A tribute on Talat Mahmood’s Birth Anniversary, February 24
When I wrote on Talat Mahmood’s peppy duets last year, it left many readers naturally unsatiated. He, of the velvety voice, is known more for his heart-touching, soft and romantic duets. The readers very generously gave a big list of his duets with various female singers, which they said, ought to be covered. I had to clarify that that post was about his atypical duets, which are very special as they reveal a lesser known side of Talat’s singing, and that I was planning to cover his soulful and soft duets later. One should think that this has to start with his duets with Lata Mangeshkar. The interesting point is that his duets with Asha Bhosle happen to be some of the most melodious and charming. I am also helped by the reader Amit Mandape, who provided a list of his duets with her. I pay my tribute to one of my most favourite singers by presenting what I consider his best duets with Asha Bhosle, on his birth anniversary February 24 (he was born on Feb 24, 1924).
Guest article by N Venkataraman
(Mr N Venkataraman had been benefitting the SoY readers with his erudite comments for quite some time. Therefore, when Mr Ashok Vaishnav’s mega series on Multiple Version Songs came along, my thoughts went to him for doing Hindi songs and their versions in South Indian languages. I am grateful that he accepted my request. He starts with Tamil, and this too he proposes to do in three parts, which he explains in the article. With Ashokji’s three articles, and the last guest article by Mr Arunkumar Deshmukh on Hindi-Marathi, the mega series is now taking shape as we had envisaged. Please enjoy another learned article in the series, which is the first guest article by Venkataramanji. This would be hopefully followed by many more. – AK)
In the first of the series of articles on this theme, Ashok Vaishnavji had presented an overview of the various types of multiple version songs. In his overview he had elaborated the types of possible variations and some very broad categories of this theme. He had suggested separate post for each of the categories/sub-categories and further suggested a collaborative effort in compiling bank of songs and in volunteering to write guest posts on some of the categories. AKji had laid out the road map for further exploration of the subject and reiterated the views expounded by Ashok Vaishnavji on collaborative efforts on this theme. I had mentioned in my comment that this is a monumental task and the effort deserves to be organized and well documented. In the meantime, Ashok Vaishnavji has come out with the second and third part in the series, and in the last post Arunkumar Deshmukhji has given an outstanding overview of Hindi-Marathi linkage in films and songs. Inspired by these painstaking efforts, and after an encouraging communication from AKji, I decided to venture into an area, where I have not made any serious attempt earlier.
Guest article by Arunkumar Deshmukh
(On the blogosphere dealing with old films and music, Mr Arunkumar Deshmukh is known as a living encyclopaedia. SoY regulars are aware of the mega series on multiple version songs, started by another stalwart, Mr Ashok Vaishnav, spanning across singers, films, genres and languages, some parts of which may require treatment by super specialists. Here comes the living encyclopaedia, writing a guest article on Hindi films and songs which have their Marathi versions. While doing this, he takes us on a fascinating journey to the earliest days of our films when Marathi theatre and films were a major influence on Hindi films. – AK)
Bombay was the first major centre of film making in India. The industry thrived, prospered and grew here. Bombay being the biggest city in Marathi speaking area, no wonder, initially, the industry was dominated by Marathi speaking artists. As the industry grew, more and more Marathi people joined it in all the branches of film making, whether it was production, editing, choreography, script writing, acting, composing or singing. The period of 1920s to 1960s was a time when Hindi film industry was crowded with Marathi artists.
Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav
(In his last post Mr Ashok Vaishnav covered a sub-category of multiple version songs in which the two versions are sung, generally, by the same male playback singer, one version being happy, and the other sad. At times, the two versions are not so clearly differentiated – the variation in moods is more subtle than simple happy-sad division. You can trust Mr Vaishnav to peel the layers of meaning – in the third part of his mega series he makes a superfine analysis of this sub-sub category of multiple version songs. – AK)
The most frequent and popular use of hybrid songs in the same film is to depict a happy and a sad mood situation. We have covered a set of songs rendered by all male singers in our last episode. Today we will take a slightly different journey through a specific sub-category of multiple version songs in Hindi Films – all versions rendered by male playback singer(s) – Different Moods.
Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav
(In his first article in the mega series on Multiple Version Songs, Mr Vaishnav gave an overview of the subject, several types of multiple version songs, ranging from simple vanilla twin songs – male/female versions – to same singer different moods, different male or female singers, solo/duets, film/non-film songs, Hindi/regional films etc. He also laid out a road map for taking each sub-category in a separate post. Carrying it further, in the second in the series, he takes up a type in which both the versions are sung by male singers – generally one happy and the other sad version. It takes the perseverance of an intrepid explorer like Mr Vaishnav to go into the subtle difference between these songs with multiple versions. – AK)
The classic twin song – one by a male and the other by a female playback singer, normally, was used in Indian Films, with an intention to express similar-sounding sentiments under different circumstances. However, there are instances galore wherein only a male or only a female playback singer has rendered the different versions in the film.
Kabhi tanhaiyon mein hamari yaad ayegi: Happy Birthday to you (January 5)
From various accounts on the internet I had taken Mubarak Begum to be lost for the civilization. Supposedly she was living in anonymity, in penury in some Bombay chawl with her son, who was said to be an autorickshaw driver. Therefore, I was astonished to get a message from Sudhir Kapurji (one of the mainstays of Atul’s site) a few months ago whether I would like to attend a concert to felicitate Mubarak Begum on October 7, 2012 at India Islamic Centre, New Delhi. There was a possibility that she might also sing. भला नेकी और पूछ पूछ. Putting everything aside I had planned for Sunday, the October 7, I headed for the venue.
The SoY award for the best Music Director goes to?
This is like completing the circle, which means you come to the same point from where you started. So I look back at the mother post on the overview of the best songs of 1955 and I am amazed at the overwhelming response it generated, both in numbers and quality. As I said earlier, the methodology is not some kind of poll, but trying to capture the sense of the house. The SoY regulars would also recall that at the readers’ suggestions, I also wrote categoriwise summaries – Wrap Up 1 for the best male playback singer; Wrap Up 2 for the best female playback singer and Wrap Up 3 on the best duets. These are parts of the whole. Therefore, it is obvious that the final wrap up on the best music director would also draw a great deal from these subsidiary posts. Here I am presenting the final wrap up of the string of posts that originated from the readers’ suggestions and which took shape as we moved on, as my Christmas and New Years Greetings to all.
Guest article by Subodh Agrawal
(SoY readers are familiar with Subodh’s elegant writing on songs based on classical ragas. He surpasses himself with this outstanding article on one of the most popular and accessible ragas – Malkauns – which he describes as the greatest of pentatonic ragas. Subodh carries his scholarship lightly with an easy and fluent style of writing. – AK)
I began this series with ten iconic film songs in different ragas – songs that are good enough to be used by students of classical music to get an intuitive feel for the raga. I deliberately left out the greatest iconic song of all – Man tarpat hari darshan ko aaj in Malkauns, because I hoped to do a separate post on this raga. Finally, I am here to share my love for this great raga with the SoY family.
Guest article by Subodh Agrawal
(Followers of SoY are familiar with Subodh’s elegant writings on songs based on classical ragas. He surpasses himself with this article on one of the most popular and accessible ragas – Malkaus – which he describes as the greatest pentatonic raga. He bears his scholarship lightly with his fluent and easy style of writing. Here is his fifth article in the series – AK
PS. Please see comment no 12 in the comment box. Because of some problem, a large part of this post has disappeared. Full version has been revived in the other post with the same title. Interested readers are requested to visit the other post. This post is not being deleted because many valuable comments are here - AK)
I began this series with ten iconic film songs in different ragas – songs that are good enough to be used by students of classical music to get an intuitive feel for the raga. I deliberately left out the greatest iconic song of all – Man tarpat hari darshan ko aaj in Malkauns, because I hoped to do a separate post on this raga. Finally, I am here to share my love for this great raga with the SoY family.
I often wondered who filled in when New Theatres stalwarts led by KL Saigal headed for Bombay in the early 1940s? I got my answer while searching for songs from the New Theatres era, when an unknown voice held me spellbound for its incredible charm. Then some videos turned up on the YouTube. So here was not only an excellent voice but also a young and handsome face by the name of Asit Baran who had some very successful movies and outstanding songs during 1941-43. For a long time I could not find any material on him – several friends, whose knowledge I admired, seemed to know nothing about him beyond having heard his name. Then sometime back, on my request, Mr Sharad Dutt, a well known writer and short-film maker on music personalities (you would have seen his films on Naushad, Mukesh, Anil Biswas, Talat Mahmood, Pankaj Mullick etc on Doordarshan), was able to locate a very old clipping of the Screen magazine, which contained an obituary on Asit Baran. Thus I am presenting this tribute to Asit Baran, one of the unknown stars of the New Theatres, on his death anniversary November 27 (he passed away on November 27, 1984 at the age of 69).
When I wrote on Talat Mahmood’s peppy duets last year, it left many readers naturally unsatiated. He, of the velvety voice, is known more for his heart-touching, soft and romantic duets. The readers very generously gave a big list of his duets with various female singers, which they said, ought to be covered. I had to clarify that that post was about his atypical duets, which are very special as they reveal a lesser known side of Talat’s singing, and that I was planning to cover his soulful and soft duets later. One should think that this has to start with his duets with Lata Mangeshkar. The interesting point is that his duets with Asha Bhosle happen to be some of the most melodious and charming. I am also helped by the reader Amit Mandape, who provided a list of his duets with her. I pay my tribute to one of my most favourite singers by presenting what I consider his best duets with Asha Bhosle, on his birth anniversary February 24 (he was born on Feb 24, 1924).
