25 Years, 25 Best Male Solos- Golden Period of Hindi Film Music(1950-1975)

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Year: 1950.
Song: Upar Gagan Vishal
Movie: Mashal
Singer: Manna De
Music: S D Burman
Lyrics:Pradeep.


Bombay Talkies was taken over by Ashok Kumar and Shashadhar Mukherjee from Devika Rani in the 40s. Slowly and gradually, it became the MGM of Bombay, producing hits after hits and nurturing new talents. Bombay Talkies can be attributed towards identifying and developing talents like Dev Anand, Lata Mangeshkar, S D Burman, Manna De and Kishore Kumar. Mashal was a big hit and established both SD Burman as well as Manna De as the prominent forces in the musical world. The song had introduced concepts like thrilling use of chorus and playing a song in the background. Kavi Pradeep, along with Bharat Vyas, was one of the few lyricists those days who insisted on usage of pure Hindi words in their creations, when the rest of the lot were erudite Urdu poets. So, you could hear words like "vishal", "paataal" etc in this song as well, giving it a unique ornamentation. Till date, it remains an iconic and pathbreaking song

Year: 1951.
Song: Awara Hoon
Movie: Awara
Singer: Mukesh
Music: Shankar Jaikishen
Lyrics: Shailendra

You may love Raj Kapoor school or you may hate it, but you can never ignore it. Raj Kapoor was the Indian Vittorio De Sica in Hindi movies, without any serious challenge coming from anywhere. Awara hoon, clearly established Shankar Jaikishen as the leading composer duo of Hindi films, dethroning Husnlal Bhagatram, of whom they were once assistants, and kept the laurel in tact till Laxmikant Pyarelal happened, almost a decade and a half later. And of course, there was Shailendra. Inarguably, here was finally a lyricist with whom all the music directors loved to work. The depth and realism in poetry was lost forever with his untimely death in 1966. Mukesh was singing for Raj Kapoor right from his earliest days, but there was always a Talat Mehmood or a Mohd Rafi chipping in between occasionally. With Awara, he officially got the stamp of Raj Kapoor's voice. After that, only Manna De could get some occasional assignments for the senior Kapoor under R K Films, no one else.

Year: 1952
Song: Man Tarpat Hari Darshan
Movie: Baiju Bawra
Singer: Mohd Rafi
Music: Naushad
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni

As a director, Vijay Bhatt might not have a very impressive portfolio to talk of, but he gave us Baiju Bawra; and that is good enough to get his name etched in the history of Hindi cinema. Again, a pathbreaking album, Baiju Bawra established Mohd Rafi as the official lead male playback singer. While composers preferred Talat more in that period, Rafi demonstrated much more versatility and proved to be a better hand when it came to the semi-classical genre.Man Tarpat, based on Raag Malkauns, is still considered to be one of the finest semi classical Bhajans in Hindi films. And in devotional genre, Rafi did not have any peer coming anywhere close to him, right till his death.

Year: 1953
Song: Shaam e gham ki kasam
Movie: Footpath
Singer: Talat Mehmood
Music: Khayyam
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

While there can be many clones for many voices, one voice that remains inimitable even today is that of Talat Mehmood. And the decade of the early 50s belonged to him, if not in popularity then definitely in terms of huge musical values which he imparted in that period to Hindi film music. Khayyam, as a composer, perhaps remains to be the most productive music director in terms of quality to quantity ratio. While his career never really took off after Footpath and he really needed to wait till 1976 for Kabhi Kabhie to happen, he kept on producing high quality albums like Phir subah hogi, Aakhri Khat and Shagoon. Shaam e gham ki kasam is exquisite in every term of description. Two antaras are distinctly composed, a trait of Khayyam composition which he retained later also. And, of course, a Dilip Kumar on screen for a Talat song, a sight pretty common those days which was to become scarce in coming years.

Year: 1954
Song: Jaayein to jaayein kaha
Movie: Taxi Driver
Singer: Talat Mehmood
Music: S D Burman
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi

By 1954, Bombay Talkies had become history for S D Burman, and Navketan was his present. This also signified one of the most illustrious Actor- Music Director association, that of Dev Anand and him. Jayein to jayein kaha is the song of the year both from qualitative as well as populist perspective, as SD received a Filmfare Award for the same also that year. Based on Tagore's "He khoniker atithi", SD really improvised the tune to give a Ghazalish feel, with apt support from the great Sahir. This song also signifies the peak period of association between SD and Sahir, a combo of extreme quality and individual self respect.

Year: 1955
Song: Tu Pyar ka sagar hai
Movie: Seema
Singer: Manna De
Music: Shankar Jaikishen
Lyrics: Shailendra

There are prayer songs in the films, and then, there is Tu pyar ka sagar hai. So distinct is its stature that many schools use it frequently even today in the evening prayer sessions. Coming again from Shankar Jaikishen- Shailendra combo, the song belongs as much to Manna De as it does to the chorus. Clearly, the song of the year.

Year: 1956
Song: Sur na Saje
Movie: Basant Bahar
Singer: Manna De
Music: Shankar Jaikishen
Lyrics: Shailendra

Basant Bahar, as an album, was Shankar Jaikishen's answer to Naushad's Baiju Bawra- with a small twist. Shankar Jaikishen used Manna De as the prime vocal for the hero Bharat Bhushan in all the classical songs. Rafi pitched in only in the devotional one. But, the result was noting short of a magic. Personally, I hold Basant Bahar as the best classical based album in Hindi films, proving the huge spectrum of domains which Shankar Jaikishen could cover. This was so unlike SJ, and they never confined themselves to one segment and kept on experimenting and spreading their fields. Sur na saje is the song of the album.

Year: 1957
Song: Jaane woh kaise log the
Movie: Pyasa
Singer: Hemant Kumar
Music: S D Burman
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi

If Raj Kapoor was our de Sica, then Guru Dutt was definitely our Orson Welles. Guru was a master storyteller and often cited as a pioneer in introducing the Noir concept of movie making in Hindi cinema. In terms of theme, lighting and angles, Pyasa was a classic noir to the core. For a dark theme, you need dark music to create the requisite impact. And S D Burman- Sahir combo delivered in their final outing together, what many consider to be their best. While the entire album boasts of one classic after another, I carefully choose this single Hemant Kumar song as the winner. This clearly seemed to come directly from SD's heart- his selection of singer, his type of tune with Bengali influence all over and words clearly crafted against the backdrop of the set tune, clearly to the dislike of Sahir. And, finally one personal comment, in fact very personal comment regarding Pyasa, which I would like to make here. I genuinely feel Pyasa should have been sent for the Oscars that year in stead of the highly overrated and melodramatic Mother India. Our chances of winning would have been slightly better.

Year: 1958
Song: Yeh mera deewanapan hai
Movie: Yahudi
Singer: Mukesh
Music: Shankar Jaikishen
Lyrics: Shailendra

After a few years of bad patch, Mukesh was back with a bang in 1958. Not that he was singing more that year, but his productivity had seemed to have increased manifolds. Whatever he used to touch in 1958, would turn into 24 carat gold. He had only one song in this album, and whatever you remember today of that movie, is due to this timeless classic amazingly rendered by the maestro. Yahudi was the only occasion when director Bimal Roy worked with SJ duo for music, perhaps because his otherwise pet MDs- Salil and SD- were not comfortable working with historical or devotional theme. Yahudi also features a song by Geeta Dutt, one of the very rare occasions when SJ had used her vocals.

Year: 1959
Song: Jalte hai jiske liye
Movie: Sujata
Singer: Talat Mehmood
Music: S D Burman
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri


The time of Talat had definitely passed by then. The music had slowly changed to be trendier, rhythmic and more modern and heroes were no longer those suave and gentlemanly as they used to be. Talat also found it difficult to keep track with the changing times and also got astray with his acting obsession in between. However, for this one song of Sujata, S D Burman literally brought him back into his team from sideline to score a stunning goal of the year. Just like Jayein to jayein kaha, this was another Tagore adaptation( Ekoda tumi priye), for which SD found Talat to be the best suited voice again. Picturized on  Sunil Dutt over telephone, this became Talat's swan song in every aspect. As the decade changed, he became more and more obsolete to the world. But, for the genuine music lovers, there cannot be another Talat Mehmood again.

Year: 1960
Song: Chaudvi ka chand ho
Movie: Chaudvi ka chand
Singer: Mohd Rafi
Music: Ravi
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni

If the entire decade of the 60s can be associated with one singer, then it has to be Mohd Rafi. He simply left everyone else far far behind with the advent of the decade. Ravi, as a music director, had debuted way back in 1954, but Chaudvi ka Chand, a Guru Dutt productions, was finally his moment of glory. Perhaps the only time you saw Guru Dutt in the movies in colour, the title song of Chaudvi ka chand proved to be a blockbuster hit also due to a gorgeously looking Waheeda rehman on screen. Again, a clear cut choice for the song of the year.

Year: 1961
Song: Kabhi khud pe kabhi halaat pe
Movie: Hum Dono
Singer: Mohd Rafi
Music: Jaidev
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi

Jaidev was an assistant to S D Burman for a long long time and correspondingly, was well known to the Navketan team as well. When SD was not at the best of his health in 1961, Dev Anand and Team decided to gift Jaidev a movie as an independent music director as a reward to his long term loyalty to the banner. And Jaidev delivered his best, simply his best. Since SD was no longer working with Sahir, the latter was also out of the camp for quite some time since Funtoosh in 1956. With Jaidev, Sahir got that one last shot in the Navketan camp, never to return again after SD's re entry later in 1962. Hum Dono is not only the album of 1961, but also a testimonial to the genius of a composer called Jaidev. I chose this masterpiece Ghazal, rendered supremely by Rafi, for an intoxicated Dev Anand, while the other Dev looks on.

Year: 1962
Song: Humko tumhare ishq ne kya kya
Movie: Ek musafir ek haseena
Singer: Mohd Rafi
Music: O P Nayyar
Lyrics: S Rizvi

Ek musafir ek haseena was based on the classic Hollywood hit of the 40s called Random Harvest. Hollywood had left melodrama behind in the 60s, but we still adored such theme. O P Nayyar, by that time, had decided to average only one movie a year, concentrating more on quality than quantity. And indeed, it was the most valuable period of Nayyar's career. What started with EMEH, continued well until Kismat in 1968- and for those 6/7 years, he remained one of the highest paid music directors in the industry.

Year: 1963
Song: Poochho na kaise maine
Movie: Teri Surat Meri annkhein
Singer: Manna De
Music: S D Burman
Lyrics: Shailendra

Poochho na kaise is not an original tune if we stick to the fundamentals. The mukhda is a note to note copy of Nazrul Islam's "Aruna kanti ke go jogi bhikhari". However, since SD was very close to Nazrul during his Calcutta days in the 30s, there is a parallel theory that he might have some role to play in the original Nazrul tune itself. Anyways, coming to this particular song, Manna De again proved his mastery when it came to Classical music. Rafi had one in the same movie- Nache man mora; but clearly Poochho na kaise was far more impactful and neatly executed. And not to forget Shailendra, the "Kaviraj", here- ek pal jaise ek yug beeta, yug beete mohe neend na aayi.

Year: 1964
Song: Man re tu kahe na dheer dhare
Movie: Chitralekha
Singer: Mohd Rafi
Music: Roshan
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi

There can be many disagreements from many people regarding my selections of Song of the Year for the previous years, but I think, for this particular year, there would be the maximum consensus, as Man Re is clearly not only the song of the year, but also to many people, song of the century. Yes, I really mean it. Roshan Lal Nagrath had debuted in 1950 with Neki aur Badi, and continued giving quality music throughout the 50s but success eluded him. Barsaat ki Raat in 1960 was a turning point for him in his career. He never looked back after that, till his untimely death in 1968. Chitralekha had only one Rafi song, and it was good enough for the master to create something immortal, everlasting. Sahir excelled, once again- "koi na sang mare"...

Year: 1965
Song: Din Dhal Jaye
Movie: Guide
Singer: Mohd Rafi
Music: S D Burman
Lyrics: Shailendra

SD was back with a bang for Navketan this time, with the album of his career. While Kishore Kumar did make a comeback for Dev after quite a while with a blockbuster hit, the album from a male singer perspective, belonged to only and only Rafi. After Hum Dono, this was another killer performance from Rafi for Dev, and this time, perhaps even better. Din dhal jaye is simply the most celebrated intoxicated sad songs rendered ever. Shailendra gave a lifetime performance for this, before biding adieu to the world just a year later. Industry lost its best poet.

Year: 1966
Song: Tumne mujhe dekha
Movie: Teesri Manzil
Singer: Mohd Rafi
Music: R D Burman
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri


Rahul Dev Burman officially debuted in 1961 with Chhote Nawab, but came to serious notice 5 years later with Teesri Manzil. Even veterans like Shankar Jaikishen and Madan Mohan now started taking this new generation seriously. The sound which RD created in Teesri Manzil was never heard before. Here was a composer who was going to stay, who could blend melody with rhythm and give consistently good scores. While the entire album is full of classics, my personal pick for the year would be this amazingly beautiful Rafi solo where for the first time, pathos were mixed with drums and saxophone and melody of sorrow was clubbed with pace and rhythm.

Year: 1967
Song: Tumhari zulf ke saaye mein
Movie: Naunihal
Singer: Mohd Rafi
Music: Madan Mohan
Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi

The reason why you would see less of Madan Mohan here is because he, along with the brigade of Salil Chowdhury, Anil Biswas and C Ramchandra, largely remained a female vocal (read Lata) based composer. In fact, remove Lata, and what you get from Madan Mohan is a precipitate of some random Talat and Rafi. Although, number wise, Rafi sang as many as 150 songs for Madan Mohan, it was only in the 60s that the combo really started delivering significant scores. Rafi, also can boast of being the only other singer than Lata, who could get monopoly shares in a Madan Mohan album like Ghazal, Laila Majnu, Haqeeqat etc. From 1967, I choose this tender romantic gem, which might not have become too popular at the time of its release but today is treated like a true classic.

Year: 1968
Song: Chandan sa badan
Movie: Saraswati Chandra
Singer: Mukesh
Music: Kalyanji Anandji
Lyrics: Indeevar

Although there exists a Lata version of the same Yaman based classic, the Mukesh version is far more appealing and impactful owing to the mastery on the  lower notes by the maestro coupled with his signature nasal baritone. Post Kavi Pradeep and Bharat Vyas period, it was Indeevar who again started bringing the pure Hindi words to craft poetries. Chandan sa badan is as simple and beautiful as melody can get. One of the lifetime compositions from the Gujarati brothers.

Year: 1969
Song: Woh shaam kuchh ajeeb thi
Movie: Khamoshi
Singer: Kishore Kumar
Music: Hemant Kumar
Lyrics: Gulzar

With the nearing of yet another new decade, we got the first official superstar of Hindi film industry. And this new star had a new voice, which we could earlier hear only when he himself was the actor or on Dev Anand, that too intermittently. After 20 years of long and painful wait, the time had finally come for Kishore Kumar. And suddenly, all the composers were found to be pretty comfortable working with him. Woh shaam is a landmark song from this singer in Kishore Kumar perspective. Not only does he nails Yaman to perfection, he extracts the impeccable emotion required to do justice to this song. The composer, who was an ace singer himself, must have felt very very proud on his singer selection here.  And with no Shailendra nearby and Sahir reducing his work significantly, we got a new face of poetry called Gulzar with this.

Year: 1970
Song: Jaane kaha gaye woh din
Movie: Mera Naam Joker
Singer: Mukesh
Music: Shankar Jaikishen
Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri

What Limelight was to Charlie Chaplin, MNJ was to Raj Kapoor. MNJ, as a subject itself, was highly inspired by Limelight.It took a lot of time to complete and a big setback was the death of Shailendra in between the project. But, Hasrat Jaipuri, as the other strong pillar of RK Films music, along with Shankar Jaikishen, delivered what many consider as the finest Shivrnjani adaptation in Hindi Film music. Mukesh, as always, emoted one of his finest high note renditions to the perfection. Jaane kaha gaye woh din is matchless, and wins the Song of the Year award, beating Zindagi ka safar by a whisker.

Year: 1971
Song: Kuchh to log kahenge
Movie: Amar Prem
Singer: Kishore Kumar
Music: R D Burman
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi

Just like Shankar Jaikishen, who needed a Basant Bahar to break their stereotyped image, R D Burman needed Amar Prem. Amar Prem truly is not only the album of 1971 but also,perhaps, the album of the entire 70s. First time, we heard S D Burman crooning someone else's composition in Hindi films and then there those 5 solos- 2 from Lata and 3 from Kishore- all agonizingly close to each other in class. However, contrary to the popular choice of Chingari, I chose this Khamaj based beauty of Kishore, just because I find the poetry and lines of Bakshi sahab more original and more conscience stirring.

Year: 1972
Song: Yeh Jeevan Hai
Movie: Piya Ka Ghar
Singer: Kishore Kumar
Music: Laxmikant Pyarelal
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi

The early 70s belonged to only one man- Kishore Kumar. And it was in this period that he delivered some of the highest quality philosophical songs in Hindi film music. Laxmikant Pyarelal literally forced him to reduce his baritone and bring a soft, tender feel into the song making him sound like an entirely different singer altogether. Yeh jeevan hai was played in the background and created one more cult of using Kishore Kumar;s voice in the background to create a meaningful impact.

Year: 1973
Song: Main Shayar Badnaam
Movie: Namak Haram
Singer: Kishore Kumar
Music: R D Burman
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi

Clearly, this Badnaam Shayar poetry is something Anand Bakshi had never written before. Hrishikesh Mukherjee adapted the Hollywood story of Becket into a modern day masterpiece. The movie making of 70s had also matured a lot from its predecessor decades and the characters were much more than pure black or white. So, we have Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Om Shivpuri- all of whom show grey shades of their characters from time to time without being a clear positive or negative. Made at the helm of Rajesh Khanna popularity, R D Burman created 3 distinctly different solos for Kishore, with this one being a clear cut winner because of the depth in poetry, pathos, philosophy and a track extremely difficult to keep pace with while singing.

Year: 1974
Song: Zindagi ke safar mein guzar jaate hai
Movie: Aap ki Kasam
Singer: Kishore Kumar
Music: R D Burman
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi

Rajesh Khanna perhaps did not realize that time that the words of the song would come true to his own career so bitterly a few years later. Zindagi ke safar mein is yet another poetic masterpiece from Anand Bakshi, and considered by many to be his philosophical best. The song itself has been voted by many people to be amongst the top of the male solos of all time. Kishore delivers yet another impactful rendition in the background, with this song traversing the storyline by almost 20 years in approximately 6 minutes. Amongst all the beautifully crafted elaborate interludes by RD, the last one with Santoor and Sarangi leaves the maximum impact. Kedar at its best.

Year: 1975
Song: Badi sooni sooni hai
Movie: Mili
Singer: Kishore Kumar
Music: S D Burman
Lyrics: Yogesh

Nurturing him since late 1940s, it took time for SD to get Kishore Kumar established as a singer. But it happened, and happened for good. So, with the 70s, his vehement shift to only and only Kishore as the male voice justified the fact that he finally got what he was expecting from him. So, here was a parting gift from the mentor to his protege. Badi sooni sooni hai was the last composition of S D Burman which he could not record in his lifetime. And zindagi of everyone around, along with Kishore himself, became very sooni sooni after his demise. Music never remained the same after SD.

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.

Dance with Dad, Sing with Son

Hema Malini had a great achievement of working as a heroine opposite to Raj Kapoor, his two younger brothers and his two sons! Now, that was indeed covering three generations of heroes on the silver screen. Right from Sapno ka Saudagar(1968) opposite Raj Kapoor, she featured against the youngest brother Shashi in Abhinetri(1970), middle brother Shammi in Andaaz(1971) to Raj’s eldest son Randhir in Haath ki safai(1974) and then much later in the 80s against Raj’s second son Rishi in Ek chadar maili si.

Alarming Decline in Periodical Patriotic Movies

In 2001, Gadar and Lagan were released on the same day, with the similar patriotic doses and still became super duper hits without eating each other’s pie out. Kargil war was just over and the patriotic sensation in the country was very high. The spirit continued for a couple of  years more with a string of Bhagat Singh movies released and some more genuine patriotic doses like LOC Kargil(2004), Swadesh(2004) and Mangal Pandey(2005).

It is very obvious now that periodical patriotic movies are at the ebb currently. Even though there had been some major attacks in India post-2005, like the Pune blast, The Mumbai attacks etc, the number of patriotic movies made were very thin and number of them running successfully, even thinner. Rather, NRI lifestyle, post-marital love stories or even sometimes justifying terrorism (New York) or befriending enemies (Main Hoon Na, Ek Tha Tiger) have become the order of the day. Genuine attempts of depicting sacrifices during the freedom struggle stumbled at the box office- Khele Hum Jee Jaan Se(2010) and Chittagong(2012)- both based upon the Great Chittagong Uprising of the 1930s against the British- failed to create any movement at the box office whatsoever. One may argue about the quality of them as movies, but, then, I fail to see anything more special in the older lot of J P Dutta and Anil Sharma movies which made bucks at the B.O on patriotism.

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:

Emperors of Playback- Kishore and Rafi Duets

The first time Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar shared the microphone together was in 1949, both in their twenties and yet to achieve superstardom. The song was by and large a duet of Rafi and S D Batish-“Duniya mein ameeron ko aaraam nahi milta”, where Kishore gave some fillers with yodelling and gabbles.

The first proper duet these two legends sang together was in 1953- two duets in the movie Mallkin, music directed by Roshan Lal Nagrath or Roshan. Both fun filled duets- “Kahin se oonchi kahin se neechi” and “ Dhoti aur patloon mein” are not remembered much these days. Composition wise, there is nothing great in them, just occasional peppy numbers.

Throughout the fifties, Kishore and Rafi came together for male duets in quite a few movies like Mastana(1954, Madan Mohan), Paisa Hi Paisa(1956, Anil Biswas), Fifty Fifty(1956, Madan Mohan), Bhagam Bhag(1956, O P Nayyar), Naya Andaz(1956, O P Nayyar), however barring those of Naya Andaz, the rest all can safely be forgotten. It is important to note that, post-Baiju Bawara(1952), as Rafi grew stronger and stronger as a playback singer throughout the fifties, Kishore gained ground more in acting with his singing taking a clear backseat. So, in most of the cases, the duets were either picturized on Kishore for funny songs (obviously) or on some other comic actors to whom Kishore gave playback.

Sixties belonged to Rafi. Mere figures cannot explain the mammoth like impact he had on the industry. In the sixties, in Hindi playback singing, 1 to 10 were Mohammed Rafi and it remains an achievement of its own! Even if some competitions were there for the top spot in the fifties with Talat and Mukesh, Rafi ensured there was none in the sixties. With rock and roll and rhythm getting more importance, Rafi proved to be the only true blue versatile singer out of the lot, and the rest remained in their niche as specialists. Hemant Kumar slowly moved out of Hindi music fraternity, Talat was into hibernation by mid-60s and Mukesh was called for special sad numbers only. Mahendra Kapoor, even though his lifetime collection would consist of mainly 60s songs, in terms of impact, he was nowhere close. And Kishore Kumar was virtually jobless by mid-60s. His movies were not doing well, his problem with income tax and Madhubala shattered him further and he had far too distanced himself from playback singing by then.

Sixties had hardly any significant Rafi-Kishore duet to talk of. They came together in some sporadic instances like Krorepati (Shankar Jaikishen, 1961) and Akalmand(1966, O P Nayyar)- both Kishore Kumar starrers.

With the advent of seventies, Kishore Kumar as a playback singer grew large, very large.  And this marked the decade where Kishore and Rafi sang significantly remarkable male duets.

My all time favourite remains “Yaadon ki baarat” title song-1973. While Kishore sang in his inimitable full open throated singing style, Rafi gave his signature soft touch and made this duet very memorable indeed.

Both Kishore and Rafi had been the mainstay of the compositions of legendary Sachin Dev Burman. But, somehow, SD could never make a Kishore-Rafi duet before, until in 1975- in one of his last released movies, Chupke Chupke. Kishore was all over the duet and Rafi aptly supported him for the sweet “Saregama masarega” duet.

Composer duo Laxmikant Pyarelal needs a special mention here. Here was a duo who had no clear cut preference of one over the other, unlike many other MDs in the 70s, and equally distributed their creations to both of them throughout. They kept on bringing these two stalwarts together throughout the 70s, with memorable duets in Humjoli(1970), Parvarish(1977), Ram Balram(1980) and Deedar-e-yaar(1982). My personal favourite remains “Mere dildaar ka baankpan” from Deedar E Yaar, penned by the great Sahir Ludhianvi.

Shankar Jaikishen also recorded some popular Kishore-Rafi duets in Ek Naari Ek Brahmachari(1971), Jungle mein mangal(1972) and Love in Bombay(1975).

During the late 70s, double hero concept became very popular, and two different but prominent voices were required for two heroes, ahem, angry young men! Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi recorded maximum duets in that period of 1977-1980. Rajesh Roshan recorded as many as 4 K-R duets in a single movie called “Aap ke Deewane”(1980). One of my favourites “Tum ko khush dekhkar” belongs to that movie.

Silence Mightier Than Words- Chaplin in Talkies

Charlie Chaplin stuck to his theories for a long time. In the talkies era, he made two silent movies- City Lights (1931) and Modern Times (1936); although the latter had some talkies part, including a song and dance scene by the genius himself, it can safely be clubbed under the silent movies.

Chaplin made 5 talkie movies in his lifetime, out of which in 4 of them- The Great Dictator(1940), Monsieur Verdoux(1947), Limelight(1952) and A King In New York(1957)- he was the protagonist and one- his last movie and the only colour movie of his lifetime-A Countess from Hong Kong(1967), he directed and played a small cameo.

Following the path of a Genius- Exploring Kishore Kumar's Unfading Popularity

In the highly competitive arena of Hindi film music, to leave a mark of your own itself is such a huge task, leave apart becoming the Numero Uno. And to maintain the top position for years together is even tougher. With the industry studded with innumerable musical talents in the Golden Era of Film Music- from 50s to 70s- there had been a privileged few who, with the Good God’s Grace, were distinctly genius.  

Who can be called a Genius? Can we safely define him as a person who can perform a task to the perfection without ever learning the general and widely acknowledged process of performance and developing a new process of his own! So, if sending a cricket ball outside the boundary with a Willow Bat is a task, Sunil Gavaskar learnt the process of accomplishing that task traditionally by studying and practising, while Viv Richards developed a process of his own! And the path followed by the Genius is also very difficult to follow by others- resulting in limited number of genius and more number of traditional students, as a law of nature. Not that Sunny is lesser than Viv by any circumstances; we can still safely give the crown of a “Master” to the former and the crown of a “Genius” to the latter.

Never follow the path of a non-conformist- warn the traditionalists! You might mess it all up and end up at nowhere. And people to be on the safer side, follow that instruction also.

So, when Pandit Ajay Chakraborty of the Patiala gharana mentions in an interview that he was highly influenced by the singing style of Kishore Kumar and Manna De, you can't help getting stunned! As the latter can be safely called the Sunil Gavaskar or Rahul Dravid of Hindi playback singing, the former has always been a Viv Richards or Virendra Sehwag- people awed at him in appreciation sometimes and criticizing him outright some other times.

But the fact is what Ajay Chakraborty depicts indirectly- Kishore Kumar and his style of singing is present generation’s obsession. What do they follow about Kishore- a man who sang more than 3000 songs in a career of 40 years without having any formal musical training? What aspect of this amateur singer’s singing could have attracted people like Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Ajay Chakraborty, Prince Rama Verma to Satyajit Ray, Lata Mangeshkar to an entire generation of young and aspiring singers? Even a trained Rabindrasangeet singer Suchitra Mitra, who had taken training under the Great Poet himself, sent a letter full of praises to this maverick singer after listening to his album of Rabindrasangeets?

National Award winning director Sandip Ray made a comprehensive documentory on Kishore Kumar

                            

Ek raasta hai zindagi... Tribute to Yash Chopra-Sahir Ludhianvi

I should start writing this obituary very honestly here- I have never been a great fan of Yash Chopra school of movie making. Not that I am against it or I do not watch them, in fact I have watched all his films except Faasle and Nakhuda, but my take home has been minimal. However, some of his works have spellbound me alright; Deewar, Doosra Aadmi and Silsila were all top class works and enlightened me.

25 Hidden Gems with 25 Hidden Composers- With youtube links

25 years have gone by since Kishore Kumar has left us. I dedicate this article to all his fans worldwide and explore 25 Hidden gems from his illustrious career which he sang under 25 not so popular MDs of his time, but they are all worth listening if you want to delve into Kishore's singing prowess. Thankfully, I have checked up and found that the youtube links of all these songs are very much available. So, I will post the links for your reference here as well.  Music director's name is mentioned alongwith the song. I must say, each and every song is a gem!