with the change of times, immediately shifted to another.

Majority of Shammi Kapoor hits in the 50s were rendered by Talat Mehmood. Talat was for quite a long time Shammi’s voice till “Tumsa Nahi Dekha” happened. It is not that Rafi did not playback for Shammi before Tumsa Nahi Dekha, but the extent of Talat’s contribution was far higher. But, with a clean shaven cleared moustache and more youthful resurrected Shammi from Tumsa Nahi Dekha, only Rafi could do justice to the image. So, it was a Bye Bye for Talat henceforth from Shammi, and welcome Rafi for good.

Shailendra Singh created quite a sensation as the playback for young Rishi Kapoor with Bobby. He continued for some more years with movies like Rafoo Chakkar, Zehreela Insaan, Khel Khel Mein etc. But, then, with Laila Majnu and Hum Kisise Kum Nahi- Rishi Kapoor swiftly shifted to the more matured voices of Mohd Rafi and Kishore Kumar by the late 70s. While Rafi catered to the romantic Rishi in Amar Akbar Anthony, Karz and Sargam; exuberant Kishore gave chartbusters in Hum Kisise Kum Nahi, Karz, Jhutha Kahin Ka etc. Shailendra was there for Rishi, pitching in intermittently in Zamane ko Dikhana Hai and Sagar, but the good old days were all but over.

There was also Biswajeet, who started off his career by giving lips to the hit songs of Hemant Kumar. Bees Saal Baad, Kohra and Bin Badal Barsaat. But those were the stories of Black and White Biswajeet. With the colour era, Biswajeet turned swanky with rock and roll numbers of Rafi under the tunes of Shankar Jaikishen and O P Naiyyar. Between 1965-1970, Biswajeet carefully left his “Bhadralok” Bengali Babu image with Hemant Kumar songs behind and turned into a hip-hop hero with a good female following as well!!

 The first 5 movies of Rajesh Khanna- Aakhri Khat, Raaz, Baharon Ke Sapne, Doli and Aurat- had all of them with Mohd Rafi as his voice, just like any other hero those days. His 6th and 7th movies- Aradhana and Do Raaste- also had Rafi singing for him. The problem was in the last mentioned movies, the Kishore songs made super heavy impact and within a couple of years, although Rafi kept on singing intermittently for him throughout, Kishore-Rajesh combo became a Nationwide phenomenon.

Regarding lapse in association, coming out of hero-singer discussion, there were some worth mentionable instances in other combos as well. Director- Music Director: Well, as a director-producer, Raj Khosla was never ditched by the melodies of Madan Mohan. In fact, Woh Kaun Thi and Mera saaya might just qualify to be the best musical soundtracks of Khosla’s career. Just when the things were looking bright, Khosla suddenly changed his preference and shifted to Laxmikant Pyarelal in Do Raaste, never to return to Madan again.

 Lyricist- Music Director: We all know why S D Burman and Sahir never worked together post-Pyasa. But, who had the advantage at the end of the day? Don’t know about others, but Guru Dutt, definitely considered keeping SD in the camp to be more important.

Music Director-Singer: Chain se humko kabhi aapne jeene na diya, O P Nayyar’s last composition for Asha Bhosle ironically, told his own feeling towards the singer, perhaps.

Thandi Hawayein Legacy

Anirudha Bhattacharya and Balaji Vitthal's book on R D Burman has a reference to the tune of Thandi Hawayein having its original roots to the theme song of Algiers(1938).

Charles Bayer crooned “C’est la vie” in Algiers(1938) without even realizing what a big chain of inspirations he had set for the next generation of Indian music makers.  The tune was also used as an instrumental during the credit title at the start of the movie and then later, of course, Bayer sang it in his own baritone polishing his shoes and looking out of the window.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aISRytmhTjQ

S D Burman indeed might have been hugely influenced by that tune. His first composed duet of Kishore Kumar and Geeta Dutt- Ek hum aur dusre tum- in Pyar(1950), starts with Kishore humming the C’est la vie tune. The song was tuned into an altogether different parameter though. But the foundation of a bigger and better manifestation of that tune was ready for S D.

A year later came Najawan(1951)- where S D Burman simply bettered and over manoeuvred the Algiers tune to make the evergreen “Thandi hawayein”. The starting humming by Lata sticks to the basic tune crooned by Charles Bayer (same as what Kishore had done a year ago) and the mukhda is a simple manifestation of that tune with clever changes here and there and transforming it to a different feel of a composition altogether. This sets the pace- Thandi Hawayein tune, the root of which belonged to the Algiers song- has been the most inspiring Hindi tune ever for the composers.

N Dutta was an assistant to S D Burman in the early 50s before he made mark of his own as an independent music director. He was very much there around S D Burman when the Naujawan song was done. No surprise, he chose to manoeuvre the tune for his own in Jaal Saaz(1959) with “Pyar ka jahan ho”. The song starts with an accordion piece simply playing the “Thandi Hawayein” tune only. The antaras of the song were again highly resembling to those of Thandi Hawayein.

Madan Mohan took a small leaf out of the Thandi Hawayein tune to make “Yehi hai tamanna” in Aapki Parchhaiyan(1964).

Roshan simply reinvented the tune to make “Rahein na rahe hum” in Mamta(1966). Frankly speaking, the finest remake of “Thandi Hawayein” tune ever, Roshan Lal recreated the tune without even making anyone realizing the root of the same. And then, it was again Lata Mangeshkar who delivered the job.

Sonny Rahul Dev Burman used “Thandi Hawayein” connect more than occasionally. While “Naghma humara” from Bundalbaaz(1976) might carry a shade of influence, “Sun zara shokh haseena” from Harjaee(1981) is nothing but a recreation of “C’est la vie” in all aspects.  It would take really an expert’s ear to find out the root of the tune again.

Very late in his career, RD made the second best adaption of Thandi Hawayein tune (first for me being Rahein na rahe hum of course)- Sagar kinare. A silght, delicate reconnect to his father’s tune, but then, a master work nonetheless. He had a couple of years ago made "Humein raaston ki zaroorat" in Naram Garam which followed the same tune again.

Thandi Hawayein might not have been an altogether original a tune, but it had influenced a generation in a manner even its original source could not.

A Mania Called Madan Mohan

Yesterday, on 25th June, while driving to my office, I found that the FM radio stations out of their sheer over enthusiasm of planning to celebrate R D Burman’s birthday on 27^th, had completely overlooked Madan Mohan's birthday! While there cannot be any question on Pancham’s Greatness and he deserves all the hype and following his legacy enjoys today; Madan Mohan remained an underachiever even during his lifetime and now, after 38 years of his untimely death as well. In fact, I seriously doubt, had there been no such vehement endorsements from Lata Mangeshkar of late, the legacy of Madan Mohan might have become obscure like many of his other colleagues today.



A Classic in the making



For me, Madan Mohan has always been “The Composer”, in fact much much higher a “composer” than a “music director”. His compositions pertain to a period when melody making was of the top most priority. His tunes, vintage and lush, might not rave up your night parties but enlighten your dark and gloomy evenings; might not delight you in gathering but mesmerize you in seclusion.  

Although he composed a wide range of songs, it was the sober, shallow mood songs where I think, he could connect himself the best as a composer. Yes, he gave us something as brightening as “Tum jo mil gaye ho”- where he rose above the minimalist approach in arrangement and perhaps hired a whole lot of RD camp musicians to create a sound which is sensual and romantic.

It was a sheer understatement when someone in a music forum wrote around 2-3 years back that “Leave out Lata, and what precipitate you have in Madan Mohan’s portfolio are some handful of Talat and Rafi songs”. You cannot be more wrong than this, but unfortunately, this remains the irony of Madan Mohan’s career. People seem to simply deny everything other than those mind-blowing Lata gems from Madan Mohan. Of course, he was the best composer for Lata Mangeshkar- who can easily boast of getting the best compositions from all the contemporary composers- but Madan Mohan was much more than that!

“Jhumka gira re” remained the most popular number of Asha Bhosle for a long time until “Dum maro dum” happened. You can always blame Madan for coming back to Asha only for peppy numbers, especially post-1960, but the productivity he gave with Asha Bhosle can never be overlooked. In fact, you will get swayed away once you listen to something like “Ja dekhi teri preet re”  or “Saba se yeh keh do” – the earlier work of Madan-Asha in the 50s.

Or even for Talat Mehmood, in spite of having hardly 30 songs recorded together, Madan nitpicked his compositions for Talat. In fact in the 50s, Madan stuck to Talat even for the songs picturized on Shammi Kapoor. In Jahan Ara(1964), he fought with the producer for using Talat Mehmood, who by that time, had started going into hibernation following a drastic change in the style and trend of music from early 60s(read, Yahoo mania).

Madan Mohan never had the privilege to get a superstar endorsement. I don’t recall any of his movies with Dilip Kumar, in fact I am not sure whether he at all worked with him ever. For Raj Kapoor also, Ashiyana is too obscure a thing to recall(again, a movie where Madan used Talat for Raj Kapoor!!). He worked with Dev Anand in three movies- Pocketmaar, Sharabi and Sahib Bahadur. None of the movies fared well. However, the music was uncompromised. Sharabi, particularly, needs a special mention here. Mohd Rafi was used in the most beautiful way, contrary to the high pitch shrieks he started delivering that time, Madan contained him along with S D Burman, in the controlled, soft and silky way. “Kabhi na kabhi, kahi na kahi” is supreme Rafi from Sharabi. And “Sawan ke mahine mein” is one of the best “Sharabi” songs I have ever heard. The antaras were exceptionally well composed with intermittent Sax pieces ornamented the whole thing. Sahib Bahadur, a movie released after Madanji’s demise, had perhaps the best Madan Mohan composition for Kishore Kumar- “Rahi tha main awara”.

Sanjeev Kumar was perhaps the only superstar who got ample movies with Madan Mohan music, right from Naunihal(remember “Tumhari zulfon ke saaye mein”?) to Dastak to Koshish to Mausam to Chowkidaar to the obscure Inspector Eagle. And then, there was Dharmendra in his younger and more romantic days crooning  Madan Mohan compositions on screen like “Ek haseen sham ko” and “ Yehi hai tamanna”(a composition where Madan Mohan showed clear inspiration from S D Burman’s “Thandi Hawayein” in initial lines).

And then, there was Sadhna, the most coveted heroine in the 60s. Sadhna can clearly boast of having some of the finest Lata-Madan outputs in films like Manmauji, Woh Kaun Thi and Mera Saaya.

Veer Zara(2004) revived Madan Mohan’s music for all of us. It gave as a reminder call. Lata Mangeshkar crooning those vintage melodies and taking us back in time. Madan Mohan Mania amongst genuine music lovers still live on! We listen to him and ask- “Tum bin jeevan kaisa jeevan”!!

Five Movies That Changed My Life

1. Bicycle Thieves(1946)- Vitterio De Sica. Language: Italian.

A simple story which would raise the inherent humanity inside you for sure. Made during the depression days in Europe post-war, this movie covers the socio-economic and human values of those days to the perfection. Also, the father-son bonding which develops throughout the movie is one of the finest depictions of relationship I have ever witnessed in cinema. Bicycle Thieves canvasses a strong cinematic theory which could narrate strong emotions without melodrama. Coming to De Sica, I think Umberto D was considered a better work of him than BT by critics, however, I personally found BT to be more subtle and to the point than UD which was a bit loud and stretchy in its presentation. The best part of BT is it never urges you to feel sorry for the state of the people but slowly twists your internal humanitarian values and by the time you see the climax, your values and emotions get a supreme empowerment.

The climax is definitely one of the very best I have ever watched, more like those of Chaplin climaxes when the Tramp goes towards the horizon with future hopes amidst present abjections. It does not provide a solution, but gives positivity. De Sica did the same in Umberto D as well, this time around with the man and the dog.

The scene when the father hears screams of a drowning child in the river and his anticipated fear of that being his son, Bruno is simply overwhelming. Bicycle Thieves indeed raised in me a lot of humanitarian values. It might appear a bit socialistic to many, but I think looking at Italy’s conditions that time, it was not impractical. Bicycle Thieves will remain, for me, The Movie- forever.

2. Casablanca(1942)- Michael Curtiz. Language: English.

For three continuous nights after watching this, I could see the scenes of Casablanca only even in my sleep. Most cinematic, most intense and perhaps the most popular semi-tragic climax in Hollywood cinema was from Casablanca. Rick, Ilsa and Lazlo- the three corners constitute the triangle of Casablanca, and each of these relations depicted with so much of passion and intensity, you really start feeling for these characters.  And Ingrid, ahh, did she ever look better than this?

Remembering Manna De- His Memorable Associations.

Manna De touched 94 on May 1^st. However, considering the amount of his contribution and accomplishment, the response from the music lovers has been lukewarm to put it honestly. He was not a superstars’ voice, but even superstars had to turn to Manna De on special occasions when their “voices” could not deliver specialized services. And Manna De delivered happily- for Raj Kapoor a “Laga chunri mein daag”; for Shammi Kapoor a “Chham chham baaje re payaliya” or for Rajesh Khanna a “Gori tori paijaniya”. It is still a painful point to note that Manna De could never really make it very big in the Hindi cine industry. He had been there right from the mid 40s, assisted stalwart music directors and without doubt was more musically exponent than all his other popular colleagues.

Manna’s outing in the Bengali music had been quite late. He first sag for Uttam Kumar, the Bengali superstar, in Gali theke Rajpath(1958)- where he did a fine yodelling as well. Later in the 60s, he successfully established himself as the voice of the elderly Uttam, right till the end. Where Bengalis remember the romantic, chocolaty Uttam in the voice of Hemanta in the 50s, Manna provided the voice of a more matured and polished Uttam in the 60s and 70s. Uttam Kumar is perhaps the only superstar for which Manna could become a undisputed “voice”, thanks to music directors like Sudhin Dasgupta, Gopen Mullick, Anil Bagchi and Nachiketa Ghosh.

In Hindi amongst superstars, perhaps it was only Raj Kapoor for whom we can safely give Manna the tag of being “The Voice”, although his contribution in volume in front of Mukesh would be miniscule. But , whenever Manna teamed up with RK, the results have been mesmerising to say the least. And even Raj Kapoor knew pretty well, for a “Laga chunri mein daag”, one needs only Manna De. It is to be noted that, for Raj Kapoor, Manna babu could really come out of those special assignment classical numbers and cover more variety of the spectrum with “Aaja sanam madhur chandni mein hum”, “Mood mood ke na dekh”, “Ae bhai zara dekh ke chalo” and the eternal classic “ Pyar hua ikrar hua”.

Balraj Sahani was another actor for whom Manna babu had significant contributions as a playback. It all started with Do Bigha Zameen(1953). Later, almost all the memorable Balraj Sahani songs on screen were rendered by Manna De- “ Tu pyar ka sagar hai”, “Ae mere pyare watan”, “ Ae meri zohrajabeen” and “Tujhe sooraj kahun ya chanda”.

Rajesh Khanna and Shammi Kapoor- two superstars generally identified by two voices,viz, Kishore Kumar and Mohd Rafi respectively, had some memorable Manna numbers for them also. Manna’s super execution of two differently mood songs for Shammi- “Mere bhains ko danda kyun mara” and “ Chham chham baaje re payaliya”- were both widely popular and he never sounded out of place for the yahoo star. Rajesh Khanna also got substantial contribution from this versatile singer in Anand, Bawarchi, Aavishkar and Mehbooba.

As far as his playback for Mehmood and Pran is concerned, they were definitely his most fruitful associations of all. He clearly became the voice of comedian Mehmood in the 60s. Even in his autobiography, Manna De admitted that it was only Mehmood out of all the actors in Bombay industry, who always wanted Manna De to be his playback. An only advocacy which Manna De otherwise lacked throughout his career. Even for Ashok Kumar, Manna De left a chain of memorable melodies. But then, at the end of the day, none of them were superstars that time. No Dev Anand or Dilip Kumar or Shammi Kapoor or Rajesh Khanna endorsement was available for Manna babu.

I think by the 70s, Manna De realized pretty clearly that things would remain more or less the same for him in Hindi film industry. That was the time he started concentrating more on his Bengali private albums. Aptly supported by Suparnakanti Ghosh, Manna De recorded some evergreen Bengali non film songs that time like “Coffee houser sei adda”( a song Bengalis universally adore) and “She amaar chhoto bon”.

There has hardly been any music director for whom Manna De had not recorded a song and there is hardly any music director for whom he was the mostly used male singer as well. His association with the Burmans, Shankar Jaikishen and Salil Chowdhury (perhaps the only renowned music director for whom Manna was the most used male voice) had been astounding. But he missed from many others for whom he could have contributed much more- Roshan, Naushad and Madan Mohan, with whom even with limited associations, Manna De created historical music. From the unreleased Dil ki raahein(1973), Manna De had recorded Raagmala for Madan Mohan; in my honest opinion, one of Madan Mohan’s best achievements.

Patronage is a big thing in the industry. Either a big music director, or a particular superstar or a particular group with similar demography- should endorse you fully. Otherwise, no matter, how much pride we show on our Golden Era of music, all being legends notwithstanding, a sorry story of a Manna De or a Jaidev or a Yogesh always pop up; who was not given his dues.

One Movie, One Singer, Many Faces!!

In a single movie, one singer sings for more than 2 characters! There have been many instances when a singer sings for 2 characters in a single movie. Rafi used to do it regularly in the 50s when he used to sing both for the hero as well as Johny Walker or some other comedian in the same movie like Pyasa, Jaali Note, Madhumati, CID and many more. Kishore in the 70s also did such stuff quite a lot like Namak Haram, Mere Apne, Naya Zamana etc . But, one singer singing for 3 or more characters in one single movie in different songs is not very common and is worth delving in. This is a very interesting scenario and we would try to find out some movies where a single singer has done playback service for 3 or more characters in 3 or more different songs. Our period of discussion would confine within 1950 to 1990. Note: Examples like Lata Mangeshkar singing for 3 heroines in one single song- Humko tumse ho gaya hai pyar(Amar Akbar Anthony-1977) are not qualified, as the criteria is three different songs for three different people in one single movie.

Neglected in History- Yogesh Gaud

Yogesh Gaud has been neglected. Here was a poet, who could write simple yet meaningful and powerful poetry and convey the soul of the poem to the audience without any gimmicks. Still, his name has never been uttered in the same breath with the likes of Gulzar, Majrooh, Sahir or Anand Bakshi. Yogesh never worked too much under big banners and his work remained confined heavily within the small budget movies of Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukherjee in the seventies. In fact, many people are ignorant about the lyricist of some classic melodies which were written by Yogesh.

Age was just a number- S D Burman's marathon success

Retirement age of a Government officer is 60. The same for corporate personnel is sometimes even a couple of years less. There is no retirement age for a creative person though, but his creativity  again gets restrained by the growing age and grey hairs. Gulzar sahib, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, M F Hussain, Satyajit Ray had constantly challenged this fact, but perhaps, they themselves would have agreed to the fact that the creative work of their later years were not upto the supreme standards they had themselves set up in their younger to middle age.

Sachin Dev Burman would have vehemently disagreed to this theory though. What else, he might have taken this as a personal insult as well! Not only this musical wizard kept competing with peers half his age, he outlived all of them in terms of longevity in career as well! Had death not taken him away at the age of 69, this maestro  surely would have continued to outperform contemporaries and set new standards in creative world.

Akele hai Chale Aao- Recalling an association Rajesh Khanna and Mohd Rafi

There have been quite a few feedbacks received by me regarding my blog and the ways to improve it and make it more interesting. Let me thank all my friends who have been constant source of inspiration for my writing. It seems my effort to highlight many special “combos” in the film music has been received with good appreciation (Kishore-Shankar Jaikishen, Rafi-R D Burman, Kishore-Gulzar are just to name a few) and there have been suggestions to highlight such great but less discussed combos more through my blog.

Why not more...???

Oil and water don’t mix together- but that does not lessen the quality of either of them. It is just the simple density chemistry which bars these two elements getting mixed up with one another. There have been quite a few music directors in Hindi film music, who preferred to stay away from certain singers due to various reasons. When it comes to artistic difference, it makes sense as to why Naushad avoided Kishore Kumar and Geeta Dutt; Shankar Jaikishen avoided Hemant Kumar and Talat Mehmood; S D Burman avoided Mahendra Kapoor or for that matter Salil Chwodhury avoided Shamshad Begum.

However, sometimes it becomes difficult to understand as to why some combos, in spite of creating some supreme music together whenever they combined and sharing musical similarity, did not come together too often. Reasons can be musical or non musical, let us take a look into some highly “productive” but “infrequent” combos.