Ek hi mara par solid mara...

There have been many albums which were dominated by a single artist. Talk of Ijazat where none but Asha Bhosle was the only singer with a string of solos to her credit. You will also find albums like Teesri Manzil where you will find Mohd Rafi in each and every song, some solos and some duets with Asha Bhosle. There are some albums, where in spite of being various artists, one artist emerged out as the dominant voice- Lata Mangeshkar in Madhumati, Manna De in Basant Bahar, Mukesh in Anand or Kishore Kumar in Safar are just some of the examples.

However, there have been certain instances where a singer had only one song in a whole album but that song emerged out to be the winner out of all the other songs in that album. In Hindi, we term this as “Ek maara par solid maara”. Can you think of such instances in Hindi film music? Let me help you a bit in your thinking process:

Kishore on "uncommon" faces

Here I list 10 of my all time favourite Kishore Kumar numbers which were picturized on "uncommon" faces, who were no superstars. And tell you what, this is surely going to raise your love for Kishore, knowing how he could give superhits with some miserable faces on screen.

1. Teri duniya se hoke majboor chala(1970)- picturized on Parikshit Sahani- This evergreen sad song from Pavitra Papi(1970), written and composed by Prem Dhawan remains an all time favourite. Soulfully sung by Kishore, the song was lip synced by Parikshit Sahani, whose movies as hero can be counted on fingertips. The song had everything mesmerizing, except the actor and his woodden expressions.

2. Chalte chalte mere yeh geet(1976)- the song which made Bappi Lahiri. I try to memorize the name of the hero lip syncing this song and I forget everytime, now that I have given up at last. Was he some nephew of Dev Anand or something? Good that I did not see him too many times on screen. Again, leaving him apart, the song is a timeless beauty.

3. Dil kya kare jab kisise(1975)- Even Vikram's shorts looked better than his comic expressions on screen. This was supposed to be a sensous number, an all time favourite for teenagers even today, and yes, only to listen to and not to watch!!

4. Jeena to hai par ae dil kaha(1973)- Personally I rate this as one of the finest sad songs created by Pancham and Kishore. And if you have not been lucky enough to see the picturization of this song, dont miss Manu Narang and his acting!!!! Do get back to me after watching!

5. Yeh naina yeh kajal(1976)- Yet another beauty from Bappi Lahiri. Surprisingly, if he had composed some of his crappiests for Kishore, he also did many of his finests also. This is one of them picturized on some Bhishma Sahani.

6. Yeh wohi geet hai jisko maine(1972)- Jaidev and Kishore Kumar: a combination which came together only for 6 songs, and this one is easily the best of them picturized on Jalal Agha, who as expected, overdoes everything on screen.

7. Aap ke kamre mein koi rehta hai(1973)- Ahh...!!! The fabulous Tareq and his colourful glasses!!

8. Savere ka sooraj tumhare liye hai(1972)- Again a beauty from Kishore Kumar. His last recorded song with O P Nayyar and easily the best as well. Masterfully written poetry, sublime singing and striking composition with Dev Mukherjee on screen, who honestly, did not do a bad job.

9. Baharon ka yeh mausam suhana(1986)- The twilight times of Ravi, this sizzling tune was picturized on Pankaj Dheer- the Karna of Mahabharata. Of course, he played the role of Karna better.

And last but not the least, rather the best of this lot of evergreen beauties, the oldest and the most obscure- Jagmag jagmag karta nikla chand poonam ka pyara. I keep it at the last because there is no video available of this song today, but it is only known that it was picturized on Kishore Sahu in Rimjhim(1949). Those days, Kishore Sahu used to be a hero, but today he is most remembered as the man who played Dev Anand's father in Hare Rama Hare Krishna.