Year: 2021

Mohammad Rafi’s Non-film Hindi Geets and Ghazals

A tribute to Mohammad Rafi on his 97th Birth Anniversary (b. December 24, 1924 – d. July 31, 1980) by guest author Ashok M Vaishnav and wishing Merry Christmas to all

(Ashok M Vaishnav is a solid Rafi fan, without wearing it as a medallion, and without picking up a sword to slay anyone at the slightest suspicion that he might be slighting Rafi. His love for Rafi is evident in this article on his non-film geets and ghazals. This does not cover his non-film bhajans and naats. Therefore, there is a possibility that at some opportune time Ashokji might have plans for covering that too.

Ashokji is a retired engineer, now a freelance management trainer, based out of Ahmedabad. He has written a number of guest articles on SOY. He anchored the mega series on Multiple Version Songs. Thank you Ashokji for this impressive tribute to Rafi on his 97th Birth anniversary, which would be befittingly the last post of the year. This is also to wish Merry Christmas to all the readers and their families. – AK)

In the 1930s and 40s, it was a normal practice for the recording companies to contract singers with exclusive rights. That would require other companies to launch non-film songs with other singers to make their presence felt in the market. That probably laid the foundation of the practice of publishing the records of non-film songs. By the turn of the 1940s, the singers turned freelancers, hence the major recording companies took up to buying the rights of the entire album of the films. That again led the smaller players to approach the singers for recording non-film songs. In the 1950s, 60s and thereafter, the market forces kept changing the rules, but non-film songs had created such a niche for themselves that the genre has survived and thrived. (A contra view: Jagmohan, Juthika Roy, etc. emerged primarily as NFS singers. It is difficult to accept that they became NFS singers because leftovers came their way. –AK)

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Book review: ‘Yesterday’s Melodies Today’s Memories’

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Yesterday’s Melodies Today’s Memories
by Manek Premchand
1st Edition 2003
2nd Edition 2004
3rd Updated Edition: 2018
Notion Press, Chennai

A book review is generally meaningful when the book has come fresh out of the mint. But there are a number of reasons why it is never too late to review ‘Yesterday’s Melodies Today’s Memories’ (YMTM) on this forum. YMTM had made quite a splash when it came out and it has since remained quite popular. Book Review is not a regular feature on this blog. A reader Shachindra Prasad suggested that I review well-known books on Hindi film music, and I recall that he also mentioned this book. But the most important reason for me is that, true to its title, it is so much like Songs of Yore. The tagline of this blog says “A tribute to old film music. Songs of the 30s through 60s”. And Manekji says in the first line of his introduction to the book that it is “essentially about the many creative individuals whose genius produced unforgettable Hindi film songs from 1931 to 1970, and specifically between the years 1947 and 1970”. There couldn’t have been a better fit than this book for review on SOY.

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Rajendra Krishna with Chitragupta and Ravi: Reaching for the skies

Guest article by Hans Jakhar in continuation of his series on Rajendra Krishna

(When some readers observed that the lyricists have not been give their due importance on SOY, Hans Jakhar offered to write a series of articles on Rajendra Krishna’s combination with different music directors. He has already written two articles in the series on his association with two of his most famous combinations – with C Ramchandra and Madan Mohan. Continuing the series, in this article he covers Rajendra Krishna’s prolific combination with two other music directors, Chitragupta and Ravi. Among his several guest articles, he had earlier written on Shakeel Badayuni’s combination with Ravi.

Not everyone relates to lyrics as intensely as Hans Jakhar does. In most music lovers’ mind a great song is associated with the voice (singer) and the tune (music director). We often lose sight of the contribution of the lyricist, except for a very few prominent ones. Hans has shown his special expertise in analysing the lyrics of a song.

Once Hans takes up a work, he does a thorough job of it in spite of time constraints. He has done this article in face of his personal difficulties. Thank you Hans for another thorough article on a lyricist-music director combination. – AK)

Rajendra Krishna with Chitragupta and RaviWith Chitragupta and Ravi we move into the Rafi territory. It is not that C Ramchandra (CR) or Madan Mohan (MM) did not use Rafi enough, but their main focus was Lata Mangeshkar. CR did not care for Rafi after he got settled with Lata Mangeshkar, and even for MM, Rafi was in an assisting role. When in the 1960s MM used Rafi on a larger scale his use of Rajendra Krishna declined due to Raja Mehdi Ali Khan and Kaifi Azmi getting the lion’s share of good Rafi songs in that phase of his association with MM.

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The out of sight genius Hansraj Behl

A tribute to the great Master Hansraj Behl (19 November 1916 – 20 May 1984) on his 105th birth anniversary

Hansraj BehlA fellow-blogger and SOY regular, Anup (Mehfil Mein Meri), has written an exhaustive series on Lata Mangeshkar’s songs for relatively unknown composers. He did a very sincere job, but some of us were taken aback by inclusion of music directors like Khemchand Prakash, Ghulam Mohammad and Hansraj Behl in the list of ‘unknown’ composers. Khemchand Prakash is among the undisputed greats of the vintage era, and was instrumental in catapulting Lata Mangeshkar to great fame with his Chanda re ja re ja re and Ayega aanewala. Ghulam Mohammad has been well-recognised as an unlucky genius. I have written on both of them. Hansraj Behl has been an equally talented composer whose Chanda gaye pardes chakori aaj ro ro mare (Chakori, 1949) was among the songs that caused Lata Mangeshkar Tsunami in 1949. That was not a flash in the pan, he went on to compose several all-time great songs for her and other major playback singers throughout the Golden Era. Therefore, finding his name among ‘unknown’ composers struck me as odd and I have been intending to write on him since. Yet, I must make it clear that it is not to rebut Anup’s labelling because he explained that for many in the new generation, their awareness does not go beyond the most famous names.

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Songs of women for the women by the women

Wishing the readers a very Happy Chhath festival

Aao ri suhagan nariMy fellow bloggers Madhu and Anu are apt to say, no sooner do you put two women together in our films than they start singing. There must be something about women and singing – female solos outnumber male solos by more than three times, and female duets outnumber male duets likewise. Therefore, if there are several women together that should instantly lit a spark for singing. And that is what happens in our culture, which has sanskars and rituals from birth till the end of life, all accompanied by women’s songs.

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Best songs of 1944: Final Wrap Up 4

And the Award for the Best Music Director goes to?

Khemchand Prakash-Naushad-Pankaj MullickWhen you think of the year 1944, you think of Naushad. That was the beginning of Naushad phenomenon with his Jewel in the crown, Rattan. This was his 13th movie, having debuted in 1940 as an independent music director, he already had five Silver Jubilees under his belt. But the songs of Rattan are remembered even today. That film became a Diamond Jubilee, first of his three Diamond Jubilees. In the year he gave music to three more films; the list of 80/81 Memorable Songs in the Overview Post includes his songs from all the films. His Pahle Aap, too, in the year had some everlasting songs, rightly making the film a Silver Jubilee hit.

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Rajendra Krishna and Madan Mohan: Classic Case of Two Geniuses at Work

Guest article by Hans Jakhar on Rajendra Krishna’s combination with Madan Mohan

(Hans Jakhar is among the regular readers of SOY who believe that the lyricists deserve greater recognition than what is generally given to them. It is true that even the serious followers of old film music give prominence to the singer and the music director of a song, almost to the point of lack of any recognition to the lyricist. I myself belong to this camp, resulting in a conspicuous gap in the coverage of lyricists on this blog. Hans Jakhar has offered to fill up this gap. He wrote a nice article on Shakeel Badayuni’s combo with Ravi about two years ago. Recently, he decided to write a series of articles on Rajendra Krishna’s combination with some of his principal music directors. The first article in the series was on his combination with C Ramchandra. This second article in the series is on Rajendra Krishna’s most popular and lasting combination with the music director Madan Mohan.

Readers familiar with Hans Jakhar’s style know that he is very meticulous in his data and presentation of facts. Besides, his love for the lyrics flows out of his articles. This is another treat for those looking for substantive articles on the lyricists. Thanks a lot Hans for your efforts. – AK)

Rajendra Krishna-Madan Mohan

This is the second post in the series on Rajendra Krishna. This was already scheduled to be the second in the series, being the most important and long lasting pair Rajendra Krishna made with a composer. This came second in the series because C Ramchandra (CR)-Rajendra Krishna combo had become enormously famous before this one. Avinash Kumar and Mahesh pointed this out and I immediately agreed. The fact that Rajendra Krishna wrote lyrics for 36 of Madan Mohan’s films and 268 songs out of his total output of 614 (name of the lyricist of two songs from film Beti (1957) is not known, so I am not counting them) is hardly the only recommending feature of their enduring relationship which went on for 25 years.

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Romancing through the Window and Door

Mere saamnewali khidki meinWindow opens the outside world to those inside. If a person from outside tries to look into a window, his view is very restricted. Because of this asymmetry, window creates many interesting possibilities. Since one can see on the sly, this is the best place for voyeurs. In Rear Window (1954), James Stewart, confined to a wheelchair in plaster-cast due to a broken leg, indulges himself looking out onto a courtyard and other apartments from his rear window. There is a constant smile on his lips as he watches myriad characters: a pretty dancer, a pianist, a lonely woman, a middle-aged couple and so on. As it is a Hitchcock film, you are sure his smile will soon disappear as he sees some very unusual happenings in a flat. In Witness to Murder (1954), the lady has no voyeuristic instincts; she just happens to look out of her bedroom window and sees a woman being strangulated by a man in a flat. Being a conscientious lady, she reports the matter to the police. But the man is too clever for her and with great difficulty she finally comes out of her nightmarish experience, with the killer meeting retribution in the last scene.

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Rajendra Krishna with the Albela Karigar C Ramchandra

A tribute to the lyricist Rajendra Krishna (6 June 1919 – 23 September 1987) on his 34th Remembrance Day by guest author Hans Jakhar

(The lovers of old film music regard Rajendra Krishna with a lot of respect for a large number of immortal songs he wrote. His most prominent association was with C Ramchandra, the unique craftsman. C Ramchandra was not only reckoned as the tallest composer for a number of years, rivalled by only Naushad, he was also known for breaking new grounds with his unconventional songs, and his very fast output. Rajendra Krishna was his regular lyricist for many of these superhits.

Many readers have mentioned that the lyricists deserve more coverage on SOY. Fortunately, there are some among our guest authors who are ever willing to fill up the gap. Hans Jakhar has been interacting with me about some prominent lyricists he would like to write on. He got busy in some personal matters which affected his participation on the blog. But he has been able to send me his article on Rajendra Krishna on his most famous association with a composer, as his tribute on his 34th Remembrance Day. The readers may please note that many sources, including film credit titles write his name as Rajinder Krishan/Krishen. But being conditioned by Akashvani, I prefer to write it as Rajendra Krishna. (And the readers must have, of course, noticed that ‘Albela’ and ‘Karigar’ both are names of films which had Rajendra Krishna-CR songs.)

Hans needs no introduction to the regular readers of SOY. His writing is backed by data, it is functional and precise and he is very knowledgeable. He is a retired government official. As the readers can make out, this article is the start of a series; Hans would cover Rajendra Krishna’s association with a few other important composers in due course. Thanks a lot Hans for this excellent guest article.- AK)

Rajendra Krishna penned more than 1500 songs in 232 films with 34 composers, but his fame is not commensurate with the quality and quantity of work that he produced. As the focus has always been on composers, only those lyricists who were inalienably linked with some prominent composers were discussed more. There were exceptions like Sahir Ludhiyanavi who kept themselves in the news in some way or other. But Rajendra Krishna, like Ravi in the composers, was a low-key, simple person who did not believe in self-propaganda. His most commonly known story is his winning the jackpot in horse races and even in that people are not sure about the time of the occurrence.

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Best songs of 1944: Wrap Up 3

And the Award for the Best Duet goes to?

In my list of 81 MEMORABLE SONGS in the Overview Post on the best songs of 1944, I counted 17 duets. This is quite a small number, but as we have seen in the reviews of other years, duets always punch above their weight. There is something special about combination of different voices, generally a male and a female, and some very unlikely combinations. The eight ‘Special Songs’ in the overview post included six duets, only two of which were in the list of Memorable Songs. Remaining four were discoveries made between compilation of the Memorable Songs and writing the post. In the vintage years, we never cease to make new discoveries, and every time some beautiful song turns up, it gives immense joy and makes this exercise worthwhile. After the Wrap Up 1 on the best male solos and the Wrap Up 2 on the best female solos, let us discuss the best duets of 1944.

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