Rajendra Krishna

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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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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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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