Twin songs: A front runner and a laggard

@Subodh: Thanks a lot Subodh, for your comments. Even in the examples you mentioned, somehow I felt male version to be vastly superior and perhaps more popular as well. I am yet to come across a counter example in the old twin songs in which the female version was decidedly superior. (You too are only willing to concede equality in your examples).

I recently discovered another twin song , Mera qarar le ja (Ashiana) sung by both Talat and Lata composed by Madan Mohan. Talat version is of course very well known, and it is so very Talat-ish that I could never believe Lata version existed. Needless to say one finds Talat version vastly superior. But I did find a counter-example. It is a Pakistani song Hamari sanson mein aj tak wo hina ki khushboo mahak rahi hai. I had known it as a Noorjehan ghazal. Now I find that in the film Sawal her as well as Mehdi Hassan version has been used. Noorjehan version sounds far superior.

@Sanjay Prakash: Thanks a lot for your detailed comments and highlighting several more songs of the type. I thought there was overwhelming trend in one direction in the ones I had listed of the golden era. In some of the songs you or other readers have mentioned, there seems to be a great deal of difference of opinion. For example, in the Masoom song Tujhse naraz nahin zindagi I tend to agree with Shuchi.

In Rudali song Samay O dheere chalo if you find Asha Bhosale version beating Lata’s, I am not surprised. By 1990s we have to acknowledge the unpleasant fact that Lata’s voice had started breaking, whereas Asha’s bloomed and retained its timbre.

Comparing Lata and Madan Mohan is not fair. Most music directors often recorded their compositions in their own voice for the playback singers to come and rehearse at their convenience. They had no pretensions of being a singer, Madan Mohan was somewhat more competent than others in singing. HMV with which his eldest son Sanjeev Kohli was associated have brought out albums of Madan Mohan which contain several ‘trial’ versions of some well known songs in Madan Mohan’s voice .

Amitabh Bachchan is an interesting case. There is something in his voice which has made almost all his songs super hit. Yet I doubt if he would consider himself a singer worthy of comparison with Lata. There is a very interesting case of 1957 film Musafir (music Salil Chaudhry) which has a duet by Dilip Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar Lagi nahi chute Rama. This is the only song Dilip Kumar ever sang in films. Raju Bharatan makes a big thing about how Dilip was cut up because Lata had deliberately overshadowed him. And apparently that led to some cold vibes between the two till they came together after many years. I found the whole analysis pointless. Dilip Kumar would have never thought himself to be anywhere near Lata. Youtube has this song, I strongly urge you to hear it. I find Dilip Kumar’s singing wonderful, musically better than what Amitabh has done in his songs. Yet the question of any comparison with Lata should not arise.

@Dharm:
I agree with you on Aji rooth kar ab kahan jaiyega. Thanks to all the comments, the list is growing and now we have a huge number of twin songs. My interest in this theme grew when I found in many twin songs the female version simply vanished, and even after knowing they existed, and listening to them carefully on Youtube or elsewhere the female version simply does not register. The few exceptions in which we find female version more popular are so few relatively that it does not change my general thesis.

I have another thesis to which many may not agree. This is regarding duets as different from twin songs. In any great duet, it is my very strong feeling that it is the male part which makes the stronger emotional impact and makes the song great – I can cite hundreds of Mukesh-Lata, Rafi-Lata, Hemant Kumar-Lata duets to support my point. In fact I am planning to write on Hemant-Lata duets which move me so much due to Hemant Kumar’s sonorous voice.

@Dharm:
Thanks again for your comments. When I used the word “any” I was aware it was quite strong and would invite rebuttal, I myself mentioned many may not agree with me. You are 100% right, “most” is the correct usage, to which no one can take any exception. But I do hope you agree with my general sense. You can off hand think of any memorable duet of different pairs: Kishore Kumar-Lata Mangeshkar Gata rahe mera dil, Kishore Kumar-Asha Bhosle Chhod do anchal zamana kya kahega, Rafi-Lata Bheegi palkein utha meri jaan gham na kar, Rafi-Asha Bhosle Chand sa mukhda kyun sharmaya, Rafi-Suman Kalyanpur Tumhe pyar karte hain karte rahenge, Rafi-Geeta Dutt Hum apki ankhon mein, Mukesh-Lata Aja re ab mera dil pukara, Mukesh-Asha Bhosle Tumko hoti mohabbat humse, Talat-Lata Yaad anewale phir yaad aa rahe hain, Talat-Asha Bhosle Tujhko parda rukhe roshan se hatana hoga, Hemant Kumar-Lata Ek baar zara phir kah do mujhe sharma ke tum deewana, Hemant Kumar-Asha Bhosle Ye hansta hua karwaan zindagi ka, Hemant Kumar-Geeta Dutt Mujhko tum jo mile ye jahan mil gaya, Hemant Kumar-Suman Kalyanpur Tumhi mere meet ho tumhi mere preet ho, Manna Dey-Lata Chunri sambhaal gori and so on. If you go back to 1930s and 40s – Saigal-Khursheed More balapan ke saathi, Saigal-Uma Shashi Prem nagar mein banaungi ghar main, Ashok Kumar-Devika Rani Main ban ki chidiya ban ke ban ban dolun re, Arun Kumar-Amirbai Karnataki Dheere dheere aa re badal, Karan Dewan-Zohra Ambalewali Sawan ke baadalo unse ye ja kaho, Shyam Kumar-Amirbai Karnataki O janewale balamwa laut ke aa laut ke aa, Chitalkar-Meena Kapur Ana meri jaan meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday and so on. You can also look 1970s onwards such as Kishore Kumar-Lata Jai jai shiv shankar. Whose voice lingers in your memory? You can multiply the examples.

@Gaby
Welcome to my blog, and thanks for your compliments. Indeed the discussion that followed enriched our knowledge of twin songs. Incidentally, I find Raju Bharatan in his recently published book Down the melody lane (which came out a few months after my article), uses the term ‘tandem’ for such songs, though I still prefer ‘twin’. If you believe his anecdotal evidence, he mentions Lata Mangeshkar used to be scared to sing such twin songs if the male version was by Talat Mahmood. Listening to Jayen to jayen kahan, Ae mere dil kahin aur chal and Mera qarar le ja I am not surprised at Lata Mangeshkar’s fright. It is perplexing but true that in almost all the twin sings she comes out poorly in comparison to the male counterpart, Rafi, Mukesh or Hemant Kumar. Why, even Anup Ghoshal in Tujhse naraaz nahin zindagi outshines her, as so aptly mentioned by Suchi in her comments. The only clear exception I could think of, as mentioned in one of the comments, is Ajee rooth kar ab kahan jaiyega, which is superior to Rafi’s Ajee humse bachkar kahan jaiyega from Arzoo.

The reason why Humein tumse pyar kitna did not figure in my article, is that my blog is devoted primarily to the vintage and golden era which has a very clear watershed year of Aradhana (1969), which marks the transition to a new era (I would invite you to read my article “Mohammad Rafi versus Kishore Kumar” on this site). But surely, this is one of the great twin songs. That Kishore Kumar’s version is also well known in face of Parveen Sultana’s version is perhaps testimony to my general theory of twin songs.

One distinct gain from the discussion on this article is what I started with about twenty songs has grown to close to forty, and there could be many more such hidden gems.

@Gaby
Let me give my response to your comments. My relationship with the songs of the golden and vintage era dates back to the radio days. Later when TV came, I consider we were blessed that we had only Doordarshan, first with a single channel, and later they added Metro channel or DD2, and what quality programme just the two channels could give! They have a huge repository of old films, and there were weekly programmes excusively devoted to the music of black & white era. Then I got to see the visuals of many songs for the first time, but essentially my sensibilities were derived from the audio of the songs.

I find it ironical that what just the two DD channels could provide in olden days, we can not get with 350 channels today. Even DD with its over two dozen channels have been reduced to catering to the lowest common denominator. But God bless internet and Youtube, we have access to all the old gems we thought were lost for ever. Youtube performs four important roles as far as this blog is concerned- (i) validation and confirmation of the credits, (ii) revisiting the songs which were either lost in my consciousness, (iii) exploring songs which I had never heard before, but brought to my notice by the readers in their comments or otherwise and (iv) helping the readers who may not be that deeply into the music of that era to experience first hand what I am trying to say.

Now the three twin songs you have mentioned Jiya ho jiya ho jiya kuchh bol do, Teri ankhon ke siwa and O meri shah-e-khuba O meri jaane janana, I strongly remeber these as Rafi songs. That they also had a female twin is just a piece of knowledge for me, I would have to really strain myself to recall the female versions. Is it my bias? I do not know. I would tend to think that it is just that the male version created a much bigger impact. Is it because I heard the male version first? Not really – in the long listening experience it does not really matter which song fell on your ears first, especially if it is a sustained pattern in one direction. Is it because we have heard the male version more often? Yes, of course. But is it not a function of which song got public acclaim?

As for Geeta Dutt twin songs, my article mentions two – Na ye chand hoga na tare rahenge and Kaise koi jiye, both pitted against Hemant Kumar. You are clearly a big fan of Geeta Dutt, I am leaving it to you to judge which creates more impact.

Just realised no one mentioned another famous twin song Humne tumko pyar kiya hai jitna, kaun karega itna by Mukesh and Lata Mangeshkar from the film Dulha Dulhan (1964) composed by Kalyanji Anandji. Again the Mukesh version was more popular.

With Jyot se jyot jagate chalo too I liked the Mukesh version better. I might have some bias in this case. As I have mentioned earlier in response to some comments, I find Lata’s Shradhanjali to the great singers like KL Saigal, Pankaj Mallik by rendering their songs no patch on the originals. Ditto for most of her twin songs against Talat, Mukesh, Rafi, Kishore Kumar and even Anoop Ghoshal (!).

@musicparast
This is amazing research! Thanks a lot. I was aware of some of the above songs. For example Hae tabassum tera. I could not locate the female version on YouTube. Kabhi dil dil se takrata to hoga is an absolutely magical song. Both versions are available on YouTube. I was keeping it for some other blog. Babul mora naihar chhutal jaye – in the film Kanan Devi sings the song in a totally different tune – let us say a very chaalu tune, which Saigal totally disapproves and demonstrates how to sing it correctly. I would not count it as a twin song.

Zindagi bhar nahi bhulegi wo barsaat ki raat – you are right. But my recollection is that in the radio they used to play only two stanzas. So it remained in my memory as a twin song. Na tum humein jaano – I would not make such a fine distinction, I always regarded it as a twin song.

But others are a new discovery, and call for a relook. The pure twin songs I may embed in the comment section after some time to see if some more turn up. For others, let us call them ‘hybrid’ or ‘multiple version’ songs, I may post a separate article. You may also look at these:

1. Roop Ki Rani Choro Ka Raja had another multiple version song – Aa ja re mere nain dware aa ja by Subir Sen/ Asha Bhosle/ Subir Sen & Asha Bhosle. (I have mentioned this in my article on Subir Sen)

2. Kismat: Dheere dheere aa re badal by Amirbai Karnataki/ Arun Kumar (record version) & Amribai Karnataki/ Ashok Kumar (film version) & Amirbai Karnataki

3. Bahu Begum: Hum intezar karenge by Rafi/ Rafi & Asha Bhosle

4. Saranga: Saranga teri yaad mein by Mukesh/ Rafi

5. Bhabhi: Chal ud ja re panchhi by Rafi. Talat also has sung a version, I am not aware in what context, but it is available on YouTube.

6. Main Shadi Karne Chala: Jabse hum tum baharon mein by Mukesh & Kamal Barot/ Rafi & Suman Kalyanpur. Is this the only twin duet? (I have mentioned this in my artilce on Kamal Barot).

7. Pyar Ka Mausam: Tum bin jaaun kahan by Rafi/ Kihore Kumar

8. Andaaz (1971): Zindagi ek safar hai suhana by Rafi/ Kishore Kumar

(These two songs have been discussed in my article on Rafi versus Kishore Kumar).

9. My Sister: Several songs by KL Saigal also sung by Pankaj Mullick in record version. (This has been discussed in the comment section of my article on Pankaj Mullick).

It seems there is quite a huge number of such type of songs. Let us jointly discover. Once we have come to a belief that most of the well known songs are in, we may put them up in a more formal manner.

@musicparast
Itna na mujhse tu pyar badha, Nain dwar se man mein wo aa ke has multiple versions? I am not aware. If it has, I would be thouroughly impressed.

You have given me quite a good deal to work on. Songs not included in a film or included later seems to be interesting. There are outstanding songs in films that were never completed. Such songs have occurred off and on in this blog, such as Daan Singh’s songs. However, for me it is the song which is of paramount importance, and not so much other factors relating to the film.

After my last comment I remembered another multiple version song Yaad rakhna chand taron is suhani raat ko from Anokha Pyar by Lata Mangeshkar/Mukesh/Meena Kapur. I doubt if ever we can confidently say that all the known songs of this type have been covered.

While on this theme, let me present some more fascinating topics for research:

1. Songs having identical tune by same composer or different composers. For example:

Same composer:
Naushad’s Lagan more man ki balam nahin jaane, Ghunghat nahi kholun re saiyan tore aage, Jogan ban jaungin saiyan tore kaaran all by Lata Mangeshkar (Babul/Mother India/Shabaab). Naushad’s Aaye bhi wo gaye bhi wo ab to fasana ban gaya by Parul Ghosh (Namaste), Jabse chale gaye hain wo zindagi zindagi nahi by Suraiya (Natak). Rafi’s several songs in Aan and Deedar.

Roshan’s Garjat barsat sawan ayo re in Malhar and Barsaat Ki Raat.

Different composers:
Talat Mahmood’s Ye hawa ye raat ye chandniby Sajjad Husain in Sangdil; Rafi’s Tujhe kya sunaun main dilruba by Madan Mohan in Aakhri Dao

Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar duet Wo chand muskaya sitare sharmaye by Madan Mohan in Aakhri Dao; Rafi and Asha Bhosle duet Ye parda hata do zara muskura do by Ravi in Ek Phool Do Maali.

2. Same song in different tunes in different films several years apart:

See Shamshad Begum’s Jhumka gira re Bareli ke bazaar mein in Dekhojee(1947) and Inhi logon ne le leena dupatta mera in Himmat (1941) in Shamshad Begum.

3. A film’s title becoming mukhdaa of a song in a later film or vice versa:
Kora Kagaz
Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai
Baharein Phir Bhi Ayengi
Kahsmir Ki Kali
Tumse Achha Kaun Hai

4. A composer using a backgound music as a song in a later film:
SJ’s O basanti pwan pagal‘s tune as background in an earlier film and many such examples.

5. Another interesting feature by Salil Chaudhry in Madhumati is using the tune of a song as interlude of another sonng: Ghadi ghadi mera dil dhadke in Aa ja re pardesi.

I am sure this would excite you and get you going.

Mr Venkatraman,
Thanks a lot and thanks for the corrections (since done). Hamari sanson mein is really a gem. I was also surprised that Dilip Kumar, with such a mellifluous voice, sang only one song in his career.

About Dev Anand singing, I do not know whether this qualifies.

Dev Anand rapping in Gangster

Sometime back I had written on many plaback voices of Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar. You would find these interesting, if you have not seen them already. Another blogger has done on Dev Anand also, therefore, I have not written on him.

I agree with you. But in one of the blogs this was posted as Dev Anand singing for himself. But even this to my mind does not qualify: